Tumbleweed is a premium plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2, that was first introduced in the 8.1.1 update. He rolls down the lane he's planted in, bouncing back any zombie he encounters.
About
Tumbleweed is a seed packet obtainable plant tied to the 15th Arena season, "Tumbleweed's Rumble Season". Tumbleweed is able to be planted anywhere, even on top of already occupied tiles. When planted, he will run down a lane to knock back any zombie he runs into, bouncing off of zombies in-between lane in a similar fashion to Bowling Bulb.
Tumbleweed also has a slim chance to briefly stun zombies he bumps into, and has an even slimmer chance to bounce zombies off the lawn completely.
When planting Tumbleweed, there is also a small chance for multiple Tumbleweeds to be played at once. If Tumbleweed encounters a Torchwood, he will be set ablaze and deal fire damage to any zombie he bumps into. His appearance also changes as he levels up, appearing in three different phases.
Origins
Tumbleweed, as his name suggests, is based on the tumbleweed diaspore, in which a germinated plant will purposefully deprive itself of nutrients, then detach itself from its root stem and be blown away by the wind, dispersing its seeds as it bounces along the terrain.
His ability of being set ablaze by Torchwood is a based on how tumbleweeds in real life are extremely flammable, while his ability to sometimes spawn more than one of him at a time is based on tumbleweed's highly aggressive reproduction rate.
Almanac
Note: The stats shown below only apply to Level 1.
| Tumbleweed
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Tumbleweed
SUN COST: 50
RECHARGE: 5.5
DAMAGE: 15
Special: Multi-shot
Special: Knockback
RANGE: Straight
FAMILY: Appease-mint
Tumbleweeds roar off down the lane, bouncing off zombies and knocking them back with a chance to stun or even flip them off the lawn.
Special: set aflame by Torchwood
This zesty little guy can't wait to get at it! Places to do! Things to go! It works because he planned thoroughly ahead of time.
Upgrades
Level upgrades
| Level | Seed Packets | Coins | Upgrades | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun Cost | Recharge | Starting Recharge | Damage | Stun Duration | Knockback Distance | Knockback Chance | Extra Tumbleweeds | Extra Tumbleweed Chance | |||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 5.5 seconds | 3 seconds | 15 dps | 3 seconds | 98 | 0.6 | 1 | 0.15 |
| 2 | 50 | 5 seconds | 2.75 seconds | 25 dps | 3.5 seconds | 104 | 0.65 | ||||
| 3 | 100 | 4.5 seconds | 2.5 seconds | 35 dps | 4 seconds | 110 | 0.2 | ||||
| 4 | 200 | 4 seconds | 2.25 seconds | 45 dps | 4.5 seconds | 116 | 0.75 | ||||
| 5 | 300 | 25 | 3.5 seconds | 2 seconds | 55 dps | 5 seconds | 122 | 0.25 | |||
| 6 | 400 | 3 seconds | 1.75 seconds | 65 dps | 5.5 seconds | 128 | 0.8 | 2 | |||
| 7 | 500 | 2.5 seconds | 1.5 seconds | 75 dps | 6 seconds | 134 | 0.3 | ||||
| 8 | 600 | 2 seconds | 1.25 seconds | 85 dps | 6.5 seconds | 140 | 0.85 | ||||
| 9 | 800 | 1.5 seconds | 1 second | 95 dps | 7 seconds | 146 | 0.35 | ||||
| 10 | 1,000 | 1 second | 0.75 seconds | 105 dps | 7.5 seconds | 152 | 0.9 | ||||
Appease-mint effect
When boosted by Appease-mint, Tumbleweed will gain an additional 105 DPS, his extra Tumbleweed chance is increased by 0.35, and his knockback chance is increased by 0.9.
Gallery
| Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Tumbleweed.
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Strategy
Tumbleweed is an interesting support plant similar to Bowling Bulb in function in that it bounces between zombies, affecting multiple targets. His relatively low sun cost, quick recharge and chance to duplicate once planted make him a valid plant for spamming, and can prove effective at stalling entire crowds. The strength of Tumbleweed can be seen to full effect against large hordes, where it can affect as many zombies as possible.
As Tumbleweeds effects are useful regardless of zombie toughness, it is a very useful plant for Arena, where the zombies are significantly stronger. The instant kill chance, brief stun and pushback abilities Tumbleweed possesses are all useful here.
Tumbleweed is a great early game stall plant against small groups of zombies, as it can slow them down so the player can set their defences faster, or knock them off the board completely. Because of this, Tumbleweed excels against Weasel Hoarder and Chicken Wrangler Zombie, as he can easily bounce between all the chickens and weasels as they are released. Tumbleweed also excels in Neon Mixtape Tour as he can bounce between zombies protected by Glitter Zombie and 8-Bit Zombie produced by arcades.
As great as Tumbleweed is against large groups, as terrible as he is against rows. As he bounces as soon as he hits the first zombie in a row Tumbleweed cannot deal with large advances in a row unless there are zombies above or below them in another row for Tumbleweed to bounce off to. Tumbleweed therefore does not make for a good ‘clutch’ plant to stop zombies just before they reach the players house, as the damage he does is insignificant and he will only hit the zombie once.
The nature of his bouncing can also make him unpredictable when planted in the middle three rows - he can either bounce upwards or downwards, potentially wasting a lot of utility.
Whilst Tumbleweed can be planted before a Torchwood to light it on fire, the extra damage it gains is insignificant, so it is not recommended to rely on this as a strategy.
Trivia
- Tumbleweed is the first and only plant in the International version of Plants vs. Zombies 2 who changes appearance when leveled up.
- He is the only non-peashooting plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2 whose attack can be affected by Torchwood.
- He will deal more damage when passing through Torchwood. However, he won't get any extra damage when passing through a Plant Food-fed Torchwood unlike other peas that pass through him.
- He is one of the two plants that cannot be upgraded to Mastery, yet belongs to a plant family. The other one is Intensive Carrot .
- He cannot be planted on water in Big Wave Beach even though he appears to be floating as he rolls across the water.
- This is mostly because he would need to gain friction on the ground to start rolling.
See also
| V · T · E | |
|---|
| Plants vs. Zombies | |
|---|---|
| Day | Peashooter · Sunflower · Cherry Bomb · Wall-nut · Potato Mine · Snow Pea · Chomper · Repeater |
| Night | Puff-shroom · Sun-shroom · Fume-shroom · Grave Buster · Hypno-shroom · Scaredy-shroom · Ice-shroom · Doom-shroom |
| Pool | Lily Pad · Squash · Threepeater · Tangle Kelp · Jalapeno · Spikeweed · Torchwood · Tall-nut |
| Fog | Sea-shroom · Plantern · Cactus · Blover · Split Pea · Starfruit · Pumpkin · Magnet-shroom |
| Roof | Cabbage-pult · Flower Pot · Kernel-pult · Coffee Bean · Garlic · Umbrella Leaf · Marigold · Melon-pult |
| Upgrades | Gatling Pea · Twin Sunflower · Gloom-shroom · Cattail · Winter Melon · Gold Magnet · Spikerock · Cob Cannon |
| Others | Imitater · Explode-o-nut · Giant Wall-nut · Giant Sunflower · Giant Marigold · Sprout |
| Plants vs. Zombies Social Edition | |
|---|---|
| Normal | Peashooter · Sunflower · Cherry Bomb · Wall-nut · Potato Mine · Chomper · Repeater · Puff-shroom · Scaredy-shroom · Snow Pea · Sun-shroom · Fume-shroom · Grave Buster · Lily Pad · Squash · Spikeweed · Tangle Kelp · Torchwood · Sea-shroom · Jalapeno · Coffee Bean · Tall-nut · Pumpkin · Magnet-shroom · Blover · Melon-pult · Cactus |
| Premium | Pickled Pepper · Icy Fume-shroom · Fire-shroom · Flamewood · Vine-nut · Gatling Pea · Twin Sunflower · Gloom-shroom · Winter Melon · Super Chomper · Future Star · Calm Chuck |
| Plants vs. Zombies Adventures | |
|---|---|
| Normal | Peashooter · Sunflower · Aspearagus · Wall-nut · Cherry Bomb · Popcorn · Beet · Snow Pea · Jalapeño · Magnet Plant · Flaming Pea · Shamrock · Bamboo Shoot · Repeater · Chilly Pepper · Twin Sunflower |
| VIPs | Sweet Pea · Beeshooter · Hard-nut · Acespearagus · Power Flower · Beetboxer · Ice Queen Pea · Shamrockstar · Bamboom |
| Others | Trees |
