My Dead Man's Booty guide

Here's a guide I've made to help beat the Dead Man's Booty in PvZ2. I'll post a guide to the Big Bad Butte when I develop a good strategy for it. If you have any questions or comments, post them in the comments section, obviously.

Here is a link to my Pyramid of Doom guide.

This is a guide to the later levels, like 30+ and even as high as 50+, not the early levels. You can adapt this strategy for use in the early levels if you want to however.

Also, it works best if you've unlocked all plants you can for Dead Man's Booty, so you will always get a choice of bonus starting Sun.

And lastly, I think DMB is the easiest Challenge Zone, so you can probably get much higher records than you can in the other Challenge Zones.

Strategy 1: Normal Levels[]

This strategy is for any level without Gargantuars.

The plants[]

So, here is a list of the plants you'll need:

Twin Sunflower (highly recommended for 25+).
Laser Bean.
Infi-nut.
Winter Melon.
Spring Bean.
Cherry Bomb.
Spikerock.
Iceberg Lettuce/Imitater Twin Sunflower (if you have eighth seed slot).

The zombies[]

A list of the more dangerous zombies, and some good ways to fend them off while you are still building up your defenses.

Seagull Zombie[]

Strangely enough, these guys can be a real pain in the rear end when you get to level 30+, as zombies in the plankless rows can appear very early, and these guys are immune to your early attacking plants. A Laser Bean should be enough to fight them off.

Barrel Roller Zombie[]

Annoying when you haven't got a Bean or a Winter Melon, you may want to use a Spikerock to deal with him, or a Spring Bean to launch the Barrel into some water.

Imp Cannon[]

Not much of a threat, unless you let it explode, sending Imps deep into your defenses. Not even Tall-nuts can block Imps from an explosion. If you have a Laser Bean in every row, it will prevent them from exploding. Yay!

Pirate Captain Zombie[]

The early ones can only be stopped with a Spring Bean, and even that might not work if the Parrot leaves the Captain quickly enough. You'll have to let a few plants go early on, but later, when you have a Winter Melon in each row, the Parrots will always die, making them harmless.

The actual strategy[]

Start off with a Twin Sunflower as soon as you can afford it, and use one Plant Food on it. Continue to build your economy, and kill off the early zombies with Spring Beans. One column of Twin Sunflowers may be enough, but two columns can be much better, just dig them up to replace with Winter Melons later.

Hold off the early zombies WITHOUT spending any more Plant Food, unless you're maxed out and a zombie drops additional Plant Food, then spend it on your economy (Note: If a zombie is getting through your defenses and you get spare Plant Food, don't be afraid to use it to kill the zombie instead). If needed, use a Cherry Bomb to deal with early crowds.

Get Infi-nuts on the water rows first, and build up two columns of Laser Beans. Get Winter Melons wherever the zombies will be grouped together (e.g. in a level with two planks, most zombies will be in those rows), so the stronger zombies don't overwhelm your Beans. Once you have a column of Winter Melons, dig up Beanss in the plankless rows to replace with more Twin Sunflowers, as you need the sun, and then dig up Twin Sunflowers in the rows with planks to replace with additional Winter Melons, and eventually replace the remaining Beans with more Winter Melons to deal with groups of zombies.

This strategy can survive using only one Plant Food per level up to level 60 and possibly beyond, although on rare occasions, a second use of Plant Food will be needed. Past level 60, strategy 3 is a good option, but if you don't have the Power Lily, try to survive using this strategy as long as possible.

Strategy 2: Vs. Gargantuar Pirates[]

Gargantuars are so tough, you will need an altered strategy for fighting them.

The plants[]

The Gargantuars[]

Okay, so first off, let me say one thing: The Spring Bean to the Gargantaur is the Chomper to the Giga-Football Zombie, it can one-hit kill them! Use Spring Beans for early Gargs (when you're only getting one or two at a time), and use Cherry Bombs to weaken groups later on. The Imps are a problem, but this strategy is well prepared to deal.

The actual strategy[]

Use Plant Food on Twin Sunflowers at the start (one per plank, since more planks means less sun production later on, and the more you need early on), and build up a column of Twin Sunflowers ASAP. Use Spring Beans when possible on early zombies, and get Melon-pults in column 2 in rows without planks, and Infi-nuts in column 5. Get Winter Melons in plank rows where Spring Beans are useless, and put them in column 2, with more Infi-nuts in column 5. Build up more Sun production in the rows without planks, filling in the gaps between the Melon-pults and Infi-nuts.

Try to build up Winter Melons in column 2 in rows with planks and then get Melon-pults in column 4 in those same rows. When a Garg comes, use Spring Bean or Cherry Bomb to kill/weaken it. To deal with their Imps, get Spikerocks in column 3. Once you've got a decent amount of sun, dig up Twin Sunflowers in the plank rows to replace with more Melon-pults, and then dig up Infi-nuts in those rows to replace with Spikerocks, as Gargs are the only zombies which will get near your front lines by now, so you need to stall them.

Replace the Melon-pults in plankless rows with Winter Melons, and now all you need to do is occasionally help kill the Gargantuars. Use Cherry Bombs to weaken groups which get near your Spikerocks, and use Spring Beans on Gargs that still have their Imps when they get to your Spikerocks. If you have Power Lily, use it to regain the Plant Food you spent at the start, otherwise buy Plant Food with coins. Don't be afraid to use Power-ups either, but you shouldn't need many.

If you have spare Plant Food thanks to a Power Lily, use it on Winter Melons, Spring Beans, or early recharging the Cherry Bomb, depending on the situation.

Note that when I tested this strategy, there were two plankless rows, meaning six Twin Sunflowers. You may also need an extra Melon-pult in the plankless rows sometimes, but it's unlikely, and also, this strategy had over 2k in spare sun, so it can live on only three Twin Sunflowers, which may happen if you get Gargs in a level with four planks.

Strategy 3: Premium Strategy[]

If you have Power Lily, you can afford to use a strategy similar to the Garg one in non-Garg levels. It makes things a little easier, but will often require Plant Food farming.

The plants[]

The actual strategy[]

Start off with a Twin Sunflower in the first column and use all your Plant Food on it, then continue to build up an entire column of Twins. Use Spring Beans to deal with early zombies, and fill the second column with Winter Melons (starting with plankless rows). Get Infi-nuts in column five, and Melon-pults in column 4 in the plank rows. Get Twin Sunflowers in columns three, four and five in the plankless rows, and top up on Plant Food whenever a Power Lily is ready. Fill the third column with Melon-pults (except in the plankless rows, obviously), and then you're pretty much set. You will likely have to use Cherry Bombs for some of the early crowds of zombies, before you have Twin Sunflowers, but it's usually not a big problem.

Plant Food farming[]

During the Final Wave if you don't have max Plant Food, try to stall one zombie using Infi-nuts, ideally by killing off most of the weaker ones and then digging up your attacking plants. Using Cherry Bombs, you can then deal with certain crowds, leaving even fewer zombies behind. You could also try to let an Imp Cannon explode, kill all but one Imp, and stall that one Imp. While stalling the Zombie, plant Power Lilies until you get back to max Plant Food, then use a Cherry Bomb on the zombie.