Plants vs. Zombies Character Creator Wiki
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Plants vs. Zombies Character Creator Wiki

This part of the guide will show how to balance ideas at PvZH or any similar turn-based card game. You will learn how to give ideal costs to each type of card and balance abilities based on many in-game elements.

Before Balancing
Before balancing a creation, there are some things that should be kept in mind:
  • 1- Plants and Zombies are balanced differently, both on tricks and on fighters. As Plants play second, they get to react to what the Zombie Hero plays, allowing them to dictate trades or play around Zombie plans. Because of this, Zombie fighters are usually slightly stronger or have Gravestone to remove their vulnerability to most of cards. For example: Poison Mushroom has PvZH Anti-Hero IconAnti-Hero 2, while Mini-Ninja has PvZH Anti-Hero IconAnti-Hero 3 to compensate the vulnerability. You can still balance plants based on zombie stats/abilities or vice-versa, but this should be avoided in most of times due to the different mechanics for each side.
  • 2- A common misconception is that higher-rarity cards are supposed to be stronger then lower rarity cards. This is not true, and rarity isn't an excuse to make a card horrible "because it's uncommon" or OP "because it's Legendary." Instead, rarity is based on how complex or unique a card is. For example, Berry Blast, a common, is a pretty solid card but doesn't have an interesting ability, making it Common. Alternatively, there's Shooting Starfruit; a very bad card with an extremely unique ability that makes it a Legendary.
  • 3- Context is also important, that is, what other cards exist that could allow for some devastating synergies that might end up overpowered even if the card itself is not? Conversely, you can take synergies into mind to make cards that are weak in a vacuum but much stronger when put into context. For example, Jack-o-Lantern does not see much play in traditional aggro decks unless Primal Sunflower is also ran as a 1-drop. Alone, it is weak, as it's poor stats make it blockcharge at first and grow too slow to be effective. However, Primal Sunflower makes it much better as it can be played as a t2 2/3 with a hefty upside. Steel Magnolia is weak on its own but is a solid card when used in conjugation with a large pre-existing board.
  • 4- While making "Conjure" cards, make sure to keep the card pool small and overall decent to keep consistency to the nax. A great example of this would be Imposter, as its card pool contains cards that the Imp tribe wants, small cheap disposable minions. On the opposite end of the spectrum there's Triplication, which is horrendously inconsistent, as the card pool is very, very large and you almost never know what you're going to get.
    • "But rulemaker, isn't not knowing what you're going to get fUn?????"
    • First of all, that's a very flawed argument. Fun is an incredibly subjective topic, as you can never assume that all players will have "fun" via RNG shenanigans. Keep this in mind whilst designing your cards. It's honestly better to not design your card around inconsistent mechanics, but if you are, just try to ease the consistency to a point of usuability.
Class Restrictions
While most aspects of card creation can be left to your imagination, there are some rules that must be followed when creating new cards. Certain traits and abilities are restricted to certain classes, and it is important to make sure your card follows these guidelines.

Class-exclusive Traits, Abilities, and the class's main synergies will be listed here:

Zombies:

  • Sneaky: Strikethrough, Deadly, Anti-Hero, Gravestone, Amphibious; moving zombies, freezing, bouncing; Pirates, Imps
  • Brainy: Bullseye, Untrickable; unconditional draw, high strength removal, trick synergy, gaining brains, bonus attacks; Science Zombies, Mustache Zombies
  • Hearty: Frenzy, Armored, Untrickable; health buffs, low strength removal, decreasing card cost, moving plants, strength reduction, AOE buffs, "This can't be hurt this turn"; Sports Zombies
  • Beastly: Frenzy, Amphibious; unconditional buffs, unconditional removal; Pets
  • Crazy: Overshoot, Bullseye; dealing damage, strength buffs; Dancing Zombies

Plants:

  • Solar: Strikethrough; Healing, gaining sun, unconditional removal; Flowers
  • Guardian: Armoured, Bullseye, Amphibious, "Attacks with health instead of health.", Untrickable; health buffs, moving plants, "When Hurt," damage down lanes; Nuts, Roots
  • Mega-Grow: Double-Strike, Untrickable; Symmetrical buffs, unconditional draw, bonus attacks; Peas, Leafy Plants, Bananas
  • Kabloom: Anti-Hero, Bullseye; damage, transforming, strength buffs; Mushrooms, Berries
  • Smarty: Amphibious, Splash Damage; strength reduction, attacking down multiple/different lanes, freeze; Beans

-Note: Gargantuar synergy exists in almost all classes. -Note: While Gravestone and Team-Up are listed in certain classes, these are just their main classes and they can be found in any class of their side.

How to balance a card?
To balance a card, you should consider 2 main elements:
  • Cost
  • Usability

Starting by the element of cost, it is the first thing you should consider when balancing. You should try to pick a card that already exists and that has a similar ability to your card (if possible). If you pick more than one card, balancing will be easier, as you will be able to decide the cost better. Here is an example of how to do it:

Howtobalance

Now for the usability, this one should be considered while making synergies. When making a synergy, you should pay atention to the number of cards that it will affect and, depending on it, you can make a balance of the cost.

Balancing Superpowers
When you balance a Superpower, it is recommended to think about Common/Uncommon cards. As you may know, there are 2 types of superpowers: normal superpowers and signature superpowers. While regular superpowers are 1-cost versions of 2-cost cards, signatures would be 1-cost versions of cards that cost from 3 to 4.
Final Note
If you have any doubts of how to balance a certain card, try asking the community for feedback and suggestions. Collaborating to make good quality content is important.
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