Mushroom Ringleader (PvZ:RiT)


 * For the version in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, see Mushroom Ringleader (PvZH).

Mushroom Ringleader is a plant in Plants vs. Zombies: Rips in Time. All mushrooms in a 3x3 area around him are boosted to have 50% boosts to health and damage, making him a very useful plant in nighttime levels, particularly Nocturne Streets and Space Age. During the day, he only provides a 25% boost to mushrooms around him. He is able to boost other plants to their usual nighttime power during the day if fed a Coffee Bean. Mushroom Ringleader is unlocked by beating Night 12 of Nocturne Streets.

Origins
His name is a portmanteau on "fairy ring," "mushroom ring," and "ringleader," referring to the fact that he is the leader of a small ring of smaller mushrooms.

Suburban Almanac entry
Mushroom Ringleader

Mushroom Ringleaders make nearby mushrooms more powerful.

Area: 3x3

Special: provides a 50% boost to mushrooms

Day effect: provides a 25% boost instead

Plant Food: doubles the damage output of all mushrooms in a 3x3 area and restores their nighttime power at day

As the leader of the Shroomsberg Traveling Circus, most other ‘shrooms can count on him to darken their day. Especially Scaredy-shroom.

Family: Enchant-mint

Cost: 175

Recharge: 25 seconds

Plant Food upgrade
When fed Plant Food, Mushroom Ringleader's boost will be increased from 50% to 100%, making each mushroom twice as strong. This lasts until Mushroom Ringleader is defeated.

Strategies
Mushroom Ringleader's primary usage is in strategies with lots of mushrooms, making him almost essential in night levels, and still making him useful in daytime levels focused on mushroom-themed strategies. Mushroom Ringleader can help mitigate the damage done by red lights in Nocturne Streets by adding more health and damage to mushrooms underneath, and can become particularly enhancing under a green light instead. In Space Age, the player can use Mushroom Ringleader if they wish to focus on mushrooms primarily, rather than using other plants with Oxygen Algae. However, due to his price increasing to 225 during Growling Twenties, he may not be an optimal choice in that world unless players can get adequate sun production.

Mushroom Ringleader can also be a useful plant during daytime levels, as after feeding him a Coffee Bean, all mushrooms in a 3x3 area will be boosted to their daytime effects alongside the usual 50% buff. Even without a Coffee Bean, however, some may say the 25% boost makes up for some of the power mushrooms lose during the day.

In some levels, Mushroom Ringleaders may face competition from other buffers, particularly Cheery Tree and Spudnik. Cheery Tree provides only a 25% boost as opposed to Mushroom Ringleader's 50%, but works with a greater variety of plants, including powerful ones like Winter Melon, Sunnydew, and Machu Peachu. Spudnik, conversely, increases the damage zombies take in a 5x5 radius, allowing projectiles that hit in that radius from all plants to become especially powerful. However, in most mushroom-centric strategies, Mushroom Ringleader can be seen as the way to go.

Trivia

 * His Suburban Almanac entry references Scaredy-shroom's entry from Plants vs. Zombies, where he mentions not fearing "the guy from the circus."
 * His ability is a near-inversion of his Plants vs. Zombies Heroes counterpart. In that game, he gets buffed by other plants, whereas in Rips in Time, he provides buffs to other plants.