Hibernating Beary

Hibernating Beary is a in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, and a member of the  class. It costs 3 to play, and has 8. It does not have any traits, and its ability gives it +4 every time it takes damage. Its zombie counterpart is.

Origins
Its name is a portmanteau of "bear," the real-life animal this is based on, "hibernating," referring to the habits of said animal, and "berry," the type of plant this is based on.

Statistics

 * Class: Guardian
 * Tribes: Berry Animal Plant
 * Traits: None
 * Ability: When hurt: This gets +4.
 * Set - Rarity: Premium - Rare

Card description
Don't poke the beary.

With
Hibernating Beary is naturally very bulky, and becomes a heavy-hitting threat when it takes enough hits. Boosting its stats in general benefits Hibernating Beary greatly, as a health boost enables it to take more hits, while a strength boost pressures your opponent into playing a zombie to guard the lane. It is also best used on weak zombies like Mini-Ninja to sustain and grow stronger.

However, using tricks like Root Wall or to give it the Shielded trait is unnecessary, as Hibernating Beary needs to take damage to get stronger, unless Hibernating Beary is facing a Deadly zombie or any other zombie powerful enough to destroy it in one attack. You can boost its strength before it has taken any damage to put your opponent into a dilemma. If left unblocked, it keeps doing damage, and if they play a zombie to block it, it becomes even stronger. If you think Hibernating Beary has gained enough strength, then you may play a Team-Up plant to protect it.

Each Guardian hero has their own strategies with Hibernating Beary. Spudow can use Sergeant Strongberry to do 2 extra damage when Hibernating Beary attacks, Grass Knuckles can make it do bonus attacks when it has a lot of strength to either immediate destroy the zombie in front of it, finish your opponent off, or simply boost its stats even further, and finally, Wall-Knight can heal Hibernating Beary with 2nd-Best Taco of All Time and Geyser, allowing it to take even more damage and gain more strength. As for, though, he would be better off not using this plant unless he needs some more plants that can block zombie attacks. He can, however, use when Hibernating Beary is low on health, which also allows it to clear the lane of the blocking zombie.

Against
Hibernating Beary can wreak some serious havoc, and even make you lose early if unprepared. However, Hibernating Beary's initial stats and ability make it susceptible to Rolling Stone and Weed Spray when it is unscathed, and Rocket Science or Cut Down to Size if it has gained strength, so having said cards in your deck is very useful against it. Locust Swarm is recommended if you have none of the aforementioned tricks. The best counter against Hibernating Beary is Deadly zombies because they destroy it instantly, regardless of Hibernating Beary's health. Alternatively, you can play Squirrel Herder, whose ability can destroy it instantly as Hibernating Beary is a berry, but be careful, as your opponent may have to counter it.

If you don't have a card that can destroy it instantly, destroy Hibernating Beary with as few hits as you can manage, as playing lower strength zombies equal Hibernating Beary taking more hits for the same amount of health, which is very bad against you.

The best strategy, however, is to simply ignore Hibernating Beary. If you don't hurt it, it can't hurt you. Even if your opponent gives it some base strength or plays a damaging Team-Up plant with it, try to take care of it without hurting Hibernating Beary. This also makes it so that one whole lane is occupied.

Trivia

 * Its description is a reference to the phrase "Don't poke the bear."
 * It and Jolly Holly are the only berry plants that are not in the class.
 * This means that Spudow and Nightcap have access to the most berry cards of all plant heroes.
 * If it is given strength via a trick and is not attacked, when it attacks it will wake up, do its attacking animation and then fall back to sleep.
 * It, Pear Cub, and Grizzly Pear are the only plants to be based on bears.
 * Coincidentally, they are all in the Guardian class.
 * In the release trailer and on packs, it is missing the large leaf it has on its head.
 * Also, the "z"s it create when sleeping are green in the trailer, while they are blue in-game.
 * The highest amount of strength it can get without boosting or healing it is 28.
 * It is the first berry plant to have no initial strength, the second one being.