Character Guide - Cactus!

Greetings everyone,

This guide series intends to cover all of the characters. In this guide, I will cover Cactus. I will still add some information to this guide, but for now, I intend to complete all of the character guides first.

This following link was used for some of the information: https://plantsvszombies.fandom.com/wiki/Cactus_(PvZ:_BfN). The remainder of the guide consists of my own information, and you are able to refer to that link if you want to know more information about Cactus.

Overview of the Character

Cactus is a Defend character on the Plants faction that can attack enemies at longer distances, and she has 100 health.

Primary Weapons

Primary Weapon: Spike Strike. This is the Cactus' main weapon that is used when not holding down the aim button. It deals 6 damage for regular or 8 damage for critical hits to enemies, with a fast rate of fire. This will generally be more effective at closer ranges. Each use of this weapon consumes 1 ammo, and the maximum ammo capacity, shared with your secondary weapon, is 40.

Secondary Weapon: Spike Shot. This is the Cactus' secondary weapon that is used when holding down the aim button. This is a charge up weapon, and when zoomed in, you lose some vision to your sides, however it allows you to land more precise shots and to see further distances. When fully charged, you will deal 62 damage for regular hits or 98 damage for critical hits, although when not fully charged, your shots will be much less effective, but still useful for finishing weakened enemies. Each use of this weapon consumes 8 ammo if fully charged, or less if not quite fully charged, and the maximum ammo capacity, shared with your primary weapon, is 40.

Abilities

Potato Mine: This ability places a Potato Mines that detonates and deals 175 damage to any enemy that steps in it or is in its explosion radius when it detonates, which is generally enough to vanquish most enemies, or if not, make the enemy much easier to vanquish. This ability can have up to 4 Potato Mines stacked at a time, and you can have up to 6 placed as well. These are great for defending particular areas, and these can be scattered around the place, although your enemies are able to destroy them, so you should consider your placement to reduce the chances of your enemies destroying them. When you place a Potato Mines, they have a charge up time, which means that they will not explode immediately after being placed, so you should drop these Potato Mines beforehand.

Potato Mine Character Upgrades:

• Spud Spotting (2 upgrade points): Any enemy, and their health, that is close to any of your Potato Mines will be revealed to you and your team, allowing you to identify where some enemies are efficiently, and allowing all of your allies to see the revealed enemies will be even more useful. You and your allies can track those enemies, and you can place your Potato Mines in different and useful locations to get more out of this effect. You should take into the consideration that enemies could destroy your Potato Mines to negate the effect, and enemies must be close to your Potato Mines to gain this additional effect, so try and be strategic about where you place them.
• Popcorn (4 upgrade points): When you vanquish an enemy with a fully charged Spike Shot, there is a 75% chance that a Potato Mine will be automatically placed close to the location of where the enemy was vanquished. This could be really useful if your enemies are close together or as a way to spawn Potato Mines more quickly, but you must land a fully charged shot on an enemy vanquish, or this effect may not trigger, and this effect will not always trigger even with fully charged shots, so these should be taken into consideration. Due to these Potato Mines randomly being placed after they are vanquished, enemies are less likely to notice them and you will more likely get a vanquish this way.

Garlic Drone: This ability allows you to control a Garlic Drone, which has a new primary weapon called the Needle Shot and an ability called the Big Bulb Barrage. This drone can fly and is small, however it only has 5 health, so you should keep on the move and try to be stealthy where possible to try and prevent your enemies from destroying it. The primary weapon can be more effective against enemies with limited range, as they will not be able to fire back at you, but it can be used against any enemy, although the Big Bulb Barrage is best used against enemy groups as it deals splash damage. Your Cactus cannot move during this ability, and any damage will instantly cancel your ability, or you could even be completely vanquished, so be careful of where you activate this ability. The Garlic Drone has limited fuel, so it will expire after the fuel has run out if it has not been destroyed before then. You are able to cancel your Garlic Drone at any time if you wish.

Garlic Drone Character Upgrades: 

• Spotlight (2 upgrade points): Dealing damage to an enemy with your Needle Shot, which is your primary attack of your Garlic Drone, will reveal that enemy to you and all of your allies, which can allow you and your allies to identify where your enemies, and it reveals their health as well, which is useful for identifying enemies at low health and vanquishing them. You can make use of this by attacking multiple enemies at least once, as you can track where your enemies are and react accordingly. You can fly towards your enemies by surprise and then attack to get the most out of this upgrade.
• Sustenance (4 upgrade points): Vanquishing an enemy with your Garlic Drone will restore some of your fuel, which will allow you to use your Garlic Drone for longer before it expires, or basically for infinite time until it gets vanquished if you can vanquish enemies frequently. You can use your primary attack to vanquish enemies at low health or enemies with a lack of range so they are unable to counterattack you. Your Big Bulb Barrage could be used against groups of enemies to deal lots of damage or to vanquish multiple enemies, which can give you lots of fuel back. This is great if you can keep your Garlic Drone alive for a while, you can continue to earn vanquishes, or if you want to use it often. 

Petal Propeller: This ability propels you into the air for a short time, basically allowing you to fly for a short time. This is quite an interesting ability overall, although you can use this as a form of mobility or to escape certain abilities, but it has other uses as well, such as getting up to a high vantage point, moving around to dodge attacks or scouting what is above you. You cannot attack while propelling, however you can cancel the ability by zooming if you wish. The fuel will expire more quickly if moving while in the air, so to save fuel, save it until you can get a lot of use out of this. This ability has some relatively versatile uses, and you can actually start charging up an attack just before you land, which could actually be useful depending on your positioning. However, the associated character upgrades can actually make this ability even better.

Petal Propeller Character Upgrades:

• Alacrity (2 upgrade points): When you have used your Petal Propeller, you instantly gain a fully charged attack for your Spike Shot attack. You can use your Petal Propeller to move around and avoid attacks, and then have a fully charged Spike Shot ready to go without needing to charge up and moving around really slowly. You can cancel your Petal Propeller and still gain the fully charged attack ready. This gives you an extra way to get use out of your Petal Propeller, and a quick way to charge up an attack for when you see a good opportunity against an enemy and want to attack quickly.
• Bon Voyage (3 upgrade points): Activating your Petal Propeller drops an additional Potato Mine at the location that you activated it, basically allowing you to have extra Potato Mines active at once, however Potato Mines spawned with this upgrade only last up to 30 seconds before disappearing, unlike regular Potato Mines. You can use this ability often, so you can actually have a couple of additional Potato Mines out this way. You can use your Petal Propeller to place Potato Mines more frequently with this upgrade, and you can even cancel the ability after activating and you will still drop the Potato Mine. Just remember that you should place them in effective areas, as they disappear on their own after a while.

Exclusive Character Upgrades

Cactus' exclusive character upgrades are as follows:

Pressure Point (2 upgrade points): When you get a critical vanquish on an enemy, that enemy has a 75% chance of creating an explosion, which deals 35 damage to other enemies which are close to where that enemy was vanquished. When you get this effect, this can be used to your advantage by attacking grouped enemies, earning a critical vanquish on an enemy, and hopefully that enemy will explode, which will deal additional damage to the nearby enemies or possibly give you bonus vanquishes. This does rely on earning a critical hit for the vanquish, and the effect triggering since it will not always trigger, but it is a great upgrade to utilise on multiple clustered enemies.

Mirage (2 upgrade points): When you are zooming in, your vision is improved by about 50%. Zooming in normally impairs your vision, but allows you to attack from further distances and with greater precision, although with this upgrade, you can mitigate the impaired vision and will be able to see approaching enemies more easily while zoomed. You are normally quite vulnerable to surprise enemy attacks when you are zooming in as they can attack in your blind spot, but if you run this upgrade, you are more likely to be able to notice them coming toward you. Improved sense equals lower chance of surprise attacks.

Looting (3 upgrade points): When you earn a critical vanquish on an enemy, you will recieve some ammo back, making the need for reloading more redundant if you can land your critical hits quite easily. This can allow you to continue sniping without needing to reload if you can land your critical hits and get those vanquishes. The ammo you gain back will depend on the charged shot that dealt the most damage, so the exact ammo you can get will vary, basically though more damage equals more ammo. Fuel through that critical damage on your enemies and keep firing without the need of reloading, which could also potentially leave you vulnerable.

Calibrated (4 upgrade points): Dealing damage with your Spike Shot, which is your secondary weapon, will allow you to charge up your Spike Shot faster to deal maximum damage more frequently. This effect will stack and will remain until you next reload, so if you can achieve these effects while you have plenty of ammo left or can find a way to restore ammo without needing to reload, this effect can be used to charge up maximum damage Spike Shot attacks at an amazing rate. You do not have to fully charge your Spike Shot to get this effect, so you could start with hitting your enemies with weaker attacks to save ammo and get the effect, for better efficiency.

Usefulness in Situations

General

More effective against enemies at long ranges, due to being fragile and being able to hit for high damage accurately including at longer ranges.

Reviving Allies

• Use your Spike Strike against enemies that are close to you, or your Spike Shot to accurately hit enemies at further distances, which you can still do while reviving.
• You could drop a Potato Mine at your location of the revive just before reviving to blow up enemies that get up close and personal with you.

Contesting the Objective

• Your Spike Strike can be used to attack nearby enemies and your Spike Shot, when not being attacked, against enemies coming back to the objective or even enemies that are in the objective,
• Drop Potato Mines to deny area and possibly vanquish enemies as well, reducing the number of enemy forces.
• Use your Petal Propeller to avoid attacks and to change your current position, especially if obstacles are in the way.

You are not counted as contesting if using the Garlic Drone, keep that in mind.

When Abilities are Negated

• Your Spike Strike can be used to attack enemies that get close to you and your Spike Shot could be used against enemies further away, but you are slower when zoomed so be mindful.
• Potato Mines can be dropped as you approach the item and just before you collect it, possibly giving you some free vanquishes.

Tips

• Your Spike Strike can be used against enemies that can be easily hit or that are close to you, and your Spike Shot can be used when you are in a safe location to attack enemies from a range.
• Always try and aim for critical hits, no matter which weapon you use, but especially if you use the Spike Shot as the critical damage is significantly higher compared to the regular damage.
• Use your Potato Mines to defend particular areas, and try to hide them or get them to blend in to improve your chances of vanquishing an enemy.
• Your Garlic Drone should be used in hidden areas, so your ability does not get interrupted, and keep moving around and be stealthy where possible to reduce the chances of your enemies destroying it.
• The Petal Propeller can be used to change location or to gain a height advantage, or you could use it to avoid attacks, so save it for when you need it or when you can get use out of this.

These are my Cactus tips. Thanks for reading!

@TheSprinter85