Shadow-shroom

“	We have picked up a Shadow-shroom seed packet, User Dave. Shadow-shrooms are shadow plants, so be sure to plant them next to Moonflowers for bonus effects.	”
—Penny

For a similar named plant in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, see Poison Mushroom.

Shadow-shroom
Shadow-shrooms poison zombies who eat them, inflicting damage over time.
Statistics
Sun Cost	50
Recharge	10 seconds
Poison	30 damage
Range	Touch
Usage	Single, On Contact
Family	Conceal-mint
Plant Food effect	Poisons every zombie on the lawn. If a zombie is already poisoned, deal extra damage.
Usage	Single use, on contact
Special	Powered Shadow-shrooms make poisoned zombies poison other zombies
Statistics (China)
Sun Cost	50
Recharge	10 seconds
Toughness	300 damage
Damage	45 damage
Range	When Eaten
Area	Single Target
Class	Special
Quality	Blue
Tags	Insta, poison, slowing, shadow
Plant features	Blue plant, purple plant, mushroom family, shadow family
In-game statistics
Strengths	(ignores armor or shield)
Other weakness	(can all ignore it or destroy it without eating) (when their respective jams play)
Unlocked	Beating Modern Day - Day 10
Costumes
Code name	shadowshroom
Despite being such a poisonous and profoundly inedible fungus, Shadow-shroom is nonetheless a total cutie-pie.

Shadow-shroom is the third plant obtained in Modern Day in Plants vs. Zombies 2. It explodes into poison once a zombie eats it, and the poison effect deals 900 damage worth of damage over the span of 30 seconds and ignores all armors, such as buckets and ice blocks. When Shadow-shroom is powered by a Moonflower, Conceal-mint, Gloom Vine, or Noctarine, the zombie who eats it can also spread the poison effect to nearby zombies.

In the Chinese version, it loses its armor-piercing effect.

Origins

Shadow-shroom is based on many inkcap mushrooms from the genera Coprinus, Coprinellus and Coprinopsis, which are known for the black ink-like substance secreted from the bottoms of their mushroom caps.

Its name comes from "shadow," from the fact it's a shadow plant and a "mushroom," the plant it's based on.

Shadow-shroom's poison ability is based on how Inkcaps are known to be very toxic to humans, particularly after being consumed in combination with alcohol.

Audio

Sound	Description
	Shadow-shroom's Plant Food.
	Zombie getting poisoned.

Almanac entry

Note: The stats shown below only apply to Level 1.

Shadow-shroom
	SUN COST 50 RECHARGE 10 Special Poison RANGE Touch Usage Single, On Contact Conceal-mint Plant Food: Poisons every zombie on the lawn. If a zombie is already poisoned, deal extra damage. Shadow-shrooms poison zombies who touch them, inflicting damage over time. Despite being such a poisonous and profoundly inedible fungus, Shadow-shroom is nonetheless a total cutie-pie.

Chinese version  (China only)

让中毒僵尸死后中毒[sic]传染其他僵尸 特点：让中毒僵尸死后中毒传染其他僵尸 植物特征：蓝色植物，紫色植物，蘑菇家族，暗影家族 尽管它是一种有毒且不容易食用的真菌，但它仍然是一种完美的选择 In English: Makes poisoned zombies poisoned after death infect other zombies. Special: makes poisoned zombies poisoned after death infect other zombies Plant feature: blue plant, purple plant, mushroom family, shadow family Despite it being a poisonous and very difficult-to-eat fungus, it is still a perfect choice.

Upgrades

Plant Food effect

Plant Food ability

When fed with Plant Food, Shadow-shroom will take a deep breath then cause an ink explosion, poisoning every zombie (except Imp Cannons) on screen. Zombies already poisoned will have the poison effect cured, but receive 900 non-armor piercing damage immediately instead.

Conceal-mint effect

When boosted by Conceal-mint, Shadow-shroom's poison attack is increased by 60 damage. It will be powered even if not adjacent to a Moonflower.

Level upgrades

Level	Seed Packets	Coins	Upgrades
			Sun Cost	Recharge (Mediocre)	Starting Recharge	Toughness (Typical)	Special (Poison)*		Range
							Damage^	Duration
1	0	0	50	10 seconds	5 seconds	50 damage	30 damage	30 seconds	Touch
2	10	1,000		10 seconds	5 seconds		35 damage	29 seconds
3	75	5,000		9 seconds	4.5 seconds		40 damage	29 seconds
4	200	10,000		8 seconds	4.5 seconds		45 damage	28 seconds
5	400	20,000		8 seconds	4.5 seconds		50 damage	27 seconds
6	750	30,000		7 seconds	4 seconds		55 damage	27 seconds
7	1,000	40,000	25	7 seconds	4 seconds		60 damage	26 seconds
8	1,250	50,000		6 seconds	3.5 seconds		60 damage	26 seconds
9	1,500	60,000		6 seconds	3.5 seconds		60 damage	25 seconds
10	2,000	75,000		5 seconds	3 seconds		60 damage	24 seconds

*Applies to both normal and Plant Food states.
^Per second.

Mastery upgrades

• Chance to Boost
• Damage Pierce

Level upgrades (China only)

Level	Upgrades	Description
	Death Knockback 死亡轰退	After being eaten, there is a 10% chance to knock back the zombie by 1 square. 被啃食后有10%的概率击退本格僵尸1格。
	Combat Training 战斗训练	Shadow-shroom gains 50% more attack power and health (150% of initial).
	Anger of Poison Shadow 毒影之怒	After being eaten, there is a 20% chance to knock back the zombie in this block by 1 block. 被啃食后有20%的概率击退本格僵尸1格。
	Cell Activation 细胞活化	Shadow-shroom gains another 50% more attack power and health (200% of initial).
	Ability Awaken 能力觉醒	Shadow-shroom may be boosted when planted.
	Fighting Power 战斗能力	Shadow-shroom gains another 50% more attack power and health (250% of initial).

Costumed (China only)

Its effect now slows down zombies.

Strategies

Shadow-shroom's main role in the player's arsenal is to counter armored enemies by bypassing their armor altogether and damage them directly. While Shadow-shroom's main advantage is its relatively fast recharge rate, it is ultimately not a stellar plant for its job as most other instant use plants of similar recharge rate such as Ghost Pepper and Lava Guava, as they can deal enough damage to render zombie armor not a significant issue.

Shadow-shroom also receives a great weakness in its very poor effect radius, which is not addressed at all when powered due to the poison requiring zombies to be close together to spread. In addition, Shadow-shroom's low damage potential and lengthy time required to deal full damage makes it a poor choice against high health enemies without armor, in particular mechanical enemies and Gargantuars. In fact, there are far more poisonous plants faring better like Puffball, Goo Peashooter, Level 5+ Stunion and even just Ail-Mint.

The player may find great value in Shadow-shroom's Plant Food ability: As it can poison every enemy on the screen, the Plant Food effect will make short work of all armored zombies. Dark Ages and Jurassic Marsh provide prime example of this, as Knight Zombies are frequent sights in the Dark Ages due to Zombie Kings, while the enemy composition in Jurassic Marsh is primarily consisted of armored zombies, meaning only Jurassic Bullies and Jurassic Gargantuars can survive the attack.

A powered Shadow-shroom can benefit from being paired with slowing plants, defensive plants, or speedy zombies. For example, Hurrikale or Chard Guard can knock the poisoned target back into the zombie crowd and spread the effect, while Garlic or Sweet Potato can be used to create choke points for Shadow-shroom to affect more enemies. Shadow-shroom is also a helpful plant for fighting Pharaoh Zombies and Newspaper Zombies, since it can neutralize them without breaking their armor and causing them to accelerate.

It's important to note that a spinning Jester Zombie can destroy Shadow-shroom without being poisoned. Avoid using Shadow-shroom on hordes of Zombie Chickens or Ice Weasels as well (unless fed with Plant Food or powered by Moonflower) as only one Zombie Chicken or Ice Weasel can get poisoned since unlike Hypno-shroom, it is destroyed on contact. In addition, Healer Zombie and Zombie Medusa can't be poisoned at all, with the former also curing other affected zombies.

Linking up multiple Shadow-shrooms with Tile Turnips can prove extremely rewarding, as multiple Shadow-shroom plant foods can cause a great damage output to all zombies. This strategy can help in arena, or crowded levels, essentially acting like a free version of Imp Pear's tile turnip strategy.

Related achievement

	The Shadow Family Complete a level with 20 powered Shadow Plants

Gallery

Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Shadow-shroom.

Visit this page to see it.

In other languages

Please note that only official translations are used.

Language	Name	Description
English	Shadow-shroom
Simplified Chinese	毒影菇	lit. "Poison Shadow Mushroom"
French	Champi-noir
German	Schattenpilz
Italian	Ombraporcino
Brazilian Portuguese	Sombragumelo	portmanteau of sombra and cogumelo
Spanish	Sombraseta

Trivia

• When planting a Shadow-shroom that is not going to be powered by Moonflower, the player can briefly see it powered up.
• Recently planted Shadow-shrooms near Moonflowers when eaten by zombies after planting, might not have their boost effect.
  • This is because shadow plants take around half a second to be powered by a Moonflower when planted within said Moonfloower's 3x3 tile radius.
• If it is planted during Last Stand setup, it appears to be powered, whether or not it actually is.
• If there is a frozen block with a zombie inside on the lawn and the player uses Plant Food on Shadow-shroom, the zombie will be poisoned, but it will not suffer any damage until the frozen block is destroyed.
• The powered Shadow-shroom in The Shadow Family's icon is not poking its tongue out.
• Despite having a poisonous effect and being a mushroom, it is not in the Ail-mint family, due to also being a shadow plant.

Specific to Chinese version (China only)

• Most zombies don't have the visual poison mask when they're poisoned by it.
• Even if it’s put to sleep by Archmage Zombie, it will still poison the zombie that eats it.

See also

• Shadow plants
• Chili Bean

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