Escape Root, being a plant with complex mechanism, has a huge potential for unintentional bugs and glitches. Today I found a glitch that causes Escape Root to be nigh-indestructible. The Escape Root is technically frozen in place, but zombies cannot eat it no matter what, so it can block zombies indefinitely. Zombies with special abilities will be mentioned below. The only drawback is that these Escape Roots cannot be dug up to free space, but you can still move them using normal Escape Root. Here's how you can glitch it:
- Plant an Escape Root until it finishes arming. Do not tap the Escape Root before it finishes arming. Doing so will cause it not to explode when zombie is near, causing it to be eaten.
- After it's done arming, tap and hold the Escape Root so you can see its silhouette (it means it's ready to swap a plant, but don't swap it). Keep holding it until a zombie approaches.
- When a zombie approaches, the Escape Root will swap itself with an explosive plant. Before it explodes, release the Escape Root and now it will be glitched. Congratulations!
Special mentions for various worlds:
- General
- Gargantuars can still smash the Escape Root and it will detonate like normal. This is the only way to destroy this glitched Escape Root.
- Flying zombies just fly past the Escape Root as you can guess.
- Ancient Egypt
- Pirate Seas
- Barrel Roller Zombies cannot crush Escape Root.
- I haven't tested if Zombie Parrots can steal Escape Root or not.
- Wild West
- Far Future
- Mecha-Footbal Zombies just walk through the Escape Root.
- I cannot confirm whether Gargantuar Prime's laser can destroy it or not. It's impossible to tell since the nature is random.
- Dark Ages
- Projectiles deflected by Jester Zombies just fly through Escape Root, so it cannot be used to block projectiles. Apparently this behavior is a normal behavior since it's considered a low, underground plant.
- Wizard Zombies will not target Escape Root, and instead just transform plants further from it. When they stand in front of the Escape Root, they will endlessly try to transform it, ignoring any other plants to be transformed, if there are still any.
- It's difficult to set up the Escape Root to see if Zombie King can crush it or not. I haven't been able to make that possible.
- Big Wave Beach
- Escape Root will not drown if somehow it's planted past the tide line. Keep in mind that you cannot move these Escape Roots with normal Escape Root unless it's low tide.
- Surfer Zombies cannot crush Escape Root with its surfboard and will try to crush the tile behind it instead.
- Fisherman Zombies cannot pull Escape Root, but normally it can't anyway. The plant behind it will be pulled, but it cannot be pulled further when it's right behind Escape Root. The plant cannot be pulled past octopi if the octopi are right behind the Escape Root either. Weirdly, the plant can be pulled past Escape Root if a surfboard is right behind the Escape Root.
- Octo Zombies will not target Escape Root, and instead just throw octopi at other plants. When they stand in front of the Escape Root, they will endlessly try to throw at it, ignoring any other plants to be thrown at, if there are still any.
- Frostbite Caves
- I haven't tested if Escape Root can be frozen in Frostbite Caves or not.
- Troglobites cannot push frozen blocks past Escape Root and they cannot crush it either.
- Lost City
- Excavator Zombies cannot dig up Escape Root and they will smack it with shovel instead.
- Turquoise Skull Zombies cannot burn Escape Root.
- Neon Mixtape Tour
- Punk Zombies will just walk through Escape Root when their jam plays.
- Glitter Zombies cannot crush Escape Root.
- MC Zom-Bs will just walk through Escape Root when their jam plays. They normally ignore underground plants anyway.
- Arcade Zombies cannot push arcade machines past Escape Root and they cannot crush it either.
- Hair Metal Gargantuar's sonic wave cannot kill Escape Root, but its regular smash can still kill it even when their jam plays.
- Jurassic Marsh
- Unfortunately, since Escape Root is an underground plant, zombies will just pass through when being pushed by Ankylosaurus, making it unable to block the push.
- Modern Days
- I haven't tested if All-Star Zombies can smash Escape Root or not. Hard to say, considering their smash is equivalent to a Gargantuar's.