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 it, 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 it, 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.

Strategies
Generally speaking, Cold Snapdragon can be considered an upgrade to the vanilla 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 does not remove ice effects or relight Explorer Zombie's torch and Prospector Zombie's dynamite, 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 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 snowball 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.

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's 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.

Trivia

 * Cold Snapdragon's eyes can only be seen in its Plant Food animation.
 * 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 it. It does hit any tombstones and obstacles in those positions, however.
 * Cold Snapdragon and Sap-fling are the only plants that sneeze.
 * Cold Snapdragon is considered by many to be the most powerful plant in the whole game.