Stallia

Stallias slow down zombies with a puff of perfume.

### Costumes

"Life moves too quickly in our modern world," says Stallia. "Folks need to slow down and smell some spores."

**Stallia** is the fourth plant obtained in Lost City in *Plants vs. Zombies 2*. It was first revealed in the Lost City Part 2 trailer and its gameplay function was revealed in the developer diary of the aforementioned update.

When a zombie comes close to Stallia, the Stallia will release a purple perfume that slows down all zombies in a 3x3 area for 12 seconds, and lasts longer when leveled up. The perfume does not stack with other slowing effects, such as the chilling effect from any ice-based plant, or the sap laid down by Sap-fling. Stallia also gains the ability to knockback zombies after reaching level 5 in the international version.

## Origins

Stallia is based on the flowers of the genus *Dahlia*, tuberous perennial plants native to Mexico and Central America.

Its name is a portmanteau of "stall," which reflects its stalling ability, and the aforementioned *Dahlia*.

It's almanac quote, "Folks need to slow down and smell some spores" is a pun on the famous expression "Folks need to stop and smell the roses."

## Almanac entry

**Stallia**

SUN COST: 0

RECHARGE: 20

RANGE: Touch

AREA: 3x3

Special: Stall

FAMILY: Contain-mint

Stallias slow down zombies with a puff of perfume.

Usage: single use, activates when zombie is close
Special: slows nearby zombies

"Life moves too quickly in our modern world," says Stallia. "Folks need to slow down and smell some spores."

## Upgrades

### Plant Food effect

When fed with Plant Food, Stallia releases perfume that covers the entire screen in a purple shade for a split second, slowing all present zombies for 18 seconds.

## Contain-mint effect

When boosted by Contain-mint, Stallia will now knock back zombies as if it were level 10, its stall duration is increased to 18 seconds, and its plant food stall duration is increased to 27 seconds.

### Costumed  (China only)

Stallia will slow and poison all zombies on the lawn.

### Level upgradeS  (China only)

 Combat Training
 Cell Activation
 Fighting Power

## Strategies

Stallia fills in the middle ground between slowing plants and instant use plants. Its main advantage is that it costs no sun to use and has a wide area of effect, making it the earliest slowing choice available in the early game. However, Stallia's slow recharge and its lack of synergy with other slowing plants will greatly reduce its effectiveness later on as it will fail to control all lanes, although the use of Imitater may somewhat remedy its recharge problem.

When compared with Stunion, similarities between the plants are quite noticeable. They both prove to be more or less equally useful but situational. They are also great in conjunctions with the Ghost Pepper, Spikeweed, Spikerock, Cactus, or Lava Guava, as the zombies are forced to spend more time being haunted, spiked, or burned by the lava. Stunion costs the minimum amount of spendable sun, but it does not matter much as it can even be dug up. It has the ability to stun a group of zombies for a large amount of time, longer than Stallia's slowing time. However, it is locked to its lane. The weight on Stallia's scale is the fact that it can slow machine zombies in Far Future, while Stunion cannot. When it comes down to choose, it is ultimately a preference for the player as they both have many good things for themselves.

In Frostbite Caves, Stallia is noticeably better than Iceberg Lettuce, as it stalls zombies in a wider area than the Iceberg Lettuce. In Frostbite Caves, Iceberg Lettuce only chills zombies, whereas the Stallia actually stalls them in a wider area.

Lastly, Hurrikale's ability to chill zombies has never been a very important aspect of it, as the focal point is on its pushing ability which efficiently delays zombie attacks. When compared to Hurrikale, Stallia is undesirable in some situations, due to the fact that even its slowing is not enough to delay the zombies if the player's defenses are still weak. This is especially true with flying zombies and zombies with a high amount of health points. In this sense, it is up to the player to determine what plant is adequate for the level if the situation that requires the player to either choose one of them only.

The player should be cautious when using Stallia in the Dark Ages because Stallia cannot stall Jester Zombies while they are spinning.

Once Stallia reaches Level 5, it gains the additional ability to knock zombies back. Besides making it more useful by pushing zombies back in addition to slowing them down, it also can be used as a very cheap and effective zombie removal if used alongside Blover. If timed right, a level 5 or more Stallia combined with Blover will take out a 3x3 area of zombies susceptible to knock back, including Gargantuars. In order to time it right, the player should plant a Blover first, and while it is still blowing, quickly plant Stallia in the location filled with the most zombies.

An interesting thing to note about Stallia is that its hitbox lingers for a bit after use; if planted on the same tile as a zombie, it will attempt to eat it/use abilities on it, despite it not being there anymore. This can be useful in delaying the more dangerous zombies, like Newspaper Zombies, All-Star Zombies, and even Gargantuars.

## Trivia

* Its Plant Food ability makes the same flash as Iceberg Lettuce's. The only visual difference is that the flash is purple.
* When using an ice-based plant in combination with it, the zombies will turn dark blue. The slowing effect does not stack, however.
	+ This also happened with Sap-fling and ice-based plants but zombies change to the color green, although it has been removed.
* Before the 3.9 update, it could be used in Last Stand levels.
* Sometimes, it will only activate when a zombie makes direct contact. Two examples are when a Gargantuar attempts to smash it or when Excavator Zombie tries to shovel it.
* When a zombie is burned or electrocuted while still under the influence of its stalling effect, the perfume cloud will be still visible until that zombie disappears.
* Its night cap costume is a reference to its "sleepy-looking" eyes. In a similar sense, the lion costume is a visual pun on the design of its petals.
	+ Both costumes coincidentally line up with the song *The Lion Sleeps Tonight*.
* It can sometimes be killed by Pianist Zombie.
	+ This also happens with Shrinking Violet.

## See also

* Iceberg Lettuce
* Stunion
* Shrinking Violet

pl:Stallia