Video Games
Plants vs Zombies Tier List Maker
Rank the plants of Plants vs. Zombies, from Peashooter and Sunflower to Cob Cannon and Gloom-shroom.
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Meet every plant (48)
These 48 plants load into the maker above. Each write-up covers what the plant is and what to weigh when you rank it. Facts were last checked on .
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Peashooter
The first plant and the player's first line of defense against the zombies, often the first plant unlocked. It is one of the franchise's main plant protagonists and one of its best-known characters.
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Sunflower
A main recurring plant and arguably the mascot of the whole series. She produces extra Sun so the player can plant more plants, and is usually depicted as bright and cheerful.
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Cherry Bomb
An explosive plant that blows up in a 3x3 area and deals heavy damage to any zombies in range. It is often the first explosive plant the player receives in most games.
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Wall-nut
A defensive plant that cannot attack back, except in Wall-nut Bowling, and instead blocks zombies with a huge amount of health. It has appeared in every game in the franchise so far.
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Potato Mine
A plant that needs time to arm before exploding on the unlucky zombie who steps on it. He is often given rodent-like features, and even squeaks like a rodent in the shooter games.
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Snow Pea
Sometimes called Ice Pea, a Peashooter variant that slows or even freezes zombies by firing frozen peas. The wiki considers it the flagship plant of the freezing, slowing style of play.
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Chomper
A Venus flytrap-like plant that devours certain zombies and destroys them instantly. He is often given canine behavior and a slobbish nature, which is part of his comic appeal.
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Repeater
Effectively two Peashooters in one, costing the same as two Peashooters and firing two peas at a time instead of one. It is a simple upgrade for lanes that need more damage.
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Puff-shroom
Usually the first mushroom the player obtains. He is quite weak, but completely free to plant, which makes him a popular cheap filler in early levels.
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Sun-shroom
The mushroom counterpart to Sunflower, cheaper and producing sun. He grows in size depending on how long he has been on screen, producing more sun as he does, and is the poster child for mushrooms.
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Fume-shroom
A mushroom that attacks zombies by firing strong fumes. In most games the fumes pierce through multiple zombies and through various kinds of zombie armor.
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Grave Buster
An instant-use environment modifier that destroys graves and tombstones. A zombie can eat him before he has finished clearing the grave, so timing matters.
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Hypno-shroom
A mushroom that messes with zombies' minds, usually mind-controlling them to work for the plants. He is one of the few plants that is sympathetic toward zombie enemies.
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Scaredy-shroom
A mushroom that attacks zombies at long range but hides when they get too close. His almanac entries show him as timid and shy, even regretting enlisting for zombie combat.
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Ice-shroom
A mushroom whose abilities vary widely between games, but who has always been able to temporarily freeze zombies in place. That consistency is what he is known for.
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Doom-shroom
A mushroom who often serves as an explosive plant, exploding into a large mushroom cloud with a "DOOM!!" onomatopoeia and dealing massive damage to all zombies within its range.
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Lily Pad
An environment modifier planted on water tiles that lets non-aquatic plants be planted on top of it. He is based on the floating leaves of the lily plant.
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Squash
A plant who squashes zombies he spots a tile and a half ahead of or behind him, dealing massive damage on that tile. He acts like an instant Potato Mine with better range, and is almost always grumpy.
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Threepeater
A peashooting plant that fires peas in front of it like a Peashooter, but also in the lanes above and below, which lets one plant cover three lanes.
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Tangle Kelp
One of the few aquatic plants in the series, alongside Lily Pad, Sea-shroom and Cattail. His character descriptions call him difficult and foolish, yet well educated.
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Jalapeno
Typically introduced as an instant plant that scorches an entire lane of zombies with a powerful burst of flames. He is a go-to emergency button in a crowded lane.
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Spikeweed
An area-of-effect plant that attacks zombies on the ground and is usually ignored by them because it is so low. It can also destroy specific zombies at the cost of itself.
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Torchwood
Not a pea himself, but his main role is boosting the damage of peashooting plants by lighting their peas on fire as they pass through him.
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Tall-nut
A defensive plant like Wall-nut, with more health, and able to stop low-flying zombies that Wall-nut cannot. He is the sturdier, taller wall in most lineups.
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Sea-shroom
A mushroom that can be planted directly on water and attacks zombies by firing short-range spores, similar to Puff-shroom, and is one of the plants that works on water.
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Plantern
An environment modifier who uses light to make the screen more visible, such as removing fog and revealing invisible zombies. His name is a portmanteau of "plant" and "lantern."
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Cactus
A plant who defends the player's brains by firing spikes at zombies. She has never had the same ability and attack style in any two appearances, including the two Garden Warfare games.
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Blover
A clover-based plant that blows away fog and any airborne zombies out of the sky. He is a utility plant, used when fog or flying enemies become a problem.
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Split Pea
A peashooting plant that works nearly like a Peashooter, but can also fire two peas behind it like a Repeater, defending the lawn from zombies approaching from behind.
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Starfruit
A plant who shoots star projectiles in five directions, including above, below and behind himself. He is portrayed as rather egotistical, most of all in Plants vs. Zombies 3.
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Pumpkin
A defensive plant who can protect other plants inside of him. The wiki says Pumpkin is related to Renfield, a Peggle Master, which is the only direct link to other PopCap games.
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Magnet-shroom
A mushroom that attracts metallic objects from zombies, either massively reducing their health or negating their primary abilities. He pulls off helmets and similar metal gear.
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Cabbage-pult
Lobs cabbages that deal twice the damage of a Peashooter at half the speed, which can avoid obstacles and shields. He is the poster child of the lobber plants.
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Flower Pot
An environment modifier that can be planted on roof tiles, letting all non-flying plants be planted on the roof. It is based on the ordinary flower pot.
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Kernel-pult
Lobs weak corn kernels, with a chance to fire butter instead, which stuns zombies. Like other pults he can avoid zombie shields, and he is always the second of the "-pults" the player obtains.
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Coffee Bean
An instant-use plant that wakes up other plants. In the original game it is the only way to use mushrooms on daytime levels, where they would otherwise fall asleep.
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Garlic
A defensive plant who not only absorbs bites but also redirects zombies to the lanes above or below him, making him a clever way to move zombies around.
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Umbrella Leaf
In most games she protects the plants in a 3x3 area from threats from the sky, such as the Bungee Zombies of the original game.
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Marigold
An alternate version of the Sunflower that produces coins instead of sun. She rewards the player with coins through cultivation as an ally.
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Melon-pult
Lobs hard-hitting melons that deal heavy damage to the target and heavy splash to the zombies around it, avoiding zombie shields. He is the middle child of the Pult brothers.
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Gatling Pea
Similar to Repeater but with four Peashooter pipes, firing four peas at a time rather than one. He is the strongest of the pea-shooting upgrades.
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Twin Sunflower
A sun-producing plant that, as the name says, produces twice as much sun as a normal Sunflower. The original game says it was created by "forbidden science."
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Gloom-shroom
A purple mushroom who attacks zombies in adjacent lanes by releasing spores. He is a mushroom upgrade that covers a wide area around him.
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Cattail
An aquatic plant who attacks zombies by firing homing spikes from her tail at the nearest zombie on the lawn in the main games. Her tail and name are based on the real plant.
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Winter Melon
Like Melon-pult, he lobs watermelons that deal massive damage and splash to zombies around the target, but his watermelons also chill zombies, making them slower.
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Gold Magnet
An upgrade of Magnet-shroom that costs $3000 to buy from Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies. Every two seconds it collects up to five pieces of money on the screen.
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Spikerock
Like Spikeweed, an area-of-effect plant that attacks zombies on the ground and is ignored by most of them. He can also destroy specific zombies at the cost of himself.
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Cob Cannon
A massive ear of corn resembling an artillery piece, firing corn cobs with extreme damage. His almanac entries also reveal that he is an accomplished lawyer based in New York.
Plants vs Zombies tier list questions
Which Plants vs. Zombies game is this list based on?
It follows the plants of the original game, with a few from spin-offs and sequels. Where a plant changes between games, the write-ups describe the original version.
Are upgrade plants like Gold Magnet included?
Yes. Several upgrade plants, such as Gatling Pea, Twin Sunflower, Winter Melon, Spikerock and Cob Cannon, are on the list because fans often rank them next to the plants they upgrade.
How should I rank Plants vs. Zombies plants?
Common criteria include usefulness, cost, design and personality. Many fans rank by role, such as shooters, lobbers, defenders and sun producers, since a good wall and a good attacker do different jobs.
Sources
Facts on this page were checked against these references on .