Grave Buster (Plants vs. Zombies)

For other uses, see Grave Buster (disambiguation).

Grave Buster
Plant Grave Busters on graves to remove the graves.
Almanac statistics
Sun cost	75
Recharge	0.5/7.5 35/50 (Versus Mode)
Toughness	300
Usage	Single use, must be planted on graves
Special	Removes graves
In-game statistics
Planted on	Graves, Zombie Gravestones
Unlocked	Beating Level 2-3
Despite Grave Buster's fearsome appearance, he wants everyone to know that he loves kittens and spends his off hours volunteering at a local zombie rehabilitation center. "It's just the right thing to do," he says.

Grave Buster is an instant-use plant and environment modifier appearing in Plants vs. Zombies. His only use is to destroy graves and zombie gravestones, freeing up space for planting and preventing ambush zombies from spawning from them.

About

For more information about this character, see Grave Buster

Grave Buster is obtained by completing Level 2-3 and costs 75 sun to plant. He takes five seconds (5) to fully destroy graves and Zombie Gravestones, during which he is vulnerable to zombie assaults.

After completing his objective, Grave Buster will despawn leave behind a random pickup item, ranging from a silver coin to a diamond or Zen Garden plant. If he is eaten before he destroys a grave, the grave pops back in its place.

Audio

Sound	Description
	Grave Buster chomping

Almanac entry

Grave Buster
Plant Grave Busters on graves to remove the graves. Usage: single use, must be planted on graves Special: removes graves Despite Grave Buster's fearsome appearance, he wants everyone to know that he loves kittens and spends his off hours volunteering at a local zombie rehabilitation center. "It's just the right thing to do," he says. Cost: 75 Recharge: fast

Strategies

Main Game

Grave Buster serves a vital role in Night levels as the only plant that can destroy graves. This gives the player a noticeable advantage, as not only can graves prevent planting, they can also summon reinforcements during flags, bolstering the already great amount of zombies and putting further pressure to the defending plants. The reward for destroying graves also present an opportunity for farming consumable items. When a Grave Buster is eating a grave, zombies can still come out of that grave. The Grave Buster will continue to eat it but the zombies will try to attack Grave Buster. Therefore, the player should be careful of the time to plant Grave Buster and only do so when there are no threats in the way.

Which graves chosen to remove first depends entirely on the player's defensive strategy. Generally, getting rid of the leftmost ones first is preferred, as the left side is usually used for planting production and offensive plants. However, the player may also wish to destroy graves placed on the right side in order to plant a certain few plants, such as Spikeweed, Cherry Bomb and Doom-shroom.

Whack a Zombie

Grave Buster is an essential tool in this mini-game, as while it is still possible to defeat this level without ever using him, the rapidly re-spawning graves will present a tremendous amount of challenge to the player, especially in the final flag. This is further improved that graves being targeted by Grave Buster will not actually summon zombies, giving the player much needed time for planning and preparing defense.

Grave Buster usage should always be prioritized on the graves closest to the left. One of the best times to plant Grave Busters is when there is a pause in zombies coming out of graves.

Versus Mode

In Versus Mode, Grave Busters play a large role in destroying the Zombie Gravestones the zombie side must create in order to produce brains. They work just like they would on a normal grave, but there is no coin produced when they destroy one. However, great care should be exercised in defending Grave Buster, as the plant has a much slower recharge rate in this mode (and an even slower one after Sudden Death) and cannot defend itself from zombie attacks.

Related achievements

	Morticulturalist Collect all 49 plants.

	Book Learner Fill out the Suburban Almanac.

Gallery

Grave Buster has a gallery!

Visit this page to see it.

In other languages

Please note that only official translations are used.

Language	Name	Description
English	Grave Buster
Simplified Chinese	咬咬碑	lit. "Biting the Grave"
Traditional Chinese	噬碑藤	lit. "Grave-Devouring Vine"
Dutch	Grafkauwer
French	Éclateur de tombes
German	Grabfresser	lit. "Grave Devourer" from Grab (grave) and Fresser (devourer)
Italian	Mangiatombe
Japanese	グレイブバスター
Brazilian Portuguese	Come-cova
Russian	Могилоед
Spanish	Comepiedras	"Stone eater"

Trivia

• There is a glitch that can occur, when the player plants a Grave Buster that is not finishing eating the grave and show the seed selection click Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies or Suburban Almanac and exit back to the seed selection, the player will hear a Grave Buster sound eating a grave. Also when this glitch happens and the player finishes picking seeds the Grave Buster will continue eating the grave without sounds.
• It is the only Night obtained plant that is not a mushroom.
• It is the only plant that can be placed on graves.
• When Grave Buster is crushed by a Gargantuar, Zomboni, Catapult Zombie's catapult vehicle, Dr. Zomboss' crushing attacks (iceball, fireball, RV, and stomp attack), and Squash Zombie, the player can hear the sound of it removing the grave even after being destroyed.
• Even though it is only used at night, it is not considered a nocturnal plant and can be raised in the normal Zen Garden, and is sold for $8000 instead of $10,000.
• It recharges much slower in Versus Mode, due to balancing matters.
  • In fact, Grave Buster is the only unit in the game, plant or zombie, who's recharge time is increased after Sudden Death, while that of everything else is divided by three.
    • This is also due to balancing matters, since Zombie Gravestones become unplantable in that portion of Versus Mode, and it would be highly unfair for the zombie player if the plant best equipped for destroying Zombie Gravestones became easier for the plant player to use.
• There is a glitch in the Nintendo DS version when a new grave appears and the player places a Grave Buster a square away from the grave, it can be used and it will not destroy any graves.
• The rocks from the grave it is eating look bigger in the iPhone and iPod versions.
• Its online Almanac entry does not appear to be finished, because when the player clicks on it, it shows the last plant the player checked the entry on.
• In the online version, it won't give you a reward because money and other prizes aren't available in that version.
• It can still be selected on any level that is not a night level, but they cannot be used and just wastes a seed slot.
• It is nicknamed "黑黑" ("Blacky") in Plants vs. Zombies: Journey to the West.
• There is a glitch where if the game is paused while it is on screen, its sound effect will restart, and even works with multiple Grave Busters and will still occur when the grave is destroyed. Basically, the player can make its sound effect last indefinitely.
• It is said by George Fan, the designer of the game and creator of the franchise, that the Grave Buster has its appearance to mimic a tree bark from graveyards and made it gray to mimic a grave so the player would know that the plant has something to do with graves.
• When a Grave Buster is spawned on tiles without graves, the pickup item will still drop.

See also

• Grave
• Zombie Gravestone

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