Cold Snapdragon


 * For other versions, see Snapdragon (disambiguation).

Cold Snapdragon is a premium plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2. It was released alongside the Jurassic Marsh's Part 2 teaser in Piñata Parties on December 9, 2015, and is currently available for purchase at $4.99.

Cold Snapdragon is an ice-based version of Snapdragon, capable of spraying ice in a 3x2 area in front of itself, dealing identical damage to Snapdragon's fire attack and also slowing affected enemies, and reducing their movement and attack speed by 50%. Additionally, Cold Snapdragon is immune to the freezing wind in Frostbite Caves, but cannot generate heat to thaw adjacent plants like thawing plants.

Origins
Cold Snapdragon is based on Snapdragon, which is in turn based on the real-life snapdragons, plants from the Antirrhinum genus. This contrasts their fire and ice capabilities. Its name is also a portmanteau of the term "cold snap" and "snapdragon."

Cold Snapdragon's costumes are both related to coldness: strawberry ice cream and an ice block (the bow with the ice block is presumably to prevent it from sliding off the head of the Cold Snapdragon).

Almanac entry
Sun cost: 150

DAMAGE: Moderate

RANGE: Close

RECHARGE: Fast

Cold Snapdragons breathe icy mist into 6 adjacent tiles.

Area: slows and damages zombies in the 6 tiles in front of it

Cold Snapdragon gets chilly when anyone brings up his cousin Snapdragon. "We just view temperature very differently, and I'd really rather not discuss it," he says. Yikes.

Plant Food effect
When fed with Plant Food, Cold Snapdragon will release a powerful blast of ice in a 3x3 square in front of him, similarly to Snapdragon. While the ice blast is slightly weaker, capable of dealing only 60 normal damage shots worth of damage compared to Snapdragon's 90, it can also freeze surviving targets and disable them for 10 seconds. Zombies from Frostbite Caves are resistant to this freezing effect, getting slowed instead. Attacking with fire based plants will remove the freezing effect.

Strategies
Generally speaking, Cold Snapdragon can be considered an upgrade to the Snapdragon, as it exceeds its counterpart in some important aspects while maintaining the same sun cost. The former's ice-based attack can slow enemies down in addition to damaging them, and therefore can suppress the approaching horde much better than the latter's fire breath. To put in comparison, two full rows of Cold Snapdragons is capable of defeating Buckethead Zombies and outmatching Winter Melon in close combat, while two full rows of normal Snapdragons can only defeat Conehead Zombies. Cold Snapdragon's attack also extinguish Explorer Zombie's torch and Prospector Zombie's dynamite, along with adding ice effects to the zombies, allowing the plant to be used in tandem with other ice-based plants. It can also defeat Imp Dragon Zombies, unlike its fiery counterpart. Cold Snapdragons are also useful against T. Rex as they can disable zombies with T. Rex's boost effect.

Cold Snapdragon is particularly useful in Frostbite Caves due to a unique feature no other non-fire plant possesses: neither the freezing wind nor Hunter Zombie's snowballs can freeze or disable Cold Snapdragon. In addition, Cold Snapdragon can abuse the slider tiles to great effect due to its attack area, and its attack's area of effect nature and slowing effect makes the plant an ideal counter to Weasel Hoarders and their Ice Weasels. It should be noted however, that its Plant Food ability cannot freeze enemies in the aforementioned world. Also note that it cannot unfreeze any frozen Plant nearby, and that the presence of the necessary fire plants may negate the slowing chill effect.

Cold Snapdragon is a great choice in Endless Zones due to their high damage profile for a low sun cost of 150, and their area of effect means that they can suppress enemies easily, with power relatable to that of Winter Melon. However, it beats the latter in terms of close quarters combat, as six Cold Snapdragons in two columns can deal much more damage than two Winter Melons in the same lane. Cold Snapdragon is also an excellent plant to deal with sandstorms, as planting them at the third column, protected with the Infi-nut's force field, can quickly eliminate the zombies, allowing Winter Melons to direct their damage to the advancing zombie horde. It is also a good choice to defend against Imps thrown by Gargantuars; along with the Infi-nut's force field, Cold Snapdragon can make short work of Imps. Since they are very disposable, they are also an excellent early setup plant.

Trivia

 * Cold Snapdragon is the only ice-based plant to be immune to the freezing winds in Frostbite Caves, unlike other ice plants like Iceberg Lettuce, Snow Pea, Winter Melon and Freeze Mushroom.
 * It could be because it has fur that generates heat to itself.
 * Cold Snapdragon's placeholder cost was originally $6.99, but this was changed to the official price of $4.99 when it was released. The original price is still in the code, and the current price is internally named akin to plant sales.
 * Unlike Snapdragon, it does not hit the square directly above and below him. It does hit any tombstones and obstacles in those positions. Zombies in these spots will still slow down however.