Sunbeam

Sunbeam
Ammo	100
Ability for
Variants
Cooldown	30 sec.
Ammo	100
Ability for
Variants
Cooldown	30 sec.
Ammo	100
Ability for
Cooldown	30 sec max

Sunbeam is an ability for the Sunflower in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, and Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville. The Sunbeam plants the Sunflower down and shoots a powerful sun laser that deals seven impact damage and eight critical damage. In the second game, this laser does 7-9 impact damage and 8-10 critical damage. Although it is a powerful attack, the player cannot move while using it.

It takes 30 seconds to recharge. In Battle for Neighborville, the cooldown will reflect on how many ammo were spent. The less ammo spent, the less time Sunbeam must be in cooldown. The formula to calculate the recharge time is $\frac{\textrm{ammo spent}}{100} \times 30$.

Stickerbook description

Garden Warfare and Garden Warfare 2

The Sunflower can dig into the ground and root herself in place. This allows her to unleash a devastating beam of sunlight at the Zombies.

Battle for Neighborville

Switch to a high powered beam turret in a rooted position.

Statistics

Battle for Neighborville

Weapon stats
Internal data
Ammo capacity	Fire mode	Rate of fire	Damage (DPS)	Damage falloff	Cooldown time
100	Full auto	625 RPM	7 – 9 (72.92 – 93.75)		Variable (30 s max)
Projectile speed		Projectile lifetime	Projectile travel distance		Projectile gravity
2000 m/s (6561.68 ft/s)		0.1 s	200 m (656.17 ft)		0 m/s² (0 ft/s²)
Base recoil
Minimum x-axis recoil angle	Maximum x-axis recoil angle	Minimum y-axis recoil angle	Maximum y-axis recoil angle	Minimum z-axis recoil angle	Maximum z-axis recoil angle
0	-5	-0.05	0	0	0
Minimum FOV recoil		Maximum FOV recoil		Recoil recovery time
0		0		0.003
Projectile spread (unzoomed)
Minimum angle		Maximum angle	Increase per shot		Decrease per second
0.2		0.2	0.025		15
Sway recoil (unzoomed)
Maximum vertical amplitude	Vertical increase per shot	Maximum horizontal amplitude	Horizontal minimum increase per shot	Horizontal maximum increase per shot	Amplitude decrease factor
10	0.1	10	-0.05	0.05	18
Projectile spread (zoomed)
Minimum angle		Maximum angle	Increase per shot		Decrease per second
0.1		0.1	0.025		15
Sway recoil (zoomed)
Maximum vertical amplitude	Vertical increase per shot	Maximum horizontal amplitude	Horizontal minimum increase per shot	Horizontal maximum increase per shot	Amplitude decrease factor
10	0.05	10	-0.05	0.05	18

Strategies

With

Similar to the Pea Gatling, using Sunbeam can be both powerful, but dangerous to the player. Unlike Peashooter, Sunflower cannot easily get into high areas, and the only high spots are ones that most characters can easily access, and you cannot move while using the ability. A useful trick is to place a Heal Flower before you root in, as, even if you are hurt, if you can vanquish the enemy hurting you, the Heal Flower can quickly heal you. The Sunbeam can be very effective against Z-Mechs due to its high DPS and the Mech being a large target.

Against

The Foot Soldier and Engineer are great choices for going against the Sunflower, while using Sunbeam.

The Foot Soldier can use Zombie Stink Cloud or Super Stink Cloud to blind a Sunflower, making it harder for the Sunflower to aim, or use their ZPG to easily destroy the Sunflower, as there is a low chance they would be able to escape in time from the attack.

The Engineer needs to be more sneaky though. They can use Sonic Grenades to stun the Sunflower, giving them a few free hits. The Jackhammer can actually damage the Sunflower and force them out if they collide, even if the Sunflower has not used all of their ammo.

Gallery

Sunbeam's stickerbook description in Garden Warfare

Sunbeam's icon in Garden Warfare 2

A Sunflower using Sunbeam in a trailer

A Sunflower's Sunbeam colliding with the Toxic Pea's pea

The Sunflower's Sunbeam in action

Trivia

General

• Early footage of the game suggests that this attack was originally going to be called "Void Ray."
• All icons of the ability appears to depict the Sunflower firing the Sunbeam from her eyes, whereas in-game she fires the Sunbeam from her mouth.

Specific to Garden Warfare and Garden Warfare 2

• Similar to the Peashooter and his Pea Gatling, the Sunflower takes 20% less damage when using this ability (66% in Garden Warfare 2).
  • This trait is also shared with the Solar Flare Beam.

Specific to Battle for Neighborville

• This is one of the only two weapons that have a damage falloff. The other is the Scientist's Goo Blaster.

See also

• Solar Flare Beam

V · E	Plants (Shooter games)