Lightning Reed

Lightning Reed is a plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time. Lightning Reeds fire lightning at the closest zombie or tombstone within three lanes of where it is planted, similar to the Threepeater. The lightning will also arc to another zombie or tombstone if close enough. A direct hit of lightning deals 10/19 normal damage shots and arc damage deals 5/19 normal damage shots. The player can unlock Lightning Reed in the Chinese version once he or she has obtained its 10 puzzle pieces.

Almanac Entry
DAMAGE: Normal

RANGE: Multi-Hit

RECHARGE: Fast

Lightning Reeds shoot lightning at nearest zombie up to one lane away. The bolt will then arc and hit other zombies.

Range: can even hit targets one lane above or below

Special: chain attacks to multiple targets

This may come as a shock, but Lightning Reed has a serious passion for ham radio. His call sign is El3ctric H1ccup. You can tune in every Tuesday to hear him read the classics to elderly plants. This week: Seeds and Sensibility.

Plant Food
When fed Plant Food, it generates a small storm cloud that chases zombies, dealing huge damage, then will move onto another target after the zombie is defeated and do the same. The cloud lasts for 15 seconds.

Level upgrade (Chinese version only)
Level 2: Lightning Reed has a 15% change of electrocuting zombies with a red, high voltage lightning that can stop zombies for a short while, attack and health will increase by 50%.

Level 3: Lightning Reed has a 30% chance of electrocuting zombies with a red, high voltage lightning. Attack power and health will increase again by 50% (total + 100% = 2x).

Costumed (Chinese version only)
Lightning Reed unleashes a huge lightning cloud and instantly electrocutes all zombies on screen.

Strategies
By itself, the Lightning Reed is not a very powerful plant. It cannot take down anything with more health than a Zombie without the help of other offensive plants and should not be used alone. However, combined with other plants, the Lightning Reed can be a very strong plant. Using ten or more Lightning Reeds can cause chaos within zombie groups as of the chain volts. Cause of their fast attacks in groups, they can take down easily Ambushes, as their attacks cannot fail to attack a zombie.

Because of its high attack speed and chain attacks, the Lightning Reed is the best weapon against Zombie Chickens, as they can destroy multiple chickens within one strike. Without the Lightning Reed, Zombie Chickens will have a much easier time to wreck the entire lanes quickly within seconds. Spikeweeds are effective too, as any chickens will die walking on top of it; in some levels Chicken Wrangler Zombies will come quite early on, and it will be troublesome setting them up as the player must set them in the top, bottom and middle row in order to make the plan work. On the other hand, if a Chicken Wrangler Zombie steps on the Spikeweeds with its bailing wire on, some chickens might slip through. The Lightning Reed has less of these problems, as two of them on top and on the bottom of the Chicken Wrangler Zombie's lane can kill it and all its chickens without much hassle. It is useful against the Zombie Parrot and the Swashbuckler Zombie due to its fast movements. In order to take the Zombie Parrot down using this plant, it is recommended to slow it down first or it will either abduct any of your Lightning Reeds or any other supporting plants, and the Lightning Reed cannot fail an attack against a Swashbuckler Zombie.

If you are planning to take Lightning Reed with you on a level, make sure you bring along at least one other offensive plant. Lightning Reeds are powerful only against groups of zombies, and thus are not as powerful against a single, strong zombie. Unless you plan to just use Lightning Reed, plant them sparingly so there is more room for other stronger offensive plants.

Lightning Reeds are quite helpful to fight the Jester Zombies, especially if lots arrive at once. Two or three columns of Lightning Reeds and some Fume-shrooms are enough to win a normal level in Dark Ages.

Trivia

 * This, the Magnet-shroom, its upgrade, Citron (its plant food ability), and the E.M.Peach are the only plants that generate electricity.
 * El3ctric H1ccup is an improper call sign for ham radio operators. A real one resembles something such as "K7PKRL" which is also leetspeak (1337) for "Electric Hiccup."
 * Lightning Reed is the only plant to have leetspeak in the almanac entry.
 * Lightning Reed's Plant Food immunity time is less than half a second, making it one of two plants which can be eaten while under the effects of Plant Food. The other is the Spring Bean.
 * Its attack is similar to Power Zap, a Power Up.
 * If it zaps the body of a zombie that has already lost its head, its head comes back for the animation.
 * If it zaps any kind of Gargantuar, players will see that the Gargantuar has a skeleton of a dinosaur rather than the rib bones.
 * When a Zombie Bull is zapped, it reveals the mechanical parts used to make up the Zombie Bull instead of a skeleton, unlike all the other zombies. If the Zombie Bull Rider is not yet thrown and the Zombie Bull is zapped, the Zombie Bull Rider will vanish.
 * If the Lightning Reed's storm cloud goes after a swinging Swashbuckler Zombie, it will zap the Swashbuckler Zombie's landing spot.
 * If a Lightning Reed electrifies an Imp that was launched from an Imp Cannon over water, the Imp will just disappear.
 * When Lightning Reed attacks, a little bit of R2-D2 (from Star Wars) sound effects can be heard.
 * Lightning Reed is a portmanteau on "lightning rod" and "reed".
 * The Lightning Reed is the third plant to turn zombies into ashes, the others being the Cherry Bomb and the Jalapeno. However, Imp Dragon Zombie cannot be turned into ashes like the others, even if it is killed by Lightning Reed.
 * After the 2.5.1 update, Lightning Reed's electricity immediately fades away.
 * When it zaps a Zombie Chicken, the player gets the Fried Chicken achievement.