Hot Date

Bring BIG SURPRISE!

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.
Almanac statistics
Sun cost	175
Recharge	25 seconds
Damage	1000 damage per shot
Toughness	2000 damage per shot
Range	Multi-lane
Special	Warms nearby plants
Family	Pepper-mint
In-game statistics
Other weakness	(Immune to fire) (cannot be attracted by Hot Date) (when torch is lit) (can render him useless)
Rarity (China)	Super-Rare
Unlocked	200 seed packets
Costumes
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.

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.2.50, 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

Hot Date		SUN COST 175 RECHARGE 25 SUN COST: 175 RECHARGE: 25 TOUGHNESS 2000 DAMAGE 1000 TOUGHNESS: 2000 DAMAGE: 1000 RANGE Multi-Lane FAMILY Pepper-mint RANGE: Multi-Lane FAMILY: Pepper-mint Hot Dates attract zombies from lanes above and below them, and then unleash a lane of flame when they're eaten. Special: warms nearby plants 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

SUN COST: 175
RECHARGE: 25

		TOUGHNESS 2000			DAMAGE 1000

TOUGHNESS: 2000
DAMAGE: 1000

		RANGE Multi-Lane			FAMILY Pepper-mint

RANGE: Multi-Lane
FAMILY: Pepper-mint

Hot Dates attract zombies from lanes above and below them, and then unleash a lane of flame when they're eaten.

Special: warms nearby plants

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 DPS.

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 dps	1000 dps	Multi-Lane
2	10	1,000	175	24 seconds	14 seconds	2200 dps	1100 dps
3	25	2,500	175	23 seconds	13 seconds	2400 dps	1200 dps
4	50	5,000	150	23 seconds	13 seconds	2600 dps	1300 dps
5	100	10,000	150	22 seconds	12 seconds	2800 dps	1400 dps
6	200	20,000	125	22 seconds	12 seconds	3000 dps	1500 dps
7	400	30,000	125	21 seconds	11 seconds	3500 dps	1600 dps
8	800	50,000	100	21 seconds	11 seconds	4000 dps	1700 dps
9	1,200	75,000	100	20 seconds	10 seconds	4500 dps	1800 dps
10	1,600	100,000	75	20 seconds	10 seconds	5000 dps	1800 dps

Mastery upgrades

• Chance to Boost
• Damage Pierce

Level upgrades (China only)

Level	Upgrades	Description
	Hot Spicy Energy 热辣能量	Gains 25% more health.
	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	The effect of Hot Spicy Energy is doubled.
	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	After Hot Date explodes, fire debris will be left on the ground for a short time, causing continuous damage to zombies.
	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. Unlike Jalapeno, he can pull zombies towards him, so as to boost his effectiveness even more.

It is a very bad idea to use this plant in levels where you cannot lose plants, because when the Hot Date explodes (even though it kills zombies when it explodes), it counts as losing a plant. Fortunately, it is immune to freezing wind effects and the Hunter Zombie's snowball attack in Frostbite Caves, since it is a thawing plant that can melt frozen plants.

It is also a very bad idea to use this against Wizard Zombies and Octo Zombies, since both of them can disable the Hot Date to make the level more challenging. It is a good idea to use this plant against Chicken Wrangler Zombies and Weasel Hoarders, because when released, multiple Zombie Chickens and Ice Weasels will arrive to the Hot Date and when multiple of them start eating it, it instantly explodes to destroy the zombies in its path.

Never use this plant against Explorer Zombies and Torchlight Zombies in Ancient Egypt and Modern Day levels (only when their torches are lit), because these zombies can easily burn this plant without eating it and causing it to explode.

Related achievement

	So Thawful Thaw 13 ice blocks in a single level

Gallery

Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Hot Date.

Visit this page to see it.

In other languages

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.
  • They also seem to be a different color than in-game, being dark blue instead of light 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.
• This is the second premium plant that can be unlocked with seed packets, the first was Blooming Heart.
• This was the first plant to be featured in Penny's Pursuit.

See also

• Jalapeno
• Explode-O-Nut
• Sweet Potato