Lava Guava

*For the version in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, see Lava Guava*.

* PvZ2
* PvZ2C

Lava Guavas erupt, creating a lava pool that burns zombies.

Cannot be planted on minecarts.Burn a Lily Pad, then the lava pool quickly disappear (if the Lily Pad is on water) in Big Wave Beach

###  Unlocked (China)

10 Lava Guava Puzzle Pieces
Obtain 280 stars

### Costumes

Lava Guava frowns with barely-repressed rage. He's trying to keep it in check. But one day some zombie's going to push him too far and he can't be held responsible for the consequences.

**Lava Guava** is a gem premium plant in *Plants vs. Zombies 2*. He was released on May 26, 2015 for 129 gems, along with the Lost City part 1 teaser Piñata Parties. His price has been reduced to 99 gems during the Big Brainz event.

Lava Guava erupts upon contact with a zombie, briefly splashing lava around him and dealing 200 damage per shot to all enemies in a 3x3 area. Afterwards, a lava puddle that lasts for 12 seconds (only 1.5 seconds on the water in Big Wave Beach) will be formed, capable of damaging zombies that step on it as well as preventing other plants from being planted on the tile until it disappears. Lava Guava is also a thawing plant, emitting heat every 1.5 seconds that gradually unfreezes frozen or chilled plants in a 3x3 area surrounding him as well as being immune to all freezing effects himself.

## Almanac entry

**Lava Guava**

SUN COST: 75

RECHARGE: 15

DAMAGE: 200

RANGE: Touch

FAMILY: Pepper-mint

Lava Guavas erupt, creating a lava pool that burns zombies.

Usage: single use, on contact
Special: erupts, damaging nearby zombies
Special: creates a burning lava pool in its tile

Lava Guava frowns with barely-repressed rage. He's trying to keep it in check. He's trying so hard. But one day some zombie's going to push him too far and he can't be held responsible for the consequences.

## Upgrades

### Plant Food effect

When fed with Plant Food, Lava Guava creates a fissure in the ground on all tiles in front of him, dealing a total of 900 damage per shot over 12 seconds to all grounded enemies walking along the crack. In addition, he warms nearby plants twice as fast in Frostbite Caves.

### Pepper-mint effect

When boosted by Pepper-mint, Lava Guava will have in additional 600 DPS added to its explosion, and an additional 60 DPS added to its plant food damage.

### Level upgrade

\*Column shows erupting damage. Lava tile damage per second equals to half of this.

\*\*Per hit. Plant Food effect does a total of 36 hits.

### Costumed  (China only)

Lava Guava will now create a fissure in a cross pattern.

### Level upgrade  (China only)

 Combat Training
 Cell Activation
 Fighting Power
 Fighting Power

## Strategies

Similar to Ghost Pepper, Lava Guava benefits greatly from his long damage-dealing duration, low sun cost, and relatively quick recharge rate compared to other instant-kill plants. Because of this, he is best used as an aid to other offensive plants or an emergency option to quickly neutralize large clusters of zombies. While Ghost Pepper has a greater range and therefore will be better suited to fighting quick-moving enemies, Lava Guava deals more damage in a smaller area and will prove to be better at attacking slower targets.

Lava Guava should ideally be positioned in areas where large groups of zombies will walk through, which makes it useful in Endless Zones. Directing zombies with Sweet Potato or Garlic as well as delaying them with stalling plants such as Stunion or Stallia or stopping them with a defensive plant can also greatly increase Lava Guava's efficiency. Lava Guava's Plant Food ability should not be relied upon, as he deals relatively low damage compared to other plants. However, Lava Guava works as a barrier while using his Plant Food ability, but that barrier role should be best used with Primal Wall-Nut and a lava pool instead.

Lava Guava is particularly useful in Frostbite Caves, as the ice floes can create natural choke points, forcing enemies from multiple lanes to walk through the lava tile and maximizing Lava Guava's potential. Additionally, Lava Guava can be used as a thawing plant if the player opted not to carry other fire-based plants into the battle, with the added benefit of NOT disabling freezing effects of ice-based plants as he has no ranged attacks and can therefore be deployed safely in the back. It also a good idea to use Lava Guava against Chicken Wrangler Zombie or Weasel Hoarder, as his explosion can easily destroy a flock of Zombie Chickens or pack of Ice Weasels. The player should be aware of Troglobites because their frozen block can crush Lava Guava as well as Dodo Rider Zombie, as they can fly to bypass the lava tile. Of course, he can be planted on an adjacent role to melt all the ice blocks so they won't be of a threat.

He cannot be used against Imp Dragon Zombies due to their immunity to his attacks. It is also a poor idea to use this plant on water tiles in Big Wave Beach - not only will the Lily Pad supporting Lava Guava be instantly destroyed, the lava tile will also disappear very quickly and deal little damage to zombies, wasting the player's sun in the process. A Cherry Bomb or a Ghost Pepper (which does not require a Lily Pad) would be much, much better. However, outside of Big Wave Beach, Lava Guava can easily defeat anOcto Zombie when planted on the tile he is on, as an erupting Lava Guava cannot be bound and since the Octo Zombie is slow, the damage will be enough to finish him off. Since the Lava Guava will undo freezing and other ice-based effects, other non-ice equivalents must be relied on.

It is a good idea to use Lava Guava against All-Star Zombies. An All-Star would tackle the Lava Guava and lose his high running speed, but Lava Guava will still activate and survive the damage from the tackle as well as doing high damage to the zombie.

Lava Guava is also able to be used for the same strategies as Spikeweed and Spikerock, thanks to how similar they are. However, he is not permanent nor he recharges fast. But when it comes to zombies that can crush plants, he will work better since the lava pool can only disappear after it's duration has expired and zombies cannot remove it.

## Trivia

### Specific to *Plants vs. Zombies 2*

* He, Banana Launcher, Jack O' Lantern, Bamboo-shoot, Escape Root, and Missile Toe are the only plants that cannot be planted on minecarts.
	+ Trying to plant a Lava Guava on a minecart will yield the message, "Lava would melt the railcart."
	+ However, this does not happen in the Chinese version.
* If his Plant Food ability is used in Pirate Seas or Big Wave Beach, the water in the lane will boil and bubble up.
	+ However, despite creating a fissure, the water does not leak in, nor does the lava cool down and turns into soil rock.
* Even after leaving his lava puddle behind, he could be shoveled up for sun refund before the 3.7.1 update. The lava would stay on that tile after Lava Guava had been dug up.
* He can override Sap-fling's sap puddles.
	+ However, in rare occasions where Sap-fling and Lava Guava's tiles spawn at the same time, the sap will not vaporize.
* If a zombie is about to trigger the Lava Guava but gets immobilized, the Lava Guava will not activate.
* If any plant is planted to the right of the lava tile, Mecha-Football Zombie will push that plant two tiles backwards, behind the lava tile.
* If he erupts, a Tomb Raiser Zombie can spawn Tombstones on the puddle, which strangely does not damage the tombstone.
* Excavator Zombie will sometimes attempt to attack Lava Guava with his shovel.

* In the 3.6.1 update, his splash damage effect was delayed and took a few seconds more to hurt the zombies. The delay was removed again in the 3.8.1 update.
* His seed packet was changed to his in-game texture in the 3.6.1 update.
	+ In the Chinese version, his seed packet image is sharper than that in the international version.
* One of his costumes is a lei, a string of flowers originated from Hawaii.
	+ This might be a reference to the fact that Hawaii is a series of islands formed from volcanoes, and that Lava Guava looks and acts similar to a volcano.
* MC Zom-B can kill an idling Lava Guava using his microphone attack. This will not trigger the Lava Guava even though this would have killed him as if the Lava Guava ruptures, lava will spill all over the tile, burning the zombie.
	+ However MC Zom-B will also attempt to attack lava tiles, stalling him for a while. This was fixed in the 4.1.1 update.
* As of the 3.8.1 update, he can get eaten if he is planted behind a blocked zombie, similarly to how zombies can eat defensive plants from behind.
* According to the credits, he is voiced by Scott Porterfield.
* He and Doom-shroom are the only plants that can destroy another plant (in this case, Lily Pad).
	+ This does not apply to Pyre Vine, Blastberry Vine, Pumpkin, and Shine Vine.
* His Almanac entry does not mention his immunity to frost, nor does it mention his ability to warm nearby plants, as he is mostly used as an instant plant,

### Specific to Plants vs. Zombies 2 (Chinese version)  (China only)

* His level 3 upgrade makes plants unable to be planted in a + plus shape. But strangely, plants that were planted before will be undisturbed.
* His level 5 projectile is the same as those of Primal Peashooter's level 5. The lava pools that they create also look different than the main pool, resembling larger versions of Dragonfruit's costumed Plant Food pools and Primal Peashooter's level 5 pools.

ru:Лавовая\_гуава