Tangle Kelp (Plants vs. Zombies)

For their appearance in Plants vs. Zombies 2, see Tangle Kelp (PvZ2).

Tangle Kelp
Tangle Kelp are aquatic plants that pull the first zombie that nears them underwater.
Almanac statistics
Sun cost	25
Recharge	Slow
Damage	Massive
Usage	Single use, on contact
In-game statistics
Planted on	Pool
Unlocked	After beating Level 3-3
Must be planted in water
"I'm totally invisible," Tangle Kelp thinks to himself. "I'll hide here just below the surface and nobody will see me." His friends tell him they can see him perfectly well, but he'll never change.

Tangle Kelp is a single-use aquatic plant appearing in Plants vs. Zombies. He is an instant-use plant that destroys the first waterborne zombie upon contact.

Origins

He is based on kelp, large brown algae seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales with long, stringy leaves that have been known to tangle small fish.

Due to being covered in thorns, he may also be based on the prickly seaweed (Acanthophora spicifera), a species of marine red algae covered with many distinctive small spine-like branches in the family Rhodomelaceae.

The fact that he tangles zombies is a reference to how real-life kelp tangles small fish. The tangle in his name refers to how he tangles up zombies and drowns them underwater, defeating them.

About

Tangle Kelp is unlocked by completing Level 3-3. He can only be planted in water. When a waterborne zombie comes into contact, Tangle Kelp drags it underwater, causing both it and the plant to despawn.

Almanac entry

Tangle Kelp
Tangle Kelp are aquatic plants that pull the first zombie that nears them underwater. Damage: massive Usage: single use, on contact Must be planted in water "I'm totally invisible," Tangle Kelp thinks to himself. "I'll hide here just below the surface and nobody will see me." His friends tell him they can see him perfectly well, but he'll never change. Cost: 25 Recharge: slow

Strategies

Tangle Kelp's main advantage in comparison to other ground-based instant plants is the plant's relatively low cost, combined with fast recharge rate and independence from Lily Pad. Because of this, Tangle Kelp can be used as a specialized plant for guarding water lanes early on, acting like an economical, single-target sea mine that buys the player time to set up. The icing on the cake is that he is just as effective as his equivalents on land, as not even the tough and annoying Bucketheads will survive.

Unfortunately, Tangle Kelp's limited effect plus his inability to be planted on land mean that he quickly loses his potential in the mid- to late-level. This means that when considering Tangle Kelp, the player will have to decide between early-game and late-game utility - a Lily Pad plus a Squash or Chomper will prove to be more flexible in most cases. The Squash can instantly destroy all zombies in his AOE, whereas Chomper can be reused,

Tangle Kelp are decently useful against Snorkel Zombies and Dolphin Rider Zombies, as he can easily catch them whereas other plants may struggle without a proper arrangement of strong plants. In the Fog levels, Tangle Kelp faces competition from Sea-shroom for the role of early pool defense, as the latter is a permanent standing plant and requires no sun to be planted. However, Sea-Shroom's long cooldown and Tangle Kelp's ability to eliminate his target regardless of durability scores a point in his favor.

Related achievements

	Pool's Closed Complete a pool level without using aquatic plants.

	Morticulturalist Collect all 49 plants.

	Book Learner Fill out the Suburban Almanac.

	The Complete Zombie You've won every trophy, climbed every mountain, defeated every zombie, planted every plant. Congratulations!

Gallery

Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Tangle Kelp.

Visit this page to see it.

In other languages

Please note that only official translations are used.

Language	Name	Description
English	Tangle Kelp
Simplified Chinese	缠绕水草 水草兄 as nickname in Plants vs. Zombies: Endless Edition
Traditional Chinese	纏繞水草 水草兄 as nickname in Plants vs. Zombies: Endless Edition
Dutch	Wikkelwier
French	Algue
German	Schlingtang
Italian	Alga kombu
Japanese	タングルケルプ
Russian	Водоросль
Spanish	Zampalga	A portmanteau of "Zampar" (Devour) and "Alga".

Trivia

• He, and all other algae (like seaweed and kelp) in general, is technically not a plant, but a member of the protist kingdom, a wastebasket taxon that includes all eukaryotes that do not fit into the animal, plant or fungi kingdoms. This makes it along with Spikerock and the mushrooms the only plant not to be in any members of the plant family.
• The sound that he makes when dragging a zombie into the water is not a new asset and can be recognized in other media. This sound effect originates from the Hanna-Barbera sound effects library which can be heard in some of their cartoons, making it the first plant in the entire series to have sound effects from Hanna-Barbera.
• He, Spikeweed, Spikerock, and Coffee Bean are the only plants that zombies will never attempt to eat.
• In Zombotany 2, Tangle Kelp is somehow vulnerable to peas fired by Peashooter Zombies and Gatling Pea Zombies.
• He is one of the twelve plants that appear in the seed selection screen after the player gets the Grave Buster in the online version with the others being Ice-shroom, Lily Pad, Potato Mine, Threepeater, Doom-shroom, Jalapeno, Spikeweed, Torchwood, Tall-nut, Cactus, and Blover.
• He looks similar and has a similar name to Tangela, a Generation I Pokémon.
• Tangle Kelp is mostly invulnerable. He can only be removed if stolen by Bungee Zombie, nuked by Jack-in-the-Box Zombie and Jalapeno Zombie, being hit by Peashooter and Gatling Pea Zombies' peas and Catapult Zombie's basketballs, and crushed by Dr. Zomboss' crushing attacks (RV, stomp, fireball, and iceball). However, most of these remain situational matchups as, and Zombonis, Catapult Zombies and Dr. Zomboss don't even appear in water.
  • Interestingly, Tangle Kelp is immune to crushing attacks from Zombonis, Catapult Zombie's catapult vehicle, Gargantuars, and Giga-gargantuars.

See also

• Potato Mine
• Squash
• Chomper
• Lily Pad

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