Potato Mine (PvZ2)

*For other uses, see Potato Mine (disambiguation).*

## **Potato Mine**

Potato Mines explode on contact, but they take time to arm. Plant them ahead of zombies.

## In-game statistics

### Direct damage

1800 damage per shot to each affected enemy

### Costumes

Believe it or not, SPUDOW! did not happen overnight. Having been forced to try out new catchphrases and focus testing as many variations as possible (Tubular? Really?), Potato Mine weeded out the competition to stick with what he knows best.

**Potato Mine** is a returning explosive plant present in *Plants vs. Zombies 2*. He explodes on contact with the first zombie that comes near it.

*For more information about this character, see Potato Mine.*
After being planted, Potato Mine will take 14 seconds (about the time it takes a regular Zombie or any other slow zombie to walk three spaces) to arm himself before surfacing, during which Potato Mine is vulnerable to attack. After that, he will explode in a 1x1 area when an enemy comes into contact with him, dealing 1800 damage to all affected zombies and leaving behind a comic-esque "SPUDOW!".In China version, it can affect all gravestones in the 3×3 area, but no zombies.

He cannot be planted on planks in Pirate Seas, or on Lily Pads on the water in Big Wave Beach. The SPUDOW! achievement also makes a return.

## Almanac entry

**Potato Mine**

SUN COST: 25

RECHARGE: 20

TOUGHNESS: 300

DAMAGE: 1800

AREA: Tile

PLANT FOOD POWER: Duplication

ARMING TIME: 14

FAMILY: Bombard-mint

Potato Mines explode on contact, but they take time to arm. Plant them ahead of zombies.

Usage: single use, delayed activation
Range: contact

Believe it or not, SPUDOW! did not happen overnight. Having been forced to try out new catchphrases and focus testing as many variations as possible (Tubular? Really?), Potato Mine weeded out the competition to stick with what he knows best.

### Chinese version (China only)

土豆地雷是个兢兢业业工作的好同志，在热火朝天的工作气氛他很享受。什么？他只是个小个子？你没见过他的身体吧？想见么？
**In English:**Plant feature: brown plant, armed family, short

## Upgrades

#### Plant Food effect

When given Plant Food, Potato Mine will instantly arm himself (if he hasn't already) and launches two more armed Potato Mines onto available tiles.

#### Bombard-mint effect

When boosted by Bombard-mint, Potato Mine's arming time becomes 1 second and he will launch five armed Potato Mines onto random tiles if his Plant Food effect is used during the effect. However, the damage he causes won't be increased by Bombard-mint efect.

#### Costumed (China only)

When costumed and fed with Plant Food, Potato Mine will launch three additional Potato Mines instead of two.

### Mastery upgrade

* **Chance to Boost**
* **Damage Pierce**

#### Level upgrades (China only)

 Combat Training
 Cell Activation

**Note:** **Potato Mine cannot be upgraded to level 4.**

## Strategies

Because of his low cost and early availability, Potato Mine can be effective in the early part of the level for neutralizing the first few zombies, especially if the enemies in question are Conehead or Buckethead Zombies, who will pose serious difficulty against more conventional offensive plants. However, his arming period greatly hampers his usefulness in the long run, as the massive amount of threats will give Potato Mine little time to arm himself.

Potato Mine should be planted at least three squares or more in front of zombies with Basic speed in order to explode right when the threat approaches him. Defensive plants such as Wall-nut, Tall-nut, Infi-nut, or Primal Wall-nut can buy Potato Mine additional time for arming, as well as gather more zombies to increase Potato Mine's efficiency.

Potato Mine functions the same way as in the original game but faces a slightly greater competition. His primal counterpart, Primal Potato Mine is introduced in this game with improved arm rate and much better explosive radius, which makes Primal Potato Mine much easier to use. However, Primal Potato Mines are the last plant unlocked in Jurassic Marsh, so some players will not have them.

Using plant food on a Potato Mine will instantly arm it, decreasing its arm time drastically. In addition, the clones will also be instantly armed, therefore defeating many zombies. This can be useful against Gargantuars and other high toughness zombies.

Potato Mines are highly useful for catching flying zombies that are about to land such as Swashbuckler Zombie, Dodo Rider Zombie, and Super Fan Imps. Like in the original game, two Potato Mines can kill a normal Gargantuar, while one will make a Gargantuar throw Imp(s).

In Lost City, Potato Mines can be planted to stop swarms of Lost Pilot Zombies from approaching your defenses. They are also useful as a distraction against Imp Porters who are about to set up their tent. It is best to plant Potato Mine near a gold tile.

In Neon Mixtape Tour, Potato Mines can be used to combat Punk Zombies and MC Zom-Bs as they cannot move or instantly destroy him, and have relatively low health.

In Jurassic Marsh, Potato Mines are useful for stopping zombies armed by T.Rexes and ankylosauruses. They can also be planted in the back to stop zombies carried by pterodactyls.

Avoid using Potato Mine against Explorer Zombie, Shield Zombie, Troglobite, Excavator Zombie, and Arcade Zombie. Explorer Zombies with their torchlights on can burn him when he is armed. Shield Zombies with their force fields can trigger the mine without being affected. Troglobites and Arcade Zombies can crush Potato Mine (hiding or not). Excavator Zombies can shovel him up from a distance untouched.

If an Explorer Zombie/Torchlight Zombie approaches an unarmed Potato Mine while its torch is lit, it will just ignore the Potato Mine and walk past him.

Potato mines are very useful in Last Stand because you can fill the board with them without worrying about its sun cost nor recharge.

## Trivia

* In Last Stand and Save Our Seeds levels, Potato Mine will not arm until the player triggers the onslaught. The arm timer still counts, however, so any Potato Mine that was planted more than 15 seconds before starting the level will be immediately armed afterward.
* His mask costume looks like the one similar to Leonardo's from *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles*.
	+ In Potato Mine's Almanac entry, one catchphrase was "tubular," also referencing *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles*.
* He and Cabbage-pult are the only plants obtained in the Player's House that do not have costumes depending on the season.
* There are four ways a Potato Mine can activate other than a zombie directly making contact with him:
	+ Using Plant Food on a Spikerock or Spikeweed will push all zombies to him and will make any armed Potato Mine they pass detonate.
	+ Using Plant Food on an Infi-nut will make a shield, but armed Potato Mines behind it will still explode when a zombie starts eating the shield, even though they're not near enough to activate him.
	+ Using Blover Hurrikale to blow away thrown Imps and Prospector Zombies will activate any Potato Mines they pass while being blown from the lawn.Zombies in Sandstorm and snowstorm will activate any potato mines, too. This occurs with other instants as well, like Iceberg Lettuce and Squash.
	+ Using Plant Food on a Chomper will activate Potato Mines as zombies fly past them.
* Unarmed Potato Mines can dodge projectiles fired back from Jester Zombies, but armed Potato Mines will take damage.
* The duplicates from his Plant Food effect take a moment to arm, during which they can be eaten.
* On earlier versions, if the player feeds Plant Food to him and the spawned ones landed on Dave's mold colonies, they will not lose the level after version 1.7 or still get a star before the 1.7 update, similar with Chili Bean. This is to prevent unfair defeats due to the random number generator placing a plant onto forbidden tiles.
* From the 3.3 update to the 3.5 update, he had the ability to blast tombstones, surfboards and frozen blocks in a 3x3 radius around him when exploding. However, this did not apply to zombies.
	+ However, in the Chinese version, it still exists.
	+ In the 4.2 update, Potato Mine regained this ability to blast tombstones, surfboards and frozen blocks in a 3x3 radius. This was removed again in the 4.3.1 update.
* In the Chinese Almanac, it implies that Potato Mines can be planted above the ground. However, Potato Mines will have their "hidden" underground body.
* Regardless of what stage he was in when defeated, Intensive Carrot will always revive the Potato Mine to his on-planting stage.
* If an Excavator Zombie shovels up the Potato mine, he will be armed after landing. This also applies to Primal Potato Mine.
	+ It will appear as a potato mid-air while his primal counterpart appears as a spiky potato mid-air.
	+ This demonstrates that the Potato Mines have very compact bodies. Or this could just be an element of realism. If it were to have a larger body, the excavator will not make any sense if he is able to shovel them.

## See also

* Primal Potato Mine
* Escape Root

de:Kartoffelmine
es:Patatapum
fr:Mine patate
ru:Картофельная мина
zh:土豆地雷
pl:Potato Mine