Sun Bean

*For other uses of beans, see bean.*

Sun Beans infect zombies with sun. As a zombies take damage they generate sun.

### Costumes

As the eldest of the bean brothers, Sun Bean often finds his siblings exasperating. Chili Bean is a little crude, Laser Bean is too far out, and Spring Bean is just plain lazy. Still, he loves them just the same. That's how it is with family.

**Sun Bean** is the fourth plant obtained in Dark Ages in *Plants vs. Zombies 2*. After a zombie eats a Sun Bean, the amount of sun the zombie can drop increases by 0.2 for every damage per shot the zombie receives. However, the sun is only dropped in multiplies of 5, or small sun, while the amount of sun remaining will be counted for the next time the zombie is damaged. A zombie which has eaten the bean will glow light yellow and white to indicate that he is affected, releasing more sun as more damage is inflicted.

For example, if an affected zombie receives 40 damage per shot, the zombie is able to drop 8 sun, but only one small sun worth 5 sun is dropped, while the other 3 remains in the zombie. If the same zombie receives an another 40 damage per shot, the zombie is able to drop 8 more sun, along with the 3 sun remaining in the zombie, which means the zombie can now drop a total amount of 11 sun, but only two more small sun worth 10 sun is dropped.

## Origins

This plant's name is a portmanteau of "sun beam," a small light emitted by the sun and "bean," the type of plant this plant is based on.

His green crown costume is a reference to the Statue of Liberty, a famous statue that is found in New York City's harbor.

## Almanac entry

**Sun Bean**

SUN COST: 50

RECHARGE: 20

SUN PRODUCTION: Variable

FAMILY: Enlighten-mint

Sun Beans infect zombies with sun. As a zombie takes damage they generate sun.

As the eldest of the bean brothers, Sun Bean often finds his siblings exasperating. Chili Bean is a little crude, Laser Bean is too far out, and Spring Bean is just plain lazy. Still, he loves them just the same. That's how it is with family.

## Upgrades

### Plant Food effect

When given Plant Food, Sun Bean turns bright yellow in color. When eaten, the zombie which consumed the Sun Bean will burn up and give the player 0.75 sun for each damage per shot worth of health the zombie had left. The higher the health of the zombie, the greater the amount of sun will be given to the player when it consumes the Sun Bean.

### Enlighten-mint effect

When boosted by Enlighten-mint, Sun Bean will convert 100% of damage done to zombies into sun, the maximum amount of sun a zombie can produce is increased by 400, and the maximum amount of sun it can produce from its plant food is by 700.

### Level upgrades

\*Sun dropped per zombie for each damage per shot the zombie receives. (Note that the sun will not be dropped until it reaches a multiply of 5)

\*\*Maximum amount of sun a zombie can drop.

\*\*\*Maximum amount of sun a zombie can drop when the Sun Bean is given Plant Food.

† 0.6000000000000001 to be exact.

## Strategies

### General

Sun Beans are best used against zombies with high amounts of health, allowing a large amount of sun to be generated before the zombie dies. A non-upgraded Sun Bean is not recommended to be used with a normal zombie, Imps, or zombies with toughness lower than 10 normal damage shots (like Zombie Chickens or Ice Weasels), because the normal zombie will give back only 50 sun, while the Imp will give 25 sun, and certain weaker zombies can provide less, thus wasting the Sun Bean totally. Using multiple columns of plants with less damage per hit allows the Sun Bean to be able to make large amounts of sun with each use because sun falls out of the zombie with each individual hit. Ideal plants to combine with Sun Bean include the Potato Mine, Lightning Reed, Spikeweed, Peashooter and other peashooting plants, Fume-shroom, and Puff-shroom.

Zombies with a high amount of hitpoints are the most valuable zombies to use Sun Bean on. As a result, Buckethead Zombie, Pharaoh Zombie, Robo-Cone Zombie, Disco-tron 3000, Knight Zombie, Blockhead Zombie or Jurassic Fossilhead, with their high amounts of health, make smart targets for the Sun Bean. However, a Gargantuar would not be a good use for the sun bean because it will simply destroy him. The amassed sun can be combined with existing sun production to afford more expensive plants, or power Magnifying Grass uses. Knight Zombies are the best zombies to be used with Sun Bean in Dark Ages. Using him on Poncho Zombies may not be beneficial, as the poncho must be removed in order to determine how worthwhile using the Sun Bean on it will be, and if it does have its metal grate, using the Sun Bean on a Cowboy Buckethead or even a Zombie Bull would be possible alternatives.

Sun Bean is an excellent choice in levels with the objective "Produce at least X sun." You just have to feed zombies with Sun Beans repeatedly. You may not get any sun profit from this, but because sun dropped by zombies who ate Sun Beans also count as produced sun, so the objective should be completed easily.

New level expansions have zombies such as Brickhead Zombie that are very powerful in health, having the same amount as a Disco-tron 3000. Using Sun Bean on these types of zombies are recommended.

### Endless Zones

One good tactic in Endless Zones is to boost Sun Beans, especially starting from Level 70 because the tendency to spawn a high health zombie, such as Pharaoh Zombie or Knight Zombie, will increase by 60%. This will help you expand an army of your Winter Melons more quickly than consuming all of your Plant Food that you have obtained from previous levels.

This strategy will help you in higher levels of Endless Zones, especially at triple-digit levels onward. The picture in the right shows one way to increase your sun production, which is usable in all Endless Zone. Look for a zombie with high amount of health a Buckethead Zombie and place the Sun Bean four squares away from the zombie. If you do not feel satisfied, freeze the zombie with Iceberg Lettuce and plant another Sun Bean adjacent to the zombie. Once it consumes two Sun Beans, it will give you fifteen sun for every damage dealt, twenty if you manage to plant a third Sun Bean either by forcing it to go to the leftmost column of the lawn or stalling it with plants like Wall-nut and Tall-nut, then digging it. Finally, kill the zombie with either a Chili Bean or a Potato Mine. Be careful using this strategy.

Another tactic, if you are stuck in a certain situation where zombies are already close in to your defenses. For example, a group of Buckethead Zombies and Zombies are already about to eat your defenses, you can also use Sun Bean there as an alternative means of boosting your defense parameters instead of consuming excess amount of Plant Foods or buying one. With it, you can slowly turn the tides in to your favor, which saves you money. However, this tactic most of the times will not work on cases where zombies like Wizard Zombie, Imp Cannon, Chicken Wrangler Zombie, and many more, especially in cases where Wizard Zombies are present in the level.

Sun bean is also useful against ra zombies since they be distracted when picking up sun make even low damaging plants like lightning reed useful

## Trivia

* He and Magnet-shroom are the only non-offensive plants that kill zombies during their Plant Food effect.
	+ Coincidentally, both are obtained in Dark Ages.
* For him to be a worthwhile investment and therefore give extra sun, the zombie that must be targeted for sun boost must have a minimum of 250 damage per shot (or 70 if boosted).
* He is the first Enlighten-mint plant that does not directly produce sun.
	+ He, Gold Bloom, and Solar Tomato are the only single-use plants that produce sun.
	+ He is unique for producing sun based on damage dealt against the enemy who ate him. In addition, he will only disappear after been eaten, but the other two will instantly produce sun when planted and vanish.
* According to his Almanac entry, Beans are a family, and he is the oldest.
* In the international version, he is the only Dark Ages plant that is not a mushroom.
	+ He is also the only new plant in Dark Ages and the only plant in Dark Ages to not have a hyphen in his name (but only in the international version).
* He and Hypno-shroom are the only plants whose effect and Plant Food effect takes place after they have been eaten.
	+ If a zombie eats a Sun Bean and then a Hypno-shroom, then the zombie will only give sun when it comes across another zombie, or exits the lawn, where it will then quickly give whatever sun it can generate.
* Cowboy Zombie gives 50 sun unlike all other Basic Zombie variants.
* If Magnet-shroom steals an object from a Sun Bean-affected zombie, it will generate sun. Technically, Magnet-shroom does damage zombies when he steals their objects. However, he cannot degrade the zombie on the other side, he just reduces his health into a regular Zombie with just a health of 10.
* If one feeds the same zombie a Sun Bean multiple times, his effect will stack up, multiplying the amount of sun for every Sun Bean fed.
* He is one of five plants that glow on their seed packet, with the others being Sun-shroom, Hot Potato, Lightning Reed, and Explode-O-Nut.
* He shares his idle animation with Magic-shroom and the aquamarine Bowling Bulb.
* Due to zombies being much tougher in Arena compared to Adventure Mode, zombies in Arena will produce much more sun while under Sun Bean's effect.

## See also

* Sun

es:Frijol solar
ru:Солнечный Боб
pl:Sun Bean