Plants vs. Zombies: Plant Guide by cyrad1 Version 1.

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_____ _ _ _ ___ ___ _ ___ __ .' _ _ __ _ __, _ _ _ ___ A D V A N C E D & by Cyrad

_ _ ___ _ \_/ ___

_____ _ _ __ ___ _____ _ _ ___ ___ __ . . -_ _ _____ ___ _ _ _ ___ _ ___ ___ P L A N T G U I D E

S T R A T E G Y

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S -------------------------------To instantly go to a section, search (CTRL+F) for the code inside the brackets. [S10] Introduction [S20] Glossery of Terms [S30] About Damage [S40] Plants (ordered alphabetically) [P28] [P33] [P27] [P44] [P03] [P07] [P48] [P36] [P16] [P34] [P11] [P37] [P41] [P43] [P46] [P12] [P13] [P35] [P15] [P49] [S50] F.A.Q. [S60] Version Information Blover Cabbage-pult Cactus Cattail Cherry Bomb Chomper Cob Cannon Coffee Bean Doom-shroom Flower Pot Fume-shroom Garlic Gatling Pea Gloom-shroom Golden Magnet Grave Buster Hyno-shroom Kernel-pult Ice-shroom Imitater [P21] [P17] [P32] [P39] [P40] [P01] [P26] [P05] [P09] [P31] [P08] [P14] [P25] [P06] [P22] [P47] [P29] [P18] [P30] [P02] Jalopeno Lily Pad Magnet-shroom Marigold Melon-pult Peashooter Plantern Potato Mine Puff-shroom Pumpkin Repeater Scaredy-shroom Sea-shroom Snow Pea Spikeweed Spikerock Split Pea Squash Starfruit Sunflower [P10] [P24] [P20] [P42] [P19] [P23] [P38] [P04] [P45] Sun-shroom Tall-Nut Tangle Kelp Twin Sunflower Threepeater Torchwood Umbrella Leaf Wall-Nut Winter Melon

[S70] Contact, Credits, & Legal - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [S10] I N T R O D U C T I O N -------------------------------Plants vs Zombies is a tower defense game where you must defend your lawn and your brains from a horde of zombies using a garden of mutant plants. The purpose of this guide is to give detailed information about plants, the units of the game, and explain example strategies for its use. By reading this guide, you will not only know the ins and outs of every plant, but also to convey an understanding of each plant's potential. One of my personal goals of writing this guide is not merely to parrot the in-game plant guide, but rather provide information the in-game guide does NOT mention. More specifically, I aim to clarify misconceptions caused by the in-game guide vague and misleading descriptions. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [S20] G L O S S E R Y O F T E R M S -------------------------------Throughout the guide, I may use several terms to denote some concepts of the game. While most of their meanings are obvious, this glossery should help clear up any possible confusion. Almanac - The Subburban Almanac, given to you by Crazy Dave during Adventure Mode. The Almanac serves as a basic guide to all plants and zombies you encounter. While it serves its purpose, I've found that some of the information in the almanac to be misleading. Vague descriptions and its tendency to be inconsistent in comparing plants to other plants can make it difficult for players to know exact information. Column - a vertical range of spaces of the game grid. Damage unit - a measurement of power that causes zombies to die. Pea = 1 damage unit. See Damage for more detail. Flag wave - a wave of zombies that is led by a flag zombie. They're indicated by a brain flag on your level progression bar and heralded by a "A huge wave of zombies is approaching!" warning. Flag waves not only have a lot of zombies, but also you can expect the toughest zombies in the level to spawn here. Also, expect zombies to spring from graves and the bottom of the pool, covered in seaweed. Game grid - the field of play in the game wherein you can plant. Placement of units in Plants vs Zombies is grid-based. Frontyard and Roof levels are 5x9 grids while Pool levels are 6x9. Headwear zombie - a zombie wearing something on its head that increases its health. Not to be confused with shield zombies, the headwear is actually a symbol of the zombie's health and is not a separate entity from the zombie. If the zombie loses the headwear for any reason, this indicates the zombie has 10 health remaining. Headwear zombies include Cone Zombies, Bucket Zombies, Football Zombies, and others.

Jumping zombie - any kind of zombie capable of jumping over plants. This includes Polevaulting Zombies, Dolphin Zombies, and Pogo Zombies. This, however, does NOT include Balloon Zombies. Lane - a horizontal range of spaces of the game grid. Used interchangeably with "Row" in this guide, the game's text uses this term instead. Row - a horinzontal range of spaces of the game grid. Shield zombies - zombies carrying an object that protects them. Not to be confused with headwear zombies, the objects the zombies carry have health that is separate from the zombies that carry them. This also means that ailments such as Butter and ice will not affect the zombie. Fume-shrooms and Gloom-shrooms, however, can attack the zombie directly. Shield zombies include Newspaper Zombies, Screendoor Zombies, Ladder Zombies, and Pogo Zombies. Sun - the game's fundamental resource. You need sun in order to plant. Upgrade plants - plants that must be planted ontop of pre-existing plants to 'upgrade' them. Upgrades tend to vary. Some of them are merely improved versions of their base plants while others become entirely unique plants. All upgrade plants, however, are offset by having a very slow recharge time and being unable to be mimiked by the Imitater. Everytime an upgrade is planted in Survival Endless, the cost of the upgrade plant will increase by 50 sun. Upgrades are indicated by a purple seed package rather than a green one. Vehicle zombies - zombies that ride wheel'd vehicles. In particular, the term refers to Catapult Zombies and Zombonis. They can crush plants effortlessly but can be destroyed instantly by Spikeweeds and Spikerocks. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [S30] A B O U T D A M A G E -------------------------------Before I go on to describe the zombie killers, let me explain how damage works in PvZ. The game's almanac can be rather misleading at times because it considers firing rate when naming damage, and for some plants, like upgradeables, it won't tell what the damage is at all. The base damage for everything is Peas, doing lowest unit of damage in the game. Damage Facts: ------------- Peas do exactly one unit of damage, fire peas doing two units of damage. - It takes 5 units of damage to make a normal zombie's arm fall off. - It takes 10 units of damage to make a normal zombie's head fall off, killing it. - Zombies can still absorb some damage with their bodies after they die (again), before they disappear from the screen. - Any plant labeled as doing "massive" damage will kill any zombie instantly

with exception to Gargantuar, Giga-Gargantuar, and Zomboss. - It takes two "massive" damages to kill a Gargantuar, four for a Giga-Gargantuar. - Cabbages do NOT do the same damage as peas. The almanac accounts for firing rate when saying a Cabbage-pult does "normal" damage. While Cabbages do twice the damage as peas, Cabbage-pults fire twice as slow as Peashooters. Since the damage-per-second ratio is the same, the almanac says both Peashooters and Cabbages do the same damage. - Kernels do the same damage as peas. Despite it being called 'Light" while peas are described as "normal" damage, they do the same damage. However, Kernel-pults have half the firing speed of peashooters. - Butter does the same damage as cabbages and fire peas. - Ice-Shrooms do the same damage as peas, despite it being described as "very light" damage. - Frozen melons do the same damage as melons. Amount of Needed Projectiles to Kill a Normal Zombie: ----------------------------------------------------10 Peas 10 Needles 10 Kernels 10 Shroom Spores 10 Fire peas (splash damage) 10 Ice Peas 5 Fire Peas (direct hit) 5 Cabbages 5 Butter 5 Watermelons (splash damage) 3 Watermelons (direct hit) 1 "Massive" damage - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [S40] P L A N T S -------------------------------Now the part that you've been waiting for. Here's a little clarification on the guide. Types: -----Offense - a unit that typically fires projectiles at regular intervals. Defense - a unit whose purpose is to stall the zombies' progression by forcing them to literally eat through it. Passive Offense - a defensive unit that, while not attacking directly, will only damage or kill a zombie if it has a direct confrontation with it. Grenade - a unit, typically instant-use, that will cause damage to zombies in its damage radius. Sun Production - a unit that produces sun resources. Support - a unit that performs some kind of special function or effect without actually harming the zombies. Gold Farming - a unit that takes no role in lawn defense, serving only to help you get gold.

Layout Labels: -------------Cost: The amount of sun needed to plant the unit Recharge: The amount of delay after planting a unit before it can be planted again. Damage: The amount of damage the plant does or how much each projectile does individually. Firing Rate: How frequently the projectiles or attacks are fired Firing Range: How close the zombies need to be in order for it to attack Special: Brief description of any special effects the plants can do Description: What the plant does and how it works Strategy: How to use the plant effectively and example strategies Other Notes: Extra information not necessarily related to the plant's function ____________ Peashooter \_____________________________________________________________(P01) Statistics -------------------------------------------------Cost: 100 Recharge: Fast Type: Offense -------------------------------------------------Damage: 1 Firing Rate: 1 pea per second Firing Range: Spaces on or in front of Peashooter. Special: None

Description: -----------Fires a pea horizontally every second. Strategy: --------Since Peashooters have no limit to their horizontal range, try to place them back as far as they can go, usually right in front of your Sunflowers. They're decent in levels with basic zombies, but you'll pine for better firepower later on. Other Notes: -----------Peas that pass over Torchwood turn into Fire Peas, doing double the damage. Peashooters behind a Torchwood will not be able to attack zombies on the same space the Peashooter is on. ____________ Sunflower \_____________________________________________________________(P02) Statistics -------------------------------------------------------Cost: 50 Recharge: Fast Type: Sun Production -------------------------------------------------------- Special: Produces 25 Sun at random intervels. Description: ------------

The staple sun producing plant in the game. A glowing Sunflower indicates that it's going to produce another sun. Its sun production rate does not appear to be consistent, but a newly planted Sunflower seems to create one sun 10 seconds after it has been planted. Strategy: --------Sunflowers are the most valuable plant in the game. As long as you have one, there's still hope to save your brains. Unless there's special circumstances such as night levels, you should always have Sunflower seeds in your roster. Plant Sunflowers in the back where they'll be protected. I advise prolonging your offense as long as possible in order to build up at least 2 columns of sunflowers, even if it means using some cheap instant-kill plants like Squashes or possibly sacrificing a lawnmower. Levels get expontentially more difficult as time passes. If you wait later to build up your sun-producing masses, your sun is going to dry up fast when zombies start appearing in bunches and that column of Peashooters you planted isn't going to be enough to ward them off. Other Notes: -----------Can be upgraded to a Twin Sunflower at the cost of 150 sun. _____________ Cherry Bomb \____________________________________________________________(P03) Statistics -----------------------------------------------------Cost: 150 Recharge: Very Slow Type: Grenade -----------------------------------------------------Damage: "Massive" Range: Planted space and adjacent spaces next to it in every direction. Special: None Usage: Single-Use when planted

Description: -----------Denonates one second after it is planted, instantly killing all zombies in a 3x3 area, with exception to Gargantuar and Zomboss. Strategy: --------These are essentially plant versions of grenades. Plant these when an especially large clustered group of zombies may threaten your defenses. Though it can affect zombies offscreen, it's best to wait until all zombies in a wave are on the lawn before using it. Garlics and Wall-Nuts can help cluster zombies together for maximum effectiveness. Unfortunately, Cherry Bombs are not very useful for Roof levels. You need a Flower Pot to plant it, but since the ideal use of Cherry Bombs is to plant it in a cluster of zombies, the zombies will likely eat the Flower Pot before you can plant the Cherry Bomb. For those situations, it's better to use a Jalapeno. As the first "Massive" damaging plant you receive, Cherry Bomb sets the trend for "Massive" damaging plants having very slow recharge time. So, make sure you use your Cherry Bombs well.

Other Notes: -----------In the Steam version of the game, killing 10 zombies with a Cherry Bomb will award you an acheivement. ___________ Wall-Nut \______________________________________________________________(P04) Statistics -----------------------------------------------Cost: 50 Recharge: Slow Type: Defense ------------------------------------------------ Toughness: High - Special: None Description: -----------Wall-Nuts force zombies to have to eat through it to progress towards the rest of your plants and your brains. With its high endurance, it keeps zombies at bay while your offenses take them out. It takes roughly 45 seconds for a single zombie to eat the Wall-Nut. The Wall-Nut's health is indicated by its expression: * Smiling - Good health * Uneasy expression with chips missing - Medium health * Frowning with large pieces missing - Low health The Wall-Nut will not stop zombies from jumping over it. Strategy: --------Wall-Nuts are vital to a lawn defense. For most levels, you should have Wall-Nut seeds on hand. Not only will they stop the hordes from progressing towards your plants, but also it can help you bide some time to get more sun for the bigger guns. However, a Wal-Nut and a Peashooter won't keep a lane secure for long. If too many zombies attack the Wall-Nut, it'll die quickly. Thankfully, Wall-Nuts work excellently in combination of many other plants because it can protect powerful plants while grouping zombies together for plants with area of effect attacks. For example, a good combination is a Wall-Nut with a Spikeweed in front of it, a Chomper behind it, and a Fume-Shroom behind the Chomper. The Fume-Shroom and Spikeweed will damage ALL of the zombies attacking the Wall-Nut while the Chomper can help by killing one of the zombies occasionally. Make sure you keep an eye on your Wall-Nuts for when they need to be replaced. Unfortunately, the Wall-Nut's biggest downfall is its annoyingly slow recharge time. Other Notes: -----------You can plant new Wall-Nuts ontop of old ones if you purchased Wall-Nut First Aid from Crazy Dave's shop for $2000. ______________ Potato Mine \___________________________________________________________(P05)

Statistics -------------------------------------------------------Cost: 25 Recharge: Slow Type: Passive Offense -------------------------------------------------------Damage: "Massive" Range: All zombies in a single space. Special: None Usage: Single-Use, but not armed until after 15 seconds.

Description: -----------After planted, the Potato Mine remains submerged for 15 seconds, completely defenseless until then. Afterward, it will emerge. While emerged, it'll explode if any zombie steps it, killing the zombie and possibly any zombie overlapping with it. Potato Mines cannot be planted on Lily Pads, but they can be planted in Flower Pots. Strategy: --------The Potato Mine is a defensive "massive" damage dealer. Because of the delay, they're better off planted in front of your Sunflowers but behind your offense as a last resort before the zombies start biting the petals off of your precious sun producers. They can also be useful behind Wall-Nuts to take care of zombies that eat them, considering the Wall-Nut will have caused zombies to overlap each other and allow the explosion to kill more than one zombie. While the Potato Mine is dirt cheap and has a faster recharge than Cherry Bombs, it has a terribly small area of effect, usually only killing one brain muncher. I personally prefer Squashes. At the cost of 25 extra sun, the Squash has no activation delay, can be planted on Lily Pads, and can not only attack zombies a space away, but also can attack a zombie behind it. This also allows the Squash to kill zombies that can jump over Potato Mines. Other Notes: -----------In the steam version, you get an acheivement for killing a zombie with the Potato Mine. Potato Mines also cannot be planted on Lily Pads, but they can, however, be planted in Flower Pots or Flower Pots ontop of Lily Pads. __________ Snow Pea \_______________________________________________________________(P06) Statistics -------------------------------------------------Cost: 175 Recharge: Fast Type: Offense -------------------------------------------------Damage: 1 Firing Rate: 1 frozen pea per second Firing Range: Spaces on or in front of Snow Pea. Special: Halves the speed of zombies the frozen peas hit

Description:

-----------Fires a frozen pea horizontally every second. The frozen pea will cause the zombie to move and attack twice as slow. The effect seems to persist for a long duration. The freezing effect will not occur if the zombie is carrying an object that has health, such as ladders, newspapers, and screen doors. It will, however, work on zombies with headwear. Strategy: --------Snow Peas make excellent support fire. They essentially double the time it takes for zombies to get to you, allowing your offenses to double the damage they normally would have done in the zombies' progress. The frozen effect seems to persist unless the zombie is hit by a fire pea. While nearly half the cost of a Peashooter, a single Snow Pea is actually more economic than a single Peashooter because slowing the zombie allows double the damage. However, having more than one Snow Pea is a waste, since the frozen effect doesn't stack. Be wary of using Snow Peas in combination of Torchwood strategies. Frozen peas change back to normal peas, negating the Snow Pea's advantage over Peashooters. If you wish to use Snow Peas with Torchwoods, make sure your Snow Peas are in front of the Torchwoods. Other Notes: -----------Frozen peas passing over Torchwoods will revert to normal peas. The frozen effect can be negated by fire peas. _________ Chomper \________________________________________________________________(P07) Statistics ----------------------------------------------------------Cost: 150 Recharge: Fast Type: Passive Offensive ----------------------------------------------------------Damage: "Massive" Range: One zombie on or one space in front of Chomper Special: None Usage: Kills one zombie, then requires roughly 40 seconds to be armed again

Description: -----------Instantly eats one zombie and then spends roughly 40 seconds to finish eating it. The Chomper will not just attack zombies right next to it, but can attack zombies at least a full space away. Strategy: --------I personally find Chompers to be great, but many other PvZ players I've seen consider them fairly useless. The issue is that the almanac is rather misleading about its attack range. Chompers can eat zombies that are attacking plants in front of it. This makes Chompers excellent when placed behind Wall-Nut, something that even the Tree of Wisdom agrees. They're even better when behind Tall-Nuts or have a Pumpkin on them.

Chompers will also eat zombies that try to jump over it, but if you're dealing with jumping zombies, it's good to have a Pumpkin on your Chomper anyway. Being one of the massive damage-dealing plants that can be used more than once, Chompers can be extremely useful. Because of their fast recharge, you can quickly line your defenses with them. Other Notes: -----------None. __________ Repeater \_______________________________________________________________(P08) Statistics -------------------------------------------------Cost: 200 Recharge: Fast Type: Offense -------------------------------------------------Damage: 1 Firing Rate: 2 peas per second Firing Range: Spaces on or in front of Repeater Special: None

Description: -----------Fires a two peas horizontally every second. Essentially a Peashooter with double the firing rate. Strategy: --------Like the description says, a Repeater is two Peashooters in one space. However, you typically don't have spacing troubles until later in the game where other offensive plants will appear more appealing. Despite so, Repeaters are essential to Torchwood strategies and become very attractive later in the game where Survival mode is unlocked and when you can buy Gatling Peas. Repeaters are one of the few "more peas per space" plants that don't charge extra sun for its space efficiency. In Survival, Repeaters are preferred over Peashooters. Both cost the same, but unlike Repeaters, Peashooters cannot be upgraded. Considering the nature of Survival where both the threat and your defenses are evolving through each round, Repeaters allow you to upgrade your lawn defense without having to dig up old plants, which can be greatly inefficient. In Survival, plant Repeaters in the first round or second round, and upgrade them to Gatling Peas in later rounds. If you're worried about not having enough sun to protect all your lanes, then use Garlics to divert zombies into lanes with offensive plants. Other Notes: -----------Peas that pass over Torchwood turn into Fire Peas, doing double the damage. Can be upgraded to Gatling Peas. _____________ Puff-shroom \____________________________________________________________(P09)

Statistics -------------------------------------------------Cost: 0 Recharge: Fast Type: Offense -----------------------------------------------Sleeps during the day -------------------------------------------------Damage: 1 Firing Rate: 1 spore per second Firing Range: Spaces on or 3 spaces away from Puff-shroom Special: None

Description: -----------Fires a short ranged spore projectile. Strategy: --------Puff-shrooms are a must-have for any night level. Being the only plant that costs no sun to place, they're offset by their poor attack range. Puff-shrooms are mainly used when you have limited resources at the beginning of night levels. As soon as the level starts, plant a Puff-shroom on a fourth space from the right of the screen. If the Puff-shroom seed is not recharging, you should always be placing one down and trying to build columns of them. After you start accumulating some sun and space starts to run out, start replacing your Puff-shrooms with better firepower. Unfortunately, despite its cheap price, Puff-shrooms are not worth using a Coffee Bean on. Other Notes: -----------Puff-shrooms can be used in the daytime if you plant a Coffee Bean on it at a cost of 75 sun. ____________ Sun-shroom \_____________________________________________________________(P10) Statistics ------------------------------------------------------Cost: 25 Recharge: Fast Type: Sun Production ----------------------------------------------------Sleeps during the day ------------------------------------------------------- Special: Produces 15 sun at random intervels, 25 sun later on Description: -----------Produces 15 sun at inconsistent intervels. After a couple of minutes, it will grow in size and start producing 25 sun instead. A glowing Sun-shroom indicates it is about to give off a sun. Strategy: ---------

Sun-shrooms are a night time alternative to Sunflowers. They may at a glance with its meager 15 sun production, but if you do the actually better in the beginning when sun is scarce. With the 50 off with, you can make two Sun-shrooms, which make more sun than the same cost.

seem worthless math, they're sun you start Sunflowers at

Considering you have Puff-shrooms to set up your offenses at no cost, invest all your sun into making at least 2 columns of Sun-shrooms as quickly as possible. By the time the zombies start raining in the numbers, your lawn will be covered with Puff-shrooms and your Sun-shrooms will grow to start producing 25 sun a pop. Then you can get out the big guns. Though 2 columns can suffice, I personally prefer 3 or 4 columns of Sun-shrooms to take full advantage of their cheap price. I find myself having tons of sun later on when I do this and capable of building a superb lawn defense when the zombies start becoming tough. Other Notes: -----------Sun-shrooms can be used in the daytime if you plant a Coffee Bean on them, but with Sunflowers available, it's completely worthless. _____________ Fume-shroom \____________________________________________________________(P11) Statistics -------------------------------------------------Cost: 75 Recharge: Fast Type: Offense -----------------------------------------------Sleeps during the day -------------------------------------------------Damage: 1 Firing Rate: 1 fume cloud per second Firing Range: All zombies in an area of 4 spaces in front of Fume-shrooms Special: Area of effect that penetrates through screen doors, ladders, and newspapers.

Description: -----------Fires an area of effect 4 spaces in front of it that not only damage all zombies in range, but also damages shield-wielding zombies directly rather than damage the shield itself. Strategy: --------Fume-shrooms are an incredible offensive plant. The game introduces them as a counter to screendoor zombies but they have much more potential. Where pea-shooting plants excel at damaging single targets with plants that fire multiple peas that can be buffed with Torchwoods, Fume-shrooms excel at damaging multiple targets at once. This makes them excellent for hordes as they can kill multiple weak zombies at once, take care of the shield-users, and soften the tougher zombies for the pea plants to finish off. To utilize Fume-shrooms fully, try to find ways to keep zombies clustered in groups in front of it. Garlics and Wall-Nuts are perfect for this. Don't underestimate Fume-Shrooms range. You can plant two fume-shrooms behind a Wall-Nut that's on the third space from the right, and plant Spikeweeds on

the path leading to it. This will do 4 damage every second to each zombie in front of the Wall-Nut. Increase the punishment with Spikerocks and a Snow Pea, and most zombies won't even make it to the Wall-Nut. Fume-shrooms are also one of the only nocturnal plants that make Coffee Beans worthwhile. Even at the total price of 150 sun, Fume-shrooms carry the potential to have a higher damage output than compareable daytime plants like Repeaters. To make them more worthwhile, Fume-shrooms can be upgraded to Gloom-shrooms, which are very useful plants on their own right. Other Notes: -----------Fume-shrooms can be used in the daytime if you plant a Coffee Bean on it at a cost of 75 sun. They can also be upgraded to Gloom-shrooms if you plant a Gloom-shroom seed on one. _____________ Grave Buster\____________________________________________________________(P12) Statistics --------------------------------------------------------Cost: 75 Recharge: Fast Type: Support (Instant) --------------------------------------------------------- Special: Removes a grave from the lawn - Usage: Single-use, must be planted on a grave Description: -----------After planted on a grave, the Grave Buster will gradually start eating. After about 3 or 4 seconds, the grave will be removed unless a zombie eats the Grave Buster beforehand. Strategy: --------Only useful on night time levels where you expect graves to appear. Graves prevent you from planting on that space. They aren't too bad at first, but they can throw a monkey wrench into an advanced lawn defense strategy. They're especially annoying when they're closer to your house because zombies can pop out of them. Thankfully, Grave Busters are here to save the day. Don't plant a Grave Buster in front of a zombie or on graves where a zombie is emerging out of it. Some PvZ players forget that ANY plant in the game can be eaten by zombies, including instant-use ones. If a zombie eats your Grave Buster, then you pretty much wasted 75 sun. Zombies can still pop out of graves while the Grave Buster is busy munching. More graves can still emerge, even after you Grave Busted them all. Typically, this happens when a flag wave appears. The only sure-fire way to prevent graves from ever appearing on your lawn is to have a plant on every space on the game grid. Other Notes: -----------Grave Busters aren't nocturnal, but...you would only need them on night levels anyway. ______________

Hypno-shroom \___________________________________________________________(P13) Statistics -----------------------------------------------Cost: 75 Recharge: Slow Type: Support ---------------------------------------------NOCTURNAL - Sleeps during the day ------------------------------------------------ Special: Causes zombies that eat it to attack other zombies - Usage: Planted, but eaten after a single bite from a zombie Description: -----------After a zombie eats the Hyno-shroom, they will change hue, turn around, and start moving in the opposite direction. The zombie will then act as though it's on your side, unaffected by plants, but other zombies will attack it. It will also attack other zombies. Strategy: --------Hypno-shrooms can be incredibly fun plants to use. Rather can killing a zombie like most plants of its caliber, it will make the zombie become your minion. This can be rather effective when used on a tough zombie like a football zombie. Even better, Hypno-shroom a Dancing Zombie and not only will it become your minion, but also its summoned dancing zombies will, too. These might be useful on certain Zobanty zombies, but I've never tried it myself. Of course, Hypno-shroom only work if the zombie actually EATS it. It won't work if they jump over it or crush it. Other Notes: -----------Hypno-shrooms can be used during the day by planting Coffee Beans on them. In the Steam version of the game, you can get an acheivement for Hypno-Shrooming a Dancing Zombie. ________________ Scaredy-shroom \_________________________________________________________(P14) Statistics ------------------------------------------------Cost: 25 Recharge: Fast Type: Offense ----------------------------------------------NOCTURNAL - Sleeps during the day ------------------------------------------------Damage: 1 Firing Rate: 1 spore per second Firing Range: Spaces on or in front of Scaredy-shroom. Special: Stops firing if zombies are in any adjacent space.

Description: -----------Fires a spore horizontally every second. It is very similar to a Peashooter, but at a fourth of the cost. However, if any zombie is within the 8 spaces surrounding the Scaredy-shroom, including lanes above and below it, the shroom

will cower and quit attacking. Strategy: --------Scaredy-shrooms are almost exactly like Peashooters. Use them as a long range counterpart to your mid-range Fume-shrooms and your short-range Puff-shrooms. However, make sure they're in your back columns with something to attack any zombies that get through in case the Scaredy-shroom cowers. They're not recommended where zombies can slip through your defenses easily, like Pogo Zombies and Balloon Zombies. Miner Zombies can be devastating as not only can they eat the scaredy-shrooms on their lane, but also will cause all other scaredy-shrooms near it to stop firing at oncoming zombies. Other Notes: -----------At the cost of 75 sun, Scaredy-shrooms can be used during the daytime using a Coffee Bean. However, Peashooters are much better and come at the same cost in daytime levels. ____________ Ice-shroom \_____________________________________________________________(P15) Statistics ---------------------------------------------------------------Cost: 75 Recharge: Very Slow Type: Support (Instant) -------------------------------------------------------------NOCTURNAL - Sleeps during the day ---------------------------------------------------------------Damage: 1 Range: All zombies on screen Special: Immbolizes zombies temporarily, then halves their movement speed Usage: Single-Use when planted

Description: -----------Causes all zombies to quit moving or attacking for about 3 seconds. When freed from their paralysis, the zombies have a frozen ailment similar to Snow Pea's projectiles. Ice-shroom's paralysis power has no effect on Pogo Zombies and Balloon Zombies, but it still slows them. Strategy: --------Being one of the only plants that can immobilize zombies, these are fairly useful when dealing with hordes and flag waves. With these, your offense gets a free 3 seconds to deal. If you have a lot of offensive plants, then this should be enough time to kill lots of zombies. Even after the paralysis ends, all the zombies will have their speed cut in half, taking twice as long to get to your plants. Ice-shrooms may be valuable when up against Gargantuars as you'll not only get more time to kill them but you could end up saving a couple of columns of plants. Though I personally never use Ice-shrooms in the daytime, they can actually be useful then. In some ways, they could even be MORE useful. Sleeping Ice-shrooms stay planted on the lawn, so you can create a column of these buggers and then

use Coffee Beans on them whenever you want. This way, you don't have to wait for the dreadfully long recharge time between uses. Ice-shrooms are also useful for finding invisible zombies in the Invisi-ghoul mini game, and dealing with the boss. Don't forget the fact that Ice-shrooms do damage. Only 1 unit, same as a pea, but it can kill a few zombies at once that are an inch away from death. Other Notes: -----------Can be used in the daytime at a cost of 75 for a Coffee Bean. The frozen effect can be negated by fire peas. _____________ Doom-shroom \____________________________________________________________(P16) Statistics -----------------------------------------------------Cost: 125 Recharge: Very Slow Type: Grenade ---------------------------------------------------NOCTURNAL - Sleeps during the day -----------------------------------------------------Damage: "Massive" Range: All zombies 3 spaces away in every direction Special: Leaves its space unplantable after use Usage: Single-Use when planted

Description: -----------Kills all zombies in 7x7 area of effect. However, doing so leaves the space it's on unplantable for a long duration. Lawn spaces become crators, pool spaces become a murky patch of water, and roof spaces become a damaged area of roof shingles. If a Pumpkin, Lily Pad, or Flower Pot also share its space, they will be destroyed as well. Damaged spaces will eventually be useable again, but not after a long while. Strategy: --------Doom-shrooms are the god of all bomb-like plants, being cheaper than Cherry Bombs on night levels. However, the main issue is its space destruction. For short levels, it won't be an issue as the level will end quickly anyway. However, longer levels will generate problems as space becomes more scarce. For this reason, I recommend them for short and possibly survival modes. You may be able to incorperate them as part of your strategy in daytime survival modes. Because doom-shrooms remain planted when sleeping, you can gather up a column of them to use as a last resort when the waves get too rowdy. Because it's survival, the spots will eventually heal so you can use them again. However, remember to plant the Doom-shrooms on the side of the screen the zombies are on. A common misconception is that they can damage all zombies on screen. Other Notes: -----------Can be used in the daytime at a cost of 75 for a Coffee Bean.

__________ Lily Pad \_______________________________________________________________(P17) Statistics -----------------------------------------------------------Cost: 25 Recharge: Fast Type: Plant Surface ---------------------------------------------------------AQUATIC - Must be planted on water ------------------------------------------------------------ Special: Non-aquatic plants can be planted ontop of it. Description: -----------It allows most non-aquatic plants to be planted on pool spaces. The only plants that cannot be placed on a Lily Pad are Spikeweeds, Potato Mines, and aquatic plants. Strategy: --------Lily Pads are vital in nearly any pool level. They should be the first plant to select in your roster, after your sun producer. Remember that the Lily Pad itself is considered as a plant. After a zombie eats the plant ontop of it, it then must eat the Lily Pad to proceed. You can also use a dummy Lily Pad to make a Dolphin Rider waste his dolphin before running into a Wall-Nut or a Garlic. However, don't worry too much about planting these right away in the beginning of a level. Pool zombies usually don't start appearing until after a few land zombies trot through the lawn. Other Notes: -----------They can be destroyed if a Doom-shroom is planted ontop of them. ________ Squash \_________________________________________________________________(P18) Statistics -------------------------------------------------------Cost: 50 Recharge: Slow Type: Passive Offense -------------------------------------------------------Damage: "Massive" Detection Range: Zero to one space in front of or behind Squash Damage Range: Any zombies that it lands on Usage: Stays planted until it attacks

Description: -----------After planted, Squash remains on the lawn until it detects a zombie. It will then leap over the zombie and crush it and any other zombie clustered with it, disappearing afterward. Squashes can detect zombies on its space, in front of it, and behind it. Strategy: --------Squashes are pretty epic. They're cheap instant-killers that, while not having

as much damage radius as Cherry Bombs and Jalopenos, they recharge faster. I personally like using them to deal with zombies at the start of a level while I try to build up my sunflower squad. Use them to handle zombies that slip through your defenses where other choices would Other Notes: -----------None. _____________ Threepeater \____________________________________________________________(P19) Statistics -------------------------------------------------Cost: 325 Recharge: Fast Type: Offense -------------------------------------------------- Damage: 1 - Firing Rate: 1 pea in 3 lanes per second - Firing Range: Spaces on or in front of Threepeater on lanes above, below, and on the Threepeater's position. - Special: None Description: -----------Fires a pea in front of and on the lanes above and below it every second. Strategy: --------Threepeaters are basically a combination of three Peashooters arranged vertically. While simply having three Peashooters can save you 25 sun, the space it saves it worth it. While expensive, Threepeaters are pretty powerful in many them with three Torchwoods to double the damage. They are for pool levels as a Threepeater below and above the pool game grid (probably the reason the game gives them to you strategies. Combine particularly useful can cover the entire on the pool level).

I discourage placing Threepeaters on the top and bottom lanes because one of its peas will go offscreen. Other Notes: -----------Peas that pass over Torchwood turn into Fire Peas, doing double the damage. _____________ Tangle Kelp \____________________________________________________________(P20) Statistics -------------------------------------------------------Cost: 50 Recharge: Slow Type: Passive Offense -----------------------------------------------------AQUATIC - Must be planted on water -------------------------------------------------------- Damage: "Massive" - Detection Range: Zero to one space in front of or behind Tangle Kelp - Damage Range: A single zombie

- Usage: Stays planted until it attacks Description: -----------After planted, Tangle Kelp remains in the water until a zombie gets near it. It then drags that zombie into the depths, killing the zombie and itself. Strategy: --------Tangle Kelps are basically like aquatic Squashes that can only kill one zombie. While being able to target only one zombie is a limitation, this is offset by the fact that not many zombies go into the water anyway. Also, Tangle Kelps can kill ANY zombie, considering that Gargantuars cannot go into water. I personally recommend these for any pool defense. Because of their cheap price and slow recharge speed, you should be planting these whenever you can. If you need to be picky where to put them, place them 3 to 4 spaces away from the edge of the screen so they can catch zombies that spring from the depths of the pool, covered in aqua weeds. Sometimes, a pool defense of just Tangle Kelp can be sufficient for warding off pool zombies. Other Notes: -----------None. __________ Jalopeno \_______________________________________________________________(P21) Statistics -----------------------------------------------------Cost: 125 Recharge: Very Slow Type: Grenade -----------------------------------------------------Damage: "Massive" Range: All zombies in the lane it's planted on Special: Melts trails of ice made by the Zomboni Usage: Single-Use when planted

Description: -----------Denonates one second after it is planted, instantly killing all zombies in a lane. It will also get rid of trails of ice made by the Zomboni, preventing Zombie Bobsled Teams from spawning. Strategy: --------Jalopenos are very powerful and useful instant-killers. Many PvZ I know use them all the time. There isn't much strategy needed to use them other than try to maximize the amount of zombies they kill. I also highly recommend having them when Zombonis are expected. Not only will they kill the Zomboni, but it will clear the ice. Clearing ice not only has the benefit of preventing Bob Sled Team from appearing, but also lets the ice spaces be plantable again. Other Notes: -----------None ___________

Spikeweed \______________________________________________________________(P22) Statistics --------------------------------------------------------Cost: 100 Recharge: Fast Type: Passive Offense --------------------------------------------------------- Damage: 1 unit per second - Range: All zombies on the space it's planted on - Special: Cannot be attacked by most zombies. Instantly kills Catapelt Zombies and Zombonis. Description: -----------Any zombie that is on Spikeweed's space will take damage. It will also pop the tires of Zombonies and Catapelt zombies, instantly killing them at the cost of killing the Spikeweed as well. Strategy: --------Don't underestimate Spikeweeds. While they can only attack zombies on it, they damage ALL zombies on it. Spikeweeds are perfect when placed in front of Wall-Nuts, because zombies will keep standing on the Spikeweed while attacking the Wall-Nut. To understand the Spikeweed's usefulness, consider a Peashooter and Wall-Nut combination. Despite the fact that both combinations cost the same sun, Spikeweed+Wall-Nut combo is actually a better choice. Not only will the Peashooter only be able to hurt one zombie at a time, but the peas also need some time to travel across the screen. If 10 normal zombies were to spawn in the lane it would take the Spikeweed+Walnut combo 10 seconds to kill them all. The Peashooter+Wallnut combo, on the other hand, would take a over ten times that long: a minute and 40 seconds. By then, the Wall-Nut would likely be dead. To Spikeweeds effectly, put the zombies in a situation where they're either A) Forced to stay ontop of the Spikeweed, or B) Forced to walk along a path of Spikeweeds as slowly as possible. For the former, use Wall-Nut variants to stop zombies from progressing. For the latter, use Garlics to lead zombies into a lane of Spikeweeds. Snow Peas and Winter Melons can help by doubling the time the zombies are on the Spikeweeds. Other Notes: -----------Can be upgraded to a Spikerock at the cost of 125 sun. ___________ Torchwood \______________________________________________________________(P23) Statistics ------------------------------------------------Cost: 175 Recharge: Fast Type: Support ------------------------------------------------- Special: Turns peas that pass over it into fire peas, doubling the damage Description: ------------

Torchwoods transform peas that fly through it into fire peas, and frozen peas into normal peas. Torchwoods also will light up a very small area of fog. Fire peas not only do double the damage, but also cause a small radius of splash damage to zombies clustered near the target. Fire peas therefore do 2 units of damage, its splash damage doing 1 unit to every other zombie hit by it. Fire peas will negate the slowing effects caused by Snow Peas, Ice-shrooms, and Winter Melons. Strategy: --------Torchwoods effectively double the damage output of every peashooting plant in a lane, making them essential for an offense. Place them near the frontlines, behind the Wall-Nuts. However, remember that Torchwoods only work on peas and render frozen effects useless. Therefore, they're not recommended unless your entire offense consists of pea-shooting plants. Plants that shoot peas are... Peashooters (1 pea per second) Repeaters (2 peas per second) Threepeaters (1 pea in three lanes per second) Split Peas (1 pea forward and 2 peas backward per second) Gatling Peas (4 peas per second) Obviously, work best with Repeaters, Threepeaters, and Gatling Peas. Other Notes: -----------None. ___________ Tall-Nut \______________________________________________________________(P24) Statistics -----------------------------------------------Cost: 125 Recharge: Slow Type: Defense ------------------------------------------------ Toughness: Very High - Special: None Description: -----------Tall-Nuts force zombies to have to eat through it to progress towards the rest of your plants and your brains. Tall-Nuts are essentially Wall-Nuts, but stronger and cannot be jumped over by Polevault Zombies, Dolphin Riders, and even Pogo Zombies. The Tall-Nut's health is indicated by its expression: * Sturn expression - Good health * Has chips missing - Medium health * Has tear running down its eye - Low health Strategy: --------Tall-Nut is literally Wall-Nut's big brother. Use the same strategies as

Wall-Nuts. Your decision to use Tall-Nuts should depend on three factors: - Types of Zombies: If there's Dolphin Riders and Pogo Zombies, I HIGHLY recommend using a Tall-Nut. - Amount of Zombies: If you're dealing with a lot of hordes or tough zombies, Wall-Nuts will NOT be sufficient. - Amount of Sun: Tall-Nuts have more than twice the cost. If you don't have to worry about tough zombies or jumping zombies, use an Imitater Wall-Nut instead. Because of the slow recharge time, it's actually not a bad idea to have both Wall-Nut and Tall-Nut seeds in a level. It's a good way to make sure all your lanes are well maintained. Start your defense with Wall-Nuts and when you get a surplus in sun, replace your Wall-Nuts with Tall-Nuts Other Notes: -----------You can plant new Tall-Nuts ontop of old ones if you purchased Wall-Nut First Aid from Crazy Dave's shop for $2000. ____________ Sea-shroom \_____________________________________________________________(P25) Statistics -------------------------------------------------Cost: 0 Recharge: Slow Type: Offense -----------------------------------------------NOCTURNAL - Sleeps during the day AQUATIC - Must be planted in water -------------------------------------------------Damage: 1 Firing Rate: 1 spore per second Firing Range: Spaces on or 3 spaces away from Sea-shroom Special: None

Description: -----------Aquatic plant that fires a short ranged spore projectile. Strategy: --------Sea-shrooms are aquatic Puff-shrooms, the only aquatic nocturnal plant in the game. As with Puff-shrooms, place them on the 4th space from the right side of the screen and try to fill up your pool. Later in the level, start replacing them with more powerful plants. Take note that Sea-shroom take much longer to recharge. For this reason, it's more important than ever to make sure you constantly try to plant Sea-shroom. Always keep that Sea-shroom seed recharging. A Sea-shroom not planted is a wasted Sea-shroom. Other Notes: -----------Sea-shrooms can be used in the daytime if you plant a Coffee Bean on it at a cost of 75 sun. However, they're not worth the cost. __________ Plantern \______________________________________________________________(P26)

Statistics -------------------------------------------------Cost: 25 Recharge: Slow Type: Support -------------------------------------------------- Special: Lights up an area to let you see through fog Description: -----------It lights up an area of fog so you can see. Though the Suburban Almanac says it's limited to one lane, it seems to also illuminate a 3x5 area around it as well. Strategy: --------Ideal Plantern positions are as follows: - Horizontally: Third space from the right - Vertically: Second space either from the top or bottom Two Planterns are usually sufficient to light up all of the fog. However, make sure they're protected either with a Wall-Nut, Garlic, or Pumpkin. Of course, Planterns are useless if there's no fog. Other Notes: -----------None ________ Cactus \_________________________________________________________________(P27) Statistics -------------------------------------------------Cost: 125 Recharge: Fast Type: Offense -------------------------------------------------Damage: 1 Firing Rate: 1 needle per second Firing Range: Spaces on or in front of Cactus. Special: Pops balloons to make Balloon Zombies drop down.

Description: -----------Fires a needle horizontally every second, but if it spots a Balloon Zombie, it will stretch itself upward and shoot a needle to pop the balloon. Strategy: --------Cacti are essentially Peashooters with an added ability to shoot down Balloon Zombies. If the Balloon Zombie is over water, it will cause the zombie to fall into the water and die instantly. Unfortunately, Cacti are unnecessary unless you expect Balloon Zombies. If you're in a pool level, Cattails are a superior choice. Other Notes: ------------

None ________ Blover \_________________________________________________________________(P28) Statistics -----------------------------------------------------------Cost: 100 Recharge: Fast Type: Support (Instant) ------------------------------------------------------------ Special: Temporarily blows away all fog and kills all balloon zombies on screen. - Usage: Once, instant Description: -----------Once planted, the fog will be blown away for 10 to 20 seconds, also killing all Balloon Zombies in the process. Strategy: --------Use them when a flag wave approaches or you hear the Balloon Zombie's distinct inflating sound, but don't know where it's coming from. Because the fog destruction is temporary, it's not really a valid replacement for Planterns. Blovers are useless if there's no Balloon Zombies nor fog. Even so, Cattails are a superior choice for dealing with Balloon Zombies and Platerns make for a more reliable anti-fog plant. It's one saving grace, however, is that it recharges faster than Planterns. Other Notes: -----------None ___________ Split Pea \______________________________________________________________(P29) Statistics -------------------------------------------------Cost: 125 Recharge: Fast Type: Offense -------------------------------------------------Damage: 1 Firing Rate: 1 pea forward and 2 peas backward per second Firing Range: Spaces on, behind, or in front of Split Pea Special: None

Description: -----------Fires three peas every second: one in front of it and two behind it. Strategy: --------Split Peas are literally a Peashooter and a backwards Repeater combined into one plant. They're introduced as a counter to Miner Zombies and that's pretty much they're only usefulness: killing zombies that get behind your defenses. When using Split Peas, place them as close to the front lines as possible.

Other Notes: -----------Peas can be doubled in damage using a Torchwood, but it would take a Torchwood in front of and behind it to maximize all its damage. ___________ Starfruit \______________________________________________________________(P30) Statistics -------------------------------------------------Cost: 125 Recharge: Fast Type: Offense -------------------------------------------------- Damage: 1 - Firing Rate: 5 stars per second, each of them in different directions - Firing Range: Spaces forwardly diagonal, below, above, and behind Starfruit Will also attack zombies right in front of it. - Special: None Description: -----------Fires five stars in a different direction each: 1 diagonally upward in front 1 diagonally downward in front 1 above 1 below 1 behind However, Starfruit is unable to fire at zombies in front of it on the same lane unless the zombie is so close that it can start eating the plant. Strategy: --------For its price, Starfruit packs a lot of power. Unfortunately, a lot of that power goes in directions you likely don't want it to go. For this reason, use Starfruits for support fire combined with other projectile plants. They can be extremely useful clustered together if you're dealing with zombies that can easily slip through your defenses, like Pogo Zombies, Balloon Zombies. Other Notes: -----------None __________ Pumpkin \_______________________________________________________________(P31) Statistics -----------------------------------------------Cost: 125 Recharge: Slow Type: Defense ------------------------------------------------ Toughness: High - Special: Can be planted ontop of other plants to protect them Description: -----------Pumpkins are basically Wall-Nuts that can share a space with another plant.

Zombies are forced to eat the Pumpkin before they can start devouring the plant it protects. You can plant a Pumpkin ontop of another plant or a plant inside a Pumpkin. You can remove the plant inside of it using the Shovel Tool, just make sure you click on the plant and not the Pumpkin. Pumpkins have the same durability as a Wall-Nut. They can be used on all plants except Tangle Kelp, Cob-Cannons, and Sea-shrooms (speculated). Using a Pumpkin on a Doom-shroom will result in the Pumpkin's destruction. Pumpkins will not protect plants from Bungee Zombies. The Bungee Zombie will steal the plant inside and leave the Pumpkin alone unless the Pumpkin has no plant inside of it. Note that jumping zombies can still leap over it. Strategy: --------Pumpkins are extremely useful regardless of the strategy at hand. They're highly versatile, capable of giving defense to a defenseless lawn or strengthen a defense already in place. Common uses for them include: - Planting ontop of a Tall-Nut or Wall-Nut to nearly double the defensive power. - Replacements for Wall-nuts for highly offensive strategies or when space is limited. - Alternate strategy for handling Polevaulters by Pumpkining the plant behind the Wall-Nut. - Protecting the back column plants from Miners, Catapelt Zombies, and the Gargantuar's Imps. - Protecting vital support plants that need to be near the frontlines, such as Planterns and Magnet-shrooms. - Protecting short-ranged offensive plants such as Fume-shrooms and Puff-shrooms. Other Notes: -----------You can plant new Pumpkins ontop of old ones if you purchased Wall-Nut First Aid from Crazy Dave's shop for $2000. _______________ Magnet-shroom \__________________________________________________________(P32) Statistics --------------------------------------------------Cost: 100 Recharge: Fast Type: Support ------------------------------------------------NOCTURNAL - Sleeps during the day --------------------------------------------------- Special: Removes metal objects from zombies Description: -----------When the Magnet-shroom detects a zombie carrying a metal object, it will steal that object away. The Magnet-shroom must wait to recharge, usually about 20 seconds, before it can steal another metal object The objects they can steal and the effects it has are: - Buckets: Reduces the zombie's health down to its base value of 10

- Football Helmets: Reduces the zombie's health down to its base value of 10 - Screendoor: Makes the zombie vulnerable to taking damage and being affected by ice, butter, and other ailments dealt by plants. - Ladder: Makes the zombie vulnerable to taking damage and being affected by ice, butter, and other ailments dealt by plants. It also disables the zombie from placing the ladder on a plant. If the ladder was placed on a plant, zombies will no longer be able to climb over that plant. - Pogo Stick: Disables the Pogo Zombie from jumping over plants. - Pick Axe: Causes the Miner Zombie to emerge to the surface and progress towards the left as usual. I haven't confirmed exactly what the Magnet-shroom's range is. I've seen Magnet-shrooms steal objects a long ways away while others ignored metal objects right next to them. I think their range is about the same as a Plantern, but how soon it'll steal the object depends on how close it is. Strategy: --------Magnet-shrooms are extremely useful when dealing with Ladder Zombies and lots of zombies with protective gear. It can cut down a Bucket Zombie to 1/5th of its maximum health! It essentially makes it MUCH faster to kill zombies that would otherwise take awhile to kill. However, as useful as they are, Magnet-shrooms have three major flaws: - They're extremely fickle when they wish to steal the object - Stealing an object causes them to be useless for a duration. - They're nocturnal and require a Coffee Bean to use in the daytime. The best way to remedy these problems is increase the amount of Magnet-shrooms on the lawn, spread them out, and make the Coffee Bean more worthwhile. I do not recommend using Magnet-shrooms if Miner Zombies are afoot. While it will stop the Miners from ripping your defenses from behind, the problem is that the Magnet-shrooms will usually not steal the pick axe until they're somewhere in the middle of your lawn where they can eat your valuable offensive plants. They can also eat your brains since they move towards the left. It's better they run their course because that way, they're more predictable and can be defended against using a Pumpkin and some kind of backshooting plant. Other Notes: -----------Magnet-shrooms can be upgraded to Gold Magnets at a cost of 50 sun. Magnet-shrooms can be used in the daytime at the cost of 75 sun using a Coffee Bean. ______________ Cabbage-pult \___________________________________________________________(P33) Statistics -------------------------------------------------Cost: 100 Recharge: Fast Type: Offense -------------------------------------------------Damage: 2 Firing Rate: 1 cabbage every 2 seconds Firing Range: Spaces on or in front of Cabbage-pult. Special: Fires the projectile at an arc

Description: -----------Fires a cabbage every two seconds, capable of flying over the angle of the roof. Strategy: --------Cabbage-pults are the first catapelt plant you receive. They're essentially a replacement for Peashooters in roof levels. Place Cabbage-pults in front of your Sunflowers and let them fire away. Take note that while catapelt plants have half the firing rate of other plants, their projectiles are usually more powerful. However, because Peashooters have the same damage-per-second ratio as Cabbage-pults, fire faster, and have projectiles capable of being upgraded with Torchwood, Cabbage-pults are not recommended for non-Roof levels. Other Notes: -----------None ____________ Flower Pot \_____________________________________________________________(P34) Statistics -----------------------------------------------------------Cost: 25 Recharge: Fast Type: Plant Surface ------------------------------------------------------------ Special: Allows plants to be placed on the roof Description: -----------Plants obviously cannot be planted on roof, so the Flower Pot allows you to do so. They work like Lily Pads, except Potato Mines can be planted on them. However, Spikeweeds and aquatic plants obviously cannot be planted on them, and Doom-shrooms will destroy the Flower Pot it's on. Flower Pots are plants themselves, so zombies will have to eat it to progress. Make sure you plant something there before they eat it! Flower Pots can be planted Strategy: --------Flower Pots are vital for Roof levels because they're the only things you can plant ontop of! Gradually increase your planting area by adding Flower Pots if you can spare the sun. An empty Flower Pot can also make Polevaulters waste their poles. Other Notes: -----------Flower Pots can be planted on the ground, but having them on a non-roof level is pointless anyway. ______________ Kernel-pult \___________________________________________________________(P35) Statistics

-------------------------------------------------Cost: 100 Recharge: Fast Type: Offense -------------------------------------------------Damage: 2 (butter) or 1 (kernel) Firing Rate: 1 projectile every 2 seconds Firing Range: Spaces on or in front of Kernel-pult. Special: Fires the projectile at an arc. Butter immobilizes zombies for about 3 seconds.

Description: -----------Fires a projectile every two seconds, capable of flying over the angle of the roof. The projectile it fires is random, either being a stick of butter or a kernel. Kernels do 1 unit of damage, same as a pea. Butter does 2 units of damage (same as a cabbage) and has the added power to immobilize zombies. The immobilization completely stops the zombie, rather than slowing them like ice does. They stop moving regardless of what they're doing, and it works on nearly any zombie in the game, including Gargantuars and vehicle zombies. However, it doesn't seem to work on Pogo Zombies and shields that zombies use to protect themselves such as newspapers and screendoors. It WILL affect Bucket Zombies. The paralysis lasts about 3 seconds. Strategy: --------Kernel-pults make excellent support fire. The butter's effect is extremely useful, one of the only things in the game that can stop a zombie dead in their tracks, giving your offense extra valuable time to take them down. Add in the fact that they can be upgraded to the god of all plants, Cob Cannons, I even recommend Kernel-pults for non-Roof levels. Kernel-pult's downfall, however, is that their damage is not reliable, so they're better combined with other plants rather than by themselves. Other Notes: -----------At the cost of 500 sun, two Kernel-pults placed side-by-side in the same lane can be upgraded to Cob Cannons. _____________ Coffee Bean \____________________________________________________________(P36) Statistics --------------------------------------------------Cost: 75 Recharge: Fast Type: Support --------------------------------------------------- Special: Enables nocturnal plants to be used during the day. - Usage: Instant, single-use, used on a shroom Description: -----------When nocturnal plants are planted during the day, they sleep and don't do anything. Plant the Coffee Bean ontop of them, and they'll wake up. The Coffee Bean's effect is permeanant, but takes about 3 seconds for the plant to wake up. Strategy:

--------Use these on useful shrooms when you want them during the daytime. Sadly, most shrooms are designed to be cost-effective alternatives to other plants, so the extra 75 sun negates that usefulness of them. However, a few shrooms can be rather useful. My personal recommendations are: - Fume-shrooms: While only able to hurt zombies 4 spaces in front of them, they do a considerably decent area of effect, making them far more effective at dealing with large groups of zombies than more expensive pea-shooting plants do. They also pierce shields and and can be upgraded to powerful Gloom-shrooms. - Magnet-shrooms: While fickle, several Magnet-shrooms can drastically shorten the time it takes to eliminate the toughest zombies. Great when expecting lots of Bucket and Football Zombies. - Doom-shrooms: An explosive that deals a very large area of effect in the game at the cost of making a space unusable. The nice thing is that you can have several of these already planted and sleeping before you decide to rouse it with a Coffee Bean. - Ice-shrooms: Does light damage, slows zombies, and immobilizes all zombies on screen. Daytime levels allows you to build up a large amount of them before deploying with a Coffee Bean. Other Notes: -----------None ________ Garlic \_________________________________________________________________(P37) Statistics -------------------------------------------------Cost: 50 Recharge: Fast Type: Support -------------------------------------------------- Special: Diverts zombies into other lanes - Usage: When a zombie bites into it. Description: -----------Garlic causes a zombie that takes a bite out of it to move either to the lane above or below it. The zombie also moves slightly to the left as it changes lanes. The lane it chooses is random unless one choice will cause the zombie to go offscreen or out of the pool. In other words, Garlics on the top lane will always cause zombies to go down a lane, Garlics on the bottom lane will divert zombies up, and Garlics on Lily Pads in the pool will always divert zombies to the other lane that the pool occupies. Garlics are planted normally like other plants and are not single use. Instead, they take damage like other plants when zombies take a bite out of them. This means Garlics do eventually die and need to be replaced. Like Wall-Nuts and Tall-Nuts, a Garlic's health is indicated by its graphic. * Smiling - Good on health * Frowning - Medium amount of health left * Crying with big googly eyes - Low on health Garlics will only affect zombies if the zombie takes a bite out of it. It won't

divert zombies if they jump over it, fly over it, or crush it. Strategy: --------Garlics are amazing little buggers for indepth lawn defense strategies. They allow you to take control of an otherwise random occurance (lane distribution of zombies). Basically, you can make zombies go where you want to go. Rather than thinly distribute your offense to five lanes, you can concentrate all your firepower on two or three lanes while the other lanes can be devoted to sun production. Place garlics on top, middle, and bottom lanes to the farthest right. On the lanes without garlics, plant Wall-Nuts or Tall-Nuts adjacent to the the garlics. Devote your lanes with garlics for sun producing plants and devote your Wall-Nut/Tall-Nut lanes for your offensive plants. The problem with the above strategy is that with each half of the entire horde eating at your nuts, the nuts will take a lot of damage very fast. For this reason, you need to have a few plants in your offense that can damage multiple zombies at once to help reduce the stress on your nuts. Good choices include Fume-Shrooms, Melon-Pults, and Spikeweeds/Spikerocks. Chompers can also help. When using garlic, you need to worry about zombies killing it or jumping over it to wreak havoc on your sun producing lane. A good way to prevent this is to place two garlics, one behind another, whenever you're going to use them. Not only does it serve as a backup in case the first dies, but also any zombie that jumps over the first one will bite into the second and be diverted with the other zombies. However, this will NOT work against Pogo zombies. For this reason, I don't recommend Garlic for any level that has Pogo Zombies. Garlics on the pool has its advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantage is that where the front lawn and roof allows you to divert all traffic to two lanes, you need a third lane of defense because the pool level has six lanes. The advantage, however, is that every single aqua zombie can be affected by Garlic. No zombies with the ability to crush plants can travel on pool lanes. The three major threats are balloon zombies (a problem consistent with any defense), dolphin zombies, and zombies that spring from the bottom of the pool. Dolphin zombies can be dealt with using tall-nuts and the double Garlic strategy. You can deal with the zombies that emerge from the depths of the pool by placing your Tall-nuts and Garlic about two to four spaces away from the far end of the pool. Other Notes: None. _______________ Umbrella Leaf \__________________________________________________________(P38) Statistics ---------------------------------------------------Cost: 100 Recharge: Fast Type: Support ---------------------------------------------------- Special: Protects itself and plants near it from bungee zombies and basketballs - Usage: Instant, single-use, used on a shroom Description: ------------

Protects all spaces in adjacent spaces from Bungee Zombies and basketballs fired from Catapult Zombies. It will stop the plants from being stolen in those spaces as well as stop the bungee zombies from dropping zombies into the middle of your defenses. Strategy: --------Plant these around vital plants you need protected. They're valuable at the frontlines behind your Tall-Nuts where not only would your defenses be protected but also bungee zombies would be denied the ability to slip a zombie behind your Tall-Nuts. Two well-placed Umbrella Leaves are sufficient for protecting three columns of plants. You do not need to protect Cob Cannons from being stolen. Bungee Zombies cannot take them away. Of course, Umbrella Leaves are useless if you aren't expecting Bungees and Catapelt Zombies. Other Notes: -----------None __________ Marigold \_______________________________________________________________(P39) Statistics --------------------------------------------------------Cost: 50 Recharge: Slow Type: Gold Farming --------------------------------------------------------- Special: Randomly produces either a gold or silver coin Description: -----------Occasionally produces a silver or gold coin, glowing before it's about to do so. It doesn't seem to have any distinct pattern when it will produce the coin. It seems to produce more often when there's more zombies on the screen, but that's likely my imagination. Strategy: --------Marigolds will do nothing to aid you in protecting your brains from zombies. They will, however, allow you to literally farm for gold. The ideal situation is to play a level that's long, easy, and allows you to plant many of them. Last Stand mini game, easy survival modes, and the second run of the beginning Adventure mode levels are good choices. Night levels may be a decent choice, considering you have freebie Puff-shrooms and cheap shrooms to ward off zombies while the rest of your sun can go towards covering the lawn with Marigolds. Gold Magnets can make harvesting coins from large amounts of Marigolds much easier. Other Notes: -----------None ______________ Melon-pult \___________________________________________________________(P40)

Statistics -------------------------------------------------Cost: 300 Recharge: Fast Type: Offense -------------------------------------------------Damage: 4 (direct hit), 2 (splash damage) Firing Rate: 1 melon every 2 seconds Firing Range: Spaces on or in front of Melon-pult. Area of Effect: On the space it hits, the space above, and the space below Special: Fires the projectile at an arc

Description: -----------Fires a melon every two seconds, capable of flying over the angle of the roof. Melons do double the damage of a cabbage to the zombie it hits as well as inflicting splash damage to all zombies near the area of impact. Strategy: --------Not surprising that Melon-pult is the last plant you get in Adventure Mode. They're extremely powerful, doing four times the damage as a pea and having a small area of effect. The area of effect is key as later in the game, it becomes increasingly important to be able to deal damage to many zombies at once rather than dealing lots of damage quickly to a single zombie in the front. Melon-pults should be the kind of offensive plant you save your sun up for. A single column of them can take care of the hordes rather effectively. However, plant them in the middle lanes first to maximize the area of effect. Because of the Melon-pult's raw power, I even recommend using them in non-roof levels. However, I would recommend Torchwoods instead if your roster has a lot of pea-shooting plants and the hordes aren't too thick. Other Notes: -----------None ______________ Gatling Peas \___________________________________________________________(P41) Statistics ----------------------------------------------------Cost: 250 Recharge: Very Slow Type: Offense --------------------------------------------------PLANT UPGRADE - Requires Repeater Total Cost: 450 ----------------------------------------------------Damage: 1 Firing Rate: 4 peas per second Firing Range: Spaces on or in front of Peashooter. Special: None

Description: -----------Fires four peas horizontally every second, essentially 4 peashooters in one plant.

Strategy: --------These are pretty much the most powerful pea-shooting plants in the game. Replace your back column Repeaters with these puppies and let the peas fly! However, Gatling Peas won't always justify the cost of using them, because it's cheaper and faster to plant two repeaters. I primarily recommend using Gatling Peas for survival mode and other long games where space becomes scarce and having enough firepower to keep the hordes off the Wall-Nuts becomes a priority. It's logical to install Torchwoods in your defenses before installing Gatling Peas. It's better to double the firepower of an entire lane of plants rather than just one plant. Other Notes: -----------Peas that pass over Torchwood turn into Fire Peas, doing double the damage. Gatling Pea upgrade must be purchased from Crazy Dave for $5000. ________________ Twin Sunflower \_________________________________________________________(P42) Statistics ---------------------------------------------------------Cost: 150 Recharge: Very Slow Type: Sun Production -------------------------------------------------------PLANT UPGRADE - Requires Sunflower Total Cost: 200 ---------------------------------------------------------- Special: Produces 50 sun at irregular intervels Description: -----------Produces two units of 25 sun at a time in inconsistent intervels. It functions extremely similar to a Sunflower. Strategy: --------Twin Sunflowers let you double your sunproduction without wasting extra space. However, like most "two for one" type of plants, it won't justify the cost if space is not an issue. I recommend Twin Sunflowers for Survival modes so you can increase your sunproduction while saving space for offense, and Roof levels, where your planting space is limited by how many Flower Pots you have. Other Notes: -----------Must be purchased from Crazy Dave at a cost of $5000. ______________ Gloom-shroom \___________________________________________________________(P43) Statistics -------------------------------------------------------Cost: 150 Recharge: Very Slow Type: Offense ------------------------------------------------------

NOCTURNAL - Sleeps during the day PLANT UPGRADE - Requires Fume-shroom Total Cost: 225 (300 if daytime) -------------------------------------------------------Damage: 1 Firing Rate: 3 spores in each direction per second Firing Range: All zombies in neighboring spaces in all directions Special: Area of effect that penetrates through screen doors, ladders, and newspapers.

Description: -----------Fires 3 waves of spores going in 8 directions surrounding it: above, left, right, below, upper-left, down-left, upper-right, down-right. The spores will damage zombies directly if they are carrying a shield. The Gloom-shroom's range, however, is limited to spaces on or near it. Strategy: --------Gloom-shrooms are drastically different from their previous selves. While their area of effect is dimenished, they pack a lot more power. The key to using Gloom-shrooms is to make zombies travel on the lanes above or below it as slow as possible. Garlics and Snow Peas are perfect for this. Place a Garlic in front of your Gloom-shrooms to force the zombies to lanes that a Snow Pea fires. Add in Spikeweeds to increase the hurt. If you're looking consider planting them. In fact, if and Spikeweeds in 7 units of damage just two columns, for a strategy with them in a typical Tall-Nut lineup, then the Gloom-shrooms in the frontlines and with a Pumpkin on you had a whole column of Gloom-Shrooms with Pumpkins on them front, all zombies in front of each Gloom-shroom would take per second. This would be an extremely powerful defense in needing just a few more additions to make it perfect.

Other Notes: -----------Gloom-shrooms can be used in the daytime if you plant a Coffee Bean on it at a cost of 75 sun. If used right, they're well worth the cost. Must be purchased from Crazy Dave for $7500. _________ Cattail \________________________________________________________________(P44) Statistics -------------------------------------------------------Cost: 225 Recharge: Very Slow Type: Offense -----------------------------------------------------AQUATIC PLANT UPGRADE - Requires Lily Pad Total Cost: 250 -------------------------------------------------------- Damage: 1 - Firing Rate: 2 needles per second

- Firing Range: Any zombie on the screen - Special: Needles home onto zombies and can pop balloons Description: -----------Fires two needles each second, which move towards the closest zombie regardless of their location on the field. It CAN be protected by Pumpkins, unlike most other aquatic plants. The needles also typically prioritize on Balloon Zombies if they appear, popping the balloons and grounding the zombie. Strategy: --------These cute little kitty plants are BEASTS. They make excellent support fire for ANY pool defense, because if there's no zombies in the pool, they can still be useful. The needles prioritize based on proximity, so if the horde breaks through the defenses of one lane, the Cattails will turn their needles towards that horde. A few Cattails are also not bad for taking out zombies that slip through your defenses, such as Miners. Don't forget the fact that Cattails can pop balloons. A single Cattail can do the job of an entire column of Cacti and kill the zombie faster. Unlike most other upgrades, which I'd only recommend for survival and certain situations, I recommend Cattails for any pool level, because of their power, versatility, and cheap price compared to other offensive upgrades. Careful not to plant them in the third or fourth column from the right of the screen. Flag waves may beckon zombies from under the pool to start munching on their poor kitty heads. If you must plant there, put Pumpkins on them. Other Notes: -----------Must be purchased from Crazy Dave for $10,000. ______________ Winter Melon \___________________________________________________________(P45) Statistics ---------------------------------------------------Cost: 200 Recharge: Very Slow Type: Offense -------------------------------------------------PLANT UPGRADE - Requires Melon-pult Total Cost: 500 ---------------------------------------------------Damage: 4 (direct hit), 2 (splash damage) Firing Rate: 1 winter melon every 2 seconds Firing Range: Spaces on or in front of Winter Melon. Area of Effect: On the space it hits, the space above, and the space below Special: Fires the projectile at an arc. Slows zombies.

Description: -----------Fires a melon every two seconds, capable of flying over the angle of the roof. Despite what the almanac suggests, it's exactly like Melon-pults, doing the same damage at the same firing rate. The only difference is that all zombies damaged also get inflicted with the frozen slowing effect that Snow Peas and Ice-shrooms do.

Strategy: --------These are extremely powerful in strategies that focus on slowing zombies down and pounding them with AoE attacks. Upgrade the back column Melon-pults. However, the slowing effect doesn't stack, so it's a waste of sun having more than one Winter Melon in a lane. The high total cost may be a bit staggering for some games, so they may be better for Survival mode. Again, they're better off used in the middle lanes to maximize their AoE. Other Notes: -----------Must be purchased from Crazy Dave for $10,000. _______________ Gold Magnet \__________________________________________________________(P46) Statistics ----------------------------------------------------Cost: 50 Recharge: Slow Type: Gold Farming --------------------------------------------------PLANT UPGRADE - Requires Magnet-shroom Total Cost: 150 ----------------------------------------------------- Special: Attracts money Description: -----------Rather than attracting metal objects, it sucks up all the money on the screen so you don't have to click on the coins yourself to pick them up. After it sucks up the coins, it must wait a few seconds before doing it again. It will attract silver and gold coins, but I have not confirmed it to pick up diamonds. Like the Magnet-shroom, it seems like its detection is based on distance, so the closer a coin is to the Gold Magnet, the faster it will start up its ability. Note that the Gold Magnet is NOT nocturnal, so using a Coffee Bean is not necessary. Strategy: --------Gold Magnets are purely for Marigold farming. A single Gold Magnet can handle about 15 Marigolds before having trouble sucking up all the money. Try to plant them between the Marigold field and behind your defenses so they can detect the Marigold coins and the coins from the zombies faster. Other Notes: -----------Must be purchased from Crazy Dave for $3000. ___________ Spikerock \______________________________________________________________(P47) Statistics -------------------------------------------------------------Cost: 125 Recharge: Very Slow Type: Passive Offense ------------------------------------------------------------

PLANT UPGRADE - Requires Spikeweed Total Cost: 225 -------------------------------------------------------------- Damage: 2 units per second - Range: All zombies on the space it's planted on - Special: Cannot be attacked by most zombies. Instantly kills Catapult Zombies and Zombonis. Description: -----------Any zombie that is on Spikerock's space will take damage. It will also pop the tires of Zombonies and Catapelt zombies, instantly killing them. The difference between Spikerocks and Spikeweeds is that Spikerocks have double the firing speed and can take multiple hits before death rather than instantly dying when popping a vehicle zombie's tires. Gargantuars will also stop and keep beating down the Spikerock, making it the only plant in the game that can withstand more than one hit from the behemoth of all zombies. While not confirmed, Spikerocks seem to be able to take 5 to 6 hits before being destroyed. Its health is indicated by how many prongs it has. Strategy: --------Spikeweeds are already awesome. Spikerocks make them even better. Use the same strategies as Spikeweeds, such as placing them in front of Wall-Nuts. However, they're more useful on the most right column where they can take down the vehicle zombies. I especially recommend them if you're expecting a lot of vehicle zombies or Gargantuars. Other Notes: -----------Must be purchased from Crazy Dave for $7500. ____________ Cob Cannon \_____________________________________________________________(P48) Statistics --------------------------------------------------------Cost: 500 Recharge: Very slow Type: Offense ------------------------------------------------------PLANT UPGRADE - Requires two Kernel-pults side by side Total Cost: 700 --------------------------------------------------------Damage: "Massive" Reload Time: About 20 seconds Firing Range: Any place you choose Damage Range: 3x3 Area of Effect Usage: Click on the cob and then click somewhere you want to fire.

Description: -----------When the Cob Cannon's cob is loaded, click on it and then click on where you want the cob to land. The cannon will then fire the cob into the air, causing it to land with an explosion on the place you selected, killing nearly all kinds of zombies in the blast radius. There's a 3 second delay between selecting the target and the cob impacting.

The Kernel-pults must be planted side by side on the same lane. After planting, the first cob loads in about 5 to 10 seconds. Afterward, it will reload about every 20 seconds. Strategy: --------Cob Cannons are arguably the most powerful plant in the game, having more destructive potential and capable of damaging any zombie regardless of their location. Their power, however, comes at the cost of two spaces and a total of 700 sun! They are the ultimate investment in lawn defense, but is it worth it? That answer depends on whether or not you like Cherry Bombs. Cob Cannons are compareable to Cherry Bombs as they possess the same power and damage radius. Even though a Cob Cannon comes at nearly the cost of five Cherry Bombs, they do have some advantages. Advantages Cob Cannons have over Cherry Bombs: - Reusable - Reload time is half the recharge time of Cherry Bombs - Target area does not need a space to plant on - Target is not snapped to grid. In other words, you can aim between spaces rather than on spaces. - Can be fired on unplantable places, such as the pool without Lilypads, the roof without Flowerpots, ontop graves, spaces destroyed by Doom-shrooms, and ontop other plants. - Fired cobs cannot be eaten by zombies Not only do they have these advantages, but a Cob Cannon used five times will pay off its cost less than the time it takes for three Cherry Bombs to charge. 700, however, is still a big cost to swallow at once. For this reason, Cob Cannons are recommended for later stages of Survival modes, where sun is plentiful and having enough fire power becomes a priority. In actual usage of Cob Cannons, try to use your cobs efficiently by trying to kill as many zombies with the blast. While I don't recommend wasting the cobs on single zombies, it may be necessary to take out priority targets that pierced your defenses. When picking your target, make sure you compensate for the fact that it takes 3 seconds before the cob hits. My biggest complaint about Cob Cannons, however, is that zombies can eat them as fast as any other plant, despite the fact that Cob Cannons are the biggest plant in the game. I personally think that such a large, costly plant should at least have the endurance of a Wall-Nut. But oh well. Just make sure you keep your Cob Cannons protected, preferrably in front of the Sunflowers. Other Notes: -----------Cob Cannons are not only the only plant to use two spaces, but also are the only plant that cannot be protected by a Pumpkin. Bungee Zombies seem to not target Cob Cannons, so they cannot be taken away. They must be purchased from Crazy Dave for $20,000. __________ Imitater \_______________________________________________________________(P49) Statistics

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cost: Same as imitation Recharge: Same as imitation Type: Imitater ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special: Allows you to have two seed pouches of the same plant during a level - Usage: Planted on the ground and then transforms into the plant you selected Description: -----------During the Plant Selection Screen at the beginning of a level, selecting the Imitator will bring up a menu to select a different kind of plant. If you select one, an imitation of the plant you selected will be added to your seed tray. When the imitation plant is placed on the lawn, Imitater needs about 3 seconds to complete its transformation into the plant you specified. Before it transforms, it is vulernable to being damaged and possibly eaten by zombies. However, it will have the same health as a fully healthy plant of its imitation after it transforms (i.e. If it a zombie bites it a couple of times and it transforms into a Wall-Nut, it won't have cracks in it or anything). Imitater plants have the exact same cost and recharge time as the originals. An imitater plant is characterized by its very pale colors. Imitater cannot imitate plant upgrades. Strategy: --------The Imitator is generally useful for plants with slow recharge time that you want to use often, like Massive damage dealers and Wall-Nut variants. Having the original and the Imitater will enable you to use the plant twice as often. Recommended Plants to Copy (in order of usefulness) - Pumpkin - Wall-Nut - Tall-Nut - Jalopeno - Squash - Sea Shroom (Night Pool levels) There are several reasons any strategy can be aided from using as a subtitute Tall-Nuts when the hordes why Pumpkins rank top of the recommended list. Almost by Pumpkins. They're useful at any stage of a level, for Wall-Nuts in the beginning to layering over approach. Finally, you can NEVER get enough of them.

However, there is one major issue you need to keep in mind when using Imitater: the transformation time. Imitaters need a couple of seconds to transform. During this time, they can be eaten by zombies before they get a chance to transform into the plant you want it to be! Make sure you plant the Imitater ahead of the zombies. However, many players may find using up an extra slot for a plant they already have to be rather wasteful. I do admit it would be more worth it if Imitater didn't have the transformation delay and could change into plant upgrades. Other Notes: -----------You can repair Wall-Nut, Tall-Nuts, and Pumpkins using an imitation if you have the Wall-Nut First Aid ability, but doing so is not recommended if a zombie is currently eating the damaged plant. Must be purchased from Crazy Dave for

$30,000. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [S50] F R E Q U E N T L Y A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S -------------------------------------------------1. Question: "Your guide contradicts the game's guide! The game's guides says Winter Melons fire slower and do more damage than Melon-pults, but your guide says it's the same! What gives?!" --------Short Answer: The game's almanac is misleading. Long Answer: When I did my testing for damage, one of the things I noticed was that the game didn't quite meet the expectations I gained from the Suburban Almanac's entries. Its value descriptions are vague, almost always using other plants as a reference, but is not always consistent which plant it compares to. The Cabbage-pult entry, for example, is compared to the Peashooter. Kernel-pult and Melon-pult entries are compared to the Cabbage-pult. This makes sense in theory, but what throws off the whole thing is that the almanac doesn't tell you that Cabbage-pults fire twice as slow for double the damage, making it 'equal' to the Peashooter. The result: the guide suggests that kernels, labeled as doing "light" damage, are less powerful than peas, despite the fact it takes the same amount kernels as the same amount of peas to kill same zombie. The almanac also makes the mistake of comparing Winter Melon's entry to Peashooters rather than the plant the Melon-pult entry was compared to. Winter Melons fire twice as slow as Peashooters and do 4 times the damage. This is also true for Melon-pults, but the Melon-pult entry was compared to Cabbage-pults, Melon-pults doing twice the damage of Cabbage-pults but at the same firing rate. The result is that it can make some players think that Winter Melons are more powerful than Melon-pults. The game's internal plant guide is not written well, which is why there's a discrepancy between it and this guide. 2. Question: "Is it worth using catapult plants on levels other than the Roof?" --------Short Answer: Yes, with exception to Cabbage-pults. Long Answer: All catapults fire twice as slow but typically do more damage to compensate. Your decision to use them on flat-land levels depends on the properties of the individual plants themselves. Kernel-pults, for example, are excellent when dealing with high-priority target such as vehicle zombies and Gargantuars. Melon-pults fire the most powerful projectile in the game and do an area of effect. You should also consider whether the plants are upgradeable or not, which can be important in survival modes. Whether you should use them depends on the strategy. Cabbage-pults, however, are pointless for flat-lands. The Peashooter is faster with projectiles that can be augmented by Torchwood for the same price. 3. Question: "What is 'area of effect' and why do you emphasize them in your strategy listings?"

--------Short Answer: Area of effect attacks hurt zombies at once. I like them because it's better to kill two birds with one stone. Long Answer: Area of Effect (AoE) attacks are extremely beneficial in Plants vs Zombies because you're always against many enemies at once. A Fume-shroom, for example, can kill 4 zombies faster than a Repeater, despite the fact the Repeater has a higher damage output and is more expensive. I like AoE's so much that sometimes I make my lawn defense be nothing but AoE plants. The downside of AoE plants is that the non-"Massive"-damaging ones have a considerably less damage output. Nearly all of them only do 1 unit of damage per second and the projectiles that do more damage (melon splash damage for example) have a limited damage-radius. The best AoE plants, such as Fume-shrooms and Spikeweeds, also have a limited attack range. As a result, AoEs are not effective against tough zombies like vehicle zombies and Gargantuar. The best strategy is to integrate both hard-hitters and AoE plants into your lawn defense. However if you're only up against normal zombies, cone zombies, bucket zombies, and football zombies, then a defense purely of Magnet-shrooms and AoE plants will suffice. 4. Question: "What are the best plants for taking out Balloon Zombies and Pogo Zombies?" --------Short Answer: Cattails if possible for the Balloon Zombies. Tall-Nuts for the Pogo Zombies. Long Answer: Balloon Zombies usually appear on pool levels, and a single Cattail can do the job of 6 Cacti at less the cost. Pogo Zombies are like polevaulters that never lose their pole, so a Tall-Nut will stop them dead in their tracks. 5. Question: "What are the best plants for taking out Gargantuars?" --------Short Answer: Spikerocks with Kernel-pults + Melon-pults, Repeaters/Gatling Peas + Torchwoods, Cob Cannons, and/or Jalopeno + Cherry Bomb Long Answer: Strong plants can do the job if you have enough of them with the right kind of support. Kernel-pults and Snow Peas make excellent support because they slow down the Gargantuar while your plants can keep hammering at them. If you want to kill the Gargantuar quickly, have two massive-damagers at the ready. Jalopenos, Cherry Bombs, and their Imitaters will do the job. If you're expecting a lot of them, Cob Cannons are highly recommended. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [S60] V E R S I O N I N F O R M A T I O N ------------------------------------Version 1.00 ----------+ All plant descriptions finished and damage section written.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [S70] C O N T A C T , C R E D I T S , & L E G A L ----------------------------------------------Plants vs Zombies, its characters, and names are copyrighted 2000-2009 PopCap Games, Inc. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. All information, unless stated otherwise, was derived from gameplay of Plants vs Zombies. This guide copyrighted 2009 "Cyrad" cyrad1{A.T}gmail.com. This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or want to contribute something to the guide, you can email me at cyrad1{A.T}gmail.com. Plants vs. Zombies: Plant Guide by cyrad1 Version 1.00, Last Updated 2009-07-19 View/Download Original File Hosted by GameFAQs Return to Plants vs. Zombies (PC) FAQs & Guides