Puff-shroom (PvZ)

Puff-shroom is a mushroom appearing Plants vs. Zombies. Although he has a limited firing range of three tiles, he does not cost any sun and can deal the same damage as a Peashooter, making him a good choice for Night and Fog levels where sun does not fall from the sky.

About

 * For more information about this character, see Puff-shroom.

Puff-shroom is unlocked after the player beats Level 1-10, making him the first plant unlocked in the Night area. He is also the first mushroom unlocked in the game. In this game, he has an aquatic counterpart called Sea-shroom.

Almanac entry
Puff-shroom 

Puff-shrooms are cheap, but can only fire a short distance.

Damage: normal

Range: short

Sleeps during the day

"I only recently became aware of the existence of zombies," says Puff-shroom. "Like many fungi, I'd just assumed they were fairy tales or movie monsters. This whole experience has been a huge eye-opener for me."

Cost: 0

Recharge: Fast

Upgrades
While they have no upgrades in the main game, in both Beghouled Mini-games, Puff-shroom can be upgraded into Fume-shroom for 500 sun.

Strategies
Due to his zero sun cost and poor offensive potential, Puff-shroom serves the role of a "cannon fodder," a highly disposable plant meant to be planted and eaten in great quantity to stall zombies. Regardless, Puff-shroom can be useful for both offensive and defensive purposes:

Offensively, Puff-shroom is useful as a deterrent against basic Zombies in the early game as it can kill it without taking any damage. This role can also be occupied by instant use plants such as Potato Mine, Stunion and Squash. Compared to the aforementioned plants, Puff-shroom benefits from his ability to be massed in great numbers with little negative impact and therefore will be able to last until the middle game. However, his offensive potential will prove to be inefficient as the level progresses and zombie density rapidly increases, while instant use plants can continue to work efficiently.

Defensively, Puff-shroom serves well as a makeshift wall against most enemies because of his sun cost. Puff-shroom is particularly effective in stalling Gargantuars, as they will take the same amount of time to attack a Puff-shroom as any other plant while not dealing any economical damage to the player, even in the day. Puff-shroom does not work however against several other zombies that can crush or circumvent plants, such as Explorer Zombie, Pianist Zombie, and Mecha-Football Zombie.

Puff-shroom should ideally be placed at the frontline to support other offensive plants. This will somewhat negate Puff-shroom's range issue as well as allow him to absorb the horde's attacks if they manage to break through the firing zone.

ZomBotany mini-games
Puff-shroom is a highly useful plant in ZomBotany and ZomBotany 2, as he is too short to be hit with peas, making him a good choice for both attacking and stopping Squash Zombies. However, he requires Coffee Beans to able to function properly, removing one of his biggest advantages - being free. Puff-shroom can also be used to force Pole Vaulting Zombies to jump when replaying Adventure Mode.

Photosensitive
Puff-shroom is vital for obtaining the Nintendo DS achievement Photosensitive. The rest of the selected plants are not important, since the player cannot plant them. Wall-nuts, Potato Mines, and Scaredy-shrooms can be used, but the player can only plant either one Wall-nut or two of the others. The easiest level to achieve this is on Level 2-1, as the only zombies that appear are the regular Zombie and the Newspaper Zombie. Simply plant three to four columns of Puff-shrooms at the back of the lawn (the player should not plant Sunflowers, as they may be tempted to collect sun, therefore failing this achievement). Due to their free sun cost, the player should not worry if the zombies eat his or her Puff-shrooms and instead continue to plant and replace his or her Puff-shrooms, and he or she should easily achieve Photosensitive.

Trivia

 * He, Sun-shroom, Spikeweed, and Spikerock are the only plants which, when planted, may not be in the center of a square on the lawn. They may get planted slightly to the left, right or up.
 * He is one of the two cheapest plants in Versus Mode, requiring only 25 sun for the cost of the Coffee Bean with the other being the Potato Mine.
 * Even if he is at the edge of the red line in Versus Mode, he cannot shoot the Target Zombies, as the distance is just slightly over three squares long. The only time he can shoot the Target Zombie, however, is if his spore goes past a defeated zombie about to fall down.
 * On the Nintendo DS, mobile, and online versions of Plants vs. Zombies, if he shoots at an already defeated zombie (after falling), the spore will pass through the entire lawn.
 * The player will receive a warning for refusing to bring Puff-shrooms on Level 2-1. The warning will say "This Level will be extremely difficult without Puff-shrooms. Are you sure you wish to continue without them?"
 * He, Twin Sunflower, Sunflower, Sun-shroom, and Sea-shroom are the only plants that cannot be used in Last Stand and the iOS puzzle mode variation.
 * He can be considered as the opposite to Scaredy-shroom, as Puff-shroom can only attack zombies in a close range and Scaredy-shroom can only attack zombies in a far range, and Puff-Shroom is very small, while Scardey-Shroom is big.
 * Even though his spores technically come out of his mouth, if the player looks closely, it can be seen that they come out of his head.