Spikeweed (Plants vs. Zombies 2)

For other uses, see Spikeweed (disambiguation).

Spikeweed
Spikeweeds destroy one rolling zombie and hurt any zombies that step on them.
Almanac statistics
Sun cost	100
Recharge	5 seconds
Damage	10 damage per shot (Normal in Chinese version)
Area	Tile
Special	Can't be eaten by zombies
Weakness	Crushed by rolling zombies
Family	Spear-mint
In-game statistics
Direct damage	10 damage per shot every 0.5 seconds
Other weakness	(shovels Spikeweed behind him to avoid damage) (can crush without taking damage) (pushed obstacles can't be destroyed and only destroy Spikeweed) (ignores Spikeweed while in the air)
Unlocked	Beating Pirate Seas - Day 6
Unlocked (China)	Beating Pirate Seas- Day 6; collecting 10 Spikeweed Puzzle Pieces
Costumes
Although Spikeweed grew up on the seedy side of town, his acupuncture business has been blooming.

Spikeweed is an area-of-effect plant available in Plants vs. Zombies 2. He is normally ignored by most types of zombies, and can deal damage to any grounded enemy that walks on top of him.

When encountering certain enemies such as Barrel Roller Zombie's barrel and Pianist Zombie, Spikeweed will instead kill the unit instantly, and will be destroyed by the unit as well.

About

For more information about this character, see Spikeweed.

Spikeweed is unlocked after beating Pirate Seas - Day 6. He attacks 1.9 times a second or once every 0.5 seconds, dealing 10 damage per shot of damage for each attack. He can no longer be upgraded to Spikerock, due to the removal of the upgrade plant mechanic, and Spikerock is now a separate plant. Additionally, he can now be planted on Lily Pad unlike most other underground plants in the Big Wave Beach, but only function properly if there is no water under its tile; zombies can otherwise attack Lily Pad and indirectly destroy Spikeweed in the process.

Spikeweed can instantly defeat the following enemies:

• Barrel Roller Zombie's barrel (will instantly release Imp Pirate Zombies)
• Pianist Zombie

Almanac entry

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

Spikeweed		SUN COST 100 RECHARGE 5 SUN COST: 100 RECHARGE: 5 TOUGHNESS 300 DAMAGE 10 TOUGHNESS: 300 DAMAGE: 10 AREA Tile FAMILY Spear-mint AREA: Tile FAMILY: Spear-mint Spikeweeds destroy one rolling zombie and hurt any zombies that step on them. Special: can't be eaten by zombies Weakness: crushed by rolling zombies Although Spikeweed grew up on the seedy side of town, his acupuncture business has been blooming.

Spikeweed

		SUN COST 100			RECHARGE 5

SUN COST: 100
RECHARGE: 5

		TOUGHNESS 300			DAMAGE 10

TOUGHNESS: 300
DAMAGE: 10

		AREA Tile			FAMILY Spear-mint

AREA: Tile
FAMILY: Spear-mint

Spikeweeds destroy one rolling zombie and hurt any zombies that step on them.

Special: can't be eaten by zombies
Weakness: crushed by rolling zombies

Although Spikeweed grew up on the seedy side of town, his acupuncture business has been blooming.

Chinese version  (China only)

地刺可以摧毁一个滚桶僵尸，并对踩到他的僵尸造成伤害。 特点：不会被僵尸吃掉 弱点：被滚桶僵尸压扁 植物特征：绿色植物、矮个子 地刺虽然出身贫寒，现在他的针灸事业可谓蒸蒸日上。 In English: Spikeweed can destroy a Barrel Roller Zombie and damages zombies that step on him. Special: won't be eaten by zombies Weakness: being squashed by Barrel Roller Zombie Plant feature: green plant, short Although Spikeweed was born in a poor family, now his acupuncture business is blooming.

Upgrades

Plant Food effect

Plant Food ability (animated)

When fed Plant Food, Spikeweed covers the entire lane he is placed in with spikes, dealing 720 damage over 4.5 seconds to all grounded enemies and drawing them towards Spikeweed's position. Spikeweed is invulnerable for the duration of the effect, and can destroy Pianist Zombies and barrels without consuming himself upon contact. If this occurs when Spikeweed is in a minecart, he may not be moved.

Spear-mint effect

When boosted by Spear-mint, Spikeweed will do an additional 40 DPS on his attack.

Level upgrade

Level	Seed Packets	Coins	Upgrades
			Sun Cost	Recharge (Fast)	Toughness (Typical)	Damage (Normal)	Area
1	0	0	100	5 seconds	300 dps	10 dps	Tile
2	10	1,000	100	4.5 seconds	350 dps	15 dps
3	75	5,000	75	4.5 seconds	400 dps	20 dps
4	200	10,000	75	4.5 seconds	450 dps	25 dps
5	400	20,000	75	4 seconds	550 dps	30 dps
6	750	30,000	50	4 seconds	600 dps	35 dps
7	1,000	40,000	50	3.5 seconds	650 dps	40 dps
8	1,250	50,000	50	3.5 seconds	700 dps
9	1,500	60,000	50	3 seconds	800 dps
10	2,000	75,000	25	3 seconds	900 dps

Mastery upgrades

• Chance to Boost
• Damage Pierce

Level upgrade (China only)

Level	Upgrades	Description
	Devour 吞噬	When a Spikeweed kills 15 zombies, it will become twice as powerful until it is removed.
	Combat Training 战斗训练	Spikeweed gains 50% more attack power and health (150% of initial).
	Fast Growth 快速成长	When a Spikeweed kills 5 zombies, it will become twice as powerful until it is removed.
	Cell Activation 细胞活化	Spikeweed gains another 50% more attack power and health (200% of initial).

Note: Spikeweed can't be upgraded to level 4.

Costumed (China only)

Plant Food ability can now stun zombies.

Strategies

Spikeweed's Plant Food effect, like Spikerock's, can draw zombies towards him. As such, planting a Spikeweed at the rightmost side of the level and feeding him Plant Food will cause the zombie to return to the start and allow for your main offensive plants to do up to twice the amount of damage, assuming the zombie is tough enough. He can also be used in an emergency if any zombies get too close to your lawn mowers or as a defense against enemies thrown or able to jump over your defense. You can also draw zombies that have already exited the lawn and about to eat your brains back onto the lawn with Plant Food.

Spikeweed's Plant Food effect does not do a lot of damage (enough to kill a little more than a normal zombie), so do not waste your Plant Food on him unless you are using him for the purpose of "drawing-in" zombies as mentioned above. Any crushing zombies like Pianist Zombie and Barrel Roller Zombie will be destroyed instantly upon contact, but at the sacrifice of the Spikeweed. He will also stop swarms of Zombie Chickens released by the Chicken Wrangler Zombie if they get past your other plants.

In Neon Mixtape Tour, Spikeweeds are useful for fighting against Punk Zombies, Glitter Zombies, MC Zom-Bs, and Boombox Zombies, as they cannot harm him, and have relatively low health, so they can weaken them enough for your main offensive plant to finish the job.

In Jurassic Marsh, Spikeweed can be used to fight enemies deployed by Pterodactyls, although Spikerock is often a better candidate due to his higher damage potential.

Note: Using Spikeweeds on Lily Pads in Big Wave Beach is a very bad idea, as zombies will eat the Lily Pad and cause the Spikeweed to fall into the water, thus wasting 100 sun in process. Therefore, avoid bringing Spikeweeds and Spikerocks in Big Wave Beach, as the Lily Pads eaten by zombies and the Spikeweed falling into the water, thus being usually worthless.

However, it's very beneficial in the Wild West levels to use against almost all the zombies, especially with Prospector Zombie and Zombie Bull Rider which leap over your plants, so they can be good in the first column. A Spikeweed in every lane can effectively combat Zombie Chickens. Another strategy allows you to use the carts in order to keep a Wild West Gargantuar from moving ahead by moving it as soon as he lifts his hammer. In Frostbite Caves levels, it's good to place them next to any slider tiles where the zombies will shift to. If you have any plants that can push back zombies such as Chard Guard or Kiwibeast, then it can be useful to combine them with Spikeweed so they have to walk through the gauntlet again.

It is not advised to use Spikeweed against Troglobites, Excavator Zombies, Gargantuar, and Arcade Zombies as the former can instantly kill him by pushing ice blocks or arcade machine onto his square, and the latter will shovel him up without stepping on him.

In "Don't let the zombies trample the flowers" challenge, player may plant Spikeweed ON the flowers to block the zombies from trampling the flowers, make the level easier to beat. The same thing happens with Spikerock, Infi-nut, Celery Stalker, Cactus and Iceweed.

However, NEVER use a Plant Food on a Spikeweed if it is to the left of the flowers because if you do, it will cause all the zombies in the lane to move towards the Spikeweed, moving over the flowers in the process. Thus, it will cause the instant loss of the level. You should not even plant a Spikeweed near the flowers as it has no effect, as zombies cannot pass through the flowers and walk on Spikeweed.

Gallery

Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Spikeweed.

Visit this page to see it.

In other languages

Language	Name	Description
English	Spikeweed
Simplified Chinese	地刺	lit. "Ground Thorn"
French	Ortie
German	Stachelkraut
Italian	Rovo
Brazilian Portuguese	Erva-espinho
Spanish	Pinchohierba

Trivia

• His costume resembles Groucho Marx.
• He is the second plant in this game that went through a major redesign. The other plants are Grave Buster, Starfruit and Tangle Kelp.
• Somehow, he, Spikerock, Cactus and Iceweed damage helmets from headwear zombies, despite them logically hurting their feet.
• Formerly, there was a visual glitch with his seed packet where the lightning bolt is always brown no matter what level he is. He shares this trait with Spikerock. This was fixed in the recent update.
• Inside his in-game files, he has an unused buzzsaw animation.
  • It was later on used for Iceweed.

Specific to the Chinese version (China only)

• Sometimes, his spikes change from yellow-green to silver-black and back again. It is unknown what causes this and whether it is a glitch or intentional.

See also

• Spikerock
• Cactus
• Iceweed