Cactus (PvZ)

For other uses, see Cactus (PvZ).

“	Indeed, Cactus has changed over time, User Dave. Now she fires a thorn for ranged damage, but hides for ground damage when zombies approach.	”
—Penny

Cactus
Plants vs. Zombies
Cactuses shoot spikes that can hit both ground and air targets.
Sun cost	125 sun (100 in Versus Mode)
Recharge	Fast
Toughness	Normal
Range	Ground and air
Direct damage	20 damage per shot every 1.5 seconds
Unlocked	After beating Level 4-2
She's prickly, sure, but Cactus' spikes belie a spongy heart filled with love and goodwill. She just wants to hug and be hugged. Most folks can't hang with that, but Cactus doesn't mind. She's been seeing an armadillo for a while and it really seems to be working out.
Plants vs. Zombies 2
Sun cost	175
Recharge	5 seconds
Damage	30 damage per shot for 2 to 4 targets (normal) 10 damage per shot (hiding)
Range	Multi-Hit
Special	Hides and does ground damage when zombies are near
Family	Spear-mint
Other weakness	(deflect spike) (digging her) (cannot pop the balloon)
Rarity (China)	Legendary
Unlocked	NA: $4.99 · BRL: R$10,00 · EU: €4.99 · TR: ₺12.99 · PL: 20,66zł · SG: $5.98 · UK: £3.99 · ID: Rp75,000
Unlocked (China)	Collect 10 Cactus Puzzle Pieces
Costumes
Costumes (China)
Things have really changed for Cactus lately. Book deals, movies, truck show appearances... she's just trying to focus on staying humble and launching thorns like always.

Cactus is a combative, projectile-based plant appearing in both main series Plants vs. Zombies games. She attacks by shooting spikes at zombies.

Origins

Real life example of a saguaro, the plant Cactus is based on

Cactus could be inspired by any number of members of the genus Cactacae, but she most resembles a saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea), albeit with a red flower instead of a white one.

History

Plants vs. Zombies

Cactus is essentially a Peashooter that shoots spikes instead of peas. It is obtained before Level 4-3, which Balloon Zombies appear. This plant's distinction is the ability to stretch upwards vertically to pop their balloons, but the spikes being unaffected by Torchwood. The damage she deals is the same amount as a Peashooter.

Plants vs. Zombies 2

In the sequel, Cactus is a premium plant which is advertised alongside Neon Mixtape Tour Side A. She shoots a spike that goes through two or three zombies, and also hides when zombies are close to her while dealing ground damage to zombies that walk over her in this form, similarly to Spikeweed. Each spike deals 30 damage per shot to each zombie it hits, and the ground damage deals the same damage as the Spikeweed's. Jester Zombies can deflect shots from the Cactus, but still be damaged by her ground attack.

Almanac entry

Plants vs. Zombies

Almanac entry of Cactus

Cactus

Cactuses shoot spikes that can hit both ground and air targets.

Damage: normal
Range: ground and air

She's prickly, sure, but Cactus's spikes belie a spongy heart filled with love and goodwill. She just wants to hug and be hugged. Most folks can't hang with that, but Cactus doesn't mind. She's been seeing an armadillo for a while and it really seems to be working out.

Cost: 125

Recharge: fast

Plants vs. Zombies 2

Cactus
	SUN COST 175 RECHARGE 5 TOUGHNESS 300 DAMAGE 30 RANGE Multi-Hit Special Spike Damage Spear-mint Plant Food: Permanently increases piercing power and damage. Cactus fires a penetrating thorn that can damage multiple enemies! Hides underground when zombies are close. Can stretch up and pop balloon zombies. Things have really changed for Cactus lately. Book deals, movies, truck show appearances... she's just trying to focus on staying humble and launching thorns like always.

Cactus

SUN COST 175 RECHARGE 5 TOUGHNESS 300 DAMAGE 30 RANGE Multi-Hit Special Spike Damage Spear-mint Plant Food: Permanently increases piercing power and damage. Cactus fires a penetrating thorn that can damage multiple enemies! Hides underground when zombies are close. Can stretch up and pop balloon zombies. Things have really changed for Cactus lately. Book deals, movies, truck show appearances... she's just trying to focus on staying humble and launching thorns like always.

Audio

2,147,483,647 feet

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Upgrades

Plant Food effect

Cactus after being fed Plant Food in Plants vs. Zombies 2

When fed Plant Food, Cactus' spikes become supercharged with electricity, increasing her maximum penetration capability by two. Cactus will also deal doubled damage for the remaining duration of her life, whether she is shooting or hiding underground. After this, Cactus can no longer be fed Plant Food.

Spear-mint effect

When boosted by Spear-mint, Cactus's spikes do an additional 120 DPS, her Plant Food spikes do an additional 240 DPS, her hiding spike damage will do an additional 40 DPS, and her Plant Food hiding damage do an additional 80 DPS.

Level upgrades

Level	Seed packets	Coins	Upgrades
			Sun Cost	Recharge (Fast)	Toughness (Typical)	Damage (Normal)		Special (Spike Damage)*		Special (Bonus Damage)^	Projectile Velocity	Range
						Normal	Powered**	Normal	Powered**
1	0	0	175	5 seconds	300 damage	30 damage	60 damage	10 damage	20 damage	45 damage	Normal	Multi-Hit
2	10	1,000	175	4.5 seconds	350 damage	40 damage	80 damage	15 damage	20 damage	60 damage
3	25	2,500	175	4.5 seconds	400 damage	50 damage	100 damage	20 damage	30 damage	75 damage	+ 1.6x
4	50	5,000	175	4 seconds	450 damage	60 damage	120 damage	25 damage	30 damage	90 damage
5	100	10,000	150	4 seconds	550 damage	70 damage	140 damage	25 damage	40 damage	105 damage
6	200	20,000	150	3.5 seconds	600 damage	80 damage	160 damage	30 damage	40 damage	120 damage
7	400	30,000	125	3.5 seconds	650 damage	90 damage	180 damage	30 damage	50 damage	135 damage	+ 2.2x
8	800	50,000	125	3 seconds	700 damage	100 damage	200 damage	35 damage	50 damage	150 damage
9	1,200	75,000	100	3 seconds	800 damage	110 damage	220 damage	35 damage	60 damage	165 damage
10	1,600	100,000	100	2.5 seconds	900 damage	120 damage	240 damage	40 damage	80 damage	180 damage

*This column shows its ground damage when hiding.
**After being fed with Plant Food, both its spike and ground damage are powered.
^Cactus's bonus projectile damage to flying zombies. This applies to both normal and Plant Food states.

Costumed (China only)

In addition to becoming supercharged, Cactus will shoot a bunch of supercharged spikes, dealing tons of damage. This will also enable Cactus to be fed Plant Food again.

Level upgrades (China only)

Level	Upgrades	Description
	File:Cactus (PvZ) Upgrade 1.png Electrical Spike	Cactus has a chance to shoot an electrical spike which stuns zombies.
	Combat Training 战斗训练	Cactus (PvZ) gains 50% more attack power and health (150% of initial).
	File:Cactus (PvZ) Upgrade 2.png Strong Puncture	Spikes can pierce through more zombies.
	Cell Activation 细胞活化	Cactus (PvZ) gains another 50% more attack power and health (200% of initial).
	Ability Awaken 能力觉醒	Cactus (PvZ) may be boosted when planted.
	Fighting Power 战斗能力	Cactus (PvZ) gains another 50% more attack power and health (250% of initial).
	File:Cactus (PvZ) Upgrade 3.png Prickly Pear	Cactus will sometimes spawn a prickly pear that damages zombies and blocks them.
	Fighting Power 战斗能力	Cactus (PvZ) gains another 50% more attack power and health (300% of initial).

Strategies

Plants vs. Zombies

Cactus's main role in the player's arsenal is to shoot down Balloon Zombies before they can get past through the defense, turning them into normal zombies that can be attacked by any other plants. While she will be sufficient in normal levels, the sheer amount of Balloon Zombies that can spawn in Survival Mode, plus its lackluster performance against other threats makes Cactus not a worthwhile choice later on. Cactus also has to compete with Cattail, which can target zombies from any lane and deal twice as much as damage as the Cactus, but suffers from an aiming issue, as well as Blover, which can clear Balloon Zombies from all lanes and ward off the fog in Fog levels.

A column of Cacti should be planted to safeguard the player against potential Balloon Zombies. Cactus is also a possible candidate for getting the Don't Pea in the Pool achievement, but should not be used given her poor damage capability and the lack of Balloon Zombies in Pool levels - most lobbed-shot plants are much more suited for this task.

Plants vs. Zombies 2

Cactus's main strength is her versatility: She can be planted at the back to shoot incoming zombies, as well as a front-line plant to damage enemies like Spikeweed. Compared to other penetrating plants such as Laser Bean and A.K.E.E., Cactus also boasts a relatively high damage output, which can be further enhanced with Plant Food. However, her unreliable penetration capability makes Cactus not as reliable against large groups of zombies.

Cactus is also a good counter for Shield Zombie, Barrel Roller Zombie, and Pianist Zombie, as her spikes can pierce through each of the zombie's barricades. Because when it hides it acts like a Spikeweed, she can instantly destroy Barrel Roller Zombie's barrel and Pianist Zombie; however, Cactus will be sacrificed, even if she has her Plant Food effect activated. Cactus is also good against Imp Cannon, Zombie King, and Imp Porter as their projectiles can pass through zombies in front of them. It should be noted that Cactus cannot damage Excavator Zombie, even though the thorns bypass the shovel, and Excavator can shovel up hiding Cacti without stepping on her.

In Frostbite Caves, Cactus has a great advantage against Troglobite and Weasel Hoarder as her spikes can hit all ice blocks and multiple Ice Weasels (similar to Zombie Chickens). Watch out for Dodo Rider Zombie as he will fly over hiding Cacti.

In Neon Mixtape Tour, Cactus has an advantage on most zombies encountered in this world, as their jams do not have a major effect on the Cactus: Punk Zombie cannot kick her, MC Zom-B cannot use its microphone attack against Cactus (in most cases), Glitter Zombies cannot instantly destroy the Cactus and Breakdancer Zombies and the zombies it kicks can still be affected by Cactus's ground attack. This makes the Cactus a great option to use in this world. The only things to look out for are Hair Metal Gargantuar (as even their shockwaves will instantly destroy Cacti, hiding or not), Arcade Zombie's arcade machine (as it can still crush Cacti, hiding or not), Boombox Zombie's boombox (as it stuns all Cacti not hiding) and Bass Zombie's speaker and shock waves. However, Cactus's pierce can directly hurt Arcade Zombie and Bass Zombie.

In Jurassic Marsh, Cactus works great against pterodactyls and ankylosauruses. Zombies carried by pterodactyls will still be damaged by her spikes. Ankylosauruses cannot fling zombies past the Cactus (unless Cactus was hiding during the fling) and will not be pushed. In the Chinese version however, one must watch out for Egg Stealer Imps and Egg Roller Imps as their eggs can easily crush Cactus and the baby dinosaurs that come with it can also destroy Cacti easily.

Like Spikeweeds, Spikerocks, Spring Bean and Celery Stalker, Cactus should not be used in Big Wave Beach levels as zombies will eat the Lily Pad and cause Cactus to fall into the water, wasting 175 sun. 

However, unlike the first game, it is a bad idea to use this plant against the Balloon Zombie because the Cactus' spikes can no longer pop the balloon instantly.

It is also a bad choice to place Cactus on a Gold Tile close to Imp Porters, as this does not prevent them from setting up their tent. In the Chinese version, she is normally really weak for the Legendary rarity. However it's extremely recommended to get her costume, because one spike Cactus shoots in her Plant Food effect can destroy a speaker in a single hit. This, combined with her upgrades, area-of-effect, fast recharge and somewhat cheap cost, makes Cactus really worth the effort of grinding to get her to Level 4 and her costume.

Related achievements

	Morticulturalist Collect all 49 plants.

	Book Learner Fill out the Suburban Almanac.

	The Complete Zombie You've won every trophy, climbed every mountain, defeated every zombie, planted every plant. Congratulations!

Gallery

Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Cactus (PvZ).

Visit this page to see it.

Trivia

General

Concept art for Cactus in Plants vs. Zombies Adventures

• As shown in Plants vs. Zombies Adventures concepts, she was planned to be in the game before being scrapped.
  • Therefore, if not counting the aforementioned game, Cactus is one of the few Plants that has appeared in all of the Plants vs. Zombies games, though being of unrelated functionalities.
• She, Celery Stalker, Shamrock, Shamrockstar, and Scaredy-shroom are the only plants that hide.
  • Excluding Celery Stalker, all remaining plants above hide when there is a zombie nearby.
  • Out of four plants said, she is the only plant that only hides when there is a zombie in front of them and still attack zombies while hiding.
• Though her main purpose in Plants vs. Zombies was to counter Balloon Zombies, in Plants vs. Zombies 2, she no longer stretches, but instead buries to the ground dodging damage, no longer having advantage over those Zombies. This makes her having a somewhat opposite mechanic in the sequel.
  • In the original Plants vs. Zombies, she was always above-ground, but in the second game, she is shown to be partially buried underground, given the dirt that surrounds her.
• She and Explode-o-nut are the only two plants that vary wildly in function between the original Plants vs. Zombies and Plants vs. Zombies 2.
  • Coincidentally, both were made into premium plants.
• In Cactus's online Almanac picture, it just shows her neck rising up.
• In the french translation of the game, she is referred as a male in the almanac. Il (he) is used instead of elle (she).

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies

• If stretching, she will be equally the same height to a Tall-nut.
  • However, she cannot block vaulting zombies even if she was stretching at the right time.
• She cannot work on the slope in Roof levels unless on the fifth column, despite being able to grow taller.
• She is one of the twelve plants that appear in the seed selection screen after the player gets the Grave Buster on the Web version, the others being Ice-shroom, Lily Pad, Potato Mine, Threepeater, Tangle Kelp, Jalapeno, Spikeweed, Torchwood, Tall-nut, Doom-shroom, and Blover.
• On the loading screen, her pollen balls are red, but during gameplay, they are yellow. In I, Zombie, her pollen balls are orange.
• In Portal Combat, Cacti in the lane of Balloon Zombies will attempt to fire at it even if the spike will go through a portal and end up in another lane. However, Cacti in other lanes that have a portal leading to the correct lane will also shoot at the Balloon Zombie.
• She, Tall-nut, and Garlic are the only plants that appear in I, Zombie, but do not appear in I, Zombie Endless.
• The plural form of Cactus is represented in-game as "Cactuses" rather than "Cacti."

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies 2

• Although the thorns penetrate various zombies, Excavator Zombie is immune to them, as the spikes hit the shovel, glance off (missing the Excavator Zombie completely) and continue to the next zombie.
• She does not hide from Zombie Bulls.
• In Cactus's case, she cannot be eaten (unless a Zombie Bull attempts to); she can only be killed by rolling or smashing attacks, lasers from a Gargantuar Prime or Turquoise Skull Zombie, or if a Jester Zombie can damage her as fast as possible with the "help" of other straight-shooting plants. Additionally, MC Zom-B can hit her in some cases.
  • There is also a glitch, in which the Balloon Zombie with its balloon popped is able to destroy her, because she will not hide from it.
• An advertisement for Summer Nights event in 2015 accidentally leaked the return of it a month in advance.
• With her return, all Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare plant classes appear in both Plants vs. Zombies and Plants vs. Zombies 2.
• The vocal noise she makes is from her Garden Warfare appearance.
• She, Celery Stalker, Potato Mine, Primal Potato Mine and Escape Root are the only "underground" plants that cannot be planted directly on Lily Pads in Big Wave Beach. Despite this, they can technically be planted on Lily Pads if they or the plant behind them is pulled by a Fisherman Zombie, which in turn pushes them onto a Lily Pad.

A Cactus disabling an ankylosaurus' attack

• Placing her on the third column from the right (seventh column from the left) will disable the ankylosaurus's attack. The zombies will simply be launched on top of her and stop when she hides. She will not be pushed.
  • This only works if she is out of the ground, not hiding. If she is, the zombie will be launched normally.
• Like White Radish, Potato Mine, Bamboo Shoot, Carrot Missile, Celery Stalker, Primal Potato Mine and Escape Root, she cannot be planted on planks in Pirate Seas.
• Cactus and Torchwood are the only non-defensive plants that have their Plant Food effect last until the plant has been destroyed.
  • Coincidentally, they are both returning premium plants and cost 175 sun.

Specific to Chinese version (China only)

• Similar for Red Stinger, her seed packet is different.
  • Cactus's entire body is visible in the Chinese version's seed packet, while her head and one hand is only visible in the International version's.

See also

• Balloon Zombie
• Cattail
• Spike
• Bloomerang
• Spikeweed

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