Lightning Reed

Currently, Lightning Reed builds the candidate set C while idle: every zombie in its lane enters; zombies outside the lane must have their hitbox intersect a nearby zone centered on the Reed, readable as roughly a 320 px circle. Untargetable, hidden, off-field, friendly, or invalid-row objects are not included.

Within C, candidates are sorted by current HP descending; if HP ties, the candidate horizontally nearer to the Reed wins. When powered Wiremoss enables the second target slot, the second sort excludes the object already written into slot 1 and picks the next under the same rule.

“In its lane or nearby” is not a 3×3 region: the lane covers the full row, while cross-lane targets must lie inside the roughly 320 px circle. A higher-HP zombie that is both outside the lane and outside the circle does not enter C and is therefore never locked on.

After the target is written into the target slot, Lightning Reed enters sustained attack. Later frames do not re-rank HP within C and do not check whether the original target is still inside the detection area; the nearby circle and lane coverage only matter before the lock is made. The attack cycle is about 150 cs (1.5 s); each shot tracks the current target-slot pointer.

The lock resets on target invalidation. Invalidation includes: current HP reaching zero, entering invincibility or untargetable state, disappearing, becoming friendly, or sitting in a row that cannot settle hits. On reset, the slot pointer clears and the stacking counter n goes back to zero; if C is non-empty, the next frame immediately writes a new target, otherwise Lightning Reed returns to idle.

Note: actively granted invincibility events — Flag Zombie aura, Starcone Master shield, Starcone Zombie star canopy, and similar — also count as invalidation. Lightning Reed actively abandons such targets rather than waiting them out.

Each target slot independently records how many times this slot has hit its current target. Let n be the number of prior hits on the same target before the current hit. In normal state, the first hit inputs 1; for n ≥ 1 damage grows as 8n and caps at 300. That is: hit 1 = 1, hit 2 = 8, hit 3 = 16, …, hit 38 onward stays at 300. After each hit, n increments; switching target or invalidation resets n to zero.

The Corchid platform rewrites the curve. When Lightning Reed stands on a tile supported by four corner Corchids, input damage becomes 2ⁿ doubling, still capped at 300. That is: hit 1 = 1, hit 2 = 2, hit 3 = 4, …, hit 10 onward stays at 300 (2⁹ = 512 is truncated). The first 4 hits of the normal curve (1, 8, 16, 24) actually exceed the doubling curve (1, 2, 4, 8); Corchid’s benefit appears from hit 5 onward.

In particular, this section describes the base input value Lightning Reed feeds into the receive-damage settlement; actual HP loss is decided by the target’s own settlement. The 150 cs cycle and uninterrupted lock duration jointly determine stacking efficiency; once capped, every later hit holds at 300.

By default, Lightning Reed holds a single target slot. When the Reed’s tile is covered by powered Wiremoss, the second target slot opens. The second target is independently re-selected under the candidate and priority rules from § Targeting, with the slot-1 object explicitly excluded; the two targets are settled separately within the same attack cycle and do not form a primary/splash relationship.

Hit counters n₁ and n₂ are independent. Each slot runs the curve from § Stacking damage on its own; two long-lived targets each climb their own curve and do not inherit progress from the other. Even if the primary has already reached the 300 cap, the secondary still starts from hit 1.

When Wiremoss power drops too low, or the Reed’s tile leaves powered coverage, the second target slot is cleared; the next time the coverage condition is satisfied, a new second target is chosen under § Targeting. Note: the “sufficient power” threshold is defined on the Wiremoss side; see the Wiremoss entry.

Lightning Reed is also a power source. The Almanac calls this “weak current”: compared to Power Peony’s strong supply, the energy level Lightning Reed provides is markedly lower, but it can still light certain interfaces.

Two weak-current interfaces are currently known. First, Lightning Reed can directly activate Mechanical Snowfield tiles, putting them into usable state. Second, weak current propagates along Wiremoss lines and keeps them lit. Weak current cannot reverse-activate the Reed’s own second target slot: Lightning Reed can only feed power to other plants, not self-activate the same way.

Note: the in-game Almanac records this as “the current is too weak to activate itself”; the Wiremoss entry mirrors it as “Lightning Reed can replace Power Peony to activate the line, but its current is weaker and cannot activate Lightning Reed itself.” This asymmetry is the root reason § Dual targets depends on a strong supply such as Power Peony.

In the story, Lightning Reed joins at the center of Mysterious Swamp on Hurriclover’s invitation. The Almanac repeatedly emphasizes its Wild West travels, with its home in the Mysterious Swamp redecorated in Western style; its standing interest in “electric topics” threads naturally into the later electric and magnetic systems of Mechanical Snowfield, where Power Peony and Wiremoss appear. The Almanac and dialog refrain “once I lock onto you, you cannot run away” corresponds to the “reset only on invalidation” rule from § Lock.

In the side-text Almanac entries, the fried chicken Lightning Reed makes with electricity is a flavor memory that companions keep bringing up. Red Needle Flower borrows 50 sun every seven days from the team leader to buy some and returns it the next day; “I still remember the fried chicken Lightning Reed made — it was really good” is also recorded directly from Red Needle Flower’s perspective. This recurring flavor tag is what sets Lightning Reed apart from the other electric plants.