Top 15 Best and Worst Plants (2024)

So, I made a list of my favourite and least favourite zombies nearly a week ago, and as promised, I'm making up the same lists for plants. Once again, no GW plants, and also this has the rule of no Chinese-exclusive Plants, unlike the last list which had a Chinese-exclusive Zombie.

This list will be based on three main things: usefulness, design and creativity, but certain plants may be left out (such as Flower Pot or Lily Pad) because they are useful in only specific situations or stages.

Top Fifteen Best Plants[]

So, which are my favourite plants of all the PvZ Games? (Except GW)

This was a tough list to make, as when I was going through plants I liked, I found there were already 12 plants in the ORIGINAL that I deemed worthy of this list. Obviously a few of those didn't make it as I wanted to fit in other plants from different games. In total, when I looked through all the games, I found around 21 plants I wanted on the list, so here are the six honorable mentions:

• Power Lily, with the introduction of Plant Food, there had to be a plant to produce it, and this was that plant. But it loses points for being premium, as it's the sort of plant that should be available to everyone, due to how vital it can be in endless modes.
• Coconut Cannon, a powerful plant that was player-activated. Not as good as Cob Cannon mathematically speaking, but still, I preferred it. That said, it's just not good enough to make the list.
• Sunflower, okay okay, I know Sunflower is near-vital in daytime levels in the original. But it's nearly useless in the sequel due to superior plants and most day levels in the original could, with difficulty, be beaten without Sunflowers.
• Potato Mine, a good, cheap early attacking plant. But other plants can do its job better for very little extra cost.
• Snow Pea, really useful in PvZ1 until you get the Winter Melon...but a premium that's pointless to get in the sequel.
• Spikerock, a REALLY OP COUNTER TO THE SPACE OGRES OF DEATH in the original, but like Snow Pea and Sunflower, the sequel kinda ruined it.

15th: The Baby Tree[]

AKA a Sapling. Sap-fling is a premium, but it's rather creative and I like the design. It's the first slowing plant to perfectly work with fire-based plants and it slows more than cold plants! Unfortunately, it's usefulness is minimal due to the design of PvZ2. The zombies come so thick and fast that it's difficult to get 750 sun to spend on a column of these when you also need strong attackers. In PvZ1, it probably would've worked perfectly, but not in the sequel, which is a shame.

14th: The Colonel-pult[]

I swear that pun has been done to (un)death, but whatever, it's all I could come up with. Kernel-pult was my favourite of the pults you obtain in Adventure Mode due to the stunning capability, and it only got buffed in the sequel. Kernel-pult spam with Snow Peas near the front can easily take out the Gargs in level 5-8, sometimes without them even throwing their Imps due to the extreme stalling, and that's why I love the Kernel-pult.

I also hate it because I, Zombie.

13th: The UltimateBombers[]

In PvZA, there were two plants that were unrivalled when it came to damage-per-second and AoE. The ultimate weapons of destruction, the Bamboo Shoot and its premium version, the Bamboom.

These things were BEASTS, and given enough time to attack zombies, they could take out Gargs with ease! That said, with no true special abilities, they aren't particularly creative, just heavy-hitting AoE, and aside from the great puns in their names, their design wasn't anything special either.

12th: The Cyclops[]

As in the member of the X-men, not the one-eyed monster. Laser Bean is the ultimate crowd controller in PvZ2, and had a clever name too. The design isn't too special, but its ability to take out weaker zombies in such massive numbers is EXTREMELY useful. It also has a perfect symbiotic relationship with the other main attacker of Far Future, the Citron, as it takes out the weaker zombies so Citron doesn't waste its valuable shots.

11th: The Crusher[]

In my top fifteen favourite zombies, what was the Crusher? That's right, Squash Zombie. This is the Squash, the best early attacking plant in PvZ1 and also a great cheap way to damage Gargs. It's like a Potato Mine, but can hit more zombies, doesn't need to arm, and can attack from behind a plant (such as Wall-nut), all for only 25 sun more than the Potato. What's wrong with it? Well, it's a premium in PvZ2, and based on the Pinata Parties I've played with this in, it SUCKS as it often targets a lone weak zombie two spaces to the left over a group of strong zombies right next to it. SERIOUSLY SQUASH, GET YOUR PRIORITIES RIGHT!

10th: The Spirit[]

Ghost Pepper is creative, useful and had a cool design. She's a powerful, relatively cheap plant, which attacks for a while and then self-destructs in a small area. She's probably the best early attacker, and is also immune to Wizards and Octos! I kid you not. Overall, a very, very useful plant, and it's a real shame if you were unable to get her while she was available.

9th: The Stinker[]

Okay, so it might seem strange to put Fume-shroom higher in the list than Laser Bean, but listen up. Laser Bean is too powerful in one way, as it makes Bloomerang, a plant I used to love, useless. For that, Laser Bean loses points. Also, Fume-shroom is cheaper and when placed far enough forwards, is just as effective as Laser Bean, so it can be more cost effective. Plus, in the original, there was no Laser Bean and so nothing did the Fume's job better.

8th: The Diverter[]

Ah, Garlic, maybe a plant that's stinkier than Fume-shroom. But anyway, Garlic has many uses. Starfruits can be made moderately useful with it, Gloom-shrooms work wonders with Garlic in front, and it can simply be used to lessen the cost of strategies by giving you less rows to defend, such as in Last Stand. This variety of uses and the creativity behind it is what makes it so much better than that stupid overpriced, useless Sweet Potato. Oh, and I'll be talking about her later on, don't you worry.

7th: The Thief[]

Magnet-shroom SUCKS IN PVZ2. It's a plant that got ruined in the sequel. However, it was SOOO useful in PvZ1 that I'm still putting it really high in the list. It renders many of the strongest zombies useless and only costs 175 sun during the day, and only 100 at night! It'd still be worth using for 250 sun!

The Magnet-shroom is a very versatile plant, capable of dealing with Bucketheads, Footballers, Screen Doors and Trash Cans (not that they're a threat, cause, you know, shields), Jack-in-the-Boxes (if only it was useful in Survival: Endless...), Diggers, Pogos, and Ladders.

So many metal objects for it to remove, so many uses, it just had to be in this list.

6th: The Protector[]

Wow, when Pumpkin comes sixth, you know the other five must be pretty good plants. I don't know a single person who dislikes Pumpkin, and why would you? It's a Wall-nut that takes up no space. It protects plants, massively increasing their health, it helps you deal with Diggers, with Imps, or just saves space as a frontal defender. It has many uses, and is a creative plant, and is almost NEEDED in PvZ2. It could make some levels so much easier.

5th: The Hologram[]

Yes, I like Infi-nut more than Pumpkin. Shoot me if you want, but Infi-nut is better in most cases. It's rather creative, even if it is a "-nut" defender, as it's not only capable of healing itself, but it does so in a rather unique way. Rather than simply regaining health over time, it heals if it goes a certain length of time without being damaged.

The real genius is the fact that it can come back to life if eaten completely, and so very few things are capable of killing it. Unfortunately, in Big Wave Beach, it can be killed when on water if the Lily Pad gets eaten, but in that stage, it's the only counter to Fishermen! It has an ultra-useful Plant Food effect, capable of withstanding half a dozen Garg smashes, and all this comes at a low price of 75 sun!

4th: The Free-zer[]

Geddit? Free, and freezer! This plant is simple, but so useful. Iceberg Lettuce is a free, moderately fast charging plant which stalls a zombie for ten whole seconds, and when PF'd, does that to the WHOLE SCREEN. This makes it useful not only for buying more time in a normal level without spending anything, but also for stalling massive crowds in Endless modes. There are few situations where Iceberg is a bad choice.

3rd: The Copier[]

Imitater is an all-round useful plant as it lets you use any other useful plant twice as often! Unless they are upgrades in PvZ1...

It's creative, it's useful, and it's a really effective plant, worthy of being a premium in the sequel. There isn't really anything bad about Imitater, aside from taking a while to transform...and in the sequel, it usually can't die until it's transformed and it does so quicker. This is so useful for all slowly-charging plants.

2nd: The Super Stinker[]

I can hear you all saying "WHAAAAAT??? Miles isn't putting Gloom-shroom in first place? Who's taken over his account?" Well...as much as I love the Gloom-shroom, I realized something. It's only useful with Garlic or Pumpkin, and there's one other powerful plant I used a helluva lot more. Gloom-shroom is capable of killing near-infinite regulars in its own row and infinite Coneheads in adjacent rows, and with Garlic or Pumpkin, or some other attackers like additional Glooms, it becomes a deadly weapon, capable of DESTROYING the zombies. It is an epicly good plant, but rather tricky to use in a regular strategy.

1st: God of Pults[]

Bow your heads low! All Hail Winter!

Bow your heads low! All Hail Winter!

Winter Melon is the ULTIMATE in zombie-fighting botany. It slows, it does lots of damage, it has crowd control, and I almost always use it in BOTH games. For 500 sun, this thing is freaking OP, especially since it and Melon-pult got buffed in the sequel. Melon-pult got a cost increase to balance out the buff, but not Winter Melon, which was also more effective for no longer being an upgrade and recharging faster too!

Winter Melon may be expensive, but it's well worth the cost. There is nothing truly bad about Winter Melon, and so it's the best plant in the PvZ series.

P.S. Just because it's the "best" plant, it doesn't mean I'm going to call it my "favourite" plant. There's a difference, and I still consider Gloomy my favourite.

Since this list was made, Frostbite Caves was released, and with it, one plant that would likely have made it onto this list. So...

Bonus:The Knock 'Em Dead Plant[]

Probably would have come just behind Pumpkin, the Chard Guard is a great defender, and almost the polar opposite of Infi-nut. Infi-nut is designed in a way that means it has a lot of longevity, and will almost never need replacing. Chard Guard on the other hand is most effective when first planted. This means it needs to be replaced quite often to keep up maximum effectiveness, but the distance it flings zombies, and the fact that it can fling groups, makes it more than worth the sun cost.

Top Fifteen Worst Plants[]

The plants I hate the most, and Chomp Thing won't top the list cause of the no-GW rule. Funny thing, I only came up with exactly fifteen plants to put here, as opposed to the 21 for the last list.

15th: The Quintuplets[]

Pea Pod is rather powerful when maxed, but...maxing it out is rather difficult. Not only does it cost 625 sun for ONE five-headed Pea Pod, more than the much better Winter Melon costs, but the recharge limits you and so it's difficult to build up a full column of decent Pea Pods. And don't tell me to put them on Minecarts in Wild West, cause Winter Melon is superior.

14th: The Triplets[]

Threepeater is pointless. It saves space, yes, but spending a lump sum of sun when you could get in a trio of Peashooters, or in PvZ2, two SNAPDRAGONS TO COVER EVERY ROW, makes it a pointless, useless plant. I know many will disagree here, but this IS my opinion.

13th: The AA Peashooter[]

A Peashooter that shoots down Balloonists. That's all it is. While I don't hate Balloon Zombies, there could've been many better ways to implement an anti-air attacker, such as allowing pults to attack fliers and introducing one early, or adding a plant that elevates other plants into the air so they can attack the Balloonist. But this is such a bad way of doing an anti-air plant that it had to be on this list.

12th: Another Peashooter[]

I swear I don't hate all Peashooters and Peashooter-style plants. I NEVER picked Split Pea in PvZ1, I'd counter Diggers with Potato Mines or Jalapenos until I got Magnet-shroom. In PvZ2, there are less plants capable of attacking backwards, but Prospectors are overall easier to counter, making it less useful...although its PF can be used rather effectively to kill an entire Garg.

11th: The Ratsfruit[]

Rats instead of Star...hilarious. Anyway, Starfruit is a plant I dislike mostly because it doesn't shoot forwards, and most stars tend to be wasted. Only the two forward-shooting stars can consistently hit zombies unless you use Garlic to divert zombies around the Starfruit, and I typically don't like having to spam one plant over and over in a strategy. In PvZ2 it's worse, due to the cost increase and the lack of Garlic.

10th: I used to like him...[]

Laser Bean ruined him for me. NEXT!

9th: The Cob Cannon wannabe[]

This thing costs as much as a Winter Melon, and although it attacks any row, it's ineffective due to the fact it only hits one row at a time, allowing other zombies to easily sneak through, or any zombie that survives its pathetic blast.

8th: The Attacking Defender[]

I know some of you already hate Chard Guard and hoped this would be it, but nope. Pea-nut is what I'm talking about. While I don't have it, I've played enough levels and Pinata Parties containing it to have an opinion. And in my opinion, it sucks. Less health than a Wall-nut, it slows down shooting when damaged and...its attack is only a Peashooter. Plus every level in DA where you get this, you get Jesters. That doesn't help either.

7th: The Wall-nut wannabe[]

This will never be as good at bowling as Wall-nut, not unless it gets some serious buffs. It got nerfed so much that even its PF is lackluster and the plant can just barely kill simple zombies in AE.

6th: Cattail Mk. II[]

I may get hated on for this, but IDC. Cattail in PvZ1 wasn't a plant I particularly liked, but it dealt with Balloons and was useful for No Sunflower Strats in Pool levels. Homing Thistle is utterly pointless due to the lack of AoE for a plant that attacks all rows. I can't begin to fathom why they would put this in other than "fans demanding the return of Cattail", which is stupid, because they don't normally listen to fans when they ask for the game to be made a fair difficulty.

5th: Why can't it be like in GW?[]

WHY THE HELL DID FANS DEMAND THAT THIS CAME BACK IN PVZ2??? Didn't they know that it'd come back as a premium and worse than before??? It's bad in 1, but worse in the sequel because although it chews quicker, it swallows and chomps slower. And you all know I hate it, so let's move on.

4th: The Supposed Chomper Replacement[]

Wow, Bonk Choy isn't in the top three, is something wrong with me?

Bonk freaking Choy is useless. Even with a Wall-nut, it takes ages to kill a Conehead and a Buckethead could easily get past, while Chomper would at least kill SOMETHING before it or the nut in front of it dies. I honestly cannot fathom how ANYONE, even someone with the intelligence of a POTATO (no offense to Potato Mine or Imitater, but all the offense to Sweet Potato), can like this steaming pile of YAY! Oh look, fluttercensoring again. I totally didn't steal that from Joshscorcher.

3rd: Sour Potato[]

Problem 1: Price.

Problem 2: It diverts the wrong way.

Problem 3: It dies too quickly because it has three rows of zombies attacking it.

Problem 4: I prefer even Lightning Reed's Plant Food, and I hate Lightning Reed's Plant Food.

Problem 5: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!

2nd: Pop goes the Corn[]

Yeah, Popcorn, a PvZA plant, is worse than Bonk Choy or Sweet Potato (IMO). Due to the design of PvZA, a plant like Potato Mine would be totally pointless, and that's why Popcorn is a bad, useless idea that NO ONE I know of ever liked.

1st: The OP Combo[]

So after all these useless plants in the list, the one I put as my most hated plant is actually a pair, and it's because they're OP, not UP.

Spring Blovers are so good they're bad, as they make almost any level, unless it has an objective of don't lose plants (COUGH) easier than using Power Ups! Especially if you have Power Lily to power the Spring Bean up with additional Plant Food. Any Endless Zone where Blover is allowed, it's possible to get to infinite levels as Spring Blovers are cheap, requiring nothing but a tiny amount of sun and some PF to use, and they kill everything onscreen except for a few zombies that stick at the right edge.

Ten billion Primes? Not a problem, Spring Blover. Need to clear a line of sight so your plants can attack Kings? Not a problem, Spring Blover. Spring Blover solves 99% of problems in PvZ2, and because of that, I consider it to be bigger cheating tactic than Power-ups. And don't get me started on BOOSTED Spring Bean + Blover.

That's my list, and I hope Spring Bean gets lasered and sheepified at the bottom of a lava pit while Blover has a King squishing it.

Bonus: The Weaker Blover[]

Probably just between Sweet Potato and Bonky, the Hurrikale is next to USELESS. Why? Well, for one, Jalapeno can insta-kill almost everything in the lane for a slightly higher sun cost. Granted, it has a slower recharge, but it's still better than Hurrikale. And Jalapeno isn't exactly a good plant anyway. Hurrikale has a couple of levels where it's useful, but only because the Sliders are designed to MAKE it useful. Blowing back zombies? Pfft, Chard Guard's better at that. Taking out fliers? Blover, since I don't hate it unless it's combined with Spring Bean. Taking out Gargs? Okay, here's a situation where it might be useful. Jalapenos can't kill a Garg totally, and if you have strong defences, blowing a Garg back five spaces MIGHT be better than dealing massive damage. But still, Hurrikale has very little use in 95% of levels.