Murkadamia Nut

*Murkadamia Nuts are defensive shadow plants who, when powered, grow jelly murk to damage attacking zombies.*

### Special

Mirrors damage while murk is being eaten, best used against fast or strong eaters

## In-game statistics

### Boost

Sun Discount: -25 sun cost

**"Some say that encasing yourself in gelatin is no way to conduct an offense," says Murkadamia Nut with an infectious twinkle. "I say they just haven't planted ME yet!"**

**Murkadamia Nut** is a plant in *Plants vs. Zombies 2: Reflourished* and the seventh plant obtained in Modern Day. He is unlocked at Modern Day - Day 43.

Murkadamia blocks off zombies identically to Wall-nut, but only has half as much health.

When powered by Moonflower, Gloom Vine, or gas from Noctarine, Murkadamia Nut surrounds himself with gelatinous murk. This gelatin starts with 1500 health and regenerates at a constant rate of 200 health per second whenever it isn't being eaten, up to a maximum of 3000 health. The murk also mirrors the damage of zombies that eat it, reflecting 40% of damage back to attacking zombies.

## Almanac entry

**Murkadamia Nut**

Murkadamia Nuts are defensive shadow plants who, when powered, grow jelly murk to damage attacking zombies.

Special: mirrors damage while murk is being eaten, best used against fast or strong eaters

Usage: damaged murk regrows over time

"Some say that encasing yourself in gelatin is no way to conduct an offense," says Murkadamia Nut with an infectious twinkle. "I say they just haven't planted ME yet!"

## Plant Food effect

When fed with Plant Food, Murkadamia Nut will regrow murk (if powered) and gain a little shield that allows him to absorb 2000 more damage.

## Strategies

Murkadamia Nut's jelly murk makes for quite a unique plant, in the realm of health-based walls. The ability to mirror incoming damage makes the murk well suited for handling any zombie with above-average eating damage, such as Rock Carrier Zombie, Magenta Skull Zombie and especially Newspaper Zombie. His jelly murk can also regenerate between waves of incoming zombies; compared to a lone Endurian, this allows Murkadamia Nut near-permanent staying power if the murk is kept sustained. Plus, the murk is able to damage multiple zombies at once, allowing it to better deal with groups.

Murkadamia Nut's murky properties come with a high restriction, however: Out of the three methods of powering shadow plants, Noctarine's effects are impermanent and Gloom Vine gets eaten before zombies reach the murk, leaving the fragile Moonflower as Noctarine's only viable source of power, lest he be reduced to his inferior murk-less form. Sustaining the murk is different to the methods for maintaining other health-based walls, too. Slowing zombies through plants like Sap-fling and Snow Pea has mixed results for Murkadamia Nut, as slower eating speeds will result in those zombies taking less mirror damage from the murk. The murk also can't be healed with Aloe, further making it difficult to keep the murk strong when zombies are nearby.

Instead, the focus should be on allowing the jelly murk to regenerate on its own. Zombies can be stunned or knocked back by plants like Stunion and Hurrikale to give room for Murkadamia Nut to breathe. Alternatively, simply using offensive plants appropriate to the level can reduce the number of zombies that reach the main defense, reducing pressure on the murk. Multi-hit and area of effect plants like Bloomerang, Spikeweed and Shadow Peashooter are especially helpful, as they can clear away low health zombies and reduce tougher zombies to a "murkable" level.

Like any wall plant, not all zombies will be affected by Murkadamia Nut and his murk. Zombies with smashing attacks, like Barrel Roller Zombie and Gargantuars, can simply crush the plant, ignoring the eating-based effects of murk. Zombies that can move plants around, such as Excavator Zombie and Fisherman Zombie, can displace Murkadamia Nut away from Moonflower and Noctarines' shadow fields, removing the jelly murk entirely. As such, consider swapping Murkadamia Nut for another wall plant when faced with these zombies, as other options can better counter them.

## Balance changes

### Initial launch

#### Listed changes

* ▼ +50 sun
* ▼ +5 second recharge

#### Actual changes

* ▼ +25 sun
* ▼ +2 second recharge

### Version 1.1.2

* ▲ Damage Mirroring: 25% -> 40%
	+ Developer Note: Ah, poor Murk. Cursed with relative uselessness due to overestimating its strength. We've given him a sharp incerase in damage mirroring to make him more appealing in full shadow decks and against certain select targets.

### Version 1.1.4

* ▲ Murk Health: 2,500 -> 3,000
* ▲ Murk Regeneration Rate (Per Second): 100 -> 200
* ▼ Nut Health: 2,500 -> 2,000
* Target audience: General
	+ Developer note: Murk has been buffed a few times before, yet it still remains as a very underutilized plant due to his low murk health not allowing him to take on groups of zombies, and it regenerating too slowly meant it was hard for Murk to keep up against fast paced, large hordes. To help with this, we moved some health of the nut into the murk itself, and upped the regeneration rate to help it get back into the fight quicker after losing his murk body.

### Version 1.2

* ▲ Is now plantable on sewers.
	+ Developer note: Throughout his life, people have told Murkadamia Nut that he's too small. Too weak. He'd fall right through that sewer, that pathetic nut. Today, Murkadamia aims to prove them wrong. If Peanut could fit...so can he... because he's floating, that's what we're going with.

## Trivia

* Prior to version 1.2, Murkadamia Nut was one of the few defensive plants that could not be planted on sewers, due to his small size.

## See also

### Shadow plants

* Moonflower
* Nightshade
* Shadow-shroom
* Dusk Lobber
* Grimrose
* Noctarine
* Shadow Peashooter
* Gloom Vine