Manually launched attacks

Some free manually-activated plants sitting on Lily Pads, along with Imitater.

Some plants with manually launched attacks need to be tapped, or touched by the player in order to fire very powerful attacks which usually deal destruction within a large area. These plants charge or otherwise tend to have a factor that prevents overuse, so it is wise to choose when is the right time to trigger such plants to attack.

Corn cob

Corn cob

Main article: Corn cob

Corn cobs are the very first heavy-duty attack in the series which deal 1800 damage. They are very powerful ballistic missiles that can be fired onto anywhere on the lawn. All the player really has to do is to click (or tap, depending on the game version) on the Cob Cannon, then onto the desired spot, and, in a second or so, after the Cob Cannon fires it sky-high offscreen, the corn cob will crash down onto the targeted tile, obliterating anything (except Gargantuars and other plants within the area) in a 3x3 area; in essence, they are nothing more than Cherry Bombs repeatedly produced by Cob Cannons every 36.41 seconds. Take note that, since the firing of the missile is delayed by a second, the player should shoot at the area in front of the planned landing spot, since any potential targets might be able to move out of range within the second's delay. This is especially important in Buttered Popcorn, as Dolphin Rider Zombie may swim out of the area before the corn cob hits.

Given that Cob Cannons recharge their cobs every 36.41 seconds, it is best to have at least four of them on the lawn for rotational use. It is still best to not use them until a high value target (e.g. a Yeti Zombie or a Giga-gargantuar) or a huge cluster of zombies appears.

Coconut

Coconuts are fired by Coconut Cannons, which, unlike Cob Cannons from the preceding game, shoot their deadly ammunition forwards.

Unlike Cob Cannon, the coconut does not have any advantage in targeting what the player wants to target; it can only fly straight and blow up the first target with 900 damage (half the power of corn cobs), along with everything with a 3x2 explosion dealing 300 damage. It will then take 16 seconds for the Coconut Cannon to wake up and shoot again.

It is susceptible to deflection by Jester Zombie, which means the plants will receive a huge bout of damage, crumbling the player's defenses.

Grand coconut

Grand coconut

When fed with Plant Food, Coconut Cannon will awaken (if it is still in cooldown) then expel a giant coconut (having fired, it will have to sleep for 16 seconds before it can fire again) which will slowly travel to the right, pushing all the zombies in its row back to the rightmost side of the screen, then blowing up in a 3x3 explosion dealing 1200 damage. It is recommended to have it fire first in order to deal damage and not waste a shot. The main disadvantage of this grand projectile is that it can be halted and detonated prematurely by tombstones blocking its way. Unlike the regular coconut, Jester Zombies cannot deflect it.

Sun bolt

Unlike most of the projectiles on this page, which are controlled by the cooldown rate of their shooters, sun bolts, powerful rainbow bullets, can be fired indefinitely and consecutively by a Magnifying Grass, as long as the player has enough sun, since, when tapped, Magnifying Grass will take 50 sun from the player's bank and release it as a colorful punch of death to the first zombie it strikes, provided its health is less than or equal to the 550 damage the bolt packs in it. Being made of sunlight, it will immediately dispatch of a Jester Zombie with no difficulty whatsoever (However, Citron's plasma ball can be deflected), though this would simply strike an Excavator Zombie's shovel to no effect.

Banana

The banana

The banana is fired by Banana Launchers. It is similar to the corn cob from the first game, which can target any space (but not zombie) on the lawn, dealing 1200 damage to any zombies on the space targeted, and the two spaces adjacent to it. Keep in mind that a single banana cannot defeat a Buckethead Zombie and its other variants.

Strawburst

The Strawburst is technically not a projectile, since Strawburst launches itself into battle. Like the rest of the plants responsible for dispelling the projectiles in this page, it is a tap-to-fire plant. It is the first manually activated plant to come in multiple stages with differently charged attacks per phase, the second being Jack O' Lantern. The Strawburst goes in three stages: one, where it starts off as a small green berry, which deals 201 damage. It has to recharge for some time before growing to the next stage. In the second stage, it turns into a medium orange berry which deals 400 damage per shots along with splash damage. In the third stage, it fully ripens into a large red berry which deals 900 damage along with splash damage.

Big berry

When fed Plant Food, Strawburst grows to full size and laughs as a giant berry lands (always) right in the middle of the lawn and explodes, dealing 400 damage (it is 500 damage weaker than the large berry lobbed by a fully grown Strawburst and 100 less than a medium grown Strawburst) with a range that hits the entire lawn.

Stream of flames

Jack O' Lantern does not shoot projectiles. However, it is activated manually. For each second it is held, the Jack O' Lantern continues to shoot a stream of flames on the three tiles in front of it, dealing 360 damage per second. The maximum a Jack O' Lantern can be held for before it needs to recharge is five seconds, dealing a total of 1800 damage, equivalent to an instant kill.

Ice Mistletoe

The ice mistletoe is shot by Missile Toe. They behave like Banana Launcher's Bananas, but they also chill zombies in a 3x3 area.

Gallery

Plants

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  Cob Cannon, the first tap-to-fire plant in the series, shooting Cherry Bomb-like cob missiles in the first game

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  Coconut Cannon, which shoots coconuts

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  Magnifying Grass, a lens that shoots out 50 sun in the form of a destructive rainbow bolt

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  Banana Launcher, which shoots bananas in a manner similar to Cob Cannon

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  Strawburst, which lobs berries (technically, its own head) respective to its size

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  Jack O' Lantern, which attacks with a flamethrower (pre 9.1 update)

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  Missile Toe, which attacks by shooting icy projectiles

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  Fire Gourd, which attacks by breathing fire

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  Holly Barrier, which attacks by shooting one of its small berries that then act like Endurians once a zombie comes close to it.

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  Boom Balloon Flower, which attacks by using explosive balloons. Alternatively the balloons can be pre-planted before zombies come.

Projectiles

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  Corn cob

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  Coconut

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  Grand coconut

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  Sun bolt

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  Banana

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  Small Strawburst

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  Medium Strawburst

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  Big Strawburst

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  Stream of flames

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  Ice Mistletoe

V · T · E	Projectiles