Tangle Kelp (Plants vs. Zombies 2)

For their appearance in Plants vs. Zombies, see Tangle Kelp.

Tangle Kelp
Tangle Kelp are aquatic plants that pull the first zombie that nears them underwater.
Statistics
Sun Cost	25
Recharge	20 seconds
Toughness	300 damage
Damage	400 damage
Range	Touch
Zombies Dragged	1
Usage	Single, On Contact
Family	Enforce-mint
Plant Food effect	Drags up to four random zombies underwater.
Usage	Single use, on contact
Statistics (China)
Sun Cost	25
Recharge	20 seconds
Toughness	300 damage
Damage	200 damage
Range	1 Tile to the Right
Area	Single Target
Class	Special
Quality	White
Tags	Aquatic, insta, deadly
Plant features	Green plant, aquatic plant
In-game statistics
Unlocked	Beating Big Wave Beach - Day 6
Unlocked (China)	Collecting 10 Tangle Kelp Puzzle Pieces or beating Big Wave Beach - Day 4
Costumes
Code name	tanglekelp
Tangle Kelp likes to go deep. He majored in philosophy. Grab a root beer with him, and he'll go on and on about Nietzsche's "Thus Spoke Zucchini" or hold forth on Kant's "Critique of Petunia Reason." It's cool and all, but sometimes you just want to keep the conversation light. Sometimes you just want to talk about the temperature of the water.

Tangle Kelp is a single-use aquatic plant appearing in Plants vs. Zombies 2. He can drag zombies underwater, removing them instantly.

Origins

They are based on the Tangle Kelp from Plants vs. Zombies. His design has been changed to be much less tangled compared to the first game, and in addition he now has pupils. His foliage now looks more like leaves growing vertically than vines and they now lack the red thorns in his first incarnation.

"Thus Spoke Zucchini" and "Critique of Petunia Reason," two works mentioned in its Almanac entry, are puns of Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Critique of Pure Reason, two real philosophical works.

About

Tangle Kelp is unlocked by completing Big Wave Beach - Day 6, and is the world's exclusive plant along with Lily Pad. His mechanic has been changed: When a zombie is spotted, he will first submerge for a few seconds, then immobilize the target before destroying them immediately. Deep Sea Gargantuar cannot be killed, but instead takes a small amount of damage.

Once again, Tangle Kelp can only be planted in water. If the tide recedes below the tile he is placed on, he will despawn.

Killing ten zombies in a single level by using Tangle Kelps earns the player the achievement Undertow.

Almanac entry

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

Tangle Kelp
	SUN COST 25 RECHARGE 20 TOUGHNESS 300 DAMAGE 400 RANGE Touch Special Zombies Dragged Usage Single, On Contact Enforce-mint Plant Food: Drags up to four random zombies underwater. Tangle Kelp are aquatic plants that pull the first zombie that nears them underwater. Tangle Kelp likes to go deep. He majored in philosophy. Grab a root beer with him, and he'll go on and on about Nietzsche's "Thus Spoke Zucchini" or hold forth on Kant's "Critique of Petunia Reason." It's cool and all, but sometimes you just want to keep the conversation light. Sometimes you just want to talk about the temperature of the water.

Chinese version  (China only)

缠绕水草是一种可以把接近他的第一个僵尸拉进水中的水生植物。 植物特征：绿色植物、水生植物 缠绕水草喜欢沉思。他主攻哲学。如果拉着他喝上一杯草根啤酒，他就开始不停地讲尼采的“查拉图斯特拉如是说”，要么就是死磕康德的“纯理性批判”，听起来的确很高大上，不过有时你只不过想聊点轻松的话题，比如水底的温度是多少。 In English: Tangle Kelp is a type of aquatic plants that can pull the first zombie that nears them into water. Plant feature: green plant, aquatic plant Tangle Kelp likes to think deep. He majored in philosophy. Grab a root beer with him, and he'll go on and on about Nietzsche's "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", or hold forth on Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason." Sounds cool and all, but sometimes you just want to keep the conversation light, like the temperature of the bottom of the water.

Upgrades

Plant Food effect

Plant Food ability (animated)

When given Plant Food, Tangle Kelp will pull up to five random zombies underwater, whereas Deep Sea Gargantuars only take damage. In addition, his drag count is reset, allowing him to drag down multiple zombies again, if Tangle Kelp was upgraded to be able to do so.

Costumed (China only)

Tangle Kelp's plant food ability now targets up to six zombies.

Enforce-mint effect

When boosted by Enforce-mint, Tangle Kelp will do an additional 1000 damage to zombies it can't pull, it can pull an additional three zombies underwater, and it can pull anywhere from an additional 5-7 zombies underwater with its Plant Food effect.

Level upgrades

Level	Seed packets	Coins	Upgrades
			Sun Cost	Recharge (Sluggish)	Starting Recharge	Toughness (Typical)	Damage* (Huge)	Special (Zombies Dragged)	Plant Food Power (Zombies Dragged)	Range
1	0	0	25	20 seconds	15 seconds	300 damage	400 damage	One	3~5	Touch
2	10	1,000		19 seconds	14 seconds	350 damage	450 damage		3~5
3	75	5,000		18 seconds	13 seconds	400 damage	500 damage		4~5
4	200	10,000		17 seconds	12 seconds	450 damage	550 damage	Two	4~5
5	400	20,000		16 seconds	11 seconds	550 damage	600 damage		4~6
6	750	30,000		15 seconds	10 seconds	600 damage	650 damage		4~6
7	1,000	40,000		14 seconds	9 seconds	650 damage	700 damage		5~6
8	1,250	50,000		13 seconds	8 seconds	700 damage	800 damage		5~6
9	1,500	60,000		12 seconds	7 seconds	800 damage	900 damage		5~7
10	2,000	75,000		10 seconds	5 seconds	900 damage	1000 damage	Three	5~7

*This column shows the damage dealt when it attacks a Gargantuar. Applies to both normal and Plant Food states.

Mastery upgrade

• Chance to Boost
• Damage Pierce

Level upgrades (China only)

Level	Upgrades	Description
	Vigorous Wield 大力挥舞	After Tangle Kelp entangle the zombies, they can also catch the zombies and repel the zombies on the right by 1 space. 缠绕水草在缠住僵尸后还能抓住僵尸挥舞并击退右侧的僵尸1格。
	Combat Training 战斗训练	Tangle Kelp gains 50% more attack power and health (150% of initial).
	Continuous Swing 连续挥击	The vigorous swing of Tangle Kelp can attack the zombies in the front, left and right, and can knock back the zombies by 1 square. 缠绕水草的大力挥舞能够攻击左右前方的僵尸可击退僵尸1格。
	Cell Activation 细胞活化	Tangle Kelp gains another 50% more attack power and health (200% of initial).
	Ability Awaken 能力觉醒	Tangle Kelp may be boosted when planted.
	Fighting Power 战斗能力	Tangle Kelp gains another 50% more attack power and health (250% of initial).

Strategies

Tangle Kelp continues to see his usefulness be put under question, as the generally increased zombie density in normal levels can render Tangle Kelp obsolete even faster. On the other hand, because the highly dangerous enemies in the Big Wave Beach means that an effective way to fight them in the early level is required, Tangle Kelp may be even more important than he was in the first game. This is important to remember when dealing with Surfer Zombies, as Tangle Kelp can easily snipe them even on the water, destroying both the zombie and the surfbord.

Tangle Kelp is highly useful against Zombot Sharktronic Sub, specifically on the third phase. When the Zombot initiates its vacuum attack, if a Tangle Kelp is placed in the range of the vacuum, it will jam the Zombot's jet engine, ending the attack and stunning Dr. Zomboss for a short time. However, Tangle Kelp needs to be placed on tiles where there are no other zombies, as it will otherwise submerge and only resurface after all zombies are gone.

Related achievements

	Undertow Defeat 10 zombies with Tangle Kelp in a single level

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
French	Varech constricteur
German	Schlingtang
Italian	Alga kombu
Brazilian Portuguese	Emaranhalga	portmanteau of emaranhar and alga
Spanish	Zampalga

Trivia

• As of patch 8.3.1, there is a glitch which leaves Tangle Kelp unable to defeat Snorkel Zombie on his own. He is only able to kill the Snorkel Zombie when that zombie is eating a plant long enough or it surfaces to approach land.
• He is the fourth plant in this game that went through a major redesign. The other plants are Grave Buster, Spikeweed, and Starfruit.
• In the 5.7.1 update, its seed packet recharge time was changed from 20 seconds to 5 seconds. However, it was later changed back.
• Like Lily Pad, he can't be used in Pirate Seas. Even if that wasn't the case, he is rendered useless as seawater does extreme damage to grounded zombies, removing the need for plants to defeat them.
• In the Chinese version, it appears to be on land in the Almanac entry, but this is not the case in gameplay.
  • Lily Pad, Fisherman Zombie and Zombot Sharktronic Sub share the same trait.
• If he attempts to pull down a zombie underwater and was pushed back by Chard Guard, Hurrikale or Primal Peashooter, the Tangle Kelp will "follow" that zombie then proceeds to its ambush once that zombie lands.
  • This is similar to Squash, who will chase a flying zombie off the lawn if Blover blows it off-screen.
• The authors of the works parodied in the Almanac entry are the same as the actual authors.
• In Tiki Torch-er, sometimes he will pull a zombie down without making noise.

See also

• Potato Mine
• Squash
• Chomper
• Lily Pad
• Grimrose
• Undertow

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