Gloom Vine

*Gloom Vines power shadow plants inside them and provide protection to plants inside them.*

## In-game statistics

### Boost

Fast Recharge: -33.3% recharge time

**Gloom Vine's gloomy exterior shouldn't be seen as implying a gloomy interior. His interior is gloomy, but for complicated personal reasons that go way back.**

**Gloom Vine** is a defensive premium plant in *Plants vs. Zombies 2: Reflourished*. He costs 75 gems to purchase.

Gloom Vine can be planted on top of plants for a slight amount of protection to them. Gloom Vine also powers up shadow plants that are inside him.

## Almanac entry

**Gloom Vine**

Gloom Vines power shadow plants inside them and provide protection to plants inside them.

Special: powers shadow plants inside them

Gloom Vine's gloomy exterior shouldn't be seen as implying a gloomy interior. His interior is gloomy, but for complicated personal reasons that go way back.

## Plant Food effect

When given Plant Food, Gloom Vine will spray fumes that damage zombies around him, dealing a total of 800 damage. Plants inside it will also activate their Plant Food effect at the same time.

## Strategies

As a vine plant with a super low sun cost and a fast recharge, Gloom Vine can be thought of as a Lily Pad for shadow plants. Being able to power shadow plants for cheap allows them to be used where Moonflower cannot power them - whether that be in levels that have limited space like in Wild West and Steam Ages, or levels where sun producers are banned, such as Last Stands and Sun Bombs.

One of the most special shadow plant combinations is Gloom Vine with Moonflower. Not only does this combination afford Moonflower a more respectable health pool, Moonflower's sun production can be bolstered in the early game by Gloom Vine's low cost shadow properties. These traits can even challenge the early game effectiveness of Shadow-shroom, costing next to nothing to accelerate the early sun production of Moonflowers. Another important combination is with Noctarine, whose powered form can be much easier obtained than it would through being planted with Moonflower or an imitated Noctarine, all at a fraction of the cost.

Thanks to Gloom Vine's combination of traits beyond shadow-powering, he can also be used more broadly as a Lily Pad for all plants. With a low cost and quick recharge, it is easy to quickly spam Gloom Vines over the entire defense, practically doubling the health of most plants. Plus, his damage-dealing Plant Food effect holds significant for bolstering other plants' Plant Food effects: Just 25 sun is enough to grant an 800 damage bonus to nearby zombies, able to help clean up approaching zombies in a panic and boost the similarly ranged Plant Food effects of plants like Bonk Choy and Wasabi Whip.

Keep in mind that other vine plants have their own capabilities that can make them more desirable in certain situations. While the bonus Plant Food power that Gloom Vine affords can easily challenge that of Pea Vine and especially Blastberry Vine, the latter two also provide attacks that allow for stacking extra damage on top of the main defense. Pumpkin can better protect important plants with his high health, while Shine Vine can bolster any primary sun producer that isn't Moonflower.

Avoid using Gloom Vine with Murkadamia Nut and other wall plants, as zombies will prioritise eating the vine over the wall.

## Balance changes

### Initial launch

* ▲ -50 Sun
* ▲ +1000 health
* ▼ +20 recharge
* ▼ No longer attacks

### Version 1.0.2

* ▲ Recharge: 25 -> 15
* ▼ Health: 1200 -> 900

### Version 1.1.2

* ▲ Sun Cost: 75 -> 25
* ▲ Recharge: 15s -> 5s
* ▼ Hitpoints: 900 -> 300
* ▼ Plant Food Damage: 450x4 -> 200x4
	+ Developer Note: Poor Gloom Vine, was stuck in a niche that it just wasn't up to the task of filling. NOW, he's in line with the other well known enabler around, Lily Pad! Feel free to experiment with him due to his extremely cheap cost. The damage on his Plant Food was recuded *sic* due to the dramatic scaling down of his other stats.

## See also

### Vine plants

* Blastberry Vine
* Pumpkin
* Shine Vine
* Pea Vine

### Shadow plants

* Moonflower
* Nightshade
* Shadow-shroom
* Dusk Lobber
* Grimrose
* Noctarine
* Murkadamia Nut
* Shadow Peashooter