Spikeweed

*Spikeweeds destroy one rolling zombie and hurt any zombies that step on them.*

**Although Spikeweed grew up on the seedy side of town, his acupuncture business has been blooming.**

**Spikeweed** is the third plant available in Pirate Seas in *Alternate UniverZ*. He destroys one rolling zombie and hurts any zombies that step on him.

Spikeweed is unlocked after beating PS-V.

## Almanac entry

**Spikeweed**

SUN COST: 100

RECHARGE: 7.5

TOUGHNESS: 300

DAMAGE: 10

ATTACK SPEED: 0.5

AREA: Tile

Spikeweeds destroy one rolling zombie and hurt any zombies that step on them.
Special: can't be eaten by zombie
Weakness: crushed by rolling zombies

Although Spikeweed grew up on the seedy side of town, his acupuncture business has been blooming.

## Plant Food effect

When given Plant Food, Spikeweed drags all zombies on his lane to him, stunning them and doing 320 damage in total in the span of 4 seconds.

## Costumes

* Current
* Pre 1.5

## Strategies

As a main attacker, Spikeweed is pretty weak, being only able to do half the damage of a Peashooter onto Basic Zombies. However, in groups, Spikeweed excels in taking out weak zombies, doing effective crowd control, as well as destroying rolling zombies like Barrel Roller Zombies and Pianist Zombies that may pose as a problem to your defenses. He will also stop swarms of Zombie Chickens released by the Chicken Wrangler Zombie if they get past your other plants.

A good strategy is using defensive plants like Wall-nut or Tall-nut behind groups of Spikeweeds so that the zombies will be damaged for a prolonged amount of time while eating. Stalling plants like Snow Pea or Kernel-pult can further extend the amount of time that the zombies are damaged by Spikeweed. However, flying zombies will ignore Spikeweed entirely, so avoid using him in levels with them. Not only that, but Spikerock does twice the damage and destroys two more rolling zombies compared to Spikeweed, albeit with a heavier sun cost and recharge.

Spikeweed's Plant Food effect, like Spikerock's, can draw zombies towards him. As such, planting a Spikeweed at the rightmost side of the level and feeding him Plant Food will cause the zombie to return to the start and allow for your main offensive plants to do up to twice the amount of damage, assuming the zombie is tough enough. He can also be used in an emergency if any zombies get too close to your lawn mowers or as a defense against enemies thrown or able to jump over your defense. You can also draw zombies that have already exited the lawn and about to eat your brains back onto the lawn with Plant Food.

In Neon Mixtape Tour, Spikeweeds are useful for fighting against Punk Zombies, Glitter Zombies, MC Zom-Bs, and Boombox Zombies, as they cannot harm him, and have relatively low health, so they can weaken them enough for your main offensive plant to finish the job. However, Arcade Zombies can crush them with his arcade cabinet without consequences, so avoid using it in levels with them.

However, it is very beneficial in the Wild West levels to use against almost all the zombies, especially with Prospector Zombie, Short-fused Prospector and Zombie Bull Riders that bypass your plants, so they can be good in the first column. A Spikeweed in every lane can effectively combat Zombie Chickens as well. Another strategy allows you to use the carts in order to keep a Wild West Gargantuar from moving ahead by moving it as soon as he lifts his brand. In Frostbite Caves levels, it's good to place them next to any ice floes where the zombies will shift to. If you have any plants that can push back zombies such as Spring Bean or Chard Guard, then it can be useful to combine them with Spikeweed so they have to walk through the Spikeweeds again.

It is not advised to use Spikeweed against Troglobites or Excavator Zombies as the former can instantly crush him by pushing frozen blocks without consequences, and the latter will shovel him up without stepping on him.

In "Don't let the zombies trample the flowers" challenge, player may plant Spikeweed ON the flowers to block the zombies from trampling the flowers, make the level easier to beat. The same thing happens with Spikerock, Infi-nut, Celery Stalker and Cactus.

However, **NEVER** use a Plant Food on a Spikeweed if it is to the left of the flowers because if you do, it will cause all the zombies in the lane to move towards the Spikeweed, moving over the flowers in the process. Thus, it will cause the instant loss of the level. You should not even plant a Spikeweed near the flowers as it has no effect, as zombies cannot pass through the flowers and walk on Spikeweed.