Red Stinger

Red Stingers fire shots at full force when close to home, and become more defensive further from it.

## Almanac statistics

###  Damage

40 damage per shot (per stinger, when planted in columns 1-3)
30 damage per shot (when planted in columns 4-6)

### Toughness

300 damage per shot (columns 1-3)
900 damage per shot (columns 4-6)
1500 damage per shot (columns 7-9)

## In-game statistics

### Speed attack

Fires two projectiles every 2 seconds (on the first three columns)Fires once every 2 seconds (on the middle three columns)

### Costumes

Flexibility is of key importance to Red Stinger. "I do stretching exercises every morning," he says. "It's important to stay physically and mentally nimble."

**Red Stinger** is the first plant obtained in Lost City in *Plants vs. Zombies 2*. He was first revealed in the trailer for Lost City Part 1, then more information was released with the Lost City Part 1 developer diary.

When planted on the first three columns to the left, Red Stinger will fire two petals, which together deal 40 DPS at a time and have the same health as a regular plant. If Red Stinger is planted in the next three columns to the right, he will be more defensive, increasing its health to 900 dps, but it will fire just one petal dealing 30 DPS. If he is planted on the last three columns on the right, he will be a defensive plant with 1500 dps, but he will not be able to attack.

## Origins

Red Stinger is based on the *Etlingera elatior*, known as the torch ginger. He is a flower found in tropical areas. The meaning of his in-game name, however, is left unclear. As he does not sting anything, the most probable possibility is that "Red Stinger" is actually a pun on "red ginger," an alternative name of the plant he is based on. Internally, the projectiles are named "stingers," indicating that they are the stinging part.

## Almanac entry

**Red Stinger**

SUN COST: 150

RECHARGE: 5

TOUGHNESS: Elevated

DAMAGE: 30

RANGE: Straight

FAMILY: Appease-mint

Red Stingers fire shots at full force when close to home, and become more defensive further from it.

Flexibility is of key importance to Red Stinger. "I do stretching exercises every morning," he says. "It's important to stay physically and mentally nimble."

## Upgrades

### Plant Food effect

When given Plant Food, Red Stinger fires a focused laser beam, slowing and dealing a total of 690 damage per shot to all zombies in the lane.

### Appease-mint effect

When boosted by Appease-mint, Red Stinger will do an additional 200 DPS per stinger in the back three columns, and an additional 150 DPS per stinger in the middle three columns.

### Level upgrade

\*These statistics depend on the plant's position - either close to the left side of the lawn, in the middle, or close to the right side of the lawn.

## Strategies

The game put a lot of emphasis on Red Stinger's versatility; depending on the location, he can work as a more powerful Repeater, a Pea-nut with greater offense but worse defense, or an improvised Wall-nut. However, in most situations, this is more of a hindrance than a help because this means that Red Stinger will suffer from diminishing offensive potential return, as additional Red Stingers planted from the fourth column will deal less damage than those planted on the first three columns.

Red Stinger's most useful form by far is the fully offensive form, where he effectively acts as a more powerful Repeater or Fire Peashooter with a lower cost. This makes him a very economical option with a great damage/cost ratio, allowing for a fairly powerful setup near the beginning of a level. When in this form, Red Stinger combines a reasonably fast rate of fire with fairly high damage, allowing him to take out large groups of weaker zombies as well as some stronger zombies such as Buckethead Zombies. This can be very effective against Weasel Hoarders because he deals enough damage to kill the Weasel Hoarder and also has a fast enough rate of fire to kill the Ice Weasels released. However, make sure he is Level 2 or above before using him against the weasels or he will not be able to kill them in one shot, meaning they will quickly overwhelm your plants.

Red Stinger cannot take out very strong zombies such as Gargantuars very easily, so he needs to be used with harder hitting plants like Citron or Winter Melon or defensive plants when facing these. Don't rely on his Plant Food ability to take out Gargantuars because it deals relatively little damage compared to other plants and also only hits one lane.

The main drawback of this strategy is that for the maximum amount of damage, Red Stingers must be planted in column 1-3, meaning that sun-producers have to be planted further forward, which can make them vulnerable early on in a level. For this reason, he works well in conjunction with plants which produce large suns, such as Primal Sunflower or Sun-shroom because generally only one column of these is needed per level, which makes them slightly less vulnerable if they are planted towards the front of the lawn and still allows for two columns of full-power Red Stingers if they are planted in the back.

When planted in columns 4-6, Red Stinger acts like a Pea-nut with less health, though this is generally not recommended, since his defense is much lower than Pea-nut's for the same price. However, since Pea-nut is a premium plant, some players may not have him; therefore, Red Stinger could be used as an alternative. In Lost City, he can be helpful in combating Lost Pilot Zombies, as his elevated health helps him survive the ambush much better than other offensive plants.

Red Stinger's column 7-9 form should generally not be used except in desperate situations because even in his fully defensive form he has fairly low health, less than half of that of a Wall-nut for triple the price. In addition, in situations where the player desperately needs a defensive plant the zombies will generally be close to the house, where Red Stinger's defensive form cannot be used.

Red Stinger should not be as the only offensive plant in levels with Excavator Zombie, and plants that can bypass his shovel such as A.K.E.E. and Laser Bean should be used in tandem with him. If Excavators get too close to your plants, his Plant Food effect can take them out quite easily, and will also slow him down, which may prevent him from digging up a plant if he is just about to. However, this will only affect the zombies in one lane. Also, do not use him with Jester Zombies, as they will reflect the petals and deal damage to your plants.

## Trivia

* Although he is a defensive plant when placed on the right side of the lawn, he cannot be healed with Wall-nut First Aid.
* If his Plant Food effect is used near the end of a Piñata Party, his laser beam will still be visible while whacking piñatas.
* If he is moved to a different tile by a zombie like Mecha-Football Zombie, Fisherman Zombie, Excavator Zombie, Punk Zombie, or any zombie pushed by Ankylosaurus, he will change his role accordingly to what part of the lawn he is moved to.
* In his Almanac entry, his toughness still says Elevated, despite the 6.7 update changing the rating of toughness to numbers.
	+ This is most likely because of his ability to be more defensive or offensive depending on where he is placed.
	+ There is no detailed data of his toughness in the game's plant leveling chart either.
* His Almanac entry says that its damage is 35. It comes from the fact that his 1st form deals 40 DPS while the 2nd form does 30 DPS and arithmetic average of damage between them is 35.
* When fed Plant Food in his defensive/part-defensive form, he will switch to his offensive form to use his Plant Food Power, then switch back when he's done.

## References

1. ↑ Lost City Part 1 Trailer
2. ↑ Lost City Part 1 Dev Diary

## See also

* Unwelcome Mat
* Pea-nut