The "shock value" mentioned in its description is a portmanteau on the words "shock," or commonly known as an electric shock, the physiological reaction or injury caused by electric current passing through the body, and "shock value," the potential of an action or media to provoke a sharp negative reaction of disgust, shock, anger, fear, or similar emotions.
Its Amphibious trait is a reference to how real-life reeds are aquatic plants.
Statistics[]
Class: Smarty
Tribe: Leafy Plant
Traits: Amphibious, Splash Damage 1
Abilities: None
Set - Rarity: Premium - Rare
Card description[]
"I do it for the shock value."
Update history[]
Update 1.2.11[]
Description change: Quotation marks were added on the start and end of its description.
Update 1.60.79[]
▲ Strength change: 1 → 2
Strategies[]
With[]
Lightning Reed has average stats for a 2-Cost plant with the addition of being amphibious and possessing splash damage. The main draw of Lightning Reed is that it is the cheapest of the Plants with splash damage and thus can be effective against zombies with low health, especially those from the Crazy class. With it, Lightning Reed can safely eliminate or weaken zombies on the lanes adjacent to it, but its splash damage is rendered worthless against Armored zombies.
Against[]
Lightning Reed is not a big threat on its own due to its low strength and splash damage, although it may cause you trouble if you group your low-health zombies next to one another. Unless its strength is boosted, you can destroy it with Rolling Stone.
Strength-reducing cards such as Landscaper also work (as long as they reduce 2 strength), since Lightning Reed will be unable to fight back and instead clog the lane. Zombies with the Armored trait can easily nullify Lightning Reed's splash damage.
Please note that only official translations are used.
Language
Name
Description
English
Lightning Reed
Simplified Chinese
闪电芦苇
Traditional Chinese
閃電蘆葦
Russian
Электрокамыш
Spanish
Junco eléctrico
Trivia[]
The glow for it is reversed in this game. In Plants vs. Zombies 2, it has a white inside with a cyan glow, but in this game, it has a cyan inside with a white glow.
It and Snake Grass are the only non-galactic plants on the background of the Galactic Gardens battlefield. It is also the only non-event plant to appear there.
Despite it being the counter to zombie chicken from Plants vs. Zombies 2, it originally can't kill this game's Zombie Chicken in a single attack without its strength increased before Update 1.60.79.
Smarty class. It costs 2
to play and has 2
/2
. It has the Amphibious and Splash Damage 1 traits and does not have any abilities.
→ 2
Crazy class. With it, Lightning Reed can safely eliminate or weaken zombies on the lanes adjacent to it, but its splash damage is rendered worthless against 
Armored zombies.
English
Simplified Chinese
Russian
Spanish
Kabloom
Mega-Grow
Smarty
Solar