Plants vs. Zombies 2 Gets Competitive Arena

Instead of just fending off waves of Zombies, it’s time to take the fight to them, and see whose gardening skills are the best in the backyard. In Arena, you’ll be pitted in a head-to-head match with another player to see who can score the most points while defeating those Zombies.

Beginning an Arena Match

You’ll be able to enter a match from the new Arena landing screen by hitting the Play button. Before the match begins, you’ll be able to select which Plants you’ve collected for use on the Lawn. You’ll then have an opportunity to plan out your Lawn’s defenses by getting some Plants out in the field before the hapless Zombies begin their attack. Use this time wisely to build the best defense you can.

How to Win

Arena matches aren’t just about defeating wave after wave of Zombies. You’ll need to beat your opponents score, which is reflected on the big bar at the top of the screen, before time runs out.

Your side will be represented by the blue boxing glove, with your opponent appearing in red. You can use this to give you a sense of how you’re doing at a glance. If your opponent’s score suddenly jumps, they’ve probably made a big play - this may be an excellent opportunity to use some of your Plant Food to catch up. But be careful - Plant Food is a limited resource in Arena!

Scoring Zones

While you play, you’ll likely notice a banner along the bottom of your screen, colored blue, red, and yellow. These banners represent the scoring zones, and Zombies are worth points relative to the zone they were defeated in. If a Zombie is defeated in the blue zone, they’ll be worth fewer points than a zombie defeated further away in the yellow zone.

If you’re aiming for the highest scores, try to find a way to balance your offense and defense. If you can consistently contain Zombies in the highest scoring zones and defeat them, you’ll score even higher!

Be sure to prevent the Zombies reaching your house, because they’ll trigger a Lawn Mower, and you won’t receive any points from Zombies defeated by it. However, unlike in standard Plants vs. Zombies 2 matches, the Lawn Mower will always become available again, so you won’t be able to actually lose from the Zombies reaching your house. The match will only end once the timer has run out.

Learn From Your Opponent

Every week, the Arena map will change and you’ll face new challenges. . Try experimenting with your Plants, because sometimes you’ll find your favorite loadout won’t hold up to the Zombies you’ll be facing off against, but different strategies will see you through.

At the end of each match, you’ll see your score and your opponents score, and you’ll also see what Plants each of you used. If your opponent did really well, try to see if there’s something you can do with the Plants they used. This is a great way to learn about new strategies and combos, which could give you an edge in your next match.

Master Your Strategy

The better you perform in Arena levels, the stronger the Zombies will become. . It looks like they aren’t about to take all of your showboating lying down (or shambling forward!) You can use this to your advantage - higher level zombies are worth more points when you defeat them. To go for the highest possible scores, you’ll want to drive the Zombie level up as high as possible while defeating them within the yellow scoring zone!

Zombies will increase in level as they’re defeated - the faster you defeat them, the more they’ll level up. However, Zombies will also decrease in level as they eat your Plants, or when they trigger your Lawn Mowers. What strategies can you develop to keep the increasingly more powerful Zombies at bay while still maximizing your score? Experiment with all of your plants - you may be surprised at the combinations you find!

Leaderboard & Rewards

On the new Arena screen, you’ll be able to view your placement on the leaderboard. The leaderboard will show which League you are in, as well as your specific placement within that league compared to other players. You can improve your placement on the leaderboard, and advance to higher leagues, by earning Crowns, which are gained by winning matches.

At the end of every Tournament, you’ll earn rewards based on your leaderboard position, and the League that you’re in. Moving up into higher leagues means even greater rewards, but fiercer competition! How high can you make it?

Winning games also gets you a variety of win streak rewards, which are displayed on the bottom of the screen.

We will see you in Arena soon - so get ready to take the fight to the Zombies as you compete to be the best on the Lawn!