Dandelion

*Dandelions send explosive seeds down three different lanes, one lane at a time.*

## In-game statistics

### Average DPS

Normal - 30
Blown - 60

### PDE

Normal - 42.75
Blown - 85.5

### Codename alias

dandelion

**"Look," says Dandelion, shaking his head, "I'm not a leprechaun and I'm not a genie. You can blow my seeds off all you want, but I can't make your wish come true. I don't even know how that rumor got started."**

**Dandelion** is a plant in *Plants vs. Zombies 2: Reflourished* and the third plant obtained in Holiday Mashup. He is unlocked at Holiday Mashup - Day 9.

Dandelion can attack on the lane he is placed on, as well as adjacent lanes by releasing slow-moving explosive dandelion seeds every 2 seconds, one lane at a time. The seeds deal 60 damage to any enemy that is in that tile. If targets appear in three lanes at the same time, Dandelion will attack the target in these lanes in order of priority "middle - below - above".

Additionally, if a Blover, Hurrikale, or Draftodil is planted, two Dandelions on screen in the case of Blover, or two in Hurrikale/Draftodil's lane will release 12 small bombs, dividing them equally among two or three lanes, each dealing 60 damage when exploding. Afterwards, Dandelion has to recharge for 12 seconds before he can start attacking again.

## Almanac entry

**Dandelion**

Dandelions send explosive seeds down three different lanes, one lane at a time.

Range Details: can attack targets in lane above or below

Special: may react to certain strong winds

"Look," says Dandelion, shaking his head, "I'm not a leprechaun and I'm not a genie. You can blow my seeds off all you want, but I can't make your wish come true. I don't even know how that rumor got started."

## Plant Food effect

When fed with Plant Food, Dandelion will release ten large dandelion seeds into the air which float down slowly to random zombies, exploding and dealing 350 damage to all enemies in a 1x1 area. If he lost all his seeds and is regrowing them, he will instantly grow them back.

## Strategies

Compared to other area-of-effect plants, Dandelion trades off a larger area of effect for more concentrated damage, which can match the capabilities of single-target attackers like Red Stinger and Repeater. This makes him quite competent in fending off the zombie horde in large quantities, most zombies being shredded with two columns of Dandelions on the field. Combined with the ability to target adjacent lanes, this makes Dandelion one of the more potent attackers to use in not just normal levels, but also in highly zombie-dense Endless Zones; all while working well without the need for additional support.

That being said, Dandelion has some helpful synergies that can further enhance his power. With his area damage and attack pattern, bunching them up can be very handy, with plants like Garlic, Thyme Warp and Void Orchid able to group zombies together for them all to be hit by a single projectile. If all zombies can be redirected into a single lane, every seed will be fired down just that lane, tripling the damage there. Dandelion also reacts to Blover, Hurrikale and Draftodil, with the large quantity of seeds being useful as an emergency tool and for dealing extra damage - at the cost of being disabled for 12 seconds, so don't rely on this combo too much, lest Dandelion be overwhelmed by faster zombies and zombie ambushes during the downtime.

This is not to say that Dandelion is without his flaws. With a 15 second recharge, Dandelions takes longer to set up when compared to standard offensive plants. His dispersion of attacks can also be detrimental; if zombies are present over multiple lanes, Dandelion's lower damage for each individual lane, which can allow targets as simple as Conehead Zombie to more easily sneak across the lawn. Furthermore, although Dandelion's seed attacks are great for dealing with reflecting Jester Zombies, zombies like Shield Zombie, Troglobite can Excavator Zombie can abuse the small area of effect to safely block the seeds.

Dusk Lobber comes to mind as one of Dandelion's competitors, also being an area-of-effect attacker that works over multiple lanes. Dusk Lobber does not disperse her shots, instead launching one for each adjacent lane with a zombie. She is also slightly cheaper with a slightly faster recharge. Combined with having a large 3x3 splash radius, this makes her incredibly powerful for crowd control. On the other hand, Dandelion does not require being powered by a Moonflower or Gloom Vine to reach his full potential, has a higher raw DPS, and does not have to worry about firing less projectiles when a lane lacks zombies to target.

## Balance changes

### Initial launch

* ▲ -5 second recharge
* ▲ +20 damage
* ▲ +20 damage to blown seeds caused by strong winds
	+ Not listed in the changelogs.

### Version 1.1.1

* ▼ Direct Damage: 70 -> 60
* ▼ Splash Damage: 70 -> 60
* ▼ Recharge: 10 -> 15
	+ Developer note: Dandelion's been dominating the meta recently and it's no secret why. Due to his lackluster performance in vanilla, he was given plenty of buffs to make him fun to use. A bit too "plenty", as it turns out. With powerful damage and a quicker recharge, he became a spam-to-win plant that flew under the radar during development amidst the many other changes in the mod. Now that the mod's been out for some time, it's become clear how his buffs have gone overboard. We've had time to experiment with nerf options, and we bring you a bit of a hit to the overall efficiency; reducing damage slightly and turning up the recharge should keep him satisfying without letting him dominate levels through sheer spam.