Garlic

Garlic is a plant in Plants vs. Zombies, Plants vs. Zombies 2, and Plants vs. Zombies: Journey to the West. Any zombie that bites it gets diverted into a different lane.

In the first game, it is the 39th plant the player will receive and it is obtained after beating Level 5-5. In the second game, it is obtained after beating Neon Mixtape Tour - Day 17.

Origins
Garlic is based on the plant Allium sativum, commonly known as "garlic", which is a pungent member of the onion family, often used for cooking.

Plants vs. Zombies
The sounds of disgust that zombies make when they try to eat a Garlic.



Plants vs. Zombies
Garlic

Garlic diverts zombies into other lanes.

Usage: on contact

Special: diverts zombies into other lanes

Lane-diversion isn't just Garlic's profession. It's his passion. He carries an advanced Doctorate in Redirection from the Brussels University. He'll talk all day about lane vectors and repulse arrays. He even pushes things into alternate avenues at home. Somehow his wife puts up with it.

Cost: 50

Recharge: fast

Plants vs. Zombies 2
Sun cost: 50

AREA: Single

RANGE: Touch

RECHARGE: Mediocre

Garlic diverts zombies into other lanes.

Good against zombies, as well as proof against any vampires who might accidentally wander by.

Overview
The Garlic can take 21 bites and its appearance changes at 7 bites and 14 bites before being swallowed at 21 bites except in Plants vs. Zombies Online, where it takes 5 bites and its appearance changes at 2 bites and 4 bites. Therefore, it diverts up to 20 zombies in Plants vs. Zombies, 5 zombies in Plants vs. Zombies Online, or 4 zombies in Plants vs. Zombies 2 into other lanes (this is because in PVZ2, Garlic can take 12 bites, and zombies will take 3 bites before diverting.)

Plant Food upgrade
Garlic will heal itself and release a noxious gas to all zombies in front of Garlic, making all zombies divert to another lane. After the zombies divert, they will be immobilized for approximately 7.5 seconds before moving again.

Usage
Place Garlic in the front of lanes to divert the zombies into other lanes, preferably those with greater defenses or attacks. Garlic only affects zombies that bite them, so they will not stop Zombonis, Catapult Zombies, Bungee Zombies, or Gargantuars, as they do not actually eat the Garlic, so plan accordingly. Also, Garlic will not stop Pogo Zombies or Pole Vaulting Zombies if they still have their equipment, since they will just jump/pole vault over it. Balloon Zombies with balloons will float over any Garlic beneath them without effect. Garlics may not stop Dr. Zomboss either; the player never gets a chance to do that without hacking, and Dr. Zomboss does not eat plants.

If a Snorkel Zombie tries to eat a Garlic, it will move into another lane very quickly, but while it's moving, its head will not go underwater for that second. It is a very unlikely chance that you could kill a Snorkel Zombie while it is moving into another lane because it is almost invincible when moving.

Plants vs. Zombies
Garlic is a useful plant on almost any level because with careful use, it can funnel zombies down lanes with greater defenses. They are especially effective on Pool and Fog levels, as zombies have only one other lane to swap to. It is often used in combination with the Gloom-shroom, diverting zombies to the sides of the mushrooms, so that they will be damaged by the mushroom and not be able to attack it. It can also be used so that you do not have to defend as many rows, leaving more room for Sunflowers, Marigolds, etc. behind the Garlic. This is very helpful to get the achievement Sunny Days if you have many defensive plants such as Tall-nut, Pumpkin, etc. It is recommended to get an offensive plant for crowd control, as zombies in such huge crowds will destroy the defensive plants easily within a few bites.

After taking a bite of the Garlic, zombies will not only shift over by one lane, but also advance slightly into the new column and make a disgusted noise and face. Zombies will not make a disgusted face when the code "future" is activated. Zombies that have bitten the Garlic will also pause for a moment before changing rows.

Also, add few defenses into lanes with Garlic that do not hit other rows, for they will not hit the zombies that have bitten the Garlic. However, again, with something like a Gloom-shroom, placing them behind Garlic is a good idea because they will hit the zombies once they move to other rows and the zombies will be unable to attack them. Threepeaters are better used behind Wall-nuts or Tall-nuts to maximize the effect. Using Spikeweed and Spikerock with Garlic is also usually a successful plan, because they can do maximum damage to large groups, especially with Snow Peas or Winter Melons.

Another great plan is putting Split Peas with Pumpkins and putting them behind Garlic with a Torchwood at the tile up or down and one space right of the Garlic. The Garlic has to be placed at the first column without any other plants in the row, excluding Spikeweeds and Spikerocks, in order to maximize effects with the Split Pea and Torchwood. The Split Peas will get rid of Pogo Zombies and Pole Vaulting Zombies easily, while Split Peas will still damage the zombies behind them.

Be aware that if you are using adjacent Garlic in different lanes, zombies will not be held up indefinitely; they will still move through to the other side after from three to five bites. Also, use two Garlics in the same lane when dealing with Pole Vaulting Zombies, as they will vault the first one and then encounter the second. Do the same for Pool levels, too, by planting one between rows one to three and another at row four to deal with the Ambush Zombies.

In the Mini-game Seeing Stars, it is helpful to use a Garlic in the middle lane at the beginning so they will go into lanes where you are using defensive plants.

Keep an eye on the health of your Garlic. You cannot replace damaged Garlic without digging it up, so try to be prepared for when it finally gets eaten, so you can replace it immediately. Garlics should be replaced shortly after their eyes start to water, which means they are almost completely eaten.

In the Last Stand mini-game, Garlic is often used in conjunction with Gloom-shrooms, Pumpkins, and Marigolds to create an effective gold farming strategy.

Be careful though, because placing Garlic in Pumpkins will not divert the zombies. This is because they are not directly eating the Garlic, but the Pumpkin instead.

Plants vs. Zombies 2
The sequel has been a mixed bag to Garlic. On the plus side, there are more plants that can benefit from Garlic, such as Snapdragon, Cold Snapdragon, Rotobaga, and especially Phat Beet. On the other hand, the ability to either crush or bypass defensive plants has become much more common: every world, especially Far Future, Big Wave Beach, and Neon Mixtape Tour, contains zombies that can crush or bypass plants, or are immune to Garlic, so the previously effective strategy of planting Garlic far away from the mowers is now suicidal. However, this effect can be somewhat neglected by using Plant Food on the Garlic, making it release its noxious breath to push all zombies, even Gargantuars, out of its row and temporarily stun them. This strategy, however, is only reliable if one can generate a continuous supply of Plant Food (either by Power Lily or coins) to feed the Garlics. Power Tiles are another option to increase each Plant Food's diverting power.

It also faces competition from Sweet Potato, which is more expensive, but does not require being attacked in order to divert enemies and can therefore be hidden behind other defensive plants to act as a supporting plant. As Garlic has a lot more threats in the sequel than in the first game and has less health than before to deal with zombies, it is not ideal to rely on it as your main defensive plant.

Avoid using Garlic on Pharaoh Zombies with their sarcophaguses or robot zombies as they are immune to Garlic's lane changing ability, allowing them to eat the Garlic fully. Using Plant Food on them with Garlic is also useless.

Garlic is useful in Jurassic Marsh because Garlic can divert the zombies in other line where there are no dinosaurs or vice versa if the dinosaur is charmed. It is advisable to put Garlic in rows where raptors and stegosaurs to prevent the use of their skills. An imitated Garlic is recommended to cover more rows with full dinosaurs. It is also useful in Save Our Seeds levels as they can divert zombies away from endangered plants.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies

 * If a zombie bites a piece of Garlic when the "future" code is entered, it will not pause and make a disgusted face, but it will still make the "bleh" noise.
 * Garlic dies after 21 pea shots, meaning a pea is effectively the same as a bite to Garlic.
 * On the seed packet, it shows eyebrows. However, when the Garlic is planted, it does not have any. It has eyebrows in Plants vs. Zombies: All Stars and advertisements.
 * Garlic is one of four plants that has a love life mentioned in the Suburban Almanac, with the other three being Repeater, Threepeater, and Cactus.
 * In the Nintendo DS version, the zombies will move to different lanes slower than on other versions, and instead of a "bleh", the zombies moan.
 * Like Tall-nut, Garlic will shed a single tear before being eaten completely.
 * Garlic is one of five plants that will slowly degrade as they are damaged. The others are the Wall-nut, Pumpkin, Tall-nut, and Spikerock.
 * Some zombies will not make a disgusted face, or retch when biting a Garlic, however they will still move on to a different lane.
 * It is the only defensive plant which cannot be aided by Wall-nut First Aid. The other plant that changes appearance showing damage that cannot be aided through Wall-nut First Aid is the Spikerock, mostly because it is not defensive.
 * On the iPad version of the game, if a zombie bites a Garlic, the zombie's head will move up.
 * Although it can withstand more bites from zombies than most plants, the Garlic only takes six basketballs thrown by Catapult Zombie before dying, the same as any other plant.
 * If a hypnotized zombie tries to eat a zombie that is not hypnotized, and there is a Garlic in the way, the zombie and/or the hypnotized one will be disgusted and move to the other lane.
 * Garlic is the only plant that can be eaten but can also be passed by zombies. It is also the only defensive plant that Ladder Zombies do not place their ladder on.
 * When a zombie gives the Garlic its final bite, the zombie will continue walking in its lane, which means the Garlic only diverts 20 zombies.
 * Garlic has two teeth visible, but if it degrades to its second stage (when bitten seven times), only one tooth is seen. None are seen when bitten fourteen times.PvZ Splitpea Garlic Tactic.jpg and Garlic strategy]]
 * Garlic and Potato Mine are the only plants with two teeth.
 * Garlic is the only defensive plant with a fast recharge.
 * In the Nintendo DS version of the game, the Garlic seems to be angry.
 * Garlic is one of the three plants that cry. The others are Tall-nut when it is in its third stage, and Scaredy-shroom when it hides from a zombie.
 * If a zombie takes a bite of Garlic and almost instantaneously gets hit by butter, the zombie may end up taking a second bite of Garlic.Zombie garlic glitch2.png
 * Due to the fact that zombies change lanes slowly in the Nintendo DS version, if a zombie dies just after biting Garlic, he may end up falling over between lanes.
 * There is a glitch where if a zombie bites a Garlic and makes a face and says "bleh" and at the same time the player types the "future" code, the zombie will have shades but will not have its lower jaw. It remains like that even if the player types "future" again and return it to normal until it dies.
 * If a Dancing Zombie eats it, existing Backup Dancers stay in their original lanes.
 * On the iPad version of the game, Backup Dancers face stretches into an unusual shape after biting Garlic.
 * Cob Cannnon's Almanac entry, Garlic, and Spikerock are the only ones where real places are written in (Harvard, New York, the Uni Brüssel and Europe).
 * If a zombie bites a Garlic in a five-lane level (Day, Night, and Roof), they tend to go up a lane much more often than down a lane, unless the Garlic is on either the top or bottom lanes, which is when they will always move down a lane. This has also been tested in I, Zombie (Me Smash!)
 * If a Gargantuar smashes a damaged Garlic, the squished Garlic will appear to be in its undamaged sprite. This also happens with Wall-nut, Tall-nut, and Pumpkin.
 * There is a audio error were one of the "bleh" noises makes a click sound at the end.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies 2

 * Zombies no longer make a disgusted face when biting Garlic. Instead, they freeze and have green gas with them, then change lanes.
 * Its idle animation is similar to Toadstool's idle animation. Its eye movements are similar to Strawburst's eye movements.
 * Its Almanac entry mentions a myth where garlics are one of a vampire's weaknesses.
 * Unlike the first game, Wall-nut First Aid works on this plant.
 * Garlic is the only defensive plant in the game that does not have its toughness stat noted in the almanac.
 * One of its costumes is a reference to SpongeBob SquarePants, being the Glove World hat.
 * Garlic now has eyebrows, unlike in the first game.
 * It appears to be a bit bigger than in the first game.
 * Garlic's noxious breath when fed Plant Food is similar to Chili Bean's stunning gas and Stunion's breath.
 * All of which cause stunning to zombies.
 * A slowed down zombie will move to the area between two lanes and be stunned for a while after Garlic's breath is released.
 * Garlic was seen jumping in the Neon Mixtape Tour, Side B trailer. This jumping animation was used in the Zen Garden.
 * In Pirate Seas, zombies who eat Garlic while at the planks never go to the water. Instead, they will go to an adjacent plank.
 * Garlic's costume slightly moves as it gets degraded, making it the first plant to have its costume moved as it is being eaten.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies Online

 * Its appearance is based on it in Plants vs. Zombies: All Stars.
 * Its health is now decreased (from 21 bites to 5).
 * It degrades at second bite and then second time at fourth before it gets eaten.
 * Its sun cost is now 75.
 * It has the same idle animation from the first game.
 * Its recharge is now Mediocre.