Red Stinger is an eventplantcard in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes and a member of the Guardian class. He costs 4 to play and has 2/7. He has the Team-Up trait, and his ability changes his stats to 7/2 when he is played behind a plant on its lane.
Red Stinger was introduced in an iOS-exclusive Games for Red charity event. Both Android and iOS players can now craft him since April 11, 2017 for 2000 sparks.
His ability is based on his counterpart's ability in Plants vs. Zombies 2, where he can become offensive or defensive depending on where he is played.
His description reuses a part of his Plants vs. Zombies 2 Almanac entry.
Statistics
Class: Guardian
Tribe: Flower Plant
Trait: Team-Up
Ability: When played behind a Plant: This becomes 7/2.
Set: Event
Card description
"I do stretching exercises every morning," he says. "It's important to stay physically and mentally nimble."
Update history
Update 1.8.23
Added to the game
Update 1.10.14
Set - Rarity change: Super-Rare → Event
Update 1.14.13
Became craftable.
Update 1.16.10
Display change: No longer shown as damaged when played behind a plant.
Update 1.26.3
▲ Health change: 6 → 7
▲ Ability change: When played behind a Plant: This becomes 6/2. → When played behind a Plant: This becomes 7/2.
Strategies
With
Red Stinger is a very useful plant to play as offense or defense of your choice. If you play Red Stinger behind a plant, he becomes stronger but less defensive like Carrotillery that can do great damage to whatever he hits. If not, he becomes more defensive, which could help to keep him alive and attack slowly. Either way, you can play him as offense or defense, depending on what the zombie hero plans and what strategy you prefer to use. It might also be a good idea to boost his health with tricks like Bubble Up or Photosynthesizer.
Be careful against Crazy and Brainy heroes, as playing Red Stinger behind a plant can allow Crazy heroes to destroy him very easily with a Bungee Plumber, or, for Brainy Heroes, Rocket Science). Against Hearty heroes, try to play Red Stinger behind a plant so he can be immune to Rolling Stone or Weed Spray.
Since he is in the flower tribe, Red Stinger is really useful when playing as Wall-Knight as he can benefit Power Flower and Briar Rose. However, Red Stinger should be used as a 2/7 plant in this case, as you may want him to survive as long as possible to maximize the effect from Power Flower and Briar Rose, unless you need brute force, as Wall-Knight lacks in high-strength plants.
Since he has the Team-Up trait, he can be used with Go-Nuts for extra strength, although this is usually only possible with Citron or Beta-Carrotina.
It should be noted that Red Stinger is not able to change his form after being played, even if another plant is played in front of him or that plant is destroyed. He can be bounced with Rescue Radish (Citron/Beta-Carrotina) to remedy that in this case.
A stong play with Wall-Knight is playing him behind a plant, then playing Sun Strike, resulting in 7 damage to the zombie hero.
Against
Red Stinger can sometimes be very dangerous if he is behind a plant as it may be hard to destroy and deal huge damage to a strong zombie or the zombie hero. In that case, Bungee Plumber, Rocket Science, Cut Down to Size, Locust Swarm, and just about any Strikethrough zombie can help destroy Red Stinger behind a plant, unless the zombie is destroyed by a trick. If Red Stinger is not played behind a plant, he can protect the plant hero with himself. To stop him in this form, use Deadly zombies, Rolling Stone, or Weed Spray.
Gallery
Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Red Stinger (PvZH).
In the collection screen, Red Stinger's appearance is based on his appearance when played behind a plant.
A strange visual glitch occurs when Red Stinger is played behind a plant on Total Eclipse. When he changes his stats to 7/2, he becomes 6/1, but it still shows he has 7 and his 1 appears red, as if he were injured.
You cannot heal him to 2 nor does he do 7 damage, as this is purely visual.
Upon removing him from Total Eclipse, he is still injured for 2 and cannot be healed and his strength gets buffed to 8, even though he still does 7 damage.
If he is played behind a plant, he will have 7 strength, which is the most strength out of all plants along with The Great Zucchini and Gravitree.