Death Cap

Death Cap is the sixth plant obtained in Shroom Moors in Plants vs. Zombies: Lost World Level 9A. Death Cap explodes in a 3×3 area when planted, temporarily poisoning and paralysing all zombies caught in the blast. The paralysing effect lasts for 7.5 seconds, and the poisoning effect for 15 seconds, and deals 30 DPS each second. Like Shadow-shroom in Plants vs. Zombies 2, the poisoning effect bypasses armor. Death Cap’s poison is also unique in a way that it strengthens and lasts longer as the zombie bites a mushroom (each bite lengthens the poisoning effect by 2 seconds, and the damage done is increased by 3 DPS).

Origins
Death Cap is based on the real-life mushroom of the same name (Amanita phalloides being its scientific name). Its abilities refer to the real-life Death Cap’s symptoms when eaten (note that real-life Death Caps don’t actually cause paralysis).

Almanac entry
Death Cap

Sun cost: 125

Recharge: Sluggish

Explodes, poisoning and paralysing every zombie caught in the blast for a while.

Special: Poison becomes stronger and lasts longer as the zombie eats more mushrooms.

Usage: Single-use, instant

He hasn’t seen his sister, Life Cap, in a while.

Ultimate ability
When fully upgraded, Death Cap has a 50% chance to create another Death Cap in an adjacent tile when it explodes. This effect carries over for every other Death Cap made from the original one, but, however, the chance decreases by 10% each time a new Death Cap is made from this effect.

Available stat upgrades
More about the upgrading system and ultimate ability here.

Strategies
Death Cap can be used as an alternative to Cherry Bomb. He is better in a sense that he is slightly cheaper, and his recharge is faster than Cherry Bomb’s, but, however, instead of an instantaneous and damaging explosion, Death Cap poisons zombies over time. The poison can bypass armor, which is a plus, and so Death Cap can easily take out zombies like Buckethead Zombie, but, however, zombies without armor but have higher-than-average health (like Frisbee Zombie) will usually be able to survive Death Cap’s poison (especially if Death Cap’s Strength is not upgraded), unlike if they were to be exposed to high-damaging explosions from plants like Cherry Bomb. Death Cap, however, can also paralyse zombies temporarily, and, unlike Ice-shroom, Death Cap is more useful when stalling a specific group of zombies (Death Cap’s paralysis effect is longer than Ice-shroom’s). Basically, even if Death Cap’s poison is not enough to defeat a certain zombie, he can still at least stun them for a while to let other plants have more time to defeat them (although it is not recommended to fully rely on Death Cap’s paralysis effect due to its sun cost, and so it’d be best if you could utilise both of Death Cap’s poison and paralysis effects). Do take note, his poison is unique, and its effect becomes more powerful as the poisoned zombies bite at mushrooms. One of the best situations in which he can be used is when you’re playing a level where the majority of the plants you choose are mushrooms. Whenever your defences would get breached, Death Cap will make their death quicker since the zombies would be eating mushrooms while they’re still poisoned, which is a useful exploit. You can also deliberately empower the poison by sacrificing multiple Puff-shrooms to poisoned zombies to kill them quicker, since Puff-shrooms are free and have a fast recharge, it wouldn’t consume your sun and can make sure the poison effect is lengthened before it wears off.

Gallery
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