Spikeweed


 * For other versions of the plant, see Spikeweed (disambiguation).

Spikeweed is an area-of-effect plant available in both main series Plants vs. Zombies games. He is normally ignored by most types of zombies, and can deal damage to any grounded enemy that walks on top of him at a rate equal to 4/3 of a Peashooter. Since the Spikeweed attacks from below, he can bypass shields. When encountering certain enemies such as Zomboni and Pianist Zombie, Spikeweed will instead instantly kill the unit at the cost of sacrificing himself.

Origins
He is based of the plant centromadia pungens, also named 'spikeweed.' The spike in his name refers to the fact that he has spikes and is spiky, and the weed in his name refers to the fact that he is a sort of weed.

Plants vs. Zombies
Spikeweed is unlocked after the player beats Level 3-6, and can only be planted on the ground (not on Lily Pads or Flower Pots). A Spikeweed can be upgraded to Spikerock after purchasing the Spikerock seed packet for $7500 in Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies.

Spikeweed can instantly defeat the following enemies:
 * Zomboni
 * Catapult Zombie

Plants vs. Zombies 2
Spikeweed is unlocked after beating Pirate Seas - Day 6. He attacks 1.9 times a second or once every 0.526 seconds, dealing 0.5 normal damage shots of damage for each attack. He can no longer be upgraded to Spikerock, due to the removal of the upgrade plant mechanic. Additionally, he can now be planted on Lily Pad unlike most other underground plants in the Big Wave Beach, but only function properly if the tide is under its tile; zombies can otherwise attack Lily Pad and indirectly kill Spikeweed in the process.

Spikeweed can instantly defeat the following enemies:
 * Barrel Roller Zombie's barrel (will instantly release Imp Pirate Zombies)
 * Pianist Zombie

Plants vs. Zombies
Spikeweed

Spikeweeds pop tires and hurt any zombies that step on them.

Damage: normal

Range: all zombies that walk over it

Special: can't be eaten by zombies

Hockey is Spikeweed's obsession. He's got box seat season tickets. He keeps close track of his favorite players. And he consistently cleans up in the office hockey pool. Just one problem: he's terrified of pucks.

Cost: 100

Recharge: fast

Plants vs. Zombies
Spikeweed can be upgraded to Spikerock after purchasing the required seed slot. A Spikerock deals twice the amount of damage as a Spikeweed, and has greatly increased resistance to vehicles and attacks from Gargantuars.

Plant Food effect
When fed Plant Food, Spikeweed covers the entire lane he is placed in with spikes, dealing 36 damage over 4.5 seconds to all grounded enemies and drawing them towards Spikeweed's position. Spikeweed is invulnerable for the duration of the effect, and can destroy Pianist Zombies and barrels without consuming himself upon contact. If this occurs when Spikeweed is in a minecart, he may not be moved.

Costumed
Plant Food ability can now stun zombies.

Level upgrade
Note: Spikeweed can't be upgraded to level 4.

Standard levels
Plant Spikeweeds in front of Wall-nuts, Tall-nuts, or Pumpkins. Most zombies cannot harm him, and will be continuously damaged as they try to eat the defensive wall. Spikeweed is especially important for levels with Zombonis (especially in Bobsled Bonanza), and placing Spikeweed on the first row will prevent the Zomboni from laying any ice at all (preventing the appearance of the Zombie Bobsled Team). Note that Gargantuars, Giga-gargantuars, and Jack-in-the-Box Zombies can destroy Spikeweeds in the same way they can destroy any other plant.

Hokey Pokey
Try to lay down either a row of three Spikeweeds or one Spikeweed in front of a Wall-nut to kill the zombies. Timing can be everything, so if you see a Wall-nut, go ahead and break a few vases on the right hand side to see if a Wall-nut will be needed there. If no zombies appear closer than the fourth row from the left, put the Wall-nut on a different row, and lay down Spikeweed instead. Buckethead Zombies are the exception to this, as you cannot kill them with just Spikeweed - make sure to have a Wall-nut in place or use a Squash to kill them.

Plants vs. Zombies 2
The Plant Food upgrade for Spikeweed (similar to Spikerock) can draw zombies towards him. As such, planting a Spikeweed at the rightmost side of the level and feeding him Plant Food will cause the zombie to return to the start and allow for your main offensive plants to do up to twice the amount of damage, assuming the zombie is tough enough. He can also be used in an emergency if any zombies get too close to your lawn mowers or as a defense against enemies thrown or able to jump over your defense. You can also draw zombies that have already exited the lawn and about to eat your brains back onto the lawn with Plant Food.

The Plant Food-fed Spikeweed does not do a lot of damage (enough to kill a little more than a normal zombie), so do not waste your Plant Food on him unless you are using him for the purpose of "drawing-in" zombies as mentioned above. Any crushing zombies like Pianist Zombie and Barrel Roller Zombie will be destroyed instantly upon contact, but at the sacrifice of the Spikeweed. He will also stop swarms of Zombie Chickens released by the Chicken Wrangler Zombie if they get past your other plants.

In Neon Mixtape Tour, Spikeweeds are useful for fighting against Punk Zombies, Glitter Zombies, MC Zom-Bs, and Boombox Zombies, as they cannot harm him, and have relatively low health, so they can weaken them enough for your main offensive plant to finish the job.

In Jurassic Marsh, Spikeweed can be used to fight enemies deployed by Pterodactyls, although Spikerock is often a better candidate due to his higher damage potential.

Note: Using Spikeweeds on Lily Pads in Big Wave Beach is a very bad idea, as zombies will eat the Lily Pad and cause the Spikeweed to fall into the water, thus wasting 100 sun in process. Therefore, avoid bringing Spikeweeds and Spikerocks in Big Wave Beach, as the Lily Pads eaten by zombies and the Spikeweed falling into the water, thus being usually worthless.

However, it's very beneficial in the Wild West levels to use against almost all the zombies, especially with Prospector Zombie and Zombie Bull Rider which leap over your plants, so they can be good in the first column. A Spikeweed in every lane can effectively combat Zombie Chickens. Another strategy allows you to use the carts in order to keep a Wild West Gargantuar from moving ahead by moving it as soon as he lifts his hammer. In Frostbite Caves levels, it's good to place them next to any slider tiles where the zombies will shift to. If you have any plants that can push back zombies such as Chard Guard or Kiwibeast, then it can be useful to combine them with Spikeweed so they have to walk through the gauntlet again.

It is not advised to use Spikeweed against Troglobites, Excavator Zombies, Gargantuars, and Arcade Zombies as the former can instantly kill him by pushing ice blocks or arcade machine onto his square, and the latter will shovel him up without stepping on him.

In "Do not let the zombies trample the flowers" challenge, player may plant Spikeweed ON the flowers to block the zombies from trampling the flowers, make the level easier to beat. The same thing happens with Spikerock, Celery Stalker, and Cactus.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies

 * In the reanim folder, his name is Caltrop. This may be because the Spikeweed functions like caltrops; he hurts anyone that steps on him and pops tires.
 * When he is planted in one of the two bottom right squares on Pool and Fog Levels, he will be higher up than other Spikeweeds.
 * He is one of the twelve plants that appear in the seed selection screen after the player gets Grave Buster on the online version, the others being Ice-shroom, Lily Pad, Potato Mine, Threepeater, Tangle Kelp, Jalapeno, Doom-shroom, Torchwood, Tall-nut, Cactus, and Blover.
 * He, Spikerock, Lily Pad, Cattail, Tangle Kelp, and Sea-shroom are the only plants that cannot be planted on a Flower Pot.
 * He, Spikerock, Flower Pot, Tangle Kelp, Sea-shroom, and Potato Mine are also the only plants that cannot be planted on a Lily Pad.
 * In Vasebreaker, he only appears in Hokey Pokey.
 * It is possible to destroy two or more vehicles with a single Spikeweed. However, those vehicles must ride over him both at the same time.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies 2

 * His costume resembles Groucho Marx.
 * He is the second plant in this game that went through a major redesign. The other plants are Grave Buster, Starfruit and Tangle Kelp.
 * Somehow, he, Spikerock, and Cactus damage helmets from headwear zombies, despite them logically hurting their feet.
 * Currently, there is a visual glitch with his seed packet where the lightning bolt is always brown no matter what level he is. He shares this trait with Spikerock.

Specific to the Chinese version

 * Sometimes, his spikes change from yellow-green to silver-black and back again. It is unknown what causes this.