_______ __ _ __ __ __________ ________/|_
| ___ | | | / | | ||___, ,___|/ _____ //
| | | | | | / | | | | | |_|-
| - | | | / A | | | | | ____
| ___/ | | / | | | | | | ____
| | | | / /--- | | | | | _ / /
| | | |__A / | | | | | | __/ /
_/ |_____|/ __|_| _| |_| ____/
__________
/ __
/ /__
/ __/ .
___________
________ _____ __ __ _______ ___ _______ ______
|_____ / / | / || ___ | || _____|/ __ |
/ / / _ | / || |__/ / | || |___ | |_|
/ / | | | || / || / | || ____| __
/ / _/ /| |__/| || |__ | || | ___
/ /___ / | | | || |__| | | || |____ | |_| |
|______| ----- |_| |_||______/ |__||______| ____/
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Plants vs. Zombies - Plants and Their Strategies
By: emeraldscorpion90 aka Anton Grahame
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Starters:
- This FAQ is designed to document and devise strategies for each of
the different Plants found in the PC game Plants vs. Zombies. As this is my
first FAQ, be advised that any intelligent critiquing would be greatly
appreciated, and encouraged. Also, ctrl-F to skip to a chapter in the FAQ.
There are 49 plants in total, and I am considering adding a zombies section to
this FAQ.
- This FAQ is not intended to introduce players into the game. It is intended
to provide strategies for players new and old alike to hone their skill in this
particular game.
- Also, most of the upgrade plants do not list their damage types in the
in-game Almanac, thus the question marks (?) behind my estimated damage types
listed in this FAQ.
-Please note that the statistics I list here are named slightly differently
than those in the in-game Almanac. "Slow" in the Almanac is "Normal" in this
FAQ, and "Very Slow" in the Almanac is "Slow" in this FAQ, etc.
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--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
[TAB] Table of Contents
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1. Layout .................................................[LAY]
2. Plants .................................................[PLA]
3. FAQ Versions ...........................................[VER]
4. Legal Info .............................................[LEG]
5. Credits and Contact Info ...............................[CRE]
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--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
[LAY] Layout: This is how I plan to display each plant, based on several
statistics. Stats will be followed by strategies I or others have found for
each plant.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
00. Plant Name
-Sun: How much sun it takes to place the plant.
-Damage: How powerful the plant's shots are. Ranges from Low to Massive. Also
will state if a plant is one-use only. Massive damage will kill all types of
zombie except for Gargantuars.
-Extra: Lists ANY extra effects a plant has.
-Recharge: How quickly you can place another of this type of plant. Ranges from
Fast to Slow
-Strategy: This will be strategies I (or others) have found effective in beating
back the zombie horde. Feel free to contact me if you have a strategy you would
like to share!
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--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
[PLN] Plants: Here they are!
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01. Sunflower
-Sun: 50
-Damage: None
-Extra: Produces 25 sun occasionally, even at night.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: This is your basic moneymaker. Usually you'll want AT LEAST 2 of
these before you start building anything else. I generally go for three, and
then take out the first zombie with a single-use plant. The Rake works too.
Whatever you do, keep these AWAY from the zombies. As long as you still have
Sunflowers, you still have a chance to rebuild defenses. You can always get rid
of some of these later when you have the sun and need the space, so keep that
in mind when building your economy.s
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
02. PeaShooter
-Sun: 100
-Damage: Normal
-Extra: None
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Pretty basic first-line defense. These work well early on, but other
types of plants are more efficient at killing higher level zombies.
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03. Cherry Bomb
-Sun: 150
-Damage: Massive, One-usage. Fires instantly.
-Extra: Medium size splash damage.
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: This is your basic "bomb" plant. If further explanation is needed,
you simply plant the Cherry Bomb, it goes boom, and takes out the zombies in
the squares around it. Simple. This one also works well as a last-ditch
defense, or against very durable zombies that just won't go down.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
04. Wall-Nut
-Sun: 50
-Damage: None
-Extra: Prevents most zombies from passing through until they eat it. Also has
an extremely tough shell, making the busy zombies easy pickings.
-Recharge: Medium
-Strategy: Again, simple stuff. Put it in front of your more fragile plants to
buy them enough time to kill the zombies. Some zombies can jump, climb, or fly
over the wall-nuts though, so keep an eye out.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
05. Potato Mine
-Sun: 25
-Damage: Massive, single-usage. Small splash damage (all zombies on its square)
Also can hit miner zombies underground.
-Extra: Starts out buried, so it takes some time to arm itself.Once you see its
eyeballs, you know it's ready to blow some zombies into pieces.
-Recharge: Medium
-Strategy: Since it takes some time to arm, the potato mine is better used as a
plant defense or last line defense. Never plant one of these on top of zombies.
You'll just waste it. You could use it as an impromptu wall, though, if you
just need to land a few more hits on something. Also, certain zombies can avoid
this plant altogether, similarly to the wall-nut. Ladder zombies are still
affected, however.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
06. Snow Pea
-Sun: 175
-Damage: Normal
-Extra: Chills zombies upon hit, slowing them down for a while.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: This is similar in style and shape to the PeaShooter. Use it in
conjunction with other shooters to really put on the hurt. Fireballs caused by
the torchwood can return chilled zombies to their normal state. Additionally,
ice-peas that pass through torchwoods turn into normal peas. [Thanks to
several contributors, check the credits section]
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07. Chomper
-Sun: 150
-Damage: Massive
-Extra: Swallows most small zombies whole, but takes 40 seconds to recharge
while it chews on one.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: This one is nice for zombies that jump/climb over your walls,
but the ungodly 40 second "chewing" time means that you REALLY must protect
this sucker after he takes the first bite. Also, the chomper can bite zombies
behind walls or other plants. [thanks to Eric Bock.]
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
08. Repeater
-Sun: 200
-Damage: Normal (for each pea)
-Extra: Fires Two peas at a time.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Basically, this is two peashooters occupying one space. The nice
thing about repeaters is that you get an extra space in which to plant, as
opposed to the peashooter which must take up two squares of land to provide the
same firepower.
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09. Puff-Shroom
-Sun: 0
-Damage: Normal
-Extra: Short range (about 3 or so squares) (Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: This is my favorite early defense on night levels. It costs NOTHING!
This means you can place these even before sunflowers! I basically will load up
on these early on, and then dig them up to replace them with more powerful,
long-range shooters when I have the sun. I usually go with at least two per row
to start with, and then move onto three, and then to stronger plants.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
10. Sun-Shroom
-Sun: 25
-Damage: None
-Extra: Produces 15 sun at first, but when it grows up it produces 25 sun.
(Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: These make decent sun growers on night levels. When used in
conjunction with plenty of puff-shrooms, the sun-shroom can build you up enough
sun to develop quite the defense! They eventually produce more sun for their
buck than sunflowers on night levels, unless you are doing survival, where
space (and thus twin-sunflowers, more on those later) is crucial.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
11. Fume-Shroom
-Sun: 75
-Damage: Normal, Splash hits all zombies in the fume-cloud.
-Extra: Also, penetrates through screen doors and ladders. (Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: This is an excellent replacement for the puff-shroom later on. I
usually only put one of these down at a time, to maximize their effectiveness,
or I put them down behind wall/tall-nuts, since they are more potent against
groups of zombies caught up behind a wall.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
12. Grave Buster
-Sun: 75
-Damage: None
-Extra: Eats graves. Must be planted on a grave. (single use)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: If you know a level is going to have lots of graves on it, this is
great for removing them. It CAN still be eaten by zombies though, so pick when
you use it wisely. Also, it does not prevent zombies from rising while it is
eating the grave. So, if you see the dirt under the grave churning, do not
plant the Grave Buster there. Yet. Also, graves can pop up where your plants
are, instantly destroying the plant. If you're doing night-survival in the
front yard, don't forget these, or you'll lose a plant AND have no defense
against the inevitable zombie. Also, pole-vaulters will try to jump these.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
13. Hypno-Shroom
-Sun: 75
-Damage: None
-Extra: Turns the zombie that eats it to your side. (Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: The converted zombies turn around and begin walking the other way.
If they hit another zombie, they begin attacking it. Your plants will not shoot
converted zombies. This is EXCELLENT when used against football zombies and
Dancing zombies. The hypnotised dancing zombie will summon hypnotised dancers.
Awesome. Does not work against Gargantuars, or (I assume) against Zombonis.
According to randomguy, however, they DO in fact work against gargantuars (as I
originally had thought), but they must be planted DIRECTLY UNDER the gargantuar
for it to work. I'm going to test this out soon.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
14. Scaredy-Shroom
-Sun: 25
-Damage: Normal
-Extra: Hides when zombies get close, but zombies can still eat it. Long-range
only. (Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Basically the opposite of the puff- and fume-shrooms. Or, you could
consider it a sniper. Except it still does the same amount of damage as a
peashooter. It is MUCH cheaper than the peashooter though. Keep in mind that
close-by zombies in lanes above or below it will still cause it to hide.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
15. Ice-Shroom
-Sun: 75
-Damage: Low, Instant fire, single-usage.
-Extra: Freezes all zombies on the screen. (Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: Excellent for buying yourself some time. Best used when many zombies
are on screen. Hypothetically, you could use this during the day with the
coffee bean, but that makes you spend lots of sun... On the other hand, you
could plant a bunch of these during the day, and only wake them up as you need
them, but your sun could still probably be best spent elsewhere. Also slows
down zombies that have been frozen by it for a little while. Also, the
Ice-Shroom is vital for beating the final boss. I'm sure you can figure it out
when you get there. Here's a hint though: Fire and Ice need opposites.
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16. Doom-Shroom
-Sun: 125
-Damage: Massive, HUGE splash
-Extra: Leaves a crater that cannot be planted in. (Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: Very similar to the cherry-bomb, except it's HUGE. Ever hear of
a mushroom cloud? Yeah, that's what the doom-shroom does. Plant in the middle
of the zombies side slightly after a wave has started to completely demolish
the wave. The crater eventually heals, but it takes some time to do so.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
17. Lilypad
-Sun: 25
-Damage: None
-Extra: Allows you to plant non-aquatic plants on your pool. (Aquatic)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: None really, although zombies have to eat through the plant on top
of the lilypad before eating the pad itself. It COULD act as a barrier in dire
emergencies.
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18. Squash
-Sun: 50
-Damage: Massive, splash hits all zombies in the spot where it lands. Single
usage. Can hit zombies in front, behind, or directly on it's own spot.
-Extra: None really.
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: Can also be used as an instant kill, which makes it more effective
than the potato mine, except it cannot hit miners that are underground. Also a
cheap early defense, use to destroy early zombies while getting your
sun-producers up. Great in vase-breaker, as you can time your vase-smashes to
where all zombies are lined up, and then eliminated with a single squash.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
19. Threepeater
-Sun: 325
-Damage: Normal, for each pea
-Extra: Shoots three peas, one in front, one in the lane above, and one in the
lane below it.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: More expensive than getting three peashooters, but it can really be
worth it. It takes only one space instead of the three you would need normally.
The three-lane fire can really lead to some interesting strategies and combos,
such as having a row of Threepeaters followed by a row of torchwood.
Threepeaters in the topmost and bottommost rows only shoot two peas at a time.
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20. Tangle Kelp
-Sun: 25
-Damage: Massive, single-usage
-Extra: Aquatic
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: Great for getting rid of aquatic zombies, but the slow recharge time
can be frustrating. Also, it works on snorkel zombies when they are underwater,
and dolphin-rider zombies cannot jump over this one. All for just 25 sun!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
21. Jalapeno
-Sun: 125
-Damage: Massive. Splash hits all zombies in the lane the jalapeno is planted
on. Single-usage, instant.
-Extra: none
-Recharge: SLow
-Strategy: Pretty self-explanatory, it has the bonus of removing ice from where
zombonis drive. Also necessary for the boss fight.Again, the hint is: Fire and
Ice need opposites.
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22. Spikeweed
-Sun: 100
-Damage: Normal (Massive against vehicles) Can't hit flyers, and can be jumped.
-Extra: Can't be eaten! Pops tires on zombie vehicles, but when it does it is
destroyed.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Put it on the right side of the screen, where the zombies appear.
Can't be planted in water or pots. Also great for planting just to the right of
a wall/tallnut, or pumpkin. The zombies must stop directly on the spikeweed,
taking huge amounts of damage. These (and their upgrade) bypass screendoors
and ladders too.
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23. Torchwood
-Sun: 175
-Damage: None itself. See extra.
-Extra: Doubles damage of all peas that go through it. Fireball peas do
slight splash damage as well.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Put it in front of lanes of any pea-shooting plant. The fireballs
caused by torchwoods have a slight splash effect, affecting only those zombies
that are extremely nearby the target zombie. [Thanks to Nova] In addition,
see the Snow Peas for info regarding torchwood fireballs and ice-based plants.
Putting Threepeaters behind rows of Torchwood can lead to some pretty fantastic
results. Even better, put the torchwood behind wall- or tall-nuts for maximum
defense and offense. ALSO grants visibility in fog to a space around it.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
24. Tall-Nut
-Sun: 125
-Damage: None
-Extra: Cannot be jumped over, but can be flown over. [Thanks to Corey Philips
and others.]
Also has an even thicker shell than the wall-nut.
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: Basically better than the Wall-nut in every way except for price.
Combining this with a pumpkin to make a nigh-impenetrable defense. Beware:
Ladders can still climb over it.
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25. Sea-Shroom
-Sun: 0
-Damage: Normal, short-range only.
-Extra: Aquatic, Nocturnal
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: Use like puff-shrooms, in the water. Only complaint is its slower
recharge time.
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26. Plantern
-Sun: 25
-Damage: None
-Extra: Clears fog in an area around it.
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: The great thing about these is they let you see what's coming in fog
levels. The problem with them is that they are vulnerable, and to be of any use
they must be somewhere near the zombies' side. Still, they're worth the 25 sun.
Also, these will show you what are in vases in the vase minigames.
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27. Cactus
-Sun: 125
-Damage: Normal
-Extra: Hits ground and air targets. Basically, pops balloons.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: I kinda wish these had gotten some kind of upgrade. They just look
so cool. Anyway, These are not recommended for levels without flying zombies.
It's more cost-efficient to buy pea-shooters than these, plus their spikes
can't turn into fireballs through torch-wood.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
28. Blover
-Sun: 100
-Damage: None
-Extra: Blows away fog. Also, Blows away balloon zombies (read: instant kills)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Only useful for fog levels and levels with balloon zombies. Useless
elsewhere. Note: Fog comes back after a while. In my opinion, Planterns are
better for fog, and use blovers to take out balloons. Recharges faster than
balloon zombies have the chance to spawn, so if you know you can afford the sun
on a level, use this to take care of balloon zombies.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
29. Split pea
-Sun: 125
-Damage: Normal (for each pea)
-Extra: Shoots like a peashooter in front, Shoots like a Repeater behind it.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: These spit the most peas for their money. They may seem like they
are only useful against miners, but they are actually quite helpful when a
zombie gets past your front line. Simply replace one of your eaten plants with
a Split Pea, and he might kill the offending zombie before it gets to your
sunflowers, lawnmower, or even BRAINS! IN addition, it will help defend against
against forward attacks. A possible strategy is placing a garlic in front of
and just behind and to the side of this plant, in order to maneuver zombies
behind it.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
30. Starfruit
-Sun: 125
-Damage: Normal in five (count 'em) FIVE directions.
-Extra: Shoots backward, sideways, and diagonally forwards left and right.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: You better cover this guy. He is defenseless against zombies walking
straight for him, but he is decent in the fact that he shoots 5 stars at once.
Personally not my favorite, but it can be useful in groups. Hits zombies eating
them with two stars at once, but at that point it's probably dead anyway.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
31. Pumpkin
-Sun: 125
-Damage: None
-Extra: High Defense (like a wall-nut). Can be planted on another plant.
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: Plant this on a Wall- or Tall-Nut to create a Nearly impenetrable
defense. Of course, the ladder zombie negates this, but when combined with
magnet-shrooms, this defense can really be unstoppable. Or, plant these on your
shooters to give them wall-nut-esque health. Really a versatile plant.
Doesn't protect plants from bungee zombies though.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
32. Magnet-Shroom
-Sun: 100
-Damage: None
-Extra: Steals Buckets, Football Helmets, Ladders, Pogo Sticks, Screen Doors,
Jack-in-the-boxes, and Mining Helmets from zombies, robbing them of their
effects. (If I missed anything let me know)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Plant behind a wall to help defend against ladders, and to remove
the high defense of buckets, screen doors, and football helmets. Only weakness
is javelins (if you're using wall-nuts). When planted behind a Pumpkin-ed
Tall-nut, the defensive power is Stunning. These are worthwhile enough to take
into daytime levels, when combined with coffee-beans of course. Also can take
Ladders off of your wall/tallnuts.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
33. Cabbage-Pult
-Sun: 100
-Damage: Normal
-Extra: Lobbed shots
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: As far as I can tell, it's just a different kind of peashooter.
Except you have to use this one when you are on the roof, apparently because
the angle of the roof upsets the peashooters shot. Go figure. I have noticed,
however, that any of the "lobbed" shooters go straight over screen-doors to hit
the zombie directly, much like how the fume-shroom's shot goes through it. The
damage level displayed on the almanac is misleading, however, as it's cabbages
do twice the damage of peas, but it fires twice as slowly, which averages out
to "normal" damage. Brian Kraft also pointed out to me that any of the plants
with "Lobbed" shots can hit snorkel zombies when they are underwater.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
34. Flower Pot
-Sun: 25
-Damage: None
-Extra: Let's you plant plants on the roof.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Basically a lily-pad for your roof, but these are ESSENTIAL in
planting anything up there. There are no plants that can be planted straight on
the roof, so if you're stuck on the roof with no flower pots, you're screwed.
ON the plus side, the zombies have to eat through the plant in the pot as well
as the pot itself.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
35. Kernel-Pult
-Sun: 100
-Damage: Medium-low (kernels), Normal (Butter)
-Extra: Lobbed shots. Random butter shots immobilize zombies.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: The butter effect is awesome, these are probably more useful than
cabbage-pults, simply for the butter effect. They truly shine when used in
conjunction with other plants though.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
36. Coffee Bean
-Sun: 75
-Damage: None
-Extra: Can be planted on mushrooms. Wakes them up during the day.
(Single-Usage, Instant)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Best use I've seen for it thus far is on the Magnet-Shroom. The
mushrooms are generally too weak to be bothered with otherwise. Sure, you can
puff-shrooms for 0 sun, but when you tack on the 75 sun cost of the coffee
bean, it just isn't worth it. Also, you can plant it on daytime plants, but to
my knowledge it doesn't do anything to them.
--------- --------- --------- ---------- --------- ---------
37. Garlic
-Sun: 50
-Damage: None
-Extra: Diverts zombies into other lanes.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: One interesting srategy with Garlic is putting two of them next
to each other on the grass in pool levels. The zombies will bounce back and
forth between the lanes for a while, making them easier pickings, especially
for melon-pults. After a while though, the garlic dissappears from being slowly
eaten by the passing zombies. Also, the zombies slowly move forward even while
being bounced, but their speed is drastically reduced. Another strategy with
Garlic involves putting Garlic in front of lanes made entirely of sunflowers
(or Marigolds if you want tons of money) and then putting the other lanes full
of attackers. Threepeaters can be deadly here, doing damage before the lane
swap occurs.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
38. Umbrella Leaf
-Sun: 100
-Damage: None
-Extra: Reflects Bungee-zombies and the basketballs lobbed by Catapult-zombies.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Place these directly in the middle of a group of plants to give them
instant protection during levels with bungees and catapults. If a bungee is
coming down to drop a zombie, both bungee and dropped zombie are reflected!
Keep in mind that this only protects the plants around it, i.e. in this
formation where p is a protected plant, and U is the umbrella leaf:
p p p
p U p
p p p
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
39. Marigold
-Sun: 50
-Damage: None
-Extra: Occasionally spits out Gold and Silver coins
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: This plant exists purely to generate coins. If you're trying to save
up for something expensive, play an easy, long level and plant plenty of these.
Using Golden-magnets when doing this makes the coin-collection much easier too.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
40. Melon-Pult
-Sun: 300
-Damage: Heavy
-Extra: Damages closely grouped zombies. Lobbed shots.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: These are easily one of the best zombie killing devices in the game.
Like vthe almanac says, they're the most killing for their money. The splash
damage only affects the zombies that are about a square away, so don't expect
huge explosions.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
41. Gatling Pea
-Sun: 250
-Damage: Normal (For each pea)
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $5,000. Shoots FOUR peas at once.
Plant over Repeaters.
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: These are more expensive than they are worth. Sure they only take up
one space on the field, but you can really get the same firepower from a
repeater and a torchwood. Or two repeaters. And THOSE two methods are cheaper,
particularly the torchwood method. If you need the space, however, this upgrade
can be worth the extra sun. These plus torchwood are pretty epic though, I'll
be the first to admit.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
42. Twin Sunflower
-Sun: 150
-Damage: None
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $5,000. Gives out two 25 suns. Plant
over Sunflowers.
occasionally.
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: These don't require a lot of strategy, as their main purpose is to
upgrade the Sunflower. Good for levels where space is crucial.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
43. Gloom-Shroom
-Sun: 150
-Damage: Normal(?) x4.
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $7,500. Plant over Fume-Shrooms. Can
hit zombies one square in every direction around it, all at the same time.
(Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: kirbysdl has an excellent money-making technique in his faq over on
GameFAQs. Other than that, it's an excellent zombie killing technique as well,
if you don't need money, plant other types of plants as needed. Really, his
gloom-shroom technique is probably the best I've ever seen. A few alterations
are required if you don't yet have the 9- or 10-slot upgrade, but its still
very good.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
44. Cat-Tail
-Sun: 225
-Damage: Normal(?) x4
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $10,000. Plant over Lily Pads.
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: These can only be planted in the pool (on lilypads), but their four
needle shots can attack anyone on the field with their homing capabilities.
Unfortunately, if a particular needle's target is killed before the needle
reaches it, the needle will harmlessly fly past without hitting anything else.
This means that a lot of the time, entire volleys of these spikes will soar
straight through other zombies without causing damage. Choose how often you use
these plants wisely, as they are expensive indeed. Pops balloons, but for the
most part, blovers are better at removing large amounts of balloons.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
45. SpikeRock
-Sun: 125
-Damage: Normal(?) x2 (Massive[?] on vehicles)
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $7,500. Plant over SpikeWeeds. Can
pop many tires before being destroyed.
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: It's like an Uber-SpikeWeed. Just plant near the edge where zombies
come in, and you will ease the load on your shooters. Yeah. Fun stuff. It takes
Gargantuars several hits to destroy them, so they're good for stalling tactics.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
46. Golden Magnet
-Sun: 50
-Damage: None
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $3,000. Plant over Magnet-shrooms.
Only attracts silver and gold coins, and gems. [Thanks to Corey Philips]
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: Plant one of these somewhere where it will be well defended. A great
use for these is planting a bunch of Marigolds, and then putting one of these
somewhere. It collects coins from a great distance, then waits a while
before doing it again. I just found out that planting one of these on a magnet-
shroom allows you to skip the coffee bean. If you plan on putting one of these
down during the day, you don't have to spend the 75 sun it takes to wake up
the magnet-shroom! You can just put it on the magnet-shroom, and watch it wake
up automatically!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
47. Winter-Melon
-Sun: 200
-Damage: Heavy
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $10,000. Plant over Melon-Pults.
Chills groups of zombies, making them slower.
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: Probably the best plant in the game, several of these can topple
even a Gargantuar by themselves. Otherwise, use these in place of where you
would normally use a Melon-pult/Snow-pea combo. Seriously, I can't stress how
great these are. Combined with spikeweed/rock, these can hold zombies off to
the very edge of the screen. Damage is actually the same as the melon-pult, but
the almanac claims that these do more. The almanac also claims that they fire
slower, but in reality, they fire at the same speed.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
48. Cob Launcher
-Sun: 500
-Damage: Massive
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $20,000. Plant over two Kernal-Pults
that are side by side in one lane.
Medium size explosions like the Cherry bomb.
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: This is the Missile Launcher of the game. It takes a while to reload
cobs, but since you get an unlimited number of cobs, it is worth it in longer
games, like survival. You also have to click on this plant to fire it, and when
you do, you can target anywhere on the map that you wish to fire at. Just be
careful when trying to click for sun, as you might accidentally click a cob and
fire off on of your missiles. :S Several of these are great for dealing with
Gargantuars, but be careful of the imps they throw, since just one can kill
your poor plant with ease. Also, you CANNOT plant pumpkins on these.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
49. Imitater
-Sun: N/A
-Damage: N/A
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $30,000. Allows you to pick TWO of
the same plant in one round.
-Recharge: N/A
-Strategy: Basically, this turns into another plant. Best used on a SLOW
recharging plant, or one-use plants. This gives you TWO chances to do massive
damage. This is especially helpful against Gargantuar, because two Massive
damages will kill a Gargantuar. Just remember that ALL characteristics of the
cloned plant are the same as the plant being imitated. There is a slight delay
before the imitater transforms, so be careful when using in large groups of
zombies. It might get eaten before transforming! This makes it less useful on
cherry-bombs, or on pumpkins being used for an instant-defense.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
[VER] Versions
-Version 0.9 - Added most plants, plant info, except for some of the "upgrade"
plants.
-Version 1.0 - Additional info on several plants, and the rest of
the "upgrade" plants have been added. Addendum to introduction. 1st version of
FAQ complete. Please send me strategies for different plants! kthxbye!
-Version 1.1 - Changed some info on certain plants. Added strategies from
emails.
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--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
[LEG] Legal Info
-The information in this FAQ may be used freely by anyone, credit need not be
given, but is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
-All plant and zombie names I believe are Copyrighted by PopCap.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
[CRD] Credits and Contact Info
Credits
-PopCap for developing this awesome game.
-So many people wrote in about the Torchwoods and snow-peas, etc, that I don't
know who to thank! You know who you are, so give yourselves a pat on the back!
The same goes to everyone who wrote me about magnet-shrooms and jack-in-the-box
bombs. Thanks everyone!
-Corey Philips for the info on Golden Magnets and Tall-Nuts.
-Nova for the torchwood info.
-Erick Bock for Chomper info.
-SpikeRosered for various strategy on plants.
-TL333s for magnet-shroom info.
-Brandon Kong for info on cabbage-pults attack value.
-randomguy for plenty of info on various plants! Thanks so much!
-Brandon Smith for info on imitaters.
-Cameron Shawver for cool info on grave-busters.
-Ben Chen for a good amount of info on many plants.
-Kobe for split-pea and spike-weed info.
If I didn't give you credit and you want it, please feel free to e-mail me. I'd
be happy to accomodate!
| ___ | | | / | | ||___, ,___|/ _____ //
| | | | | | / | | | | | |_|-
| - | | | / A | | | | | ____
| ___/ | | / | | | | | | ____
| | | | / /--- | | | | | _ / /
| | | |__A / | | | | | | __/ /
_/ |_____|/ __|_| _| |_| ____/
__________
/ __
/ /__
/ __/ .
___________
________ _____ __ __ _______ ___ _______ ______
|_____ / / | / || ___ | || _____|/ __ |
/ / / _ | / || |__/ / | || |___ | |_|
/ / | | | || / || / | || ____| __
/ / _/ /| |__/| || |__ | || | ___
/ /___ / | | | || |__| | | || |____ | |_| |
|______| ----- |_| |_||______/ |__||______| ____/
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Plants vs. Zombies - Plants and Their Strategies
By: emeraldscorpion90 aka Anton Grahame
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
- This FAQ is designed to document and devise strategies for each of
the different Plants found in the PC game Plants vs. Zombies. As this is my
first FAQ, be advised that any intelligent critiquing would be greatly
appreciated, and encouraged. Also, ctrl-F to skip to a chapter in the FAQ.
There are 49 plants in total, and I am considering adding a zombies section to
this FAQ.
- This FAQ is not intended to introduce players into the game. It is intended
to provide strategies for players new and old alike to hone their skill in this
particular game.
- Also, most of the upgrade plants do not list their damage types in the
in-game Almanac, thus the question marks (?) behind my estimated damage types
listed in this FAQ.
-Please note that the statistics I list here are named slightly differently
than those in the in-game Almanac. "Slow" in the Almanac is "Normal" in this
FAQ, and "Very Slow" in the Almanac is "Slow" in this FAQ, etc.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
[TAB] Table of Contents
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
1. Layout .................................................[LAY]
2. Plants .................................................[PLA]
3. FAQ Versions ...........................................[VER]
4. Legal Info .............................................[LEG]
5. Credits and Contact Info ...............................[CRE]
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
[LAY] Layout: This is how I plan to display each plant, based on several
statistics. Stats will be followed by strategies I or others have found for
each plant.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
00. Plant Name
-Sun: How much sun it takes to place the plant.
-Damage: How powerful the plant's shots are. Ranges from Low to Massive. Also
will state if a plant is one-use only. Massive damage will kill all types of
zombie except for Gargantuars.
-Extra: Lists ANY extra effects a plant has.
-Recharge: How quickly you can place another of this type of plant. Ranges from
Fast to Slow
-Strategy: This will be strategies I (or others) have found effective in beating
back the zombie horde. Feel free to contact me if you have a strategy you would
like to share!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
[PLN] Plants: Here they are!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
01. Sunflower
-Sun: 50
-Damage: None
-Extra: Produces 25 sun occasionally, even at night.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: This is your basic moneymaker. Usually you'll want AT LEAST 2 of
these before you start building anything else. I generally go for three, and
then take out the first zombie with a single-use plant. The Rake works too.
Whatever you do, keep these AWAY from the zombies. As long as you still have
Sunflowers, you still have a chance to rebuild defenses. You can always get rid
of some of these later when you have the sun and need the space, so keep that
in mind when building your economy.s
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
02. PeaShooter
-Sun: 100
-Damage: Normal
-Extra: None
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Pretty basic first-line defense. These work well early on, but other
types of plants are more efficient at killing higher level zombies.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
03. Cherry Bomb
-Sun: 150
-Damage: Massive, One-usage. Fires instantly.
-Extra: Medium size splash damage.
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: This is your basic "bomb" plant. If further explanation is needed,
you simply plant the Cherry Bomb, it goes boom, and takes out the zombies in
the squares around it. Simple. This one also works well as a last-ditch
defense, or against very durable zombies that just won't go down.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
04. Wall-Nut
-Sun: 50
-Damage: None
-Extra: Prevents most zombies from passing through until they eat it. Also has
an extremely tough shell, making the busy zombies easy pickings.
-Recharge: Medium
-Strategy: Again, simple stuff. Put it in front of your more fragile plants to
buy them enough time to kill the zombies. Some zombies can jump, climb, or fly
over the wall-nuts though, so keep an eye out.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
05. Potato Mine
-Sun: 25
-Damage: Massive, single-usage. Small splash damage (all zombies on its square)
Also can hit miner zombies underground.
-Extra: Starts out buried, so it takes some time to arm itself.Once you see its
eyeballs, you know it's ready to blow some zombies into pieces.
-Recharge: Medium
-Strategy: Since it takes some time to arm, the potato mine is better used as a
plant defense or last line defense. Never plant one of these on top of zombies.
You'll just waste it. You could use it as an impromptu wall, though, if you
just need to land a few more hits on something. Also, certain zombies can avoid
this plant altogether, similarly to the wall-nut. Ladder zombies are still
affected, however.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
06. Snow Pea
-Sun: 175
-Damage: Normal
-Extra: Chills zombies upon hit, slowing them down for a while.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: This is similar in style and shape to the PeaShooter. Use it in
conjunction with other shooters to really put on the hurt. Fireballs caused by
the torchwood can return chilled zombies to their normal state. Additionally,
ice-peas that pass through torchwoods turn into normal peas. [Thanks to
several contributors, check the credits section]
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
07. Chomper
-Sun: 150
-Damage: Massive
-Extra: Swallows most small zombies whole, but takes 40 seconds to recharge
while it chews on one.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: This one is nice for zombies that jump/climb over your walls,
but the ungodly 40 second "chewing" time means that you REALLY must protect
this sucker after he takes the first bite. Also, the chomper can bite zombies
behind walls or other plants. [thanks to Eric Bock.]
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
08. Repeater
-Sun: 200
-Damage: Normal (for each pea)
-Extra: Fires Two peas at a time.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Basically, this is two peashooters occupying one space. The nice
thing about repeaters is that you get an extra space in which to plant, as
opposed to the peashooter which must take up two squares of land to provide the
same firepower.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
09. Puff-Shroom
-Sun: 0
-Damage: Normal
-Extra: Short range (about 3 or so squares) (Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: This is my favorite early defense on night levels. It costs NOTHING!
This means you can place these even before sunflowers! I basically will load up
on these early on, and then dig them up to replace them with more powerful,
long-range shooters when I have the sun. I usually go with at least two per row
to start with, and then move onto three, and then to stronger plants.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
10. Sun-Shroom
-Sun: 25
-Damage: None
-Extra: Produces 15 sun at first, but when it grows up it produces 25 sun.
(Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: These make decent sun growers on night levels. When used in
conjunction with plenty of puff-shrooms, the sun-shroom can build you up enough
sun to develop quite the defense! They eventually produce more sun for their
buck than sunflowers on night levels, unless you are doing survival, where
space (and thus twin-sunflowers, more on those later) is crucial.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
11. Fume-Shroom
-Sun: 75
-Damage: Normal, Splash hits all zombies in the fume-cloud.
-Extra: Also, penetrates through screen doors and ladders. (Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: This is an excellent replacement for the puff-shroom later on. I
usually only put one of these down at a time, to maximize their effectiveness,
or I put them down behind wall/tall-nuts, since they are more potent against
groups of zombies caught up behind a wall.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
12. Grave Buster
-Sun: 75
-Damage: None
-Extra: Eats graves. Must be planted on a grave. (single use)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: If you know a level is going to have lots of graves on it, this is
great for removing them. It CAN still be eaten by zombies though, so pick when
you use it wisely. Also, it does not prevent zombies from rising while it is
eating the grave. So, if you see the dirt under the grave churning, do not
plant the Grave Buster there. Yet. Also, graves can pop up where your plants
are, instantly destroying the plant. If you're doing night-survival in the
front yard, don't forget these, or you'll lose a plant AND have no defense
against the inevitable zombie. Also, pole-vaulters will try to jump these.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
13. Hypno-Shroom
-Sun: 75
-Damage: None
-Extra: Turns the zombie that eats it to your side. (Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: The converted zombies turn around and begin walking the other way.
If they hit another zombie, they begin attacking it. Your plants will not shoot
converted zombies. This is EXCELLENT when used against football zombies and
Dancing zombies. The hypnotised dancing zombie will summon hypnotised dancers.
Awesome. Does not work against Gargantuars, or (I assume) against Zombonis.
According to randomguy, however, they DO in fact work against gargantuars (as I
originally had thought), but they must be planted DIRECTLY UNDER the gargantuar
for it to work. I'm going to test this out soon.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
14. Scaredy-Shroom
-Sun: 25
-Damage: Normal
-Extra: Hides when zombies get close, but zombies can still eat it. Long-range
only. (Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Basically the opposite of the puff- and fume-shrooms. Or, you could
consider it a sniper. Except it still does the same amount of damage as a
peashooter. It is MUCH cheaper than the peashooter though. Keep in mind that
close-by zombies in lanes above or below it will still cause it to hide.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
15. Ice-Shroom
-Sun: 75
-Damage: Low, Instant fire, single-usage.
-Extra: Freezes all zombies on the screen. (Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: Excellent for buying yourself some time. Best used when many zombies
are on screen. Hypothetically, you could use this during the day with the
coffee bean, but that makes you spend lots of sun... On the other hand, you
could plant a bunch of these during the day, and only wake them up as you need
them, but your sun could still probably be best spent elsewhere. Also slows
down zombies that have been frozen by it for a little while. Also, the
Ice-Shroom is vital for beating the final boss. I'm sure you can figure it out
when you get there. Here's a hint though: Fire and Ice need opposites.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
16. Doom-Shroom
-Sun: 125
-Damage: Massive, HUGE splash
-Extra: Leaves a crater that cannot be planted in. (Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: Very similar to the cherry-bomb, except it's HUGE. Ever hear of
a mushroom cloud? Yeah, that's what the doom-shroom does. Plant in the middle
of the zombies side slightly after a wave has started to completely demolish
the wave. The crater eventually heals, but it takes some time to do so.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
17. Lilypad
-Sun: 25
-Damage: None
-Extra: Allows you to plant non-aquatic plants on your pool. (Aquatic)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: None really, although zombies have to eat through the plant on top
of the lilypad before eating the pad itself. It COULD act as a barrier in dire
emergencies.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
18. Squash
-Sun: 50
-Damage: Massive, splash hits all zombies in the spot where it lands. Single
usage. Can hit zombies in front, behind, or directly on it's own spot.
-Extra: None really.
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: Can also be used as an instant kill, which makes it more effective
than the potato mine, except it cannot hit miners that are underground. Also a
cheap early defense, use to destroy early zombies while getting your
sun-producers up. Great in vase-breaker, as you can time your vase-smashes to
where all zombies are lined up, and then eliminated with a single squash.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
19. Threepeater
-Sun: 325
-Damage: Normal, for each pea
-Extra: Shoots three peas, one in front, one in the lane above, and one in the
lane below it.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: More expensive than getting three peashooters, but it can really be
worth it. It takes only one space instead of the three you would need normally.
The three-lane fire can really lead to some interesting strategies and combos,
such as having a row of Threepeaters followed by a row of torchwood.
Threepeaters in the topmost and bottommost rows only shoot two peas at a time.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
20. Tangle Kelp
-Sun: 25
-Damage: Massive, single-usage
-Extra: Aquatic
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: Great for getting rid of aquatic zombies, but the slow recharge time
can be frustrating. Also, it works on snorkel zombies when they are underwater,
and dolphin-rider zombies cannot jump over this one. All for just 25 sun!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
21. Jalapeno
-Sun: 125
-Damage: Massive. Splash hits all zombies in the lane the jalapeno is planted
on. Single-usage, instant.
-Extra: none
-Recharge: SLow
-Strategy: Pretty self-explanatory, it has the bonus of removing ice from where
zombonis drive. Also necessary for the boss fight.Again, the hint is: Fire and
Ice need opposites.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
22. Spikeweed
-Sun: 100
-Damage: Normal (Massive against vehicles) Can't hit flyers, and can be jumped.
-Extra: Can't be eaten! Pops tires on zombie vehicles, but when it does it is
destroyed.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Put it on the right side of the screen, where the zombies appear.
Can't be planted in water or pots. Also great for planting just to the right of
a wall/tallnut, or pumpkin. The zombies must stop directly on the spikeweed,
taking huge amounts of damage. These (and their upgrade) bypass screendoors
and ladders too.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
23. Torchwood
-Sun: 175
-Damage: None itself. See extra.
-Extra: Doubles damage of all peas that go through it. Fireball peas do
slight splash damage as well.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Put it in front of lanes of any pea-shooting plant. The fireballs
caused by torchwoods have a slight splash effect, affecting only those zombies
that are extremely nearby the target zombie. [Thanks to Nova] In addition,
see the Snow Peas for info regarding torchwood fireballs and ice-based plants.
Putting Threepeaters behind rows of Torchwood can lead to some pretty fantastic
results. Even better, put the torchwood behind wall- or tall-nuts for maximum
defense and offense. ALSO grants visibility in fog to a space around it.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
24. Tall-Nut
-Sun: 125
-Damage: None
-Extra: Cannot be jumped over, but can be flown over. [Thanks to Corey Philips
and others.]
Also has an even thicker shell than the wall-nut.
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: Basically better than the Wall-nut in every way except for price.
Combining this with a pumpkin to make a nigh-impenetrable defense. Beware:
Ladders can still climb over it.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
25. Sea-Shroom
-Sun: 0
-Damage: Normal, short-range only.
-Extra: Aquatic, Nocturnal
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: Use like puff-shrooms, in the water. Only complaint is its slower
recharge time.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
26. Plantern
-Sun: 25
-Damage: None
-Extra: Clears fog in an area around it.
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: The great thing about these is they let you see what's coming in fog
levels. The problem with them is that they are vulnerable, and to be of any use
they must be somewhere near the zombies' side. Still, they're worth the 25 sun.
Also, these will show you what are in vases in the vase minigames.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
27. Cactus
-Sun: 125
-Damage: Normal
-Extra: Hits ground and air targets. Basically, pops balloons.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: I kinda wish these had gotten some kind of upgrade. They just look
so cool. Anyway, These are not recommended for levels without flying zombies.
It's more cost-efficient to buy pea-shooters than these, plus their spikes
can't turn into fireballs through torch-wood.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
28. Blover
-Sun: 100
-Damage: None
-Extra: Blows away fog. Also, Blows away balloon zombies (read: instant kills)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Only useful for fog levels and levels with balloon zombies. Useless
elsewhere. Note: Fog comes back after a while. In my opinion, Planterns are
better for fog, and use blovers to take out balloons. Recharges faster than
balloon zombies have the chance to spawn, so if you know you can afford the sun
on a level, use this to take care of balloon zombies.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
29. Split pea
-Sun: 125
-Damage: Normal (for each pea)
-Extra: Shoots like a peashooter in front, Shoots like a Repeater behind it.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: These spit the most peas for their money. They may seem like they
are only useful against miners, but they are actually quite helpful when a
zombie gets past your front line. Simply replace one of your eaten plants with
a Split Pea, and he might kill the offending zombie before it gets to your
sunflowers, lawnmower, or even BRAINS! IN addition, it will help defend against
against forward attacks. A possible strategy is placing a garlic in front of
and just behind and to the side of this plant, in order to maneuver zombies
behind it.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
30. Starfruit
-Sun: 125
-Damage: Normal in five (count 'em) FIVE directions.
-Extra: Shoots backward, sideways, and diagonally forwards left and right.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: You better cover this guy. He is defenseless against zombies walking
straight for him, but he is decent in the fact that he shoots 5 stars at once.
Personally not my favorite, but it can be useful in groups. Hits zombies eating
them with two stars at once, but at that point it's probably dead anyway.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
31. Pumpkin
-Sun: 125
-Damage: None
-Extra: High Defense (like a wall-nut). Can be planted on another plant.
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: Plant this on a Wall- or Tall-Nut to create a Nearly impenetrable
defense. Of course, the ladder zombie negates this, but when combined with
magnet-shrooms, this defense can really be unstoppable. Or, plant these on your
shooters to give them wall-nut-esque health. Really a versatile plant.
Doesn't protect plants from bungee zombies though.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
32. Magnet-Shroom
-Sun: 100
-Damage: None
-Extra: Steals Buckets, Football Helmets, Ladders, Pogo Sticks, Screen Doors,
Jack-in-the-boxes, and Mining Helmets from zombies, robbing them of their
effects. (If I missed anything let me know)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Plant behind a wall to help defend against ladders, and to remove
the high defense of buckets, screen doors, and football helmets. Only weakness
is javelins (if you're using wall-nuts). When planted behind a Pumpkin-ed
Tall-nut, the defensive power is Stunning. These are worthwhile enough to take
into daytime levels, when combined with coffee-beans of course. Also can take
Ladders off of your wall/tallnuts.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
33. Cabbage-Pult
-Sun: 100
-Damage: Normal
-Extra: Lobbed shots
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: As far as I can tell, it's just a different kind of peashooter.
Except you have to use this one when you are on the roof, apparently because
the angle of the roof upsets the peashooters shot. Go figure. I have noticed,
however, that any of the "lobbed" shooters go straight over screen-doors to hit
the zombie directly, much like how the fume-shroom's shot goes through it. The
damage level displayed on the almanac is misleading, however, as it's cabbages
do twice the damage of peas, but it fires twice as slowly, which averages out
to "normal" damage. Brian Kraft also pointed out to me that any of the plants
with "Lobbed" shots can hit snorkel zombies when they are underwater.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
34. Flower Pot
-Sun: 25
-Damage: None
-Extra: Let's you plant plants on the roof.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Basically a lily-pad for your roof, but these are ESSENTIAL in
planting anything up there. There are no plants that can be planted straight on
the roof, so if you're stuck on the roof with no flower pots, you're screwed.
ON the plus side, the zombies have to eat through the plant in the pot as well
as the pot itself.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
35. Kernel-Pult
-Sun: 100
-Damage: Medium-low (kernels), Normal (Butter)
-Extra: Lobbed shots. Random butter shots immobilize zombies.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: The butter effect is awesome, these are probably more useful than
cabbage-pults, simply for the butter effect. They truly shine when used in
conjunction with other plants though.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
36. Coffee Bean
-Sun: 75
-Damage: None
-Extra: Can be planted on mushrooms. Wakes them up during the day.
(Single-Usage, Instant)
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Best use I've seen for it thus far is on the Magnet-Shroom. The
mushrooms are generally too weak to be bothered with otherwise. Sure, you can
puff-shrooms for 0 sun, but when you tack on the 75 sun cost of the coffee
bean, it just isn't worth it. Also, you can plant it on daytime plants, but to
my knowledge it doesn't do anything to them.
--------- --------- --------- ---------- --------- ---------
37. Garlic
-Sun: 50
-Damage: None
-Extra: Diverts zombies into other lanes.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: One interesting srategy with Garlic is putting two of them next
to each other on the grass in pool levels. The zombies will bounce back and
forth between the lanes for a while, making them easier pickings, especially
for melon-pults. After a while though, the garlic dissappears from being slowly
eaten by the passing zombies. Also, the zombies slowly move forward even while
being bounced, but their speed is drastically reduced. Another strategy with
Garlic involves putting Garlic in front of lanes made entirely of sunflowers
(or Marigolds if you want tons of money) and then putting the other lanes full
of attackers. Threepeaters can be deadly here, doing damage before the lane
swap occurs.
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
38. Umbrella Leaf
-Sun: 100
-Damage: None
-Extra: Reflects Bungee-zombies and the basketballs lobbed by Catapult-zombies.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: Place these directly in the middle of a group of plants to give them
instant protection during levels with bungees and catapults. If a bungee is
coming down to drop a zombie, both bungee and dropped zombie are reflected!
Keep in mind that this only protects the plants around it, i.e. in this
formation where p is a protected plant, and U is the umbrella leaf:
p p p
p U p
p p p
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39. Marigold
-Sun: 50
-Damage: None
-Extra: Occasionally spits out Gold and Silver coins
-Recharge: Normal
-Strategy: This plant exists purely to generate coins. If you're trying to save
up for something expensive, play an easy, long level and plant plenty of these.
Using Golden-magnets when doing this makes the coin-collection much easier too.
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40. Melon-Pult
-Sun: 300
-Damage: Heavy
-Extra: Damages closely grouped zombies. Lobbed shots.
-Recharge: Fast
-Strategy: These are easily one of the best zombie killing devices in the game.
Like vthe almanac says, they're the most killing for their money. The splash
damage only affects the zombies that are about a square away, so don't expect
huge explosions.
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41. Gatling Pea
-Sun: 250
-Damage: Normal (For each pea)
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $5,000. Shoots FOUR peas at once.
Plant over Repeaters.
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: These are more expensive than they are worth. Sure they only take up
one space on the field, but you can really get the same firepower from a
repeater and a torchwood. Or two repeaters. And THOSE two methods are cheaper,
particularly the torchwood method. If you need the space, however, this upgrade
can be worth the extra sun. These plus torchwood are pretty epic though, I'll
be the first to admit.
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42. Twin Sunflower
-Sun: 150
-Damage: None
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $5,000. Gives out two 25 suns. Plant
over Sunflowers.
occasionally.
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: These don't require a lot of strategy, as their main purpose is to
upgrade the Sunflower. Good for levels where space is crucial.
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43. Gloom-Shroom
-Sun: 150
-Damage: Normal(?) x4.
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $7,500. Plant over Fume-Shrooms. Can
hit zombies one square in every direction around it, all at the same time.
(Nocturnal)
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: kirbysdl has an excellent money-making technique in his faq over on
GameFAQs. Other than that, it's an excellent zombie killing technique as well,
if you don't need money, plant other types of plants as needed. Really, his
gloom-shroom technique is probably the best I've ever seen. A few alterations
are required if you don't yet have the 9- or 10-slot upgrade, but its still
very good.
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44. Cat-Tail
-Sun: 225
-Damage: Normal(?) x4
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $10,000. Plant over Lily Pads.
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: These can only be planted in the pool (on lilypads), but their four
needle shots can attack anyone on the field with their homing capabilities.
Unfortunately, if a particular needle's target is killed before the needle
reaches it, the needle will harmlessly fly past without hitting anything else.
This means that a lot of the time, entire volleys of these spikes will soar
straight through other zombies without causing damage. Choose how often you use
these plants wisely, as they are expensive indeed. Pops balloons, but for the
most part, blovers are better at removing large amounts of balloons.
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45. SpikeRock
-Sun: 125
-Damage: Normal(?) x2 (Massive[?] on vehicles)
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $7,500. Plant over SpikeWeeds. Can
pop many tires before being destroyed.
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: It's like an Uber-SpikeWeed. Just plant near the edge where zombies
come in, and you will ease the load on your shooters. Yeah. Fun stuff. It takes
Gargantuars several hits to destroy them, so they're good for stalling tactics.
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46. Golden Magnet
-Sun: 50
-Damage: None
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $3,000. Plant over Magnet-shrooms.
Only attracts silver and gold coins, and gems. [Thanks to Corey Philips]
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: Plant one of these somewhere where it will be well defended. A great
use for these is planting a bunch of Marigolds, and then putting one of these
somewhere. It collects coins from a great distance, then waits a while
before doing it again. I just found out that planting one of these on a magnet-
shroom allows you to skip the coffee bean. If you plan on putting one of these
down during the day, you don't have to spend the 75 sun it takes to wake up
the magnet-shroom! You can just put it on the magnet-shroom, and watch it wake
up automatically!
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47. Winter-Melon
-Sun: 200
-Damage: Heavy
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $10,000. Plant over Melon-Pults.
Chills groups of zombies, making them slower.
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: Probably the best plant in the game, several of these can topple
even a Gargantuar by themselves. Otherwise, use these in place of where you
would normally use a Melon-pult/Snow-pea combo. Seriously, I can't stress how
great these are. Combined with spikeweed/rock, these can hold zombies off to
the very edge of the screen. Damage is actually the same as the melon-pult, but
the almanac claims that these do more. The almanac also claims that they fire
slower, but in reality, they fire at the same speed.
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48. Cob Launcher
-Sun: 500
-Damage: Massive
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $20,000. Plant over two Kernal-Pults
that are side by side in one lane.
Medium size explosions like the Cherry bomb.
-Recharge: Slow
-Strategy: This is the Missile Launcher of the game. It takes a while to reload
cobs, but since you get an unlimited number of cobs, it is worth it in longer
games, like survival. You also have to click on this plant to fire it, and when
you do, you can target anywhere on the map that you wish to fire at. Just be
careful when trying to click for sun, as you might accidentally click a cob and
fire off on of your missiles. :S Several of these are great for dealing with
Gargantuars, but be careful of the imps they throw, since just one can kill
your poor plant with ease. Also, you CANNOT plant pumpkins on these.
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49. Imitater
-Sun: N/A
-Damage: N/A
-Extra: Must be bought from Crazy Dave for $30,000. Allows you to pick TWO of
the same plant in one round.
-Recharge: N/A
-Strategy: Basically, this turns into another plant. Best used on a SLOW
recharging plant, or one-use plants. This gives you TWO chances to do massive
damage. This is especially helpful against Gargantuar, because two Massive
damages will kill a Gargantuar. Just remember that ALL characteristics of the
cloned plant are the same as the plant being imitated. There is a slight delay
before the imitater transforms, so be careful when using in large groups of
zombies. It might get eaten before transforming! This makes it less useful on
cherry-bombs, or on pumpkins being used for an instant-defense.
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[VER] Versions
-Version 0.9 - Added most plants, plant info, except for some of the "upgrade"
plants.
-Version 1.0 - Additional info on several plants, and the rest of
the "upgrade" plants have been added. Addendum to introduction. 1st version of
FAQ complete. Please send me strategies for different plants! kthxbye!
-Version 1.1 - Changed some info on certain plants. Added strategies from
emails.
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[LEG] Legal Info
-The information in this FAQ may be used freely by anyone, credit need not be
given, but is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
-All plant and zombie names I believe are Copyrighted by PopCap.
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[CRD] Credits and Contact Info
Credits
-PopCap for developing this awesome game.
-So many people wrote in about the Torchwoods and snow-peas, etc, that I don't
know who to thank! You know who you are, so give yourselves a pat on the back!
The same goes to everyone who wrote me about magnet-shrooms and jack-in-the-box
bombs. Thanks everyone!
-Corey Philips for the info on Golden Magnets and Tall-Nuts.
-Nova for the torchwood info.
-Erick Bock for Chomper info.
-SpikeRosered for various strategy on plants.
-TL333s for magnet-shroom info.
-Brandon Kong for info on cabbage-pults attack value.
-randomguy for plenty of info on various plants! Thanks so much!
-Brandon Smith for info on imitaters.
-Cameron Shawver for cool info on grave-busters.
-Ben Chen for a good amount of info on many plants.
-Kobe for split-pea and spike-weed info.
If I didn't give you credit and you want it, please feel free to e-mail me. I'd
be happy to accomodate!
Author
Hi, Its me Hafeez. A webdesigner, blogspot developer and UI/UX Designer. I am a certified Themeforest top Author and Front-End Developer. I'am business speaker, marketer, Blogger and Javascript Programmer.
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