Sun Bean


 * For other uses of beans, see bean.

Sun Bean is the fourth plant obtained in Dark Ages in Plants vs. Zombies 2. After a zombie eats a Sun Bean, it will drop a very small sun, which is worth five sun for every normal damage shot the zombie receives. A zombie which has eaten the bean will glow light yellow and white to indicate that it is affected, releasing more sun as more damage is inflicted.

Origins
This plant's name is a portmanteau of "sun beam," a small light emitted by the sun and "bean," the type of plant this plant is based on.

Its green crown costume is a reference to the Statue of Liberty, a famous statue that is found in New York City's harbour.

Plant Food effect
When given Plant Food, Sun Bean turns bright yellow in color. When eaten, the zombie which consumed the Sun Bean will burn up and give the player 15 sun for each normal damage shot worth of health the zombie had left. The higher the health of the zombie, the greater the amount of sun will be given to the player when it consumes the Sun Bean.

General
Sun Beans are best used against zombies with high amounts of health, allowing a large amount of sun to be generated before the zombie dies. A Sun Bean is not recommended to be used with a normal zombie, Imps, or zombies with toughness lower than 10 normal damage shots (like Zombie Chickens or Ice Weasels), because the normal zombie will give back only 50 sun, while the Imp will give 25 sun, and certain weaker zombies can provide less, thus wasting the Sun Bean totally. Using multiple columns of plants with less damage per hit allows the Sun Bean to be able to make large amounts of sun with each use because sun falls out of the zombie with each individual hit. Ideal plants to combine with Sun Bean include the Lightning Reed, Spikeweed, Peashooter and other peashooting plants, Fume-shroom, and Puff-shroom.

Zombies with a high amount of hitpoints are the most valuable zombies to use Sun Bean on. As a result, Buckethead Zombie, Pharaoh Zombie, Robo-Cone Zombie, Disco-tron 3000, Knight Zombie, Blockhead Zombie or Jurassic Fossilhead, with their high amounts of health, make smart targets for the Sun Bean. Although a Gargantuar would not be a good use for the sun bean because it will simply destroy it. The amassed sun can be combined with existing sun production to afford more expensive plants, or power Magnifying Grass uses. Knight Zombies are the best zombies to be used with Sun Bean in Dark Ages. Using it on Poncho Zombies may not be beneficial, as the poncho must be removed in order to determine how worthwhile using the Sun Bean on it will be, and if it does have its metal grate, using the Sun Bean on a Cowboy Buckethead or even a Zombie Bull would be possible alternatives.

Sun Bean is an excellent choice in levels with the objective "Produce at least X sun". You just have to feed zombies with Sun Beans repeatedly. You may not get any sun profit from this, but because sun dropped by zombies who ate Sun Beans also count as produced sun, so the objective should be completed easily.

Endless Zones
One good tactic in Endless Zones is to boost Sun Beans, especially starting from Level 70 because the tendency to spawn a high health zombie, such as Pharaoh Zombie or Knight Zombie, will increase by 60%. This will help you expand an army of your Winter Melons more quickly than consuming all of your Plant Food that you have obtained from previous levels.

This strategy will help you in higher levels of Endless Zones, especially at triple-digit levels onward. The picture in the right shows one way to increase your sun production, which is usable in all Endless Zone. Look for a zombie with high amount of health a Buckethead Zombie and place the Sun Bean four squares away from the zombie. If you do not feel satisfied, freeze the zombie with Iceberg Lettuce and plant another Sun Bean adjacent to the zombie. Once it consumes two Sun Beans, it will give you fifteen sun for every damage dealt, twenty if you manage to plant a third Sun Bean either by forcing it to go to the leftmost column of the lawn or stalling it with plants like Wall-nut and Tall-nut, then digging it. Finally, kill the zombie with either a Chili Bean or a Potato Mine. Be careful using this strategy.

Another tactic, if you are stuck in a certain situation where zombies are already close in to your defenses. For example, a group of Buckethead Zombies and Zombies are already about to eat your defenses, you can also use Sun Bean there as an alternative means of boosting your defense parameters instead of consuming excess amount of Plant Foods or buying one. With it, you can slowly turn the tides in to your favor, which saves you money. However, this tactic most of the times will not work on cases where zombies like Wizard Zombie, Imp Cannon, Chicken Wrangler Zombie, and many more, especially in cases where Wizard Zombies are present in the level.

Trivia

 * It and Magnet-shroom are the only non-offensive plants that kill zombies during their Plant Food effect.
 * Coincidentally, both are obtained in Dark Ages.
 * For it to be a worthwhile investment and therefore give extra sun, the zombie that must be targeted for sun boost must have a minimum of 11 normal damage shots (or 3.5 if boosted).
 * It is the first sun-producing plant that does not directly produce sun.
 * It and Gold Bloom are the only single-use plants that produce sun.
 * A distinct sound is played after a zombie consumes a Sun Bean.
 * According to its Almanac entry, Beans is a family, and it is the oldest. This may be reasonable, that it may be based on the time to unlock these plants. Sun Bean is produced/unlocked in Dark Ages (10th century), Spring Bean is 16th century, Chili Bean is 19th century and Laser Bean is 24th century. So if this is true, the ages of beans from oldest to youngest is Sun Bean -> Spring Bean -> Chili Bean -> Laser Bean.
 * It is the only Dark Ages plant that is not a mushroom.
 * It is also the only new plant in Dark Ages and the only plant in Dark Ages to not have a hyphen in its name.
 * It and Hypno-shroom are the only plants whose effect and Plant Food effect takes place after they have been eaten.
 * If a zombie eats a Sun Bean and then a Hypno-shroom, then the zombie will only give sun when it comes across another zombie.
 * Cowboy Zombie gives 50 sun unlike all other Basic Zombie variants.
 * If Magnet-shroom steals an object from a Sun Bean-affected zombie, it will generate sun. Technically, Magnet-shroom does damage zombies when it steals their objects. However, it cannot degrade the zombie on the other side, it just reduces his health into a regular Zombie with just a health of 10.
 * If one feeds the same zombie a Sun Bean multiple times, its effect will stack up, multiplying the amount of sun for every Sun Bean fed.
 * Robo-Cone Zombie generates the most amount of sun possible by this plant, which is 1,875 sun.
 * When it is given Plant Food, its eyes become larger and it vibrates intensely.
 * It, along with the other beans in the game are all capable of performing a one-hit kill.
 * It is one of five plants that glow on their seed packet, the others being Sun-shroom, Hot Potato, Lightning Reed, and Explode-O-Nut.
 * It shares its idle animation with Magic Mushroom and the aquamarine Bowling Bulb.
 * A recent bug has made Sun Bean almost unusable. This is because of the new armor system, and that damage that armored zombies take (like Coneheads and Bucketheads) will not drop any sun from taking damage until their headwear is taken off (in which the sun is given back, making no profit). Its Plant Food will still work as normal, however.