Some free manually-activated plants, Lily Pads, and Imitater
Some plants with manually launched attacks need to be tapped by the player in order to fire very powerful attacks which usually deal destruction within a large area. These plants charge or otherwise tend to have a factor that prevents overuse, so it is wise to choose when is the right time to trigger such plants to attack.
Corn cob
Corn cob
- Main article: Corn cob
Corn cobs are the very first heavy-duty attack in the series which deal 1800 damage per shot. They are very powerful ballistic missiles that can be fired onto anywhere on the lawn. All the player really has to do is to click (or tap, depending on the game version) on the Cob Cannon, then onto the desired spot, and, in a second or so, after the Cob Cannon fires it sky-high offscreen, the corn cob will crash down onto the targeted tile, obliterating anything (except Gargantuars and other plants within the area) in a 3x3 area; in essence, they are nothing more than Cherry Bombs repeatedly produced by Cob Cannons every 36.41 seconds. Take note that, since the firing of the missile is delayed by a second, the player should shoot at the area in front of the planned landing spot, since any potential targets might be able to move out of range within the second's delay. This is especially important in Buttered Popcorn, as Dolphin Rider Zombie may swim out of the area before the corn cob hits.
Given that Cob Cannons recharge their cobs every 36.41 seconds, it is best to have at least four of them on the lawn for rotational use. It is still best to not use them until a high value target (e.g. a Yeti Zombie or a Giga-gargantuar) or a huge cluster of zombies appears.
Coconut
Coconuts are fired by Coconut Cannons, which, unlike Cob Cannons from the preceding game, shoot their deadly ammunition forwards.
Unlike Cob Cannon, the coconut does not have any advantage in targeting what the player wants to target; it can only fly straight and blow up the first target with 45 normal damage shots (half the power of corn cobs), along with everything with a 3x2 explosion dealing 15 normal damage shots. It will then take 16 seconds for the Coconut Cannon to wake up and shoot again.
It is susceptible to deflection by Jester Zombie, which means the plants will receive a huge bout of damage, crumbling the player's defenses.
Grand coconut
Grand coconut
When fed with Plant Food, Coconut Cannon will awaken (if it is still in cooldown) then expel a giant coconut (having fired, it will have to sleep for 16 seconds before it can fire again) which will slowly travel to the right, pushing all the zombies in its row back to the rightmost side of the screen, then blowing up in a 3x3 explosion dealing 60 normal damage shots. It is recommended to have it fire first in order to deal damage and not waste a shot. The main disadvantage of this grand projectile is that it can be halted and detonated prematurely by tombstones blocking its way. Unlike the regular coconut, Jester Zombies cannot deflect it.
Sun bolt
Unlike most of the projectiles on this page, which are controlled by the cooldown rate of their shooters, sun bolts, powerful rainbow bullets, can be fired indefinitely and consecutively by a Magnifying Grass, as long as the player has enough sun, since, when tapped, Magnifying Grass will take 50 sun from the player's bank and release it as a colorful punch of death to the first zombie it strikes, provided its health is less than or equal to the 27.5 normal damage shots the bolt packs in it. Being made of sunlight, it will immediately dispatch of a Jester Zombie with no difficulty whatsoever (However, Citron's plasma ball can be deflected), though this would simply strike an Excavator Zombie's shovel to no effect.
Banana
The banana
The banana is fired by Banana Launchers. It is similar to the corn cob from the first game, which can target any space (but not zombie) on the lawn, dealing 60 normal damage shots to any zombies on the space targeted, and the two spaces adjacent to it. Keep in mind that a single banana cannot defeat a Buckethead Zombie.
Strawburst
The Strawburst is technically not a projectile, since Strawburst launches itself into battle. Like the rest of the plants responsible for dispelling the projectiles in this page, it is a tap-to-fire plant. It is the first manually activated plant to come in multiple stages with differently charged attacks per phase, the second being Jack O' Lantern. The Strawburst goes in three stages: one, where it starts off as a small green berry, which deals 10.05 normal damage shots. It has to recharge for some time before growing to the next stage. In the second stage, it turns into a medium orange berry which deals 20 normal damage shots along with splash damage. In the third stage, it fully ripens into a large red berry which deals 45 normal damage shots along with splash damage.
Big berry
When fed Plant Food, Strawburst grows to full size and laughs as a giant berry lands (always) right in the middle of the lawn and explodes, dealing 20 normal damage shots (it is 25 normal damage shots weaker than the large berry lobbed by a fully grown Strawburst and 5 less than a medium grown Strawburst) with a range that hits the entire lawn.
Stream of flames
Jack O' Lantern does not shoot projectiles. However, it is activated manually. For each second it is held, the Jack O' Lantern continues to shoot a stream of flames on the three tiles in front of it, dealing 18 normal damage shots per second. The maximum a Jack O' Lantern can be held for before it needs to recharge is five seconds, dealing a total of 90 normal damage shots, equivalent to an instant kill.
Ice Mistletoe
The ice mistletoe is shot by Missile Toe, they are like bananas but they also freeze zombies.
Gallery
Plants
Projectiles
| V · T · E |
| Plants | Pea · Spore · Fumes · Spike · Star · Lobbed shots · Butter · Melon · Corn cob · Boomerang · Coconut · Plasma ball · Bolt · Arrow · Iceball · Fireball · Bulb · Pit · Banana · Droplet · Lotus seed · Rutabaga · Stinger · Explosive seed · Pomegranate seed |
| Zombies | Basketball · Bullet · Fireball · Iceball · Imp · Fishing net · Snowball |