Halloween Event/Strategies

This page is used for explaining the strategy for Halloween Event in details.

## Preparations

Since the event requires players to rely solely on their units, in order to collect as many pumpkins as possible, players must have *almost every unit in the game,* with decent items equipped for maximum survival ability. Although, depending on how smoothly the progress will go, it's possible to get relatively far even while lacking some units. Players will face enemies with levels adding up with each wave, while alternating positions with each attempt. Since the 2023 Halloween Event, fear debuff amplifies as the waves progresses, so it is guaranteed for all the units to suffer from the fear debuff hesitations in 40+waves or above. Fury buff can be helpful to cancel it out, but takes a few seconds to activate and it is enough to ruin a run if the player is unfortunate.

Nevertheless, certain units can be considered essential for the completion of the event:

* Medic is no doubt the most important unit in this event, as she is the unit who can heal multiple units at the same time. It is advised to specifically equipped her for this event with Lucky Guy or the Builder set, since the Fast Food set can’t aid her much and the first guarantees that she will survive a deadly hit, while the second relies on luck to dodge a hit or two. It is also advised to equip her with +range% items to prevent her from getting to close to enemies.
* Chopper proves to be surprisingly effective in this event, as he can efficiently tank damage thanks to his manual self-healing ability and super high base health. In addition, his slightly longer attack range helps against certain threats. With the introduction of team powers, he not only becomes a self recoverable tank, but also an infinite courage source utilising the Redneck 2/2 3/3 power while being burned or poisoned. The safest way to activate it is to use Lionheart’s manual ability, with its low damage, it’s even possible to activate multiple times to get as much courage as possible. Like all melee units, he is extremely vulnerable to waves with energy spheres, so he’s position needs to be taken extra attention.
* Firefighter and Light Soldier both play a crucial role in progressing through certain waves.
* Buckets (red and blue) can be used to stop some dangerous enemies like Foremen and Charged zombie.
* Nitrogen, drone and generator combined can provide a one time use 25 courage pack in waves where enemies are tanky enough.
* Buffs are almost guaranteed if the player wants to reach enough waves to collect all pumpkins in one attempt.

The general rule for all units in this event is to have maxed out units with the most suitable items possible. These items should focus on boosting health, agility, (range in certain units), survivability (Lucky Guy and Builder set) and obviously damage abilities. Prep time is useless due to the nature of this event , while charisma, valor and the inspiration buff doesn’t do much since all units are guaranteed to fear after about 40 waves (except Psychos units, who will get scared in 80+waves).

## Gameplay

As much as it'd be nice to have a consistently working strategy for the entire event, it's impossible due to certain specifics of the way the event works; most notably – random positioning of spawned enemies, and units hesitation, there's always a chance of getting unexpectedly screwed over by some very inconveniently placed enemy, or because due to a unit getting idle in an inappropriate timing.

In general, the player should always prioritize placing ranged units on the field first, starting with the weakest they have. Melee units should mostly be used for tanking damage or for kamikaze runs.

Some general advice:

* Medic must be placed as soon as during the first seven waves. It is advised to use the IF skin to activate a more useful team power.
* If you need to heal some fast-moving unit, reposition them behind the Medic.
* It's safe to tank a Foreman’ s hit in most cases. However it is advised to pay attention at its knockback, to prevent some unfavourable unit repositions.
* It's necessary to emphasise the importance of proper unit upgrades, since a unit is no longer usable if they die, or severely damaged if they got a debuff (poison, fire, etc)
* It's important to never have more than 8 units on field at once, as specific waves might require an addition of some crucial fighter. Additionally, with 9 slots filled, it is also no longer possible to alternate units positions that may cause the death of a crucial unit.
* Aside from the first attempt with about 161 pumpkins to collect, further waves will only have one or two pumpkins collectible from the pumpkin zombie.

### Waves

The player's actions largely depend on whatever enemies appear in each wave. The best decisions for some notable waves are as follows, assuming if the player has every unit and skin obtainable.

* **Waves 1-10**: The best units to place in the very beginning are Gunslinger, Dr. Miller, Ranger, Medic, Light Soldier, Sniper, Andrea, Specops. Dr. Kane and Dr. Norman are optional but they should not be put at the same time, since once the 3/3 Scientist team power activates, a dead scientist unit will summon a drone that will land in the middle of the team and potentially killing some of them with a drone that’s been buffed by the 2x damage from the 2/2 Scientist team power. The reasons why these units are picked are the following:
* Useful Team Power: IF 2/2 3/3 (ranger, medic, light soldier)
* Expendable, simply doesn’t have enough damage output for later waves or it’s specialty is useless in further progression: (Gunslinger, Specops, Sniper, Andrea, Dr.Miller, Light Soldier)
* Poison and fire immunity, or has enough range to stay out of Slobs explosion range, firefighter(zombies) and Rebel’s(zombie) explosion: (Dr. Miller, Dr.Kane, Dr. Norman, Light Soldier, Specops, Andrea, Sniper, Gunslinger)
* Knockback and armor piercing abilities to bulletproof enemies (Ranger and Sniper)
* **Waves 20+**: Marauders starts to appear, so it’s advised to put bullet resistant units at the front.
* **Wave 36**: The first wave where Epidemiologist appears. Unless you have a strong force of ranged units on field, it's advised to place Light Soldier immediately.
* **Wave 37**: The wave where having Light Soldier in your team becomes necessary, as incoming Slobs can easily doom your entire team to death if they get too close. Firefighter is a totally suitable replacement; however, if you are aiming to reach the very last waves of the event, he has to be saved for later.
* **Wave 50**: Starting from this wave, you might inevitably lose some melee units you have, as Firefighter zombies explode on death, setting their close quarters offender on fire. That's a problem, as melee units are crucial for dealing with Armored Skeletons and Sappers. If possible, relocate your melee units to the backline, and try to use ranged units to deal with Firefighters.
* **Wave 60**: This is the first wave with Rebel, who is basically a tankier Firefighter. However, it's not necessary to treat them equally when it comes to the safety of your melee units, as waves with them lack in high amount of bullet-resistant zombies.
* **Wave 61**: Twins, who begin to appear starting from this wave, can easily screw over unprepared players, as she has insane bullet resistance. In most cases, if you've built a great team of ranged units, they should be able to deal with Twins before she comes too close. You can use Fury buff to increase their total DPS. Flamethrower is also a direct counter to her. Willy and Sniper can both heavily damage Twins with their armor piercing ability.
* **Wave 74**: Even Insectoids, who start appearing two waves earlier, are not as dangerous for your team as Energy Spheres, mostly because you unexpectedly encounter the whole three of them, who are protected by a bunch of other zombies, with Big Blue among them. If your team of ranged units is still strong and well, you shouldn't have much problems dealing with them. If that's not the case, using a cannon fodder unit like Redneck, Marine, or Mechanic might prove useful. You shouldn't use all of them, however, as it's always important to leave some resources for later. Welder can also sacrifice himself to defeat one Energy Sphere. Units that explodes on death or may summon items that harms friendly units can be safely sacrificed when facing an Energy Sphere without the respective consequences.
* **Waves 80+:** The first waves to have Putrids. If you've managed to save Firefighter to this very moment, use him to block Putrids from coming too close. He is the only one who is able to do it consistently, as he is the only human unit with explosion resistance. Keep in mind that he is bound to take some damage, so it might be a good idea to drop an extra Medkit to support him. TMF’s 2/2 Team Power can also help to waive some explosion damage, so it’s also an option. Additionally, if there are enough slots empty, Chopper, along with his fellow Rednecks and Lionheart, can be put of field to amass courage with the Redneck 2/2 3/3 Team Power.
* **Waves 95+:** The cycle goes back and the enemies are nearly identical to those around waves 45+. Apply the same strategy with different units. It is also a great time to save up courage for future waves using either the Redneck Team Power or extra courage buff. Though it is ill advised to use too much because there are no pumpkins to collect anymore and the investment to get more kills are not worth it.
* **Waves 125+:** dangerous enemies like Insectoids, Energy Spheres and Putrid reappears, use the same strategy as waves 74+ and try to save as many units and resources or buffs for future waves if intended.
* **Waves 150+:** countless charged zombies and witches appear to stop the player from progressing any further, and will always repeat should the player survive through.

### Team power/combos

Since the introduction of Team Powers, choosing which skin should a unit use when deployed becomes relevant, however, since all the team powers that summons a extra units are banned, only the Team Powers that have a mention worthy positive or a negative impact will be explained.

* **Redneck**: 2/2, 3/3; this Team Power is essential, as it is guaranteed to have courage shortage after 80+waves where courage only drops occasionally. The latter provides infinite self healing ability if activated. This combo consists of Chopper, Paramedic Nancy and one of Carlos and Farmer, paired with Lionheart (optional, but extremely stable with his manual ability). It’s executed as follows:
* First, deploy Chopper (preferably with the best health upgrades), a optional Redneck and Lionheart in a wave that’s considered safe to do so;
* After that, pair Chopper with Lionheart, activate the later’s manual ability to burn the former, this can be done multiple times to maximise courage productivity until Lionheart dies. Due to Choppers massive health pool, it is unlikely that he will die from the minuscule burn damage unless he gets severely damaged by dangerous enemies, therefore as long as he stays alive, fire damage, poison damage and explosion damage will always provide a chance for an extra courage pack;
* Finally, deploy Paramedic Nancy and an additional Redneck (Carlos or Farmer), this way, Nancy will stick behind Chopper to constantly heal him, so she won’t sprint at enemies, and the third Redneck will activate the 3/3 Team Power, therefore once a courage pack drops, the Rednecks will instantly regain all their lost health.
* **IF**: 2/2 3/3; the former prolongs the duration of the medkit, and the latter summons a randomly positioned medkit at the start of each wave that might be helpful.
* **Northerners:** 2/2 3/3; every kill provides a guaranteed critical hit for northerner.
* **TMF:** 2/2; 50% to dodge an explosion damage, useful when facing Putrids.
* **Mechanic:** 3/3; summons an extra Turret when Welder is deployed.
* **Police:** 2/2 3/3 5/5; double magazine, shield points and Fury buff when an unit dies are very helpful in some occasions.
* **Marine:** 2/2 3/3 5/5; although all units will suffer from fear debuff, max agility isn’t completely useless.
* **Scientist:** 2/2 3/3; completely useless ability to the point it harms team positioning. As a scientist dies, a drone buffed by 2/2 power will drop and potentially kill all the units that are near the death scene.

 Bosses