User blog:Ballistic Planet/Ballistic Planet's Top 20s: The August Update

It's that time of the... I don't know, quarter I guess? Anyways, the 5.1 update has been released, and since my last blog, we've gotten four more plants. Let's see how they stack up against the rest!

Rules and Format
There's going to be some new rules this time around.


 * As standard, the list order will go Least Favorite > Most Favorite > Worst > Best.
 * For my Best and Worst list, the following world exclusive plants will not be allowed on them.
 * Grave Buster
 * E.M.Peach
 * Lily Pad
 * Tangle Kelp
 * Hot Potato
 * Gold Leaf
 * Thyme Warp
 * Perfume-shroom
 * These plants, though considered World Exclusive by many, are not by me, and will be allowed.
 * Blover
 * Spring Bean
 * Plant food is now taken into account.
 * More specifically, a plant can be saved from the Worst list due to this rule, but cannot make the Best list just because they have a good plant food effect.
 * Conjoined entries (or having multiple plants in the same entry) are allowed.

That's it for rules, now for format.


 * Each list contains 20 entries. (This should be obvious, but last time my Least Favorite list was a Top 15)
 * Each list is allowed to have anywhere from 0-10 honorable/dishonorable mentions. (from 0-6)
 * Entry formatting:
 * Each entry will have a "witty/humorous" (at least I think so) title, referencing the plant in some way.
 * Each entry will have a picture of the plant in that entry, as well as a description explaining why I put the plant where it is.
 * Unlike my last blog, I will NOT (for the most part) be summarizing my opinions from my previous blogs. I will rewrite them as well as update them.
 * Finally, each entry will have a table, showing where the entry has been in the past.
 * Honorable/Dishonorable Mentions now have tables to go along with them, too.
 * After all of my lists, there'll be a statistics table, showing my favorite plant from each world, as well as my favorite "type" (Sun Producer, Defensive, Offensive etc.)

Now that you know every excruciating detail of what you're getting yourself into, let's begin with my personal Least Favorites.

Least Favorite
As stated before, this list is back to being a Top 20 again. I've had quite the opinion change on some of the plants, and because of that, I've been able to expand this list again.

Dishonorable Mentions


Unlike all of my previous Least Favorite lists, we actually have a DHM this time! Here, we have Jalapeno. I mostly dislike this plant due to his very ugly design, and his mediocre power in game. While he's certainly not the worst in either of those categories, I figured he's bad enough that I should give him a spot here.

#20 Coding Mess


If you were here back in December 2015, you'd get the joke. Anyway, Nightshade makes this list because of a few factors. Firstly, I personally hyped up Nightshade due to how insane and messy his code was. It looked like Nightshade was supposed to do a lot of things. However, while he still does a lot of things, he doesn't do them very well. He has very low DPS, and without Moonflower, Nightshade is bad since it can only attack three times before becoming useless. Not to mention the fact that I dislike the design of this plant by quite a bit, and it's costume is glitchy, you have yourself a pretty bad plant.

This is the farthest up Modern Day plant on this list.

#19 Magic Infection


Look below, and you'll be very confused, as Sun Bean has both "arrows" on it. This is because Sun Bean was on my list last time as a DHM, and that list only had 17 plants total. Anyways, Sun Bean is here pretty much only because of his uselessness. However, sucking is only a part of the way I rate my Least Favorites, and because I find him to be pretty cute, I'll keep him low on this list.

#18 Purple People Eater


This should come as a surprise to nobody. While Chomper does have a cool design, and his costume is pretty good, when you're one of the worst plants in the game, you're going to be hated by many. And while I don't hate this thing, his terrible in game effect and bad experiences with him bring him to #18 on this list.

#17 Currantly Terrible


Up next, we have one of the newest plant, Electric Currant. Firstly, his design is interesting, and I kind of like it. And his costumes make sense, even I think they don't look very good on him. I even really like some of his animations. What puts this plant on this list is his facial expression, and his effect in game. His facial expression is like some half-hearted smile, like the developers "told" him, "Hey, we want you to be smiling at all times in the game", and Currant didn't want to, but he was forced to, so he just put on a fake one. And his effect in game, while not entirely bad, has so much potential that can't be utilized. It's very unqiue, but too hard to use with the way the game works, and because of that he's on this list.

This is the farthest up Epic Quest plant on this list.

#16 Legos


Spikeweed as a plant is just terrible, hardly doing any damage to zombies, mostly just there as a way to stop smaller critters (like Imps or Chickens). Besides that, I have a hard time "attaching" myself to this plant. This plant is so 1-Dimensional and bland that I forget it's there most of the time. Also, the default costume for it is ugly as crap. What's saving this thing from being lower is his design (which I somewhat like), and his unused 3D glasses costume.

#15 China Reject


Pepper-pult returns for another round of mediocrity. While I somewhat like his design, this plant is useless outside of Frostbite Caves due to his long recharge, and PopCap removed one of the costumes for him that I quite liked. While I still somewhat like his design, the fact that PopCap has made this plant A LOT worse than it had to be is just maddening.

This is the farthest up Frostbite Caves plant on this list.

#14 RNG the Game


Ever since she received her bug fix, Electric Blueberry has just been a disappointment for me. Before, she could kill any zombie on the screen at will, making her a dangerous but really fun plant. But now, the game rigged her so that she focuses the zombies that you don't want it to. This, coupled with her ugly design and the weird vibe she gives off (it feels like she gives off an "Overly attached girlfriend" vibe), put hers on this list.

#13 PopCap's Punching Bag


Bowling Bulb is a plant that has fallen from grace for me since his inception. Firstly his concept is unique and interesting, and his costume fits him all to well. Plus, I kind of like his design. So, why do I hate this plant? Well, it got nerfed three (count em!), three times, making his effect not only bad after one rotation, but extremely clunky and slow. This plant just feels so awful to use, and it has so much potential. And because of that, it makes this list.

#12 Sea-Bound Grimrose


Tangle Kelp is a plant that I liked a lot in PVZ1, that PVZ2 ruined. Firstly, his design in PVZ1 was really cool, and looked totally bad***. In PVZ2, they made it a lot more awkward, and the costume they give him is confusing and it doesn't look good on him. In PVZ1 Tangle Kelp was a good instant because there were only two water lanes you had to worry about, and not many zombies came there, so when you needed to use Tangle Kelp, he'd always be there for you. In PVZ2, there are 5 lanes of water you have to worry about, and because PVZ2 has a higher quantity of zombies then PVZ1, Tangle Kelp is just generally not as helpful. And you can't place Tangle Kelps preemptively in PVZ2 because of the Low Tide mechanic, making all of your progress on building Tangle Kelps worthless.

#11 Ruined Again


This may come as a surprise to many of you, but Tall-nut for a time was my favorite plant in PVZ1. And he still is one of my favorite plants in that game. I loved his design there, and his effect was actually very useful because almost every single zombie actually ate the plants. In PVZ2, like with Tangle Kelp, they ruined him. They made his design look awkward, they gave him some absolutely terrible costumes (I hate all of his facial hair costumes), and because not too many of the zombies eat in PVZ2, plus the quantity is larger, trying to keep these guys on the field is tough. Tall-nut is higher on this list than Tangle Kelp though because I like him more in the original, and because of that they ruined him that much harder for me.

#10 Taking Over Me


Hypno-shroom's design is just not something I care for. His costume is admittedly hilarious, though. In game, Hypno-shroom isn't useful anymore because the hypnotized zombie has to take on a whole horde of his former allies, leaving him to be rotten meat. The only way Hypno-shroom is useful is in his Plant Food ability, which is pretty awesome, and fun to play with, but it means you're bringing a plant that's dead weight until then. That's not a kind of plant I like at all, and he lands in the Top 10 because of it.

#9 $7 Cabbage-pult


I was the one who started the trend of calling Blooming Heart "the $7 Cabbage-pult", and that's because oh her effect in game. Basically her effect is just a Cabbage-pult that gets slightly stronger over time. In this game, being single target is going to be a huge hindrance to your quality (except a couple exceptions you'll see later), and Blooming Heart makes that statement no truer. While her design isn't bad, and her costumes aren't that bad either, the fact that PopCap is basically scamming $7 out of people isn't cool. This is the farthest up premium plant and limited edition on this list.

#8 Shroomy


Like with Tall-nut and Tangle Kelp, Puff-shroom got a design change in PVZ2 that made it uglier. And, he got a nerf that makes this plant even more terrible to use in game. As a setup plant, there are far better options (which we'll discuss on future lists), as a Gargantuar staller, well if you're bringing this just to stall Gargs then you're wasting a seed slot, all this plant is really good for is a cheap option that helps you get going in normal levels of the Dark Ages. What saves him from being higher on this list is his ridiculously fun and pretty overpowered plant food. When this plant is boosted from the Zen Garden, you basically just win the level out right, it's fun.

This is the farthest up Dark Ages plant on this list.

#7 The Pod Father


Pea Pod has an interesting concept, but it's ruined by how inefficient this concept is in practice. Planting a plant on itself to make it stronger is a genius idea, but giving it to a single target plant in a game where area damage is key, he becomes a terrible option. His design is pretty awkward, and his costume is just something I don't like at all. Finally, his Plant Food is useless and hardly makes an impact in most situations.

#6 The Biggest Fall


Spore-shroom went from being #10 on my Favorites list in this blog, to being #6 on my Least Favorites ten months later. So, what happened? Well, Higehigebomber and I had a discussion about it on chat, and in the end, it comes down to having an amazingly cool concept, but having one of the worsts executions of said concept in the game, if not of any game. A plant that clones itself? That's really cool! And it would be, except this plant is single target, and its close dies pretty much right after it spawns, meaning his effect is practically worthless. Not to mention his design, which is pretty ugly. His costumes are good at least, but that's not enough to save this crapshoot from the list.

This is the farthest up Neon Mixtape Tour plant on this list.

#5 Big Wave Beach


Lily Pad is a waste of a seed slot, which is especially bad because in this game, you're pretty much required to have Lily Pad, and make the most of your seed slots. You often have to leave out instants that could really help you just so that you can play the level at all. Not to mention the boring and droll design of this plant, and you got a plant that upsets me greatly. Costume is good though.

This is the farthest up Big Wave Beach plant on this list.

#4 This is a Joke... Right?


This is as bad as it gets without plant food. Spring Bean's effect in game is near useless outside of the Pirate Seas, and even there he's quite bad. What's more, this plant can just win you the game by itself because of his stupidly funny and broken combo with Blover. His design is the only thing I like about him, and even then it's not that good. His costumes are all pretty terrible, and this plant can go walk the plank.

This is the farthest up Pirate Seas plant on this list.

#3 Bad Decisions


Split Pea was brought into PVZ2 to deal with the Prospector Zombie. But even then, he sucks at dealing with those zombies when anymore than two of them are in it's lane at once. Why use Split Pea when you could use Phat Beet, which atleast takes care of every prospector. On the design side of things, this plant looks clunky and awkward, especially when both heads are firing. Finally, his costumes, while they make sense, don't look the best.

#2 My Old Alt


Bonk Choy used to be one of my favorite plants, way back when PVZ2 was in it's infancy. And today, I just can't see how. Firstly, like most plants on this list, his in game effect is terrible. He's butt ugly, ad his costumes don't do very much to fix that. He's even outclassed now. I can't find any redeeming qualities about this plant at all, and because of that, he takes home the silver.

This is the farthest up Ancient Egypt plant on this list.

#1 The Gold


Lightning Reed takes it home. Lightning Reed's effect in game is absolutely awful. He does very little damage, and even gets overwhelemed by a horde of Coneheads with 3 columns. His plant food is not that bad, though. His design is simple, but it's really hard for me to look at. Most of his costumes, while they fit him well, don't look all that good on him. Finally, Lightning Reed consistently lets me down every time I pick him in game, and because of that, he is my Least Favorite plant in PVZ2.

This is the farthest up Wild West plant on this list.

Favorites
You'll see a lot of plants in the HMs that haven't appeared on any of my lists in quite a while.

Honorable Mentions


Toadstool: Originally made this list, but was cut last minute by a future entry. Toadstool is a fun plant, and she's given me some great in game experiences.

Thyme Warp: And the cutest plant in the game award goes to... ...Thyme Warp! He has a cool effect too.

Fume-shroom: He's helped me through quite a few levels in this game, though I think his design in PVZ2 is worse then in PVZ1.

Tile Turnip: Was conjoined entry with Gold Leaf on previous lists, I decided to split them up. Tile Turnip has a worse design and is harder to use, but his effect is insane once setup.

Ghost Pepper: Easy and fun to use, very unique, and very effective. I don't like her design all that much though.

Blover: Very effective and has one of the best executed concepts in this game.

Magnet-shroom: I like his design, I just wish his effect was better.

Sap-fling: Very cute, and I think he's underrated as a plant. His costume is trash though.

Imitater: A plant with a cool concept that I'm glad to see back in the second game.

Primal Peashooter: Good design, somewhat useful in game, but his costumes are pretty bad.

Holy crud, that was long. Anyways, now onto the list.

#20 Great Wall


Primal Wall-nut has fallen a bit from me because his effect isn't as necessary anymore, and his effect was what I really liked about him. His design is fairly ugly, and his costumes aren't great either. But his in game effect and the amount of times he's saved my butt is what puts him on this list.

#19 Happy Little Accidents


This is going to come as a shock to many of you who know me, but Banana Launcher isn't in the top 10 anymore, not even close. Why is this? Well simply put, a lot of the aspects I liked about Banana Launcher have just been dimmed in my mind. He's a cute plant fore sure, but he's not very good, and his design isn't great. i still love his costume though, and he's just such a charming plant that I had to keep him on the list.

#18 Sun Fever


Gold Leaf is great. I love his design. For a leaf, they made it very cute, and his body is well shaped. I like his costumes, as they all work surprisingly well. In game, though he's exclusive to Lost City, he's still not bad there. He's easy to use, and can set up levels quite well on his own. And if he ever gets released outside of Lost City, he'd be a good plant. All in all, I very much enjoy this plant when I get him.

This is the farthest up Lost City plant on this list.

#17 "Cute"


Stunion has always been a great plant for me. His effect is very solid, and has proven to be useful time and time again. I really his design, i think it looks very good, it's perfectly designed for an onion. While there's one costume I don't like, his unused costume is great. Overall Stunion is a great plant.

#16 Lava Lamp


Jack O' Lantern is very unique. He uses his own resource for attacking, something no other plant really does. While his effect in game is hard to use, his payoff is incredible. His design is nice, I find him to look very friendly and lovable. His costumes, on top of making too much sense are also quite hilarious. He's low on this list though because in game, as I've said before, he's not great. But even still, he's a very fun plant.

#15 Berry Blast


Strawburst is a very diverse plant. His game play is incredibly fun and interesting, and can be super powerful. His plant food animation is pretty cool, and the berry that spawns is cute, too. His design ranges from cute, to cool, to crazy, and his costumes are all pretty good. But he mostly makes this list due to how fun he is to play with.

This is the farthest up limited edition plant on this list.

#14 The Outclasser


The first new plant to make any of these lists! Wasabi Whip is an awesome plant. He's cheap, and can handle the first bunch of zombies all by himself, and pretty easily too. Plus, he's not entirely useless later. His design is sleek, and stylish. And his costume is a very nice edition to his model. While I haven't used Wasabi Whip a terrible lot like the rest of these plant since he's fairly new, he's quickly become a huge mainstay in my collection.

#13 Nom Noms!!!


Guacodile is incredibly cute. I love his design, he looks so playful! In game, he's surprisingly very useful, due to his frequent up time, and his rushing damage not being terrible, though his normal peashooting damage is irrelevant. His plant food effect is decent, but not stellar. Finally, his costume is both hilarious and perfect for him. Overall, these qualities make Guacodile an awesome plant!

This is the farthest up Big Wave Beach plant on this list.

#12 The Tunneler


Escape Root is a fun plant to use. His plant swapping effect, though rarely useful, is very fun to play with, and can lead to some interesting and crazy situations. His design, though awkward and goofy, actually appeals to me quite heavily, and is a good mix of cute and clunky. His costumes are admittedly very weak, however. Finally, his plant food effect ranges anywhere from useless to insane, and because of that I've dubbed his plant food, "the Escape Root roulette", because of how random it is. And I really like random. This plant is very zany, and I love it.

#11 Buffed


Sun-shroom is great. His effect in game is insane, especially compared to the first game. Sun-shroom's design is nice and simple, but it's cute and very well designed. His costume, though most tend to dislike it, is something that I actually really like about this plant. While he's not my favorite sun producer, he's still awesome.

This is the farthest up Dark Ages plant on this list.

#10 The Shrinkmeister


Though she has fallen from grace as a favorite plant of mine, Shrinking Violet is still incredible. Her effect in game is pretty overpowered, thanks to her low sun cost and high up time. Her plant food is ridiculous. Her design, though it's not something I like too much, isn't bad. Although I must admit, her costumes aren't creative or inspired at all. But because of the personality of this plant, combined with her opness, she earns a spot on this list.

#9 The Gatekeeper


Chard Guard has saved my many times in game due to his awesome effect of knocking back zombies (and pretty far, too) three times. I also really like his design, his costumes, and his personality. As a "smack 'em dead" plant, I'd take him over Bonk Choy every day. But he mostly makes this list because of how many situations he's saved me from.

This is the farthest up Frostbite Caves plant on this list.

#8 What Kills Me Makes Me Stronger


Though he's the newest plant, Kiwibeast has quickly made a very positive first impression on me. Firstly, I love his design, particularly in his second and third stage. It's very gruesome, and fits both "Kiwi" and "beast" very well. While he has one bad costume, his other costume is actually really good in my opinion. His effect in game is very unique, and when fully powered up, absolutely destroys most zombies. Plus, his plant food effect is insanely good. Though I don't want to put him any higher on this list because he's still very new, I still enjoy him a lot and will continue love.

#7 1 2 3 Boom!


Our first conjoined entry, and it's all three of the 3x3 explosive instants. All three of them are basically here for the same reasons. I love all of their designs. Cherry Bomb is menacing, Grapeshot is cool and a little goofy, and Primal Potato Mine is absolutely adorable. Additionally, all three of them have very strong effects in this game. Additionally, they all have one costume I love and at least one I dislike. I just love all of these plant so much.

Cherry Bomb is the farthest up Pirate Seas plant on this list.

#6 The Original King


Winter Melon is a great plant in game. Great damage, insane utility, but all balanced with a high sun cost. Also, his plant food is great. His design is great, I love the colorization and body shape. I also like how he looks in his seed packet image, and his costumes are all great. Winter Melon has proven time and time again to be a spectacular ally. But I'm about to blow your minds with my next pick.

#5 Water Lobber


Yes, I'm serious. Melon-pult is a head of Winter Melon in terms of my favoritism. How could this happen? Well, two things. Firstly I really like cheering for the underdogs that have a chance, and Melon-pult has proven time and time again for me to be an incredible offensive presence, even without the utility of the slow from Winter Melon. Secondly, I just use Melon-pult a bit more because he's a lot easier to use. He's been such a good offensive option for me, that I actually like him than Winter Melon now. Not tomention his good design and good costumes, and I have a plant that I hold dearly to me.

This is the farthest up Wild West plant on this list.

#4 The New King


The best plant in the game returns for another time on my favorites list. His effect in game is overpowered, he can win entire levels on his own, and he takes out all challenge from the game. Which is both a good and a bad thing. His design is straight up bad*** and cool, and his costumes both fit ham and work really well. He's a great plant for sure, but not quite my favorite.

This is the farthest up premium plant on this list.

#3 The Sun Monster


Spoilers, but my top four is going to be the same as last time, if you couldn't tell by now. Anyways Primal Sunflower is absolutely awesome. While her design is hated by most, I actually really like it. I like her costumes, both of them look good on her. Even her animations look good and are cute. I love using her in game, she's extremely effective at giving you the sun you need to start the level. She has almost everything I want in a plant, and because of that she makes #3.

This is the farthest up Jurassic Marsh plant on this list.

#2 Plant Cereal


I call Gold Bloom "plant cereal" because like our own cereal, he starts off your day right, by giving you the strength you need (or in this case sun) to get you through the day. Having a large burst of sun available right at the start of a level is incredible, and he's well worth the one (sometimes two with Imitater) seed slots you get for him. Besides in game stuff, his design is cute, and it looks great, and his costumes just work perfectly for him. Plus, he's given me an incredible experience in PVZ2 so far, and because of that, he's #2. But what could possibly top him?

This is the farthest up Eqpic Quest plant on this list.

#1 The Blowhard


Hurrikale has been an incredible asset to my defense ever since I got him, way back before he was even officially released. I put this story into all of my top 20 blogs, and I don't see why the tradition should end here.

"My earliest memories of Hurrikale come from the first version he was in. Back then, I was a total noob of a hacker, so trying to keep Hurrikale around was a tough challenge. But I thought he was the best thing ever. He helped out a ton with my strategies, and ever since then he has been a huge boon."

For every time Chard Guard has saved me, Hurrikale has done so 10x over. I have so many good memories with this plant, his in game effect is great, I love his design and costume, and I love the struggle it took to get this plant. It was worth it in the, because I had obtained my (now) favorite plant in PVZ2.

This is the farthest up gem premium plant on this list.

Worst
Worst plants in the game, based purely off of how well they perform in game. For the dishonorable mentions, the plants that barely didn't make the list will be mentioned last.

Dishonorable Mentions


Wall-nut: Has a really long recharge that makes him hard to use properly. Very good in early levels, but cannot handle swarms due to low up time. Not to mention he dies instantly/gets ignored a lot, too.

Tall-nut: Extra HP only helps out in very fringe situations. Most of the time, he'll be ignored or destroyed instantly. Plus, as a wall he's pretty expensive.

Torchwood: The AOE nerf hurts Torchwood by a lot, and because strategies in PVZ2 are often times very cramped, Torchwood has a hard time finding his spot on the lawn.

Grimrose: Long recharge, and it only destroys one zombie (three with Moonflower). Not to mention an atrociously bad plant food effect.

#20 Clown Fiesta


Threepeter is insanely inefficient for his sun cost. For 300 sun, you get 3 Peashooters restricted to one tile. Now compare that to something like Snapdragon. For half the cost, he has very comparable DPS, but a closer range. If there's a plant that can do pretty much the same thing as you but for only half the cost, then you should be considered a bad plant. His plant food is also wildly in consistent, and can range from good to moderately useless.

#19 Outclassed to Death


While Bloomerang does have a niche at dealing with hordes of low health zombies, give him any real competition and Bloomerang will often find himself completely overwhelmed. His attack speed is really slow, and his pierce is not enough to be decent agains anything more than normal zombies. Plus, his plant food has a weird hit box vertically, and often times doesn't help very as much as other plant foods. While Bloomerang has some uses, he's been completely outclassed by so many things now, and the pace of the game is just too fast for him to handle.

#18 Peel Shield


Citron has incredible single target damage, capable of getting rid of almost any zombie if left alone with one. The problem is, Citron generally will not be only with one zombie in it's lane. There'll most likely be hordes of zombies coming Citrons way, and Citron can't stop many of them due to his insanely long charge up time. Not to mention a hefty 350 sun cost. While his plant food is actually pretty good, his bad utility makes him a rough plant to pick.

This is the farthest up Far Future plant on this list.

#17 Blueberry Roulette


While she can absolutely wreak havoc in last stand levels, Electric Blueberry is just a pathetic plant otherwise. Her shtick is that she can instantly kill one zombie on the screen every twelve seconds. Sounds over powered, right? Well the problem is, she uses a priority system when deciding which zombies to target. And because of this priority system, she often end up targeting the weakest zombies on the screen. Combined with a terrible 45 second recharge, and a plant food that's only slightly better than Grimrose's, and we have a plant that can work if you're lucky, but usually sucks really hard.

#16 Prickles


On previous lists, Endurian would share a spot with Pea-nut because they're very similar. They're both offensive plant that suck very badly. However, a plant came out (which we'll talk about later) that actually helps out Endurian just a little bit, and that little bit pushes Endurian to be very slightly better then Pea-nut. That doesn't mean that Endurian doesn't suck though. His damage is very bad against things that have more than two health, and his HP is often not enough to keep it alive for very long. While his plant food effect does alleviate this somewhat, this boost is only temporary. While there are a few situations in which Endurian can work, generally he's just left to the wayside by better defensive plants.

This is the farthest up Lost City plant on this list.

#15 Pean't


Pea-nut did not benefit as much from the new plant as Endurian did though, and because of that they now get their own separate entries. Pea-nut as a plant is very comparable to Wall-nut. For 100 more sun (!), you get a very crappy peashooting effect that hardly matters most of the time. You also get a 5 second quicker recharge, which is admittedly pretty nice. Although what's not nice is Pea-nut's plant food ability, which like Pea-nut itself, is just a combination of Wall-nut's and Peashooter's plant food effects. Neither of which are very good. And they tried to sell this thing for $3.

#14 Literally Frostbite Caves


On paper, Pepper-pult looks like a decent plant. 200 sun cost for an offensive plant isn't bad, and his damage and small splash damage isn't bad either. So where did it go wrong? It went wrong with that recharge. Pepper-pult has a sluggish (20 second) recharge. And this comes with a plant that should really be spammable. Think about it. If you gave a very good plant, such as Fume-shroom for example, a sluggish recharge, would it still be a good plant? No, because his recharge is too long now for it to perform it's role. A cheap and easily available zombie destruction force. Pepper-pult is supposed to be a spammable plant on paper, but that recharge pretty much confines it to the world it's unlocked in, Frostbite Caves, and only because of his heating effect. Outside of that, he's still a bad plant, and would probably be lower on this list. While his plant food ability is actually decent, that doesn't save this wreck of a plant from ending up on my list.

This is the farthest up Frostbite Caves plant on this list.

#13 Tomato


Nightshade is the definition of early game power. For 75 sun + a Moonflower, you can defeat all basic zombies in your lane for about 2 minutes, and after that it becomes pretty unimpactful. This plant needs Moonflower in order to even survive, as with Moonflower, it can't even regrow it's leaves, meaning it does damage before sitting there and basically being a Wall-nut with 5% of the health. Not to mention it's plant food effect, which is only good for regrowing it's leaves, and yourself one mean bottom feeder.

This is the farthest up Modern Day plant on this list.

#12 Love Bug


Blooming Heart is kind of disgusting. Her gimmick is that her damage increases if she attacks the same zombie over and over again. Her effectiveness ranges from Cabbage-pult (for 50 more sun, mind you) to a slightly better Melon-pult with no splash damage. Her attack speed, like most pult plants, is atrocious, meaning it takes a while for her damage to ramp up. And she doesn't even work well in the horde spam fest of a game that is PVZ2. Her plant food is Cabbage-pults, but with her crappy damage boosting gimmick slapped onto it. While she is a bit better than Cabbage-pult, she's still nowhere near good.

This is the farthest up limited edition plant on this list.

#11 The Fence


In the last blog, I was very skeptical about putting Electric Currant anywhere on it since he was a fairly new plant, and he's a fairly hard to digest plant too. But three months later and I now see that this plant is total gimmick fodder, and of one of the worst kind, limited usability. Electric Currant's whole gimmick is that when two Electric Currants are in the same row or column, they link up and create an electric fence. That sounds really neat, until you realize one thing. How are you going to protect the Electric Currants? If a zombie walks right up to the Electric Currants, since they have no defensive capabilities at all, they'll just get eaten right away. You have to protect them with something. The two main options are Garlic and Sweet Potato. However, Garlic doesn't have very much HP unless you use Aloe, meaning either A: you have to replace the Garlics often, or B: you have to use an Aloe, which means less upkeep cost on the Garlics, but also you get one less fence due to the replacement of a Currant for the Aloe. If you use Sweet Potato, then her attraction range is only large enough for you to have one electric fence with her. The last option you have is to use a standard defensive plant, but then the zombies in those lanes are missing out on the fence damage. So they're hard to use without protection, and they're hard to protect. Great. The only positive thing I can say about Electric Currant is it's plant food ability, which turns it into a really strong offensive plant. It's also fairly good in certain Frostbite Caves levels, due to the zombie sliders. But outside of that, Electric Currant is just a terrible and cheap gimmick.

#10 It's Like Currant But Worse


Say what you want about Electric Currant though, at least he does decent damage to zombies. Spikeweed doesn't even have that going for him. By the the zombies are done walking all over him, the most basic ones have only lost half there health. And don't even think about using this as an offensive option versus tougher zombies, as it barely scratches them. He even lost one of his main niches in PVZ1, which was a plant that you spammed against the zombies if you had nothing else to plant. He lost his niche due to all of the insanely powerful instants, meaning that you'll almost always need slots open on the lawn for them. The only niches left for Spikeweed are critter defense (Zombie Chicken and Ice Weasel), and as an instant for stuff like Pianist Zombies and Barrel Roller Zombies. And because Spikeweed is actually decent at doing those, he's saved from being lower on this list.

This is the farthest up Pirate Seas plant on this list.

#9 Impfinity's Worst Nightmare


You know a plant is bad when it can't even solo Pirate Seas - Day 1 without help from instants or other plants. But Spore-shroom can't. This is because of his poor damage, attack speed, and effect. He's basically a Cabbage-pult that does slightly more damage, with a cloning mechanic when he kills a zombie. The cloning mechanic sounds awesome, right? Well it would be, except the clone usually gets eaten four seconds later, meaning your duplication was useless. And you'd think Spore-shroom might do decently against hordes because of his cloning mechanic, except he has no are of effect damage, meaning the hordes will just shred through your Spore-shrooms like a kine through butter. His plant food effect is basically a glorified version of Grimrose's, and if it worked out so well for Electric Blueberry, it must work out well for Spore-shroom... right? While this plant has an awesome concept, it doesn't work with the fast paced game play of PVZ2.

This is the farthest up Neon Mixtape Tour plant on this list.

#8 The Basic Trio


While it's not really fair to judge these plants (except maybe Split Pea) against the others, since this list includes ALL of the plants in the game, and these are your basic weapons, they make it high on this list. While I can excuse Peashooter and Cabbage-pult for sucking because they're supposed to be replaced by better stuff later on, I cannot forgive Split Pea in the slightest. Split was brought into PVZ2 to counter the Prospector Zombie. However, if there are more than two of them in it's lane at a time, Split Pea cannot kill them quickly enough before they start overwhelming the back plants. Split Pea has no area of effect to deal with these zombies, so it's basically just a glorified Peashooter, and that's why he shares a spot with him.

Peashooter is the farthest up Player's House plant on this list.

#7 Inefficiency Beckons


Pea Pod is one of the most inefficient plants in PVZ2. For just 625 sun and around a 26 recharge, you get a five-headed Peashooter that can barely take down the weakest of hordes. For just 125 sun and 21 seconds less, you could get the Winter Melon, which can handle most of your horde problems easily. Or even a Banana Launcher is better than this piece of crap. At least Banana Launcher can somewhat deal with tougher zombies, Pea Pod just struggles to make an impact. Now with Torchwood, Pea Pod actually becomes a decent killing machine. But that's another 175 sun trying to make a plant that's worse than a Winter Melon, still worse than a Winter Melon. And his plant food. Oh god his plant food is awful. It hardly does any damage, and it only shoots out five peas. The least you could do is give us another head after using it, but no. Instead we're just left with this inefficient piece of garbage.

#6 That Smile :)


The only good thing about Sun Bean is his plant food effect, and even then, it's not great. The rest of this plant feels useless, especially now that Gold Bloom exists. The sun he gives isn't much unless some super high HP zombie eats him. But there are so many zombies in the game that don't eat that it might get destroyed before he gets eaten. And if there are multiple zombies on the tile you plant him on, then becomes a guessing game as to who eats it first (usually the one closest to the house, but I've had different results). And even if you get his effect on the right zombie, you still need to damage said zombie, meaning that you need to already have an offensive there, or you have to use an instant (like Cherry Bomb). While Sun Bean can snow ball levels in very specific circumstances, in general his effect ranges wildly, and is far too inconsistent to be remotely good.

This is the farthest up Dark Ages plant on this list.

#5 Minigame Turned Plant


Nightshade looks at Bowling Bulb and says "hah, at least I can DPS!" Bowling Bulb is a terrible offensive plant. He starts off good, his second and third bulbs do a lot of damage, and are effective at taking down zombies. The problem is though, after he's done a rotation of his bulbs, he only does his weakest bulb. Which only does two damage every four seconds. Try controlling hordes with that. Not only that, but in order to get his big bulbs back, he has to wait until all zombies are clear from his lane before he can fire those bulbs again. Absolutely pathetic. While his plant food is good, and it allows him to get all of his bulbs back, that's still not enough to save this mess of plant from the worst list, let alone the top 5.

This is the farthest up Big Wave Beach plant on this list.

#4 The Tickler


No matter how many times people tell me to reevaluate Lightning Reed, I'll still always consider it a crap plant. Firstly, Lightning Reed's damage is non-existent unless you spam them. Seriously, he does 0.5 damage. And his arc effect? Half of that, only 0.25 damage. Three columns of these sucker can barely even handle a horde of Conehead Zombies. Give them any real competition besides chickens, and they'll fail to do anything productive. As a support, there's far better out there (Wasabi Whip, Fume-shroom, even Electric Currant is better) who will just out damage him. His plant food effect is ok, but ok isn't going to get you off of the worst list.

This is the farthest up Wild West plant on this list.

#3 Teh Bonkin Choy


If there's one redeeming factor to Lightning Reed though, is that he can at least handle hordes at all. Bonk Choy can't even dream of doing that. With his terrible range, and awful damage, Bonk Choy will often find himself getting completely overwhelmed in just a couple of zombies. What's more, if any zombie so much as even touches Bonk Choy, they'll be able to chew through him with little to no consequence because of his trash damage. Even his plant food is fairly mediocre, only working up close as a psuedo-Cherry Bomb. As a setup plant, he becomes so useless later on compared to other setup plants (which we'll talk about on the Best list), that he's not worth it.

This is the farthest up Ancient Egypt plant on this list.

#2 Sun Screen


Oh man, the newest plant in the game, and he's already the second worst. How did something so bad go wrong instantly? Well firstly, let's start with the plant himself. In case you're unfamiliar with Aloe, and I don't blame you, Aloe is a plant that heals the plant directly to the right of it for four health every ten seconds. Does that set off any red flags for you? A zombies does one damage per second. Aloe heals four damage every ten seconds. Zombies will eat through your wall before Aloe can patch it up. Ok, no perma-stalling. So what about using Aloe as am occasional patch up to plants getting whittled down? Well, because of all of the zombies constantly chipping a way at your wall, Aloe still has a hard time keeping up unless your defense is well set up. Need I remind you that not every zombie eats in this game, either. Not only this, but Aloe also takes up a spot on the already cramped lawn, meaning that your strategies are going to be tight as ever. The only thing saving Aloe from the absolute bottom of the list is his synergies with Garlic (making him a lot more durable, Chard Guard (infinite leaves lol), and Kiwibeast (bulky and offensive). But even still, for how new he is, it's just a shame he sucks this badly.

This is the farthest up Epic Quest plant on this list.

#1 The Fan Service


And the new worst plant in the game award goes to Chomper! What makes Chomper the master of disaster? Well firstly, he eats one zombie every thirty seconds. One freaking zombie. It could be an Imp, or a Buckethead Zombie, it'll still take thirty whole seconds of being a sitting duck to chew. Not only that, but this plant will (once again) get quickly overwhelmed if more than one zombie is next to it. AND, his plant food is complete trash, chewing three zombies before blowing back the rest. Everything about this plant just wreaks of horrible decision making. And to think, people actually wanted to put Chomper back in the game.

This is the farthest up premium plant on this list.

Best
Time for the most effective plants in this game to finally get the recognition they deserve.

Honorable Mentions


Primal Peashooter: For a single target plant, Primal Peashooter can get the job done quite well due to his knock back effect. While he's not great vs. hordes, he's not terrible against them either.

Dusk Lobber: One of (if not) the highest DPS plants in the game with Moonflower, and one of the worst offensive plants (a slightly better Cabbage-pult) balance out to make a good but not great plant.

Stunion: Stalling a whole bunch of zombies is very powerful, and Stunion shows us just that. Though his range is a little low, he's still good as a set up plant or as a staller in a pinch.

Stallia: Stalling a really large group of zombies for free is really good, too. Stallia is incredibly effective at slowing down zombies long enough for your defense to catch up. Sometimes though, she's not impactful enough, so she just makes the Honorable Mentions.

Laser Bean: Laser Bean is really good at handling hordes of zombies due to his long range and infinite pierce. However, tougher zombies do give Laser Bean a hard time, and his attack speed is just bad.

Guacodile: Most underrated plant in the game. His effect to take out the weakest of zombies quickly and easily, as well as a high up time meaning stronger zombies don't last too long either, give him a spot here. Though he is basically just a glorified instant, since his Peashooting effect is non-existent.

Coconut Cannon: Very expensive, but very good at clearing out hordes and dealing with stragglers.

Blover: Extremely effective in a lot of situations, but totally useless in others, make this plant just shy of this list.

Special Mentions
These Special Mentions go out to plants that didn't make the best list, but have incredible plant food effects that deserve to be recognized.

Saved Plants


These plants would've made it on the Worst list if the new rule didn't exist. They were saved by the new rule.

Good Plant Food Effects


These plants weren't going to make either the best or the worst list, but I felt as though they deserved a mention due to how powerful their plant food effects are.

#20 Balloon-shroom


As a set up plant, Fume-shroom gets the job done really well. While his attack is fairly slow, his damage is more then sufficient to deal with at least basic zombies, and his pierce means that he can take out an infinite amount of them too. Not to mention his decent plant food effect, which pushes back all zombies in it's lane and deals a good amount of damage to them. However, Fume-shroom has a hard time dealing with anything more than basic zombies without spamming them (but trust me, Fume-shroom becomes insane when spammed), so it only gets #20.

#19 Squared Circle


Sometimes, you need a big power boost to your strategy that really pushes it over the edge. Often times Plant Food will help, but there's a plant that can make that more efficient. In comes Tile Turnip. With his special effect, you can have a ton of plant foods go off at once, allowing you to rain havoc all over the zombies. So long as you have the budget for them. They can become quite expensive, especially if you get three or four out. But that effect is too powerful to deny a spot on this list.

This is the farthest up Far Future plant on this list.

#18 Berry Blast!


On the surface, Strawburst appears to have a lot of problems. Firstly, he's quite expensive, reaching the very high 400 sun cost. Secondly, he doesn't do well against weaker zombies at all, requiring support to work against them. Finally, his largest berry takes a really long time to recharge. So why would you bother using him? If you give this thing enough support, can absolutely destroy every horde you'll ever meat. His damage is great, allowing you to handle most zombies with needed support. His area of effect is big, allowing you to hit a lot of zombies with his effect. But most finally, these guys can win levels all on their own if you can give them support. He has an extremely immense payoff, and because of that he earns a spot on this list.

#17 The Setup Sweeper


If you ever need a really good set up plant, Wasabi Whip is a great option. With his fast attack speed, good damage, and decent range, he's able to handle many zombies in the game early on, allowing you to build up sun for your defense. And even when the game transitions into the later stages, he's still a good support plant, killing all of the weaker zombies fairly quickly while your main offense does the work. This plant isn't without it's problems though. First, he has no area of effect damage, so vs. hordes he's not that great. Second, he is a fire plant, so he doesn't work well with the ice plants that we'll see later. But these couple of downsides don't stop Wasabi Whip from making a huge impact.

#16 Mordecai


As a plant, Ghost Pepper is very intricate. The main thing that sets her apart from other plants is her invincibility. You can plant right on a whole horde of zombies, and watch as they just walk right through, while they proceed to take damage. And top it off, she has an explosion at the end, and she doesn't even need a Lily Pad in Big Wave Beach to work. While her damage output is pretty low for an instant, the sheer utility of it is almost to good to pass up.

This is the farthest up limited edition plant on this list.

#15 Old but Good


Despite the fact that he's royally outclassed, Cherry Bomb is still a great plant. His effect is pretty simple, but in this game where hordes of zombies are very plentiful, Cherry Bomb's effect to clear out a significant portion of then is just incredible. The only reason why he's this low on the list is as I've said before, he's outclassed, but we'll go over that later.

This is the farthest up Pirate Seas plant on this list.

#14 GAAAH


After the colossal failure that was Spring Bean, PopCap decided to make a second shot at bouncing back zombies with Chard Guard. So what'd they get right this time? Firstly, Chard Guard bounces back a whole group of zombies, instead of just one. And secondly, he's a defensive plant, meaning he actually has some girth to survive the hordes. The only downside to Chard Guard is that his recharge is often times not fast enough to do what I want to do with him, which often forces me to pick Imitater. Still though, his effectiveness at dealing with all kinds of zombies should always be considered.

This is the farthest up Frostbite Caves plant on this list.

#13 Mr. Mime


As more and more powerful plants are introduced into the game, Imitater becomes a better plant due to his ability to give you two of a plant. Do you need a lot of sun at the start of a level? Imitate Gold Bloom. Do you need a lot of plant food for your strategy? Imitate Power Lily. Do you need more defensive plants? Imitate one of Chard Guard, Primal Wall-nut, or Explode-o-nut. The sheer versatility and power of Imitater is insane, and is to not be underestimated.

#12 Little Brother


Melon-pult is a premier offensive plant in this game. Is damage is great, his splash damage makes him very effective towards hordes, and for how strong his effect is, he's not all that expensive. The main downside to this plant though is that he has no utility (he's all raw power), meaning that he needs a bit of support to work out most of the time. But don't be afraid to call upon the power of Melon-pult when you're in need.

#11 Blowy Instant


For a really long time, Hurrikale has been my instant of choice when I need to bring one. His high impact effect of stalling a whole lane is incredibly effective, and can often bail you out of intense situations. His high up time means that if you find yourself into these predicaments some what often, Hurrikale is usually up as a safety net. And he's cheap, meaning that you'll almost always have enough sun for Hurrikale when you're ready. You can only ignore problems for so long though, and sooner or later, you're going ot need a defense to deal with them, and Hurrikale doesn't really contribute to that. But if you need a disaster relief plant, Hurrikale is a great option.

This is the farthest up gem premium plant on this list.

#10 Bash Potato


Primal Potato Mine is the first plant to outclass Cherry Bomb. And it's not hard to see why; Primal Potato Mine is just a lot more efficient. While Cherry Bomb costs 150 sun, PPM is only 1/3 that. While Cherry Bomb has a 35 second recharge, PPM shaves off a good 10 seconds. The only downsides to PPM are his arming time, so you have to be careful where you use it, and the fact that he's unable to be used on Lily Pads or in Pirate Seas. Even still, his efficiency is too good to pass up.

#9 Splurt


And the second plant to outclass Cherry Bomb is Grapeshot! So why is Grapeshot so high on this list, a whole six spots above Cherry Bomb? The main reason is his ability to actually one hit kill a Gargantuar. One of (if not the) most dangerous zombies in the game is completely destroyed by this thing. And there really is no reason to use Cherry Bomb over this, since the grapes are usually a benefit. While the grapes can ricochet into zombies you don't want to hit (like early zombies or Jester Zombies), in general the minor downside isn't enough to bring Grapeshot down.

#8 Sun Bomb


Though Gold Bloom's effect seems incredibly simple on paper, in practice it's actually one of the strongest effects in the game. Starting off with a huge lump some of bonus sun to help build up your defense is great. You can have a Winter Melon before the first zombie even spawns! What's more, though his recharge is long, he'll be available again by the time you need more juice in your strategy. Maybe you're just barely off for a Cherry Bomb, but then Gold Bloom comes along to give you enough sun needed and then some. For how simple Gold Bloom is, his effectiveness is incredible.

This is the farthest up Epic Quest plant on this list.

#7 Fuel for the Soul


Plant Food is an incredibly powerful effect. Controlling when you get plant food is even better, and that's what Power Lily gives you the ability to do. While she's a fairly binary plant, giving you access to one of the strongest and versatile effects in the game is insanely strong, and Power Lily earns her spot because of it.

#6 Best Sun Producers


Sun producers are the life blood of your strategy. They alone are the reason why you can even play PVZ2 the way you can today. So naturally, the best ones would be very high on the list. Primal Sunflower and Sun-shroom are the perfect sun producers. They're extremely efficient because they're cheap, and they give you a lot of output. The reason why they tie though is because they both have good reasons to be used over each other. While Sun-shroom is extremely cheap and becomes the more efficient option later on, Primal Sunflower give you more immediate power, allowing you to often times get up your defense more quickly. It's a good case of power vs. efficiency, and it's a very healthy competition. So why are these guys not at the top of the list? Well in general, sun producers tend to be pretty interchangeable with other plants, something that the best plant shouldn't be. But if you have the option at all to use either of these, then you need to take it.

Sun-shroom is the farthest up Dark Ages plant on this list.

#5 Victory Fruit


Kicking of the Top 5 we've got Winter Melon. An incredibly powerful plant from the first game returns as the best plant from PVZ1 in PVZ2. And for a while, he was the best plant in this game. So what makes Winter Melon so strong? Well, he does incredible area of effect damage like Melon-pult, but he also has a slow attached, meaning that he essentially deals double damage. Dealing a consistent 2 damage to every zombie in the horde is good enough, but when you add in that slow, Winter Melon just breaks the bank. While he's expensive, the price is well worth the damage.

This is the farthest up Wild West plant on this list.

#4 The Crumbling Wall


While he's fallen off the list a bit, Primal Wall-nut is still an incredible defensive plant. His resilience and extremely high up time allow you to stall the hordes for an extremely long amount of time. And he's very cheap to top it off. The only reason why he fell down compared to previous lists is because he's now (somehow) outclassed by something. But that doesn't mean Primal Wall-nut is going away any time soon.

This is the farthest up Jurassic Marsh plant on this list.

#3 Biggy Smalls


Shrinking Violet has an extremely strong effect. She basically makes every zombie she touches useless, allowing your defense to easily breeze through them in seconds. Normally, this would be balanced by giving this plant a fairly long recharge. However Shrinking Violet doesn't have that, basically allowing you to spam these every other wave. If you have a Gargantuar problem, Shrinking Violet makes them almost worthless. Heck, even her plant food effect is insane, allowing every zombie that the game has spawned to become a shrunk, neutered version of their normal self. For all of this insane utility, the only downside of Shrinking Violet is that she doesn't actually do any damage. But as a support instant, she's second to none.

#2 This Got Released


Somehow, this overpowered, underpriced piece of work got released in it's broken state. Firstly, imagine Wall-nut, one of the worse plants in this game. Now give speed up it's recharge by 5 seconds, and give it an explosion whenever it's defeated by anything. Now you've got one of the most insane pieces of work in this game. If you have any issue with zombies, this plant pretty much clears out all threats of them. This plant can win levels entirely on his own, without the help of even sun producers. The only real problem with this plant is that there are a few zombies that can ignore it entirely. But that doesn't stop Explode-o-nut from absolutely destroying this game.

#1 The Plant God


This plant is uncontroversially the best plant in this game. Only Explode-o-nut can even challenge that. Cold Snapdragon has just about everything you'd need in a plant. Very cheap, easy to use, can handle hordes effortlessly due to they're good damage and slow effect, can win levels almost entirely on their own. Their plant food is also pretty good, too. The only conceivable downside to using this plant is it's mediocre range, but often times that doesn't matter when you can destroy almost any zombie in the game with these guys.

This is the farthest up premium plant on this list.

Stats
"Coming tomorrow, when I'm not tired"