Red Stinger

Red Stinger is the first plant obtained in Lost City in Plants vs. Zombies 2. It was first revealed in the trailer for Lost City Part 1, then more information was released with the Lost City Part 1 developer diary.

When planted on the first three columns to the left, Red Stinger will fire two petals at a time, but have the same health as a regular plant. If the Red Stinger is located in the next three columns to the right, it will be more defensive having ten health and will fire just one petal. If it is placed on the last three columns on the right, it will be a defensive plant with 15 health, but it will not be able to attack.

Origins
Red Stinger is based on the Etlingera elatior, known as the torch ginger. It is a flower found in tropical areas. The meaning of its in-game name, however, is left unclear. As it does not sting anything, the most probable possibility is that "Red Stinger" is actually a pun on "red ginger," an alternative name of the plant it is based on. Internally, the projectiles are named "stingers," indicating that the projectile are the stinging part.

Almanac entry
Sun cost: 150

DAMAGE: Moderate RANGE: Straight RECHARGE: Fast

Red Stingers fire shots at full force when close to home, and become more defensive further from it.

Flexibility is of key importance to Red Stinger. "I do stretching exercises every morning," he says. "It's important to stay physically and mentally nimble."

Plant Food effect
When given Plant Food, Red Stinger fires a focused laser beam, slowing and dealing a total of 34.5 normal damage shots to all zombies in the lane.

Costumed
Red Stinger will fire two laser beams, doing more damage than usual.

Strategies
Red Stinger is a plant that heavily focuses on versatility; Depending on the location, it can work as a more powerful Repeater, a Pea-nut with greater offense but worse defense, or an improvised Wall-nut. However, this also means that Red Stinger will suffer from diminishing offensive potential return, as additional Red Stingers planted from the fourth column will deal less damage than those planted on the first three columns. Its Plant Food ability effect also deals relatively little damage compared to other plants.

In Lost City, Red Stinger can be helpful in combating Lost Pilot Zombie, as its elevated health helps it survive the ambush much better than other offensive plants, it can also effectively deal with Parasol Zombie. However, it should not be used as the only offensive plant due to the risk of Excavator Zombie, and plants that can bypass his shovel such as A.K.E.E. and Laser Bean should be used in tandem with Red Stinger.

Trivia

 * Although it is a defensive plant when placed on the right side of the lawn, it cannot be healed with Wall-nut First Aid.
 * It is the only plant that has different roles depending on its location of the lawn.
 * Despite it having three different stances, it only displays one Plant Food effect regardless of which column it is planted in.
 * If Red Stinger's Plant Food effect is used near the end of a Piñata Party, its laser beam will still be visible while whacking piñatas. This trait is shared with Fire Peashooter.
 * Red Stinger, Sap-fling, and Stallia are the only non-ice plants that can slow down zombies.
 * One of its costumes is a reference to either Peter Pan or Robin Hood.
 * If Red Stinger is moved to a different tile by a zombie like Mecha-Football Zombie, Fisherman Zombie, Excavator Zombie, Punk Zombie, or any zombie pushed by Ankylosaurus, it will change its role accordingly to what part of the lawn it is moved to.
 * Red Stinger is the first defensive plant that has a fast recharge. The second is Primal Wall-nut.
 * Strangely, in the Chinese version, zombies defeated by Red Stinger play their zapped animation.