How to play Plants on Fire: the basics

This guide is built from the game's own official "Wiki" tutorial (inside the app), so it's the most reliable source we have for the basic rules. Victory and defeat Your lineup sits at the bottom of the screen, your opponent's at the top. Buy Minions and place them on your side of the field. Defeat the monsters that appear to protect your Commander — you lose the match if your Commander is defeated first. Buying a Minion Drag a Minion from the Shop to the field slot you want to buy it. Merging a Minion Drag two Minions of the same ★ rank and the same type onto the same slot to promote them. After promotion, their ATK is added together. A Minion can be promoted up to 3★. You can also drag a Minion straight from the Shop onto a matching Minion on the field to promote it immediately. Selling a Minion Drag a Minion to the Shop area to sell it. Selling only refunds a limited amount of Suncoins. Getting ready Press "Start" before prep time runs out to begin the battle — remember your opponent may still need a few more seconds to prepare. Freezing a card Drag a Shop card downward to freeze it. Frozen cards stay in the Shop even after it refreshes. Attack Units Once prep time ends, your Minions form Attack Units that attack the enemy Commander (order is based on the Minions' position on the field). The higher your Minions' ATK, the higher your Attack Units' HP — and that HP increases every round. Refreshing the Shop The Refresh button swaps out the Shop's current Minion selection. Each refresh costs 1 Suncoin. Boss abilities A Boss appears every 3 rounds, each with its own ability. Big Slime splits into Medium Slimes when defeated (which split further into Small Slimes, each inheriting only part of the original's HP/damage). Swift Slug appears with Shields that absorb damage and gains more Shields over time — while shielded, its movement speed increases a lot and can't be reduced. Caterpillar Commander periodically summons extra caterpillars. Dread Moth periodically reduces the ATK of all your Minions, and that reduction grows as the match goes on. Minions and Levels Leveling up a Minion increases its stats (including ATK and ability effects) and also its Power Bonus, which boosts the damage of all Minions and the HP of Attack Units. Epic Minions start at level 4 when obtained, and Legendary ones at level 7. Deck setup A deck is exactly 9 cards: 3 of Cost 3, 3 of Cost 5, and 3 of Cost 8. They appear randomly during battle, and higher-cost cards appear less often (this shifts as the match goes on — expensive cards become more common later). You can save several decks and switch between them quickly. More details Tap a card or a Minion on the field to see more details about it. Effect priority Minion abilities take effect based on their position in field slots 1 through 9, and Attack Units also appear in that same order.