Spore-shroom

Spore-shroom fires spores that create new Spore-shrooms out of defeated zombies.

## In-game statistics

### Strengths

    (bypasses obstacles)
  (kills them both but won't drop obstacles)

### Costumes

"My favorite arithmetic operation?" wonders Spore-shroom. "I guess I'd have to say, um, addition. Hang on, no... multiplication."

**Spore-shroom** is a mushroom and the fifth plant obtained in Neon Mixtape Tour in *Plants vs. Zombies 2*. It was first revealed in the Neon Mixtape Tour Side B developer diary. It was then shown in the Neon Mixtape Tour Side B trailer, along with some gameplay.

When a zombie is killed by Spore-shroom's projectile, its body will shrink and disappear and another Spore-shroom will be spawned in its place, in the Chinese version, if Spore-shroom is level 2 and above, it will create another random mushroom (Sun-shroom, Puff-shroom, Fume-shroom, Magnet-shroom), provided that the tile it died on is unoccupied by other plants or lawn obstacles. Spore-shrooms spawned in this method do not provide sun when dug up.

## Origins

Spore-shroom's name and ability are references to how mushrooms reproduce by spores and how they tend to multiply quickly in a proper environment, such as rotting excrement or the decaying carcass of a flat land animal.

## Almanac entry

**Spore-shroom**

SUN COST: 150

RECHARGE: 5

TOUGHNESS: 300

DAMAGE: 50

RANGE: Lobbed

PLANT FOOD POWER: Damage

FAMILY: Ail-mint

Spore-shrooms fire spores that create new Spore-shrooms out of defeated zombies.

"My favorite arithmetic operation?" wonders Spore-shroom. "I guess I'd have to say, um, addition. Hang on, no... multiplication."

## Upgrades

### Plant Food effect

When fed with Plant Food, Spore-shroom fires three giant projectiles at three different zombies, each doing 1800 damage and if a spore defeated its target, it will spawn a new Spore-shroom on the tile occupied by the target.

### Ail-mint effect

When boosted by Ail-mint, Spore-shroom's damage will increase by 120 DPS, and its plant food damage will be increased by 2800 DPS.

### Costumed (China only)

Spore-shroom fires four giant projectiles instead of three.

### Level upgrades (China only)

 Combat Training
 Cell Activation
 Fighting Power

## Strategies

Because of its ability to create copies of itself from defeated zombies, Spore-shroom will allow the player to quickly build up defenses without having to spend sun that could be used for more expensive plants such as Winter Melon. It is useful when many Imps appeared at the beginning of the level. Its spores can bypass frozen blocks and arcade machines (unless these obstructions are right in front of it, blocking its attack), attacking the zombies and eventually defeating them. However, Spore-shroom in actuality will rarely be able to utilize its ability to its full potential, as its spawning mechanic means that newly created Spore-shrooms can be placed right next to the horde and usually get eaten in seconds. Nonetheless, the newly created Spore-shrooms can distract certain zombies and prevent high cost plants like Winter Melon from being destroyed.

In Pirate Seas, Spore-shroom works well as a support plant. Its projectiles can bypass Barrel Roller Zombie's barrel and damage the zombie with no problem. In addition, they are useful against incoming Swashbuckler Zombies, especially when there are Imp Cannons to deal with, as the defeated Swashbuckler Zombies can turn into new Spore-shrooms that allow more attacks to destroy the cannon. Seagull Zombies and Pelican Zombies that reach the player's ship are also transformable into new Spore-shrooms. They can also work with Imp Pirate Zombies that successfully land on the player's ship. You should be careful that a new Spore-shroom will not spawn if any zombies are defeated over the sea. It is recommended that you bring an area-of-effect plant like Laser Bean, Fume-shroom, etc. to support this plant.

In Lost City, Spore-shroom can prove itself useful - not only can it defeat Excavator Zombies, but the newly spawned Spore-shrooms will also serve as distraction as the Excavator Zombie will continue to shovel them up. Spore-shroom can also counter Imp Porters and Bug Zombie because when it defeats them, they, along with what they carry, turn into Spore-shrooms, rather than dropping their equipment. The newly spawned Spore-shrooms can also stall Turquoise Skull Zombie, causing them to waste time destroying them first. Their destruction ability also requires time by stealing sun so this will help give the player time to use other offensive plants to destroy this zombie before he becomes a much bigger threat. Of course, like most lobbed-shot plants, Spore-shroom is ineffective against Parasol Zombies even if it were boosted.

In Neon Mixtape Tour, besides destroying Arcade Zombies, Spore-shrooms can be used to distract Punk Zombie as he can only move one plant at a time. Spore-shroom can also counter MC Zom-B as when newly Spore-shrooms are created from a nearby defeated zombie, MC Zom-B will continuously have to pause to spin his microphone. Hair Metal Gargantuars (during Metal jam) will be delayed from the newly created Spore-shrooms as they will need more smashes for the shockwave to reach the backmost defenses. The player should watch out for Boombox Zombies as they can stun all Spore-shrooms on the screen (unless they were planted after the jam or fed with Plant Food). He can also work great with Garlic, because when a zombie takes a bite, it can switch lanes, and you can use that to your advantage, attacking the zombies in that lane.

It is not a good idea to use Spore-shroom on levels with either a limit on present or defeated plants as it can make copies of itself, even on unwanted spots where it will likely get destroyed very fast. Last Stand levels and levels with a sun quota however, are great levels to use Spore-shroom due to the fact making copies of themselves does not count as using sun.

It is not recommended to use Spore-shroom in Big Wave Beach levels, as when it defeats a zombie from water, the newly created ones will sink in the waves, rendering the ability useless. However, it can be useful if the player has Lily Pads all over the lawn, as the newly created Spore-shrooms will stay on the Lily Pads and will not fall in the water.

## Trivia

* It is the only plant that is able to produce copies of itself without Plant Food.
* Its Almanac entry is a reference to its ability, and how it "adds" more plants on the lawn or how it "multiplies" in numbers.
* If there is an obstacle in front of it and there are zombies in its lane, its projectile will be blocked and absorbed by the obstacle instead. The same problem applies to Strawburst.
	+ This is also true if the player feeds it with Plant Food when there are zombies right in front of it before the 4.1.1 update.
* It is the first, and currently only, lobbed-shot plant that is a mushroom in the series.
	+ This also makes it the second lobbed-shot plant not to have an characteristic catapult shape, with the first being A.K.E.E. and the third being Apple Mortar.
* If the zombie defeated by it is standing between two tiles, the new Spore-shroom will always spawn on the left tile.
* In the 4.0.1 update, despite being obtained after Garlic, it was positioned before it on the seed selection screen and the Almanac.
* It does not turn objects like tombstones, surfboards, frozen blocks, tents, backpacks, and arcade machines into additional Spore-shrooms. In some cases, a glitch occurs that when it kills a zombie that is on the same tile as the object, a Spore-shroom may spawn on top of the aforementioned objects.
	+ If Spore-shroom kills Zombie Chicken or Ice Weasel, it will not spawn any additional new Spore-shrooms either.
* The face on its paper bag costume resembles the character Plank from *Ed, Edd n Eddy*.
* If a spawned Spore-shroom is revived by Intensive Carrot, it will still refund sun when dug up.
	+ This is most likely because sun is still spent when the Intensive Carrot is planted.
	+ However, it refunds the amount of sun relative to Spore-shroom's sun cost, rather than Intensive Carrot's.
* When it attacks a zombie that has lost its head, but that zombie is technically not dead yet to the game's engine, the zombie will still shrink but will not produce a Spore-shroom.
* Its Plant Food ability does not target the Zombot Multi-stage Masher and Zombot Aerostatic Gondola (Modern Day - Day 34).
* At level 2 and up (Chinese version), Spore-shroom can spawn all other mushrooms except Hypno-shroom, Toadstool, and Perfume-shroom.
* In the Chinese version, its projectiles cannot be deflected by Jester Zombies.

ru:Спорогриб
pl:Spore-shroom
fr:Champi-spore