Cob Cannon (Plants vs. Zombies)

For other uses, see Cob Cannon (disambiguation).

Cob Cannon is an upgrade plant, which can be purchased from Crazy Dave at his shop. He is a manual multi-use instant kill plant.

He must be planted on two side-by-side Kernel-pults, which must be placed one in front of the other in the same lane (horizontally). Cob Cannons cost $20,000 to buy in Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies.

Once the corn cob is produced, the player can click on the Cob Cannon and can manually launch the corn cob onto an area that the player targets. The corn cob will explode and deal 1800 damage to all zombies in a 3x3 area, like the Cherry Bomb. He has a reload time of 34.75 seconds.

Audio

Sound	Description
	Cob Cannon firing.

Suburban Almanac entry

Cob Cannon
Click on the Cob Cannon to launch deadly cobs of corn. Must be planted on 2 side by side kernel-pults What's the deal with Cob Cannon, anyway? He went to Harvard. He practices law in a prestigious New York firm. He can explode whole areas of zombies with a single corn launch. All this is common knowledge. But deep inside, what really makes him tick? Cost: 500 Recharge: very slow

Strategies

General

• The Cob Cannon acts as a reusable, manual-target plant that is capable of dealing massive damage to anywhere on the lawn. Its damage output is the highest in the game.
  • However, he also requires great investment before being effectively utilized. While his damage output is massive, he is not invulnerable, and can still be eaten by zombies.

• Cob Cannon's projectile is a corn cob, which takes 34.75 seconds for the Cob Cannon to load.
  • Once it is ready, the player can click (or press the / button in the console versions) on the Cob Cannon and then use the crosshair to aim the shot.
    • If the player no longer wishes to launch the cob, right-clicking anywhere or clicking on the shovel twice will cancel the launch. Pressing the Esc key on the keyboard will have the same effect.

• Cob Cannon's cobs deal massive damage in a 3x3 area similar to a Cherry Bomb. Note that, similar to other explosive plants, a single cob missile will not be able to kill a full-health Gargantuar.
  • Unlike the Cherry Bomb, however, Cob Cannon does not require additional sun, nor planting space.
  • Additionally, Cob Cannons also recharge their cobs faster than Cherry Bomb's seed packet recharge time.

• The cob missile takes about two to three seconds to launch and detonate at its target.
  • Due to this delay, the player should anticipate the location of zombies as the missile arrives, and should not fire at the zombies' current positions. More nimble zombies, such as Pole Vaulting Zombies or Football Zombies, will be able to outrun the area-of-effect of cob missiles in the right circumstances.
• At 700 sun (2 Kernel-pults for 200 sun, and the Cob Cannon itself at 500 sun) and 2 squares to plant, the Cob Cannon requires the highest sun investment out of any single plant in the game.
  • However, for the massive levels of damage that it deals, this initial investment will easily pay off in the long run, especially in Endless levels.

• Thanks to his size, Cob Cannons cannot be stolen by Bungee Zombies.
  • However, as mentioned earlier, they are still vulnerable to other zombies if they were to get to close.
  • Additionally, as he takes up 2 squares on the lawn, he cannot be protected by Pumpkins, which are only capable of protecting single squares.

• In the Nintendo DS Version of the game, using Cob Cannon is not recommended.
  • Compared to other versions of the game, cob missiles take longer to reach their destination.
  • Stutter is also more common. Hence, this will often result in the missile missing its intended target.

Survival: Endless

Here is an alternative; Cob Cannons used in Last Stand

• While not usually necessary in levels (except on occasion in the Survival: Hard levels), the Cob Cannon is the main damage dealer of Survival: Endless.
• Survival: Endless strategies can be classified into two categories: Cobless and non-Cobless.
  • Cobless strategies, as the name implies, use zero Cob Cannons in their layout. Instead, these strategies rely on other plants for offense.
  • Non-Cobless strategies, on the other hand, may include from 2 to 12 Cob Cannons in their layout.
    • Due to the Cob Cannon's size, only 24 Cob Cannons may be planted on the lawn at max. While this 24-Cob-Cannon strategy can be done in Survival: Endless, it is virtually impossible to maintain without the use of backup save files, as admitted by its creator.

• Similar to every other upgrade plant, the Cob Cannon will cost 50 more sun for every one currently planted on the lawn.

Maintaining the different types of Cob Cannon-related strategies

Main article: Survival: Endless/Strategies

• 2-Cob strategies (i.e., strategies that only use 2 Cob Cannons in their layout) require a very effective rotation of instant-kills and/or double Ice-shrooms (Ice-shroom with Imitater Ice-shroom) to cover for the Cob Cannons' recharge time.
  • While these strategies are possible, they are also very hard to maintain.
• 4-Cob strategies are highly flexible, as they provide more space and more frequent cob rotation than other builds but also leaves the lawn with room for other plants.
  • These strategies also do require precise timing, unlike 6-Cob or 8-Cob strategies. However, they do not require larger amounts of instant-kills, like 2-Cob or Cobless strategies.
• 6-Cob and 8-Cob strategies often have enough units to allow the use constant cob rotations. Therefore, these strategies, specifically 8-Cob strategies, are recommended for newer players who wish to achieve a stable rotation of cob missiles with little trouble.
  • These strategies are less reliant on instant-kills and Ice-shrooms. However, these plants are still very helpful and should still be used.
• 12-Cob strategies are also highly beginner-friendly, as it effectively allows a launch every ~6-7 seconds.
  • While these strategies are undoubtedly effective, they require constant manual targeting of cob missiles, making them tricky to manage.
• While having too many Cob Cannons will reduce the space available for other plants, as long as the timing of the player is good, said other plants are not necessary.
  • However, as Cob Cannons cannot be protected by Pumpkins, some Cob Cannons will be quite vulnerable. Therefore, exact timing is almost always required to keep Cob Cannons safe.
  • The most common threats for Cob Cannons are:
    • Digger Zombies, which are capable of attacking the first column of plants. They can easily eat Cob Cannons occupying the 1st and 2nd columns from the left.
    • Imps thrown by Gargantuars and Giga-gargantuars, which often land on the 3rd and 4th columns from the left. In larger numbers, they are perfectly capable of devouring any Cob Cannon planted in these columns very quickly.
    • To a lesser extent, Backup Dancers summoned by Dancing Zombies, and Pole Vaulting Zombies. While these zombies rarely make it past the 7th column from the left, they can also accumulate damage to any Cob Cannon planted in the 5th and 6th columns from the left.
• Using an Ice-shroom 5.5 seconds before the zombies show up will eliminate the threats posed by ambushes and Digger Zombies.
• The safest squares to plant Cob Cannons are the eight leftmost squares in the left side of the pool. Therefore, these squares are always used by 4-Cob strategies to place their Cob Cannons.
  • Digger Zombies and Imps cannot reach these squares, as they cannot appear over water. Balloon Zombies also sink immediately if popped by a Cactus and arecompletely harmless.

Buttered Popcorn

• Cob Cannon is the only means of destruction in the mini-game Buttered Popcorn. It is a Pool level with four Cob Cannons placed on land, while the player can stun zombies with butter via tapping. Strategic use of the Cob Cannons would therefore be key to victory.

Popcorn Party and Defcorn 5

• To unlock the achievements - Popcorn Party and Defcorn 5, you must kill two Gargantuars with Cob Cannons on a single level and have five Cob Cannons on a single level, respectively (easiest way is to play the Mini-game Last Stand).
• It makes sense to do them both on the same level. After you have all five Cob Cannons up and the first corn cob hits a Gargantuar, it will throw the Imp off its back (assuming that two cobs were not fired at once). If the Cob Cannons are in the same row as the Gargantuar, it is wise to put a Squash or a Cherry Bomb right in front of your Cob Cannons to kill any Imps that were thrown at it.
• Also, because it takes time for the Cob Cannons to load, the player should wait for multiple to load before trying to dispatch the Gargantuars. Keep in mind that a Cob Cannon has to deliver the killing blow, so a Squash could weaken Gargantuar, but Cob Cannon will have to get the kill for the achievement to count.

Related achievements

	Pyromaniac Complete a level using only Explosive Plants to kill zombies.

	Popcorn Party Defeat two Gargantuars with Corn Cob Missiles in a single level.

	Defcorn 5 Build 5 Cob Cannons in a single level.

	Morticulturalist Collect all 49 plants.

Gallery

Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Cob Cannon.

Visit this page to see it.

In other languages

Please note that only official translations are used.

Language	Name	Description
English	Cob Cannon
Simplified Chinese	玉米加农炮
Traditional Chinese	玉米加農炮
Dutch	Kolfkanon
French	Canon à épi
German	Maiskanone
Italian	Sparapannocchie
Japanese	コッブキャノン
Brazilian Portuguese	Canhão-de-Milho
Russian	Кукурузная Пушка
Spanish	Mazorcañón	A portmanteau of "Mazorca" (Cob) and "Cañón" (Cannon)

Trivia

• Plant projectiles or other instants do not hurt other plants, yet he needs to shoot up in the air rather than straight to the zombie.
• If a Pole Vaulting Zombie tries to jump through him, he slides forward in midair, landing behind the Cob Cannon, because it would not make sense if the zombie lands up in the middle of a plant.
  • While for a Pogo Zombie, it has to jump four times before jumping over him.
  • Also, Dolphin Rider Zombies cannot jump over him, unless he is placed in the rightmost two spaces in the pool (since it ignores the rightmost space, it only has to jump over the back of the Cob Cannon).
• When he shoots the cob of corn in the Nintendo DS version of the game, it will be slow to hit the zombies, slower than the other versions.
• If a Kernel-pult is targeted by a Bungee Zombie and then the player quickly upgrades him to the Cob Cannon, the Bungee Zombie cannot steal him.
• In his Almanac picture, he is placed irregularly instead of on two squares.
• He is the second most expensive plant in Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies, the first being the Imitater.
• In Last Stand, the Cob Cannon will generate a new cob as soon as the last wave has ended, even if the 36 seconds have not passed yet.
  • This may be because Last Stand allows you to wait an indefinite amount of time before starting the next wave, and therefore simply saving you time as you could wait for it to recharge anyway.
• There is a glitch on the PlayStation Vita version of the game where the Cob Cannon cannot be fired on other plants. A simple solution is to keep a clear square near the zombies to deploy Cobs. However, disabling the touchscreen and going with PlayStation 3 controls will fix this.
• He is the most expensive plant in Plants vs. Zombies, costing 500 sun (700 counting the two Kernel-pults needed for upgrading them).
  • However, Winter Melons are more expensive per space: Cob Cannons cost 350 sun per space, while Winter Melons cost 500 sun per space.
• In the Xbox Live Arcade version of the game, the crosshair used to aim the corn cob looks different.
• In the Plants vs. Zombies pinball table for Zen Pinball 2 for PlayStation Network and Pinball FX 2 for Xbox Live Arcade, a Cob Cannon is used to launch the ball.
• Planting five Cob Cannons in a single level will earn the player the achievement Defcorn 5. Its achievement is a pun for the actual Defcon.
• He looks more like a rocket launcher than a cannon.
• His eyes are closed on the seed packet in the iPad version.
• Although it has wheels, he never moves around.
• In the online Almanac, he only has one wheel.
• On the iPad version, one can fire multiple corn cobs from Cob Cannons at once as one can select two or more corn cobs at once in the iPad version. 
• The explosion of his projectile has the same sound as Doom-shroom exploding.
• He’s the only manually-controlled plant in the first game.

See also

• Upgrade plants
• Kernel-pult
• Missile Toe
• Holly Barrier
• Banana Launcher
• Buttered Popcorn
• Lobbed shots
• Corn cob
• Defcorn 5
• Popcorn Party

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