Shadow Peashooter

*Shadow Peashooters are shadow plants that fire shadowy peas at zombies.*

**"Phoot," Shadow Peashooter says, emitting a shadowy, ah, hmmm, I guess you could call it a pea, at a distant zombie. "Uph!" gasps the zombie in the evident surprise. There's a lot going on under the surface between these two.**

**Shadow Peashooter** is a plant in *Plants vs. Zombies 2: Reflourished* and the eighth plant obtained in Modern Day. He is unlocked at Modern Day - Day 46.

Shadow Peashooter attacks by shooting peas at zombies (every 1.35-1.5 seconds). He can also pull a zombie into the ground when they get close, similar to Grimrose; doing so expends the plant.

When powered by a Moonflower, Gloom Vine, or Noctarine, he shoots piercing bolts down his lane (every 2 - 2.5 seconds), dealing 35 damage to every zombie in front.

## Almanac entry

**Shadow Peashooter**

Shadow Peashooters are shadow plants that fire shadowy peas at zombies.

Special: fires piercing bolts when powered

Special: hides and swallows zombies that approach

"Phoot," Shadow Peashooter says, emitting a shadowy, ah, hmmm, I guess you could call it a pea, at a distant zombie. "Uph!" gasps the zombie in the evident surprise. There's a lot going on under the surface between these two.

## Plant Food effect

When fed Plant Food, Shadow Peashooter will summon a shadowy bomb before throwing it down the lane he is in, dealing 500 damage to every zombie caught in the blast. The area of the explosion depends on how many Moonflowers are there on the lawn.

If there is no or one Moonflower on the lawn, he will summon a small round bomb and throw it at the zombie nearest to him, dealing damage over a 3x3 area around the impact tile.

If there are two Moonflowers, he will throw medium bomb with will-o'-the-wisp on top at the nearest zombie, dealing damage over a nearly 5x5 area around the impact tile.

Once there are three or more Moonflowers in the lawn, he will make a giant smiling bomb (known as the Spirit Bomb) at the middle of the screen, which does damage to all zombies onscreen.

## Strategies

On his own, Shadow Peashooter is much like Guacodile - a plant that possesses basic attack power, in return for having additional effects when zombies get too close. While Guacodile's rush attack can clean up several zombies at once in spite of the fairly low damage, Shadow Peashooter's ability to drag zombies is quite inefficient if attempting to use him as a fast-recharging substitute for a standard, single-use plant, only dragging away a single zombie at a time. As such, his unpowered form is best utilised as an offensive plant, able to be planted near the back line to catch occasional zombie ambushes. On the other hand, planting him near the front line will allow zombies to relatively easily disable the main attack, due to having a generous zombie detection range, so doing so isn't always recommended.

Once powered, though, Shadow Peashooter's attack transforms into a extraordinarily cost-efficient, lane-wide area attack. With his damage nearly matching that of Laser Bean, Shadow Peashooter is, at least on paper, a clear preference when Moonflower or Gloom Vine is available. In this form, his tendency to hide can become a direct detriment, as it trades a cost-efficient attack for incredibly cost-inefficient zombie removal. This vulnerability is compounded by his reliance on being powered by Moonflower, who is herself vulnerable to ambushes, and/or Gloom Vine, who will often be eaten before zombies enter dragging range. Because of these dynamics, it is generally recommended to plant powered Shadow Peashooters where they are least likely to be disabled, usually along the back line; his powered form is especially allergic to zombie advancements when planted along the front line, so consider using other offensive plants there instead, unless intending to utilise the zombie dragging ability.

Notably, Shadow Peashooter's options for shadow powering each have their own drawbacks when used together. Moonflower is generally the best option, powering multiple Shadow Peashooters at once, while making extra sun in the process. If there isn't enough room for her, or sun producers are disabled, Gloom Vine can be used to raise the overall cost to a still efficient 175 sun; just be aware that since Shadow Peashooter's Plant Food effect relies specifically on Moonflower to become more powerful, Gloom Vine will be unable to upgrade the effect on his own. In the case of Noctarine, his temporary effects make him better suited for boosting Shadow Peashooter's damage, rather than providing power.

Despite the efficiency that Shadow Peashooter can provide, he has a competitor in the realm of shadow-based area damage: Dusk Lobber. Dusk Lobber can attack over multiple lanes, while peppering her main lane with combined splash damage. This comes with a higher sun cost, slower recharge, a lack of death effect and the traits of lobbed projectiles (allowing immunities like Parasol Zombie), so which of the two to use will depend on the needs of the level.

## Balance changes

### Initial launch

* ▼ +25 sun
* ▼ -5 damage on peas
* ▼ -35 damage on bolts
	+ Listed as -5 damage in the official changelog.
* ▼ No longer slows zombies
* ▼ -1 swallow when powered

## See also

### Shadow plants

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