Portal (PvZ2)


 * For the portal in Plants vs. Zombies, see Portal (PvZ).

In Plants vs. Zombies 2, portals are the main stage element of Modern Day. They appear on any tile of the lawn and spawn special zombies from the respective world they are showing. The placement and the zombies spawned are fixed and never change. There is never any indication on whether they are going to appear on a level, nor the zombies they will spawn.

If a plant is planted on the tile where the portal appears, it will be bounced to a free tile on the lawn. An instant-use plant and tombstones can prevent a portal from appearing if placed where the portal is supposed to appear a little before they show up, however, this relies on timing.

On Highway to the Danger Room and Piñata Party, they spawn different zombies from the ones of the normal levels. Those can be seen below.

Behavior
Portals are deployed at half of the player's lawn. On this note, the portal will stay and summon a zombie, based on its corresponding world. When a zombie arrives via portal, it appears in a same way as how Dr. Zomboss summons zombies using his first four Zombots. Furthermore, their appearance is limited and will close after a definite period of time.

In Highway to the Danger Room, the behavior is further observed. On levels 1-10, only a single portal from each world will be opened and will only summon one zombie. On levels 11-20, two random portals will appear and two random zombies will be summoned. From this level onwards, portals will appear very frequently and will behave erratically and can have portals of same type appear. For example, there can be three Jurassic portals appearing and can deploy Jurassic Imp, Jurassic Bully, or Jurassic Fossilhead at once. At levels 31-40, three portals will appear and their durations are extended. As the player goes higher and higher, the number of portals appearing increases, their duration of appearances also increases, and as well as they can also summon up to three powerful zombies representing each world.

Portals in certain Piñata Parties may sometimes summon different zombies, depending on their current level appearance. The zombies summoned are programmed specifically by party.

Appearances
Modern Day: Days 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 17, 19, 21, and Highway to the Danger Room.

Modern Day levels




















Highway to the Danger Room




















Modern Day levels
Portals are with no doubt a very hard gimmick to deal with. They can easily spawn the most hard to defeat zombies onto the heart of your defenses, like MC Zom-Bs and Surfer Zombies, so the best counter for them are Chard Guards and Hurrikales to instantly push them backwards.

On the other hand, it can be easy to prepare for the upcoming zombies, as the set that comes out never changes, but they do appear in a random order. Ready your Blover if a level has a Pirate Seas portal. Immediately place area of effect plants once a Dark Ages portal appears. Use E.M.Peach for the Far Future portal.

Highway to the Danger Room
Portals here are worse than in Modern Day levels, as the portals can now summon more dangerous zombies like Chicken Wrangler Zombies, Boombox Zombies, and Wizard Zombies. Because one cannot retry a level, only one can guess if a portal type will appear in a level and bring certain plants to hope for the best that the portal will appear, else a seed slot is wasted. Later in the Endless Zone, more dangerous zombies will be spawned, and the portal density will greatly increase, to the point that portals can be stacked on top of others.

Trivia

 * In the development diary for Part 1, a Parasol Zombie is seen coming out of a Lost City Portal. This is not possible in normal levels (as Lost City portals are not in normal levels) or in Highway to the Danger Room.
 * Alongside this, Relic Hunter Zombie is seen coming out of a Lost City Portal and a Disco Jetpack Zombie is seen coming out of a Far Future Portal in the Modern Day Part 1 Trailer, though this is also not possible in normal levels or in Highway to the Danger Room.
 * Also, in the Modern Day Part 2 banner, a Lost Pilot Zombie is shown coming out of the portal, despite they do not appear from them in the game as they only appear from the Parachute Rain ambush attack.