Escape Root

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Escape Root is a premium plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2 which is tied with Modern Day Part 2. When planted, he will take ten seconds to arm himself before emerging from the ground. Afterwards, he will transform into either an armed Potato Mine, a Cherry Bomb, a Grapeshot or an armed Primal Potato Mine upon contact with a zombie.

The player can switch his place with another plant by simply tapping him, and then the plant the player wishes to swap; doing so will also instantly arm the plant. He is classified as an underground plant, and cannot be planted on the planks in the Pirate Seas or on the minecarts in Wild West. He also cannot switch places with plants on water tiles in Big Wave Beach. He cannot swap a plant using Plant Food or Instant-use plants.

Origins

Escape Root is a portmanteau of "escape route" and "root." His name refers to his main ability; to swap places with a selected plant, thus helping the plant escape from danger.

His yellow miner hat costume is a reference to the fact that he is an underground plant capable of digging.

Almanac entry

Escape Root	SUN COST 50 RECHARGE 20 SUN COST: 50 RECHARGE: 20 TOUGHNESS 300 DAMAGE 1800 TOUGHNESS: 300 DAMAGE: 1800 ARMING TIME 10 RANGE Touch ARMING TIME: 10 RANGE: Touch FAMILY Bombard-mint FAMILY: Bombard-mint Escape Roots explode on contact, and can be swapped with other plants that are in danger. Special: tap Escape Root and another plant to swap them The other plants put on a big surprise party for Escape Root last week, but he did his thing and suddenly it was a surprise party...FOR THEM!

Escape Root

		SUN COST 50			RECHARGE 20

SUN COST: 50
RECHARGE: 20

		TOUGHNESS 300			DAMAGE 1800

TOUGHNESS: 300
DAMAGE: 1800

		ARMING TIME 10			RANGE Touch

ARMING TIME: 10
RANGE: Touch

		FAMILY Bombard-mint

FAMILY: Bombard-mint

Escape Roots explode on contact, and can be swapped with other plants that are in danger.

Special: tap Escape Root and another plant to swap them

The other plants put on a big surprise party for Escape Root last week, but he did his thing and suddenly it was a surprise party...FOR THEM!

Upgrades

Plant Food effect

When fed Plant Food, Escape Root will summon two copies of himself next to a zombie one at a time that will turn into a random explosive plant. If there are no zombies, Escape Root will summon two explosives on himself. This is similar to the Plant Food effect of both the Potato Mine and the Chili Bean.

Bombard-mint effect

When boosted by Bombard-mint, Escape Root's arm time will be reduced to five seconds, and the DPS on all of Escape Root's explosions will increase to 2400 DPS.

Level upgrades

Level	Seed Packets	Coins	Upgrades
			Sun Cost	Recharge (Sluggish)	Starting Recharge	Toughness (Typical)	Damage (Massive)				Projectile Velocity	Arming Time (Mediocre)	Range
1	0	0	50	20 seconds	15 seconds	300 dps	1800 dps	2400 dps	1800 dps	1800 dps	Normal	10 seconds	Touch
2	10	1,000		19 seconds	14 seconds	350 dps	1900 dps	2400 dps	1900 dps	1900 dps		10 seconds
3	25	2,500		19 seconds	14 seconds	400 dps	2000 dps	2400 dps	1900 dps	1900 dps	+1.3x	9 seconds
4	50	5,000		18 seconds	13 seconds	450 dps	2100 dps	2800 dps	2000 dps	2000 dps		9 seconds
5	100	10,000	25	18 seconds	13 seconds	550 dps	2100 dps	2800 dps	2000 dps	2000 dps		8 seconds
6	200	20,000		17 seconds	12 seconds	600 dps	2175 dps	2800 dps	2100 dps	2100 dps		8 seconds
7	400	30,000		17 seconds	12 seconds	650 dps	2250 dps	2800 dps	2200 dps	2200 dps	+1.6x	7 seconds
8	800	50,000		16 seconds	11 seconds	700 dps	2325 dps	2800 dps	2300 dps	2300 dps		7 seconds
9	1,200	75,000		15 seconds	10 seconds	800 dps	2325 dps	2800 dps	2300 dps	2300 dps		6 seconds
10	1,600	100,000		15 seconds	10 seconds	900 dps	2400 dps	3200 dps	2400 dps	2400 dps		5 seconds

Level upgrades (China only)

Level	Upgrades	Description
	Ready to Go	Arming time speeds up by 40%
	Combat Training	Escape Root gains 50% more attack power and health (150% of initial).
	Speed Activation	Arming time speeds up by 80%
	Cell Activation	Escape Root gains another 50% more attack power and health (200% of initial).
	Ability Awaken	Escape Root may be boosted when planted.
	Fighting Power	Escape Root gains another 50% more attack power and health (250% of initial).
	Energy Transfer	When using Escape Root to swap a plant, that plant may activate its Plant Food effect.
	Fighting Power	Escape Root gains another 50% more attack power and health (300% of initial).

Costumed  (China only)

When costumed and fed by Plant Food, Escape Root will summon three copies of himself instead of two that will turn into a random explosive plant.

Strategies

As his own name says, this plant can be used on some levels where there are large hordes so the player can protect a powerful plant, simply by swapping place with them. The player can use Sweet Potato to gather many zombies at a single place and later swap place with this plant in order to instantly destroy the zombies. He is more accurate if the zombies are all in the same square since the explosion radius of this plant depends on the explosive plant he turns into, which is random.

A thing to remember about the Escape Root is that he can be swapped with plants multiple times. This is useful for moving a powerful plant into another lane multiple times. As a result, this plant could be used as a minecart in other worlds and with plants that cannot be planted on minecarts.

The player could use this well with Grimrose. If the player plants a Grimrose (which would be next to a Moonflower) on a lane with a zombie and no other zombies come, the player could use Escape Root to swap him to a lane where there are zombies. Pea Pod also works well with Escape Root, as players can swap a full Pea Pod to other lanes.

Another strategy is to plant Escape Root where zombies will not be able to eat him, then placing a cheap plant such as a Sunflower near the zombies (but not too close) as something to switch with. Switch the plant and Escape Root. Since the Escape Root will automatically be armed and swapping positions, any zombie near him will blow up by one of the explosive plant, all that can easily wreak havoc among zombies. Using plants such as Spikeweed and Spikerock to switch with is an excellent idea as well since they cannot be eaten.

Additionally, on levels with endangered plants, Escape Root can be used to move them, which can give the player an easier time as long as it is swapped to another tile where they aren't as vulnerable. This is especially useful if the endangered plants are explosive plants, such as Potato Mines, and can easily die. Bringing the endangered plants to the back with offensive plants in front of them will help make sure the player has a higher chance of winning the level.

Gallery

Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Escape Root.

Visit this page to see it.

Trivia

• Before the 4.6.2 update, he was not able to swap endangered plants.
• There is a glitch where he does not spawn an explosive plant when a zombie is near. Instead, just as when he has not armed yet, he gets chewed on.

• There is a glitch where Wizard Zombie can still transform plants being moved by Escape Root. This results in a sheep appearing on top of him. The plant that was turned into a sheep disappears after the Wizard Zombie dies, but it is left unaffected.
• There is a glitch where a Gargantuar Prime is unable to destroy him. When this happens, he is unable to transform. Every time the explosive plant is about to detonate, he is smashed and turns back into himself. This leads to the Gargantuar repeatedly smashing him.
• If the player allows a zombie to arm him, but then drags him to an empty tile, he glitches and will be invincible to any zombie that does not destroy a plant. At this point, he cannot be dug up nor can switch with another plant, though he can still be swapped by a non-glitched Escape Root.

• If the player uses Plant Food on him when there is one zombie on the screen and there are no other zombies after he explodes, the boosted Escape Root will spawn another one on himself. After he explodes, his dirt cannot be seen.
• Like Potato Mine and Primal Potato Mine, he does not activate if a flying zombie hovers over him.
• If a Plant Food fed Infi-nut switches places with Escape Root, the force field remains on the same place. Destroying or shoveling the Infi-nut does not remove the shield.
• He is the only explosive plant that does not self-destruct; rather, he goes away and leaves another plant to explode. However, the Almanac says he explodes.
• In a level with a limited number of plants, when the number reaches the maximum number, the player will no longer be able to swap another plant using him. His Plant Food ability will also spawn new Escape Roots only on himself.
• He can be eaten just right after he is finished swapping with another plant, causing him not to explode.
• He is the first premium plant that is capable of spawning another premium plant, being Grapeshot. The second is Witch Hazel, which spawns Toadstool when fed Plant Food.
• If he is swapped with a Puff-shroom then another Puff-shroom is fed Plant Food, he will stop swapping and the swapped Puff-shroom will become invisible, but the invisible Puff-shroom will still attack and Mecha-Football Zombies will push it across (if there are other plants), however other zombies will not attack the invisible Puff-shroom.

Specific to Chinese version (China only)

• Exploding plants created by Escape Root will use the English text without translating into Chinese. It shares this trait with R.A.D Missiles's costumed Plant Food effect.
• Its level 2 and level 3 upgrades are exactly the same as Primal Potato Mine.
• It can be planted on planks and on minecarts, unlike the international version.
  • This also enables the ability to swap other underground plants to planks, minecarts, etc.

See also

• Potato Mine
• Cherry Bomb
• Grapeshot
• Primal Potato Mine