Dreadweed

Dreadweed is a premium in , first introduced in the 11.5.1 update alongside . He is an area-of-effect plant that deals to grounded zombies that walk on top of him. Additionally, Dreadweed spreads throughout the lawn every few seconds, creating a clone of himself that attacks zombies that step on him. These clones can also affect nearby plants, as his growth can quickly suck health if he grows on the same tile as the plant.
==Origins==
Dreadweed is based off the real-life common spikeweed, formally known as the Centromadia pungens, a species of the tarweed (Madieae) tribe of plants. These are found in North America, and considered to be a noxious weed in the Pacific Northwest. His ability to spread to other tiles is based on how weeds spread and disrupt local ecosystems.
Dreadweed is also based off , with his design being an homage to the plant's appearance in the game. Spikeweed and the plant's are all based on the common spikeweed and have relatively similar abilities to one another, dealing damage to grounded zombies that walk on top of them. 
==Overview==
Dreadweed deals to grounded zombies that walk on top of him. This excludes flying zombies, such as , and zombies that hover, such as but does affect most zombies in . Like and unlike , Dreadweed can only survive a single smash from a . The damage dealt to zombies is 8 damage every 0.5 seconds, which is less than Spikeweed's 10 damage.
Additionally, Dreadweed spreads throughout the lawn every three seconds, creating a clone of himself which acts the exact same. Dreadweed can spread to most tiles on the lawn, including those with plants already on them. If Dreadweed does spread on a tile with a plant already situated on him, he will start to sap the health from that plant. It takes Dreadweed three seconds to drain the health from a plant, regardless of the plant's toughness. This means that a plant such as which has a "Squishy" toughness is destroyed by Dreadweed in the same amount of time as a , which has "Very High" toughness. Dreadweed's growth will not affect nearby destructible environmental modifiers, such as , as he will completely avoid growing on the same tile as them.
== entry==
==Upgrades==
=== effect===
When given , Dreadweed will create four copies of himself on nearby tiles, like 's Plant Food ability. These Dreadweeds will shoot up their spikes, dealing 1800 to all zombies that are currently on top of them.
=== effect===
When boosted by , Dreadweed will spread faster at a rate of every 1.5 seconds instead of 3 seconds. His attack will also deal an additional 40 .
===Level upgrades===
Level	 	 	Upgrades	Upgrades 	Upgrades 	Upgrades 	Upgrades
Level	 	 	Cost 	Recharge 	 	Spread Time	Area
1 	0 	0 	50 	30 seconds	8 damage 	3 seconds 	Tile
2 	10 	1,000 	50 	29 seconds	12 damage	3 seconds 	Tile
3 	75 	5,000 	50 	28 seconds	16 damage	3 seconds 	Tile
4 	200 	10,000	50 	27 seconds	20 damage	3 seconds 	Tile
5 	400 	20,000	50 	25 seconds	24 damage	3 seconds 	Tile
6 	750 	30,000	25 	23 seconds	28 damage	3 seconds 	Tile
7 	1,000	40,000	25 	21 seconds	32 damage	3 seconds 	Tile
8 	1,250	50,000	25 	19 seconds	32 damage	3 seconds 	Tile
9 	1,500	60,000	25 	17 seconds	32 damage	3 seconds 	Tile
10 	2,000	75,000	25 	15 seconds	32 damage	3 seconds 	Tile
===Mastery upgrades===
*Chance to Boost
*Damage Pierce
==Strategies==
Planting Dreadweed at the beginning of a level can be vital, as that allows the plant to spread throughout tiles quickly before events such as the first wave happen. The plant can also help out with dealing chip damage to zombies, allowing zombies to walk further across the lawn without the need for an instant-kill plant, such as at the back of the lawn. Due to Dreadweed spreading every 3 seconds, this is actually quicker than most zombies' walking speed in , allowing for, if a bit of luck is in your favour, Dreadweed to grow on tiles that the zombie is currently walking on after passing through Dreadweed. You can also use stalling plants, such as to slow down zombies in earlier waves, allowing for Dreadweed to continue to spread and making it a bit more reliable in taking out basic targets earlier on, which additionally allows you to get more sun production off the ground early on. 
Keep in mind that Dreadweed costs 50 , which is a single sun collected in Plants vs. Zombies 2, making it viable to place Dreadweed immediately when the game begins. The recharge of 30 seconds is a harsher penalty to the scenario of Dreadweed getting instantly destroyed by a zombie such as in , however zombies who carry rolling objects traditionally do not appear at the beginning of a level.
To help Dreadweed spread more across the lawn earlier on, players should plant down additional Dreadweeds as soon as they become avaliable, though keep in mind that this can become more problematic overtime, as planted Dreadweeds are the only ones that change spreading rates. Planting mulitple means that Dreadweeds spawn more quickly, making it harder to keep control of them in the later game. 
Late game Dreadweed can be a menace to your planting, as he is able to destroy wall plants in a matter of seconds, allowing for zombies to break through your defenses easily. Therefore, it is important to remove summoned Dreadweed with a if the plant is affecting a wall plant, or replacing Dreadweed later on in the level with other area-of-effect plants such as his counterpart, .
Dreadweed can also be effectively used as a staller, as the plant's spreading can force Gargantuars to repeatedly attack the same tile. This is also helped with plants such as or other chilling plants, who slow a Gargantuar's attack speed by half.
==Costume==
== Gallery ==
DreadweedHD.png|HD Dreadweed
DreadweedCostume.png|Dreadweed's costume [titled 'Halo']
DreadweedSeed.png|Dreadweed's seed packet
DreadweedSeed2.png| seed packet
DreadweedSeed3.png|Seed packet with cost
DreadweedSeed4.png|Imitated seed packet with sun cost
DreadweedSketch.png|Inital sketches for Dreadweed
==Trivia==
*This page was created for the Devious Duo Contest, hosted by WiLdCaRd2048 and created by Cpiyaphum and Aster.
** This page was signed up to the Hard Mode side of the contest, which offered more rewards at the expense of point reduction.
*Dreadweed was originally called Apocalypse Weed, but this was scrapped early on in development.
*Scrapped ideas for the contest include a Plant-Themed Boss and adding a sacrificial element to Dreadweed to make the plant spread faster and make it so that Dreadweed don't fade away.
**The sacrificial element was scrapped due to being too complicated for a single plant, as it would mean that the plant is less versatile as a whole.
Category:Area of effect plants
Category:Passive attacking plants
Category:Ground plants
Category:Board-affecting plants
Category:Lane-affecting plants
Category:Instant-kill plants
Category:Premium plants
Category:Plants vs. Zombies 2 plants
Category:Slow recharge plants
Category:Weeds
Category:Spear-mint Family plants