Snapdragon

Snapdragons breathe fire that causes damage in 6 adjacent tiles.

### Costumes

Although the most powerful dragon in the plant kingdom, he still dreams of wings and seeing the world beneath him.

**Snapdragon** is a plant in *Plants vs. Zombies 2*. He attacks zombies by spitting flames in an 3x2 area, dealing damage to any zombies within that area.

## Origins

Snapdragon is based on the flower *Antirrhinum*, commonly known as the *dragon flower* or *snapdragon* in English. The name is also a pun, as Snapdragon's head is similar to that of a fictional European dragon and can breathe fire.

## History

In *Plants vs. Zombies 2*, he is the second plant obtained in Pirate Seas. He emits a wall of flames that hits all zombies in a 3x2 area in front of it, and the 2 tiles above and below it. The fire deals 30 damage per shot and can thaw chilled or frozen enemies, along with relighting Explorer Zombie and Torchlight Zombies' torches and Prospector Zombies' dynamite sticks. As with Threepeater, Snapdragon attacks when a zombie or tombstone appears anywhere within his area of effect.

## Almanac entry

**Note: The stats shown below only apply to Level 1.**

**Snapdragon**

SUN COST: 150

RECHARGE: 5

TOUGHNESS: 300

DAMAGE: 30

PLANT FOOD POWER: Damage

RANGE: Close

FAMILY: Pepper-mint

Snapdragons breathe fire that causes damage in 6 adjacent tiles.

Special: damages all zombies in the 6 tiles in front of it

Although the most powerful dragon in the plant kingdom, he still dreams of wings and seeing the world beneath him.

## Upgrades

### Plant Food effect

When given Plant Food, Snapdragon will grow wings and fly a little bit to releases a powerful burst of fire in a 3x3 square in front of him, dealing 1800 damage to all affected enemies.

### Pepper-mint effect

When boosted by Pepper-mint, Snapdragon's damage is increased to 180 DPS, and his Plant Food damage is increased to 4400 DPS.

## Strategies

Snapdragon is one of the first area of effect plants the player will obtain in the game and can stay relevant in the later worlds. His unique attack pattern allows for up to ten Snapdragons to stack their attack with each other, dealing great amounts of damage to low health zombies. This combined with Snapdragon's ability to hit multiple targets make Snapdragon a better choice than Bonk Choy for most zombies. A column of Snapdragons deals as much damage as a column of Bonk Choys, yet can hit more targets and has better range. However, Snapdragon still shares a great weakness with Bonk Choy, albeit at a lesser degree: his low range allows zombies that can crush or ignore defensive plants to have less trouble closing the distance and devastate the player's defense. Snapdragon also does not synergize well with ice-based plants, as he can thaw enemies. In addition, he usually gets outclassed by Cold Snapdragon, which in addition to a slightly longer range both above and beneath him, can also slow down zombies.

Snapdragon's Plant Food ability is quite notable compared to other plants. Compared to Bonk Choy's, Snapdragon's deals more damage and has a more advantageous area placement, making Snapdragon a better choice when it comes to normal house defending as Bonk Choy's effect will be hindered by him hitting tiles further into your defense, which in fortunate conditions, will not be contested by zombies. Two Snapdragons placed in the second and fourth lane when linked by Tile Turnip in particular can cleanup most threats with the little issue with a single Plant Food.

Because of his low effect range, Snapdragon should almost always be used in tandem with defensive plants. Infi-nut and Garlic stand out in particular - Infi-nut's Plant Food allows more Snapdragon to be placed in tiles normally reserved for defensive plants, and Garlic can create a Gloom-shroom-esque formation and protect Snapdragon. Slowing or stunning plants that are not ice-based such as Sap-fling, Stallia, Stunion and Kernel-pult can also buy more time for Snapdragon before the enemies can hurt it.

Snapdragons are excellent counters against Barrel Roller Zombie, Shield Zombie, and Excavator Zombie as their attacks can bypass their objectives. Snapdragon can also be used against Chicken Wrangler Zombie as they can eliminate a large area of Zombie Chickens with each shot.

Using Snapdragon in Frostbite Caves is very effective, as he can be planted behind a slider tile and function without the need of Garlic. However, Snapdragon can still be frozen, so freezing winds and Hunter Zombie can be a problem. In addition, Dodo Rider Zombie can easily bypass Snapdragons placed this way, so some support is needed, as well as, Ice Weasels can easily overwhelm Snapdragon as they take 2 hits to destroy.

Some plants that go well with Snapdragons include Sap-fling, Spikerock, and Shrinking Violet. Sap-fling's slowing effect is not affected by fire-based attacks, allowing Snapdragon to get off more damage on zombies. Spikerocks will remove the concern of Imp Dragon Zombies in Arthur's Challenge, as well as weaken zombies, giving Snapdragon an easier time. Shrinking Violet works well with Snapdragon because she doubles the damage that zombies take, allowing Snapdragons to take advantage of their area of effect and their high damage output to wreak havoc among the zombies.

In Endless Zones, Snapdragon can be used as a setup plant that can stop hordes of zombies early on. Their cheap sun cost and fast recharge, combined with their good DPS make them prime candidates to hold off early zombies while the player builds up his/her sun production. Unless you have other plants to kill them, avoid using Snapdragons in Arthur's Challenge when Imp Dragon Zombies are present, as they are immune to fire-based attacks. In addition, Snapdragon will have difficulty against Wizard Zombies, as it lacks the necessary range to damage them before they can disable plants. However, that does not means that it will be useless, as Jester Zombie can't deflect his damage.

Avoid using Snapdragon against Explorer Zombie, Prospector Zombie, and MC Zom-B as they can relight the former's torch and dynamite and the latter will destroy Snapdragon before they can even attack.

## Trivia

* Snapdragon's attack range can reach to the tile directly above him and below him, which is most noticeable when clearing out tombstones.
* Planting ten Snapdragons in one level earns the player the achievement Dragon Age.
* One of his costumes, a firefighter helmet, may be a reference to Lord Cinderbottom from *Peggle Nights*, another PopCap game.
	+ The fireman helmet is also meant to be ironic, since firefighters try to stop fires while he literally fights *with* fire. It may also be a reference to Farenheit 451 - Where firemen also starts fires.
		- This also applies with Jalapeno and his costume, a park ranger hat.
* His attack will hit all zombies in its range simultaneously, rather than hitting them once the flame reaches them as the animation implies. This trait is shared with Fume-shroom.
* Despite being a fire-based plant, zombies defeated by Snapdragon will not be burned, but will instead die the default death mode.
* Despite using flame-based attacks and in the pepper-mint's family, he can still be frozen in Frostbite Caves and cannot warm other plants. This is because he is not actually based on fire, but a mythical reptile.
	+ Ironically the Cold Snapdragon, is immune to frost.
* His head can be seen on the pole under the construction imps at the end of the Lost City Part 1 map.
* His 2015 Birthdayz costume is a reference to the cupcake from the song "Mr. Right" sang by the singer Kim Chiu.
* When using Plant Food on him, he gains wings, referring to its Almanac entry.
* Snapdragon can relight the torch of an Explorer/Torchlight Zombie.

## See also

* Dragon Age
* Cold Snapdragon