Hot Date

When he sees zombies, he goes SPLAT!

This item is only obtainable during certain events. However, it can still be used if you have already obtained it. It is currently not available.

Bug Zombie and Bug make a great team.

The content in this page is either bugged, glitched, or broken. A further update may fix these issues at a later date.

For the version in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, see Hot Date.

Hot Date
Hot Dates attract zombies from lanes above and below them, and then unleash a lane of flame when they're eaten.
Statistics
Sun Cost	175
Recharge	25 seconds
Toughness	2000 damage
Damage	1000 damage
Range	Multi-Lane
Family	Pepper-mint
Plant Food effect	Heals itself and attracts zombies in the surrounding area.
Special	Warms nearby plants
Statistics (China)
Sun Cost	200
Recharge	20 seconds
Toughness	4000 damage
Damage	1200 damage
Range	Whole Lane
Area	AoE within Range
Class	Special
Quality	Super-rare
Tags	Defensive, area of effect, fire, ash
Plant features	Brown plant
In-game statistics
Other weakness	(Immune to fire) (cannot be attracted by Hot Date) (when torch is lit) (can render him useless)
Unlocked	200 seed packets
Costumes
Code name	hotdate
Hot Date's a charmer. He's polite, well-read, has lots of interesting opinions, and practices active listening. Zombies line up around the block to be incinerated by him.

Hot Date is a special-edition premium plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2, tied to the 2017 Valenbrainz event in the 5.8.1 update. If a zombie one lane above or below gets close enough to a Hot Date, they will switch lanes to the lane the Hot Date is on, similar to the Sweet Potato. He will also explode like a Jalapeno once eaten. He changes appearance when absorbing 500, 1000, and 1500 damage.

In version 7.8.1, he became available as a seed-packet-obtainable plant on February 19, 2020. In version 7.9.1, when Penny's Pursuit was released, the first weekly event rewarded the player with Hot Date seed packets

Hot Date cannot attract the following zombies:

• Barrel Roller Zombie
• Barrel (including event types)
• Imp Cannon
• Zombie Parrot
• Jetpack Zombie/Disco Jetpack Zombie
• Zombie Hamsterball
• Zcorpion Zombie

In the Chinese version of Plants vs. Zombies 2, he is a Monthly special plant. Between v2.4.0 and v.2.5.0, he was instead a Renaissance Age plant.

Origins

Phoenix dactylifera

Hot Date is based on the fruit of the Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera,) a flowering plant species in the palm family Arecaceae that is cultivated for its edible sweet fruit (also called a date).

His name is a pun on the phrase "hot date," meaning an appealing person someone is dating, referring to both his almanac entry as well as his fire based abilities.

Almanac entry

Note: The stats shown below only apply to Level 1.

Hot Date
	SUN COST 175 RECHARGE 25 TOUGHNESS 2000 DAMAGE 1000 RANGE Multi-Lane Pepper-mint Plant Food: Heals itself and attracts zombies in the surrounding area. Hot Dates attract zombies from lanes above and below them, and then unleash a lane of flame when they're eaten. Hot Date's a charmer. He's polite, well-read, has lots of interesting opinions, and practices active listening. Zombies line up around the block to be incinerated by him.

Hot Date

SUN COST 175 RECHARGE 25 TOUGHNESS 2000 DAMAGE 1000 RANGE Multi-Lane Pepper-mint Plant Food: Heals itself and attracts zombies in the surrounding area. Hot Dates attract zombies from lanes above and below them, and then unleash a lane of flame when they're eaten. Hot Date's a charmer. He's polite, well-read, has lots of interesting opinions, and practices active listening. Zombies line up around the block to be incinerated by him.

Upgrades

Plant Food effect

Plant Food effect (animation)

Hot Date will regain all of his lost health and attract zombies to him in a 4x3 area, similar to Sweet Potato.

Pepper-mint effect

When boosted by Pepper-mint, Hot Date's explosion will do an additional 1800 damage.

Level upgrades

Level	Seed Packets	Coins	Upgrades
			Sun Cost	Recharge (Sluggish)	Starting Recharge	Toughness (Elevated)	Damage (Massive)	Range
1	0	0	175	25 seconds	15 seconds	2000 damage	1000 damage	Multi-Lane
2	10	1,000		24 seconds	14 seconds	2200 damage	1100 damage
3	25	2,500		23 seconds	13 seconds	2400 damage	1200 damage
4	50	5,000	150			2600 damage	1300 damage
5	100	10,000		22 seconds	12 seconds	2800 damage	1400 damage
6	200	20,000	125			3000 damage	1500 damage
7	400	30,000		21 seconds	11 seconds	3500 damage	1600 damage
8	800	50,000	100			4000 damage	1700 damage
9	1,200	75,000		20 seconds	10 seconds	4500 damage	1800 damage
10	1,600	100,000	75			5000 damage

Mastery upgrades

• Chance to Boost
• Damage Pierce

Level upgrades (China only)

Level	Upgrades	Description
	Hot Spicy Energy 热辣能量	Hot Date gets the hot energy power, and the HP has greatly increased. 热辣海枣获得热辣能量的加成，生命值大幅提升。
	Combat Training 战斗训练	Hot Date gains 50% more attack power and health (150% of initial).
	Hot Spicy Enhancement 热辣提升	Hot Spicy Energy is increased by 100%, and the HP has greatly increased again. 热辣能量的技能效果提升100%，生命值再次大幅提升。
	Cell Activation 细胞活化	Hot Date gains another 50% more attack power and health (200% of initial).
	Ability Awaken 能力觉醒	Hot Date may be boosted when planted.
	Fighting Power 战斗能力	Hot Date gains another 50% more attack power and health (250% of initial).
	After-Temperature 热辣余温	Hot Date's explosion leaves sparks that deal 300 damage per second for 5 seconds. 热辣海枣爆炸后，地上留下持续5秒的火屑，对僵尸造成每秒300点伤害。
	Fighting Power 战斗能力	Hot Date gains another 50% more attack power and health (300% of initial).

Costumed (China only)

When costumed, his Plant Food effect will also give him three seconds of invincibility after attracting zombies.

Strategies

Hot Date can be treated as a combination of Sweet Potato and Jalapeno. He is able to block zombies, draw them from nearby lanes, and damage all zombies in a lane when destroyed. Not too different from Sweet Potato, Hot Date is less durable but nevertheless an excellent complement to strategies involving the likes of Phat Beet. If used correctly, he also has the advantage of being freeze immune and the ability to warm nearby plants, which matters the most in Frostbite Caves.

It may be counterintuitive to use Hot Date for damage if you can't lose plants, or when against zombies that can destroy him without activating his ability, such as Excavator Zombie, Explorer Zombie, and Turqiose Skull Zombie. Wizard Zombies, Imp Dragon Zombies, and Octo Zombies can also pose a challenge. While most strategies that work for Hot Date can comfortably deal with Octopi and Imp Dragons due to the extreme abundance of supportive AOE attackers, ranged plants are necessary to counter Wizards.

Balance changes

Update 11.5.1

• ▼ Damage dealt to Gargantuar, General zombies and Zomboss is reduced by 25%.
• ▲ His fire is now a grid item. The one-time damage is calculated in tiles, a zombie can be damaged twice or more times.
• ▲ Deals multiple damage to Zomboss.

Related achievement

	So Thawful Thaw 13 ice blocks in a single level

Gallery

Hot Date has a gallery!

Visit this page to see it.

In other languages

Please note that only official translations are used.

Language	Name	Description
English	Hot Date
Simplified Chinese	热辣海枣	lit. "Hot Phoenix Dactylifera"
French	Datte galante
German	Heiße Dattel
Italian	Appuntamento focoso
Brazilian Portuguese	Tâmaramante
Spanish	Cita ardiente

Trivia

• There is a bug that, after his Plant Food is used while he is exploding, he will become invisible to zombies, and not be treated like he is on the field.
  • This is probably due to the plant being both destroyed and not destroyed at the same time, confusing the game for the plant's current state, and eventually getting treated as destroyed.
• His pupils are larger in his seed packet image than they are in game.
  • Hot Date also has a different eye color in this game than he does in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, being light blue instead of dark blue.
• He reuses some of Boombox Zombie's textures, specifically the particles and hearts that float around him.
• The reason why he was released in the Valenbrainz event is that he is named Hot Date, and dates are commonly found during Valentines.
• There is a glitch where if Hot Date's Plant Food activates and a zombie behind Hot Date turns around, when that zombie gets hypnotized the hypnotized zombie will turn around and walk to your house. The hypnotized zombie will ignore lawn mowers and plants, eventually eating your brains, despite the fact that hypnosis effects are normally unable to change the direction of a zombie walking to the right.
• He is the second premium plant that can be unlocked with seed packets, the first was Blooming Heart.
• He was the first plant to be featured in Penny's Pursuit.
• In the Chinese version of Plants vs. Zombies 2, Hot Date's entire sprite is shown in his seed packet image, as opposed to his seed packet image in the international version, which only shows a portion.
• When boosted by a Pepper-mint, Hot Date will change to the starting appearance, but cannot actually gain any additional health.

See also

• Jalapeno
• Explode-O-Nut
• Sweet Potato

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