Boss Hunt

On Again, Off Again

This game mode is not always available to be played in-game. It is only available sometimes. It is currently not available.

Boss Hunt
Classes available	All
Playable maps	Frosty Creek Time Park Sandy Sands Aqua Center

Boss Hunt is a game mode in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 introduced in the Trials of Gnomus DLC. Similarly to Super Mix Modes, it can only be accessed from the Mystery Portal inside the Town Hall as a limited-time event. However, there are two Boss Hunt missions in Story Quests that were introduced in the initial release; one involves Captain Smasher and the other involves the Royal Hypno-Flower. From the Mystery Portal, a battle against a variety of exclusive bosses can be accessed, giving rare and exclusive awards.

In the Story Quests version of the mode, the player can select up to three AI helpers and can swap the control between them during the gameplay, just like in Solo Ops. The Mystery Portal version of the mode, however, must be played with three other online players.

Despite not being directly present in Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, the main mechanics of Boss Hunt still exist in the form of Elite Bosses.

Overview

Boss Hunt has three phases, with the latter two repeating until the boss is defeated. After the boss arrives, the player must defeat it in a limited time. The player is given 20 minutes against Captain Smasher and Royal Hypno-Flower, 25 minutes against the Sasquatch and Super Sasquatch, 30 minutes against the Epic Sasquatch, 25 minutes against The Yeti King, and 30 minutes against the Epic Yeti King.

There are no time limits for revival in Story Quests version of the mode; the player can revive their characters as long as at least one character is still alive and there is enough Hunt Time left. Against other bosses, the downed player automatically respawns after 30 seconds, as long as at least one teammate is alive.

The gamemode cannot be played on Easy.

Rewards

Defeating a boss through the Mystery Portal events will yield Coins, 5 Rainbow Stars, and a specific event-tied reward hat. There are 6 hat variants in total, with each variant being obtained only from a specific difficulty, determined by which classification of bait is placed:

• Normal: Original, Silver, Gold, Diamond
• Hard: Gem
• Craazy: Scrumptious

Just like every other Town Hall event, failing the Hunt will award the player 3 Rainbow Stars.

Bosses

Depending on the difficulty of the level, which is determined by the bait that a player places, the boss will either be their normal variant in Normal, their Super variant in Hard, and their Epic variant in Craazy. This scenario does not apply to either Captain Smasher nor Royal Hypno-Flower.

Unlike normal bosses, higher difficulties will result in the bosses having slightly less health, and vice-versa.

Sasquatch

Sasquatch is the first boss introduced in the game mode. He appears in Sandy Sands in the mission "A Banquet for Sasquatch," where he was stated to be eating everything in sight, including the ruins. His appearance resembles a Yeti Zombie with brown fur wearing an Ushanka. Unlike the Yeti Zombie, however, he utilizes fire-based attacks.

Sasquatch's bait is the Perfect Taco.

Brothers Gnomus

Unlike other bosses, the Brothers Gnomus is comprised of four separate Gnome Bosses, although only one appears at a time. They appear in Time Park, where they were stated to have claimed the Park as theirs. They are the only Bosses that do not directly curse the player.

The Brothers Gnomus' bait is the Gnomish Contraption.

Spooky Squash

Spooky Squash is another boss introduced in the game mode. He appears in Aqua Center in the mission "Tale of Spooky Squash." His appearance resembles a Squash, albeit as a Pumpkin. Unlike Squash, however, he utilizes fire-based attacks to attack zombies and does not defeat himself when squashing, with his latter attack stunning zombies caught in the radius of the squash.

Spooky Squash's bait is the Bucket of Candy.

The Yeti King

The final boss introduced, The Yeti King resembles a Yeti Zombie, albeit wearing a crown. He appears in Frosty Creek in "The King's Day Out." Apart from multiple Boss-Hunt-exclusive behaviors, he behaves similar to Yeti Zombie, attacking plants with icicles.

The Yeti King's bait is the Unmeltable Ice Cream.

Audio

Captain Smasher

Sound	Description
	Captain Smasher Intro
	Captain Smasher Main Loop
	Captain Smasher Outro

Boss Hunt

Sound	Description
	Boss Hunt Intro
	"Fight" Phase Theme
	"Fight" Phase Theme (Percussion)
	"Curse" Phase Theme
	"Curse" Phase Theme (Percussion)
	"Critical" Phase Theme
	"Critical" Phase Theme (Percussion)
	Sound effects that play alongside the music
	Sound effects that play alongside the music (Percussion)
	Boss Hunt Outro

Phases

Boss Hunt has three phases, with the latter two repeating until the boss is defeated, although certain conditions may affect the order.

Bait Defense Phase

To attract a boss, the player must place some bait on a table to attract it. When placing a bait, the game displays a menu which allows the player to select what bait to use. On Story Quests there is only one type of bait (Jolly Rogers for Captain Smasher and Strong Coffee for the Royal Hypno-Flower) and the game difficulty is selected from the missions menu. Against other bosses, however, the player can select from three types of bait which differs in difficulty.

After the player places the bait on the table, two waves of AI plants or zombies, depending on the boss, will try to attack and eat the bait. The bait has significantly less health than a garden or a tombstone, so the player must properly guard it.

After successfully defending the bait, a short cutscene will play, which involves the boss destroying the bait and the table it lays on while rising or growing out of the ground. After the cutscene ends, the player is allowed to face the boss and the Boss Fight phase begins.

Boss Fight Phase

During this phase, the boss can be freely attacked, although Spooky Squash and the Yeti King have so much health that this damage is insignificant. The boss will frequently call reinforcements which will spawn multiple regular enemies. Whenever a certain event is triggered, the most common being the boss losing a fourth of its health, the boss will activate a curse that affects all player characters in some way, and the Curse Phase begins.

Once the boss loses all of its health, the player wins and automatically escapes the battle. If the player wins against the mystery portal bosses, an achievement is unlocked based on the completed difficulty.

• Boss Battle is unlocked on normal difficulty.
• Boss Battle Specialist is unlocked on hard difficulty.
• Boss Battle Boss is unlocked on craazy difficulty.

Curse Phase

This phase is activated during certain conditions or events, with the most common trigger being every time a boss loses a quarter of its health. During this phase, the boss becomes invincible against the players' attacks, and the player must complete an objective to cure the curse. Each boss has a unique curse. Once the curse is cured, the Boss Fight phase resumes.

Curses

• Captain Smasher spawns several Cursebearers and the player must kill all of them in 90 seconds, otherwise all player characters die instantly.
• Royal Hypno-Flower transforms all characters into a Stinky Goat, and the player must eat all Poly Leaves on the map to restore their original form.
• Sasquatch spawns many Healing Burgers and the player must destroy all of them in short time, otherwise Sasquatch will restore some of its health. After the players successfully destroy the burgers, Sasquatch starts charging an attack called "Hunger Pang's Inferno" that will kill the players in one hit. The players must locate a yellow circle that appear somewhere in the map and capture it to grow a garden (protects the players in its area) before Sasquatch unleashes the inferno. If Sasquatch's health is low, it will spawn many Gargantuars and will not start spawning Heal Burgers until most of Gargantuars are defeated.
• Spooky Squash spawns in a Hungry Bucket that you must use and you must collect all Sour Candies in 50 seconds.
• The Champion Explody Gnome uses a curse that slows the player down and makes them not able to use their abilities. The only way to remove it is by going to the Gnome Shrine (located in Rome) and using the Gnome Brand.
• The Yeti King will dance, creating different Popsicles all over the map which the plants must destroy in 24 seconds, otherwise all player characters get vanquished instantly.

Curse Triggers

• Captain Smasher will unleash "The Curse of Captain Smasher" every time he reaches a quarter of his health.
• Royal Hypno-Flower will cause "Super Goatify" after charging up for ten seconds after every time she reaches a quarter of her health.
• Sasquatch will unleash "Hunger Pang's Inferno" after all Healing Burgers summoned are destroyed, which appear every time he reaches a quarter of his health.
• The countdown for "All Hallow's Eve" will begin after any player "forms a bond" with the Hungry Bucket, which can only appear after a Champion Giga Torchwood is defeated.
• The countdown for "Winter's Grasp" will begin after ten seconds after The Yeti King has spawned or ten seconds after "Spring's Radiance" has ended.

Strategies

It is difficult to pin a common strategy for all bosses, due to their different mechanics and unique abilities. However, do note that, unlike regular bosses, bosses that appear in Boss Hunt will have less health the higher the difficulty, although most bosses are capable of summoning other dangerous bosses (Disco Zombie for The Yeti King and Gargantuar for Sasquatch, to name a few) who will have their health increased due to the difficulty change. However, Boss Hunt is the only event that mandates four players (unless fighting Captain Smasher or Royal Hypno-Flower), so there may be an advantage for the team.

Bait Phase

During this phase, all four team members have to face against two waves of opponents, indicated by messages on the screen, the first wave starting with the message "Bait has Lured the Zombies/Plants," although the second wave message is related to the bait itself (such as "The Taco Becomes Greasy" for the Sasquatch Boss Hunt, for example) which is followed by a message referring to a large wave of plants or zombies. Once both waves are over, the boss will emerge.

Boss Fight Phase

During this phase, the team is free to attack the boss, although certain conditions may apply, and this phase may not always be the first. For example, whenever a Gnome Brother appears, the phase is immediately directed to something reminiscent of the Curse Phase.

Do note that Spooky Squash and The Yeti King have large amounts of health, making it unwise to simply continuously attack them, as the time will run out.

Curse Phase

When this phase occurs, do not attack the boss. During this phase, the boss will become invulnerable to damage, and the curse will need to be broken for it to be able to damaged again. This task may be relatively easy, such as defeating a few targets, or forcing many trials to be taken for the curse to be broken.

Boss Hunt Event Timeline

Event	Description	Date	Reward	Reward Target
A Banquet for Sasquatch	A Sasquatch has been reported in Sandy Sands - eating everything in sight, including the Ancient Ruins. Plants, you must put an end to this Sasquatch smorgasbord.	September 22 - 25, 2016 March 30 - April 2, 2017 July 27 - 30, 2017	Sasquatch's Cap
Tale of the Spooky Squash	The ghastly gourd of the Lawn of Doom, Spooky Squash has emerged from the earth under the glow of the giant doom moon. Zombies, squash the Squash before the Squash squashes you.	October 27 - 30, 2016 April 27 - 30, 2017 August 31 - September 3, 2017	Spooky Squash's Bucket
The Brothers Gnomus	The Brothers Gnomus are staking out ground in Time Park. They've declared the park belongs to them, and that time must not be meddled with.	November 24 - 27, 2016 March 2 - 5, 2017 June 29 - July 2, 2017 October 26 - 29, 2017	Brothers' Gizmo-crown
The King's Day Out	The Yeti King is on the loose, barreling down the mountain to Frosty Creek. Stop him before he creates a never-ending winter, a cold, cold winter.	January 26 - 29, 2017 May 25 - 28, 2017 September 28 - October 2, 2017	Yeti King's Crown

Related achievements

	Boss Battle Enter the Mystery Portal and Defeat a Boss Hunt on Normal Difficulty

	Boss Battle Specialist Enter the Mystery Portal and Defeat a Boss Hunt on Hard Difficulty

	Boss Battle Boss Enter the Mystery Portal and Defeat a Boss Hunt on Craaazy Difficulty

Gallery

• 

  A Banquet for Sasquatch loading screen

• 

  Tale of the Spooky Squash loading screen

• 

  The Brothers Gnomus loading screen

• 

  The King's Day Out loading screen

In other languages

Please note that only official translations are used.

Language	Name	Description
English	Boss Hunt
Traditional Chinese	BOSS 狩獵
French	Chasse au boss
German	Boss-Jagd
Italian	Caccia al boss
Polish	Polowanie na bossa
Brazilian Portuguese	Caçada ao Chefão
Spanish	Caza del Jefe

V · T · E	Game modes