Bandit Cactus

Bandit Cactus is a Rare variant of the Cactus in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2. She was released in the Zomboss Down DLC pack.

Descriptions

Stickerbook description

After robbing the Zomboss Express the bandit Cactus retired investing her loot in a fix-er-up resort hotel where she spends the majority of time greeting guests and apologizing about the shoddy accommodations.

In-game description

Her fully automatic Gatling Needle trades accuracy for speed.

AI health (GW2 only)

• Easy: 75
• Normal: 100
• Hard: 125
• CRAAAAZY: 150

Primary weapon

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare

The primary weapon of Bandit Cactus is the Gatling Needle; all facts below apply to a fully upgraded weapon.

• The base damage per hit at all ranges is 9 and the critical is 11.
• The max DPS at all ranges is about 11.
• The min DPS at all ranges is about 90.
• The ammo in a clip is 20.
• The reload time is 2.1 seconds.
• The projectile speed is fast.
• The weapon is full auto.
• The bloom is medium.

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2

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This section is currently under construction. You can help expand it; it's your choice.

The Bandit Cactus' primary weapon is the Gatling Needle. It deals less damage than the standard Spike Shot at 9 impact damage and 10 critical damage. It compensates for this by being a fully automatic weapon.

Abilities

Potato Mine

Potato Mine is a passive attack piece that deals 175 damage to any zombies that step on it.

Pizzazzling Potato Mine (GW2 only)

The Pizzazzling Potato Mine is an alternate ability that's basically a reskin of the Potato Mine. It has no differences except that it's golden, surrounded by gems, and releases glitter and makes a different sound when detonated.

Garlic Drone

Garlic Drone is a flight-capable drone with five health. Its primary weapon is the Needle Shot, and it's abilities are to descend, ascend, and the Corn Strike.

Tallnut Battlement

Tallnut Battlement is a wall of two Tall-nuts and two Wall-nuts held together by vines with a decent amount of health. It can be used to stall zombies or provide cover.

Potato Nugget Mine

An alternate ability of Potato Mine, Potato Nugget Mine is smaller and does less damage. However, it is easier to camouflage and the player can place more of them at once compared to Potato Mine.

Artichoke Drone

An alternate ability of Garlic Drone, Artichoke Drone has 20 health instead of the Garlic Drone's five. Its primary weapon is the Artichoke Hearts, and it's abilities are to descend, ascend, and the Baby Corn.

Iron Maiden

An alternate ability of Tallnut Battlement, Iron Maiden is an armored Wall-nut that is hard to destroy. It is much stronger than the Tallnut Battlement; its only downside is its smaller size.

Red Artichoke

Another alternate ability of the Garlic Drone, it is a faster version of the Artichoke Drone with only five health. It shares its primary weapon and all but one ability with the Artichoke Drone, and it's version of the Baby Corn is slightly different.

Dark Garlic Drone

Dark Garlic Drone is yet another alternate ability of the Garlic Drone with five health and a very different weapon. Its primary weapon is the Dark Garlic, which fires slower, deals more damage, and has splash. Its abilities are to descend, ascend, and an altered version of the Corn Strike.

Weapon upgrades

Steely Gaze

Staring down Zombies in an even more fierce fashion improves her reload time.

Fancier Bandolier

Stitched some extra slots in her bandolier, increasing ammo capacity.

Sharpened Needles

Sharpening her needles has increased their damage. She can't believe she didn't think of that earlier.

Strategies

The Bandit Cactus is well-suited for close-range combat with the ability to fire automatically with each needle dealing about 9 to 11 damage, allowing her to deal a relatively large amount of damage to opposing zombies. This makes it capable of defending the garden in Gardens & Graveyards at a much closer distance than usual and with her above-average projectile damage, if given proper support, she can even take down an All-Star without too much trouble. Be advised though, that the automatic firing only moves the Bandit Cactus from being a support class to being a defensive class, not an offensive class. The needles deal a large amount of damage at close and mid range but are sub-par at dealing with long range targets compared to other Cactus variants. The Bandit Cactus excels at ambushing but it also retains the Cactus' below-average foot speed so this further discourages players from actively attacking and instead encourages the player to stay near the objective and attacking any approaching zombies. If you want to go long range, it is advised to get the zoom upgrade.

If the player favors more offensive gameplay, the Peashooter is a much better choice for this task. This is because of his faster movement speed, and his powerful abilities. Bandit Cactus is a more passive attacker.

Interestingly, the Bandit Cactus is very similar in behavior to the Mechanic, which translates to the fact that if the player is skilled with the Mechanic, they should have good thoughts about the Bandit Cactus but remember that due to the plants being on the defense (GW), the Bandit Cactus is best used as a defensive "carpenter" due to its ability to place down Practical cover and mines as well as its ability fly drones.

Balancing changes

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 release

• ▲ Ammo capacity was increased from 15 to 20.

Related achievement

	Making Popcorn As a Cactus, Vanquish 10 Players with the Drone's Corn Strike

Gallery

Video

Trivia

• She is the only plant that carries anything to hold ammo, in which it used a bandolier.
• In the Stickerbook, it says that she has long range, but in fact she is meant to be a mid to short ranged variant.
• While it can be hard to notice, it turns out that she has spikes on her lower body that clip through her poncho.