Pylon Imp is a Rare variant of the Imp in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2. The Pylon Imp wears a cone on his head. His Z-Mech is a large robotic cone mech with one wheel, and it is faster than the typical Z-Mech but has the trade off of having 50 less health.
The Pylon Imp was first teased in the Aloe 5: Gardening spoof, but was later shown in the Multiplayer Beta trailer, before being shown in short gameplay of the Backyard Battleground. He and the Z7 Imp were the only unlockable Imp variants in the beta.
Not content to just look like a Pylon, this Imp actually works part-time as a road cone. It may not be glamorous, but it's rewarding work and he's happy to have it.
The Pylon Imp's primary weapon is the Pylon Punishers. The Pylon Punishers has a trade off in ammo and attack speed, however, this makes up for its small splash damage. Like most other Imp variants' primary weapons, the projectiles suffer from severe bullet drop.
When Upgraded, the base damage per hit is 12-17 and the critical damage is 14-19.
The Pylon Mech's primary weapon is the Pylon Propeller. It has 16 ammo, and deals 20-25 impact damage depending on the range, with the splash dealing 10 damage.
The Bling Pylon Mech's primary weapon is the Bling Propeller. The Bling Propeller deals 5 more damage than the default Pylon Mech, and has no disadvantages, making the Bling Pylon Mech a direct upgrade to the Pylon Mech.
If those pesky Plants aren't respecting your Pylon Mech, this blinged out upgrade is for you. Loaded to the brim with gems and diamonds, you'll be the center of attention for sure!
It's time to set your butt boosters to overdrive as you spin uncontrollably with both Imp Blasters blazing.
Strategies
With
Despite having a very low ammo clip compared to other Imp variants, Pylon Imp is actually very useful in certain situations, as his primary weapon deals splash damage, which no other Imps can do. The Pylon Imp is very useful for vanquishing small groups of plants that have strayed from the rest of the group in Turf Takeover or Team Vanquish. This is because of the splash damage, which can do damage to many players at once.
The Pylon Mech is more based on speed rather than dishing out damage directly. Use the speed options of this mech to dodge attacks and deliver brutal splash damage to groups of plants. The Pylon Mech can also drop Pylon Mines, which can kill most plants at once, which makes it useful for Team Vanquish or Gardens & Graveyards. Drag Race is the Pylon Mech's unique touch, as it can rush in a groups of enemies, or be used for a quick escape, due to the lower health of the mech. A good strategy with the Pylon Mech in Gardens & Graveyards is to get into the garden, drop some Pylon Mines, and use Drag Race to get out of there. Proceed to deal damage from afar and the mines should allow your teammates to ease through the garden.
Remember that the Pylon Mech has the lowest health out of all the Z-Mech variants (300 HP), making it easier for plants to kill you, especially groups of them. Always be prepared to evacuate in case too much damage is being dealt. Always be on the move with the mech to avoid as much damage as possible as well.
If you are more of a sneaky player, try and get as close to the targets/objectives as possible without being noticed. Make sure your Gravity Grenade is/will be ready, as you're going to need it later! Summon the Pylon Mech and rush into the objective using your Drag Race to catch the plants by surprise. When you begin fighting the target, prep the Explosive Escape ability in case you need to eject. Moving Unpredictably, drop pylon mines as you progress throughout battle, especially inside objectives.
Also remember that when your Pylon Mech runs out of fuel, your Explosive Escape will automatically activate. Try and use this to your advantage by using your drag race ability to charge into groups of plants before running out of fuel. Once you eject from the mech, throw your Gravity Grenade at the mech to trap any plants that are (unfortunately) near the mech, forcing them to take damage from the explosion.
Against
Pylon Imp's main counters are Roses, Sunflowers, and Citrons. Rose's special abilities are very dangerous, especially Arcane Enigma and Time Snare, as the former makes Rose immune to damage and the latter stuns Pylon Imp and disables special abilities. Citron's E.M.Peach is also devastating to Pylon Imp in the same way as Time Snare, except it does damage. It also disables his Drag Race ability, which is crucial to the survival of the mech.
Sunflowers can heal and revive plants that have been damaged, and can strike back with its normal attack, Sunbeam, or Solar Flare Beam. While using these abilities, remember that they can be cancelled via Gravity Grenade. Vampire Flower and Stuffy Flower are very useful against Pylon Imp as they also regenerate health with each direct hit. However, still be careful, as they have low health and can be vanquished quite easily.
Balancing changes
Post beta
▼ Pylon Mech health decreased from 350 to 300
▼ Ground Velocity decreased from 7.7 m/s to 7.45 m/s
▼ In-Air Velocity decreased from 8.5 m/s to 7.45 m/s
▼ In-Air jump Velocity decreased from 8.5 m/s to 7.45 m/s
▲ Imps tuning focused on ensuring he had a bit more survivability outside of his mech, and also improved his primary weapon slightly
▲ Increased Imp health
▼ Fixed a bug where the Imp couldn’t receive damage while he is making his Z-Mech phone call (he's now only invulnerable when the beam of light appears)
Please note that only official translations are used.
Language
Name
Description
English
Pylon Imp
Traditional Chinese
交通錐小殭屍
French
Diablotin cône
German
Pylonen-Wicht
Italian
Zombolino segnaletico
Japanese
パイロンインプ
Polish
Pachołkowy Imp
Brazilian Portuguese
Zumbinho-Cone
Spanish
Zombidito cono
Trivia
The Pylon Mech could possibly be inspired by the Robo-Cone Zombie in Plants vs. Zombies 2. However, this cone is much faster and notably only has one wheel.
One major difference between the two is that the Robo-Cone Zombie has legs to walk with, while the Pylon mech has a single wheel to move around on. The Pylon Mech also has fingered hands, while the Robo-Cone Zombie has claws for it hands.
He is the only playable GW2 character to wear a road cone (excluding a customization item for the Engineer in GW1).
This may be a reference to real-world drag racers, due to its increased speed and the exhaust pipes that occasionally combust.
One of the Pylon Mech's abilities is also named Drag Race.
He and Scallywag Imp are the only Imps to have default facial hair.
His default facial hair is called "Neck Beard", but there is a different Imp facial hair customization with the exact same name.
His Pylon Mech is the first Imp mech that doesn't have infinite ammo in his primary weapon. The second is the Scallywag Mech.
The Pylon Mech has the lowest health out of the Z-Mech variants, only having 300 health.
It is unknown why the Pylon Mech has less health than the other Mechs, as roadcones usually represent more health in the Plants vs. Zombies franchise. It can be assumed that this was because of its speed in contrast to other mechs, which are slower.
the Imp has 75 health despite having a cone on his head which is shown to increase health in every game
His Z-Mech is the only one that grabs the Imp and puts him in the cockpit manually. All other Z-Mechs simply fall onto their Imps.
The Bling Pylon Mech, along with the Bedazzled Bolt Blaster, is the only bling ability that has a difference compared to its vanilla counterpart, in this case dealing more damage than the default Pylon Mech.
The back of the Bling Pylon Mech has a tiger icon if one looks closely
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Spanish
