Jack O' Lantern


 * For the version in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, see Jack O' Lantern (PvZH).

"Tap Jack O' Lantern for a burst of flame. Tap and HOLD for an extended burst that does increasing damage!"

- Penny

Jack O' Lantern is a special-edition premium plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2, tied with the Lawn of Doom 2015 event released with the 4.1 update. He returned on the Luck O' The Zombie 2016 event with the discounted price of $3.99.

He is a tap-to-use plant that blows a flame jet three tiles in front of him for a few seconds. When not continuously pressed, he will use one of five "charges" to just deliver a short burst of fire, which will deal continuous damage in an area of effect for a very short while, totaling 18 normal damage shots. If held, he will deal continuous damage while draining his remaining charges. After holding on him from its full recharge form (five charges), he deals a total of exactly 90 normal damage shots, which is enough to kill all non-machined and non-Gargantuar zombies.

If he is not attacking, he will gradually recharge itself. After fully depleted all of his charges, he takes 5 seconds to the first charge and another 16 seconds to fully recharge himself. Jack O' Lantern is also a fire-based plant, emitting heat every 1.5 seconds that gradually unfreezes frozen or chilled plants in a 3x3 area around him, as well as being immune to all freezing effects himself. Additionally, his fire attack can relight Prospector Zombie's dynamite stick or Explorer Zombie's torch, thawing chilled zombies, as well as not being able to affect Imp Dragon Zombie.

Origins
Jack O' Lantern is based on a real life object, the Jack-o'-lantern. These are mostly put out at Halloween, referring to how Jack O' Lantern is only available during Halloween (unless there is a special event).

Plant Food effect
When fed Plant Food, Jack O' Lantern summons nine green wisps on random tiles on the lawn. The wisps, which resemble Jack O' Lantern himself, continuously do fire damage to zombies, dealing 45 damage. He will also restore all his five charges to full.

Strategies
The best way to use it is when the plant is fully charged. When zombies are near, hold the plant until you see that all the zombies within its range are burned. This way, you make sure that you fully use this plant.

Since he is a short-ranged plant, it is best to place him near your defensive plants. Using him in the tile behind your Wall-nuts can be useful, as you can stop zombies on the tile of the Wall-nut. Never use him as your only attacking plant, because he is a tap-to-use plant and the player can easily be distracted by other things like the sun collecting or planting. Multi-touch works with this plant, but on devices with smaller screens it is hard to do this. This plant is especially useful when combined with a boosted sun-producing plant (Sunflower, Twin Sunflower, Toadstool, and Sun-shroom) and Tile Turnip, because when he activates his Plant Food effect with Tile Turnip, he will almost cover the whole lawn annihilating almost all zombies. However, Jack O' Lantern should not be used against Imp Dragon Zombies in Arthur's Challenge, as they are completely immune to Jack O' Lantern's attack and Plant Food effect. Outside it, Jack O' Lantern is good in Dark Ages, due to the absent of Imp Dragon Zombies in normal levels, as well as him being able to bypass tombstones as well as damaging Jester Zombies.

Note that he instantly defrosts frozen zombies, so it is better to use Stunion over Iceberg Lettuce in conjunction with Jack O' Lantern. However, you will not be able to stun robot zombies as they are immune to stunning gas and could be thawed if frozen by Iceberg Lettuce. Use E.M.Peach to stun any robot zombies if they overwhelm your defense.

Jack O' Lantern is a warming plant, making him a good choice for use on Frostbite Caves. However, due to his slow recharge, you may want to add extra sources of warmth for your plants, as well as for general attacking. Putting Jack O' Lantern on the front lines naturally protects your other plants against Hunter Zombie's snowball effect.More importantly,unlike most thawing plants he will not automatically interfere with ice plants making him more useful

Jack O' Lantern also does excellent on Glitter Zombies and zombies behind them, as he can defeat them all at the same time.

Trivia

 * He is simply known as Jack by fans.
 * He is the second plant related to the Lawn of Doom event. The first is Ghost Pepper and the third is Witch Hazel.
 * He is also the only plant related to the Lawn of Doom event to be male.
 * According to the trailer and the official meme, Ghost Pepper is his first friend.
 * Jack O' Lantern haunts zombies in the trailer, but not in the game.
 * He, Rose Swordsman, Pretty Little Plum, Flame Mushroom, Angel Starfruit, and Match Flower Boxer are the only plants with a sun cost of 225.
 * He is the only plant in the international version that costs 225 sun.
 * His flame jet is similar to Fire Peashooter's Plant Food effect before the Frostbite Caves Part 2 update came out. However, his flame jet is shorter.
 * Along with Fire Peashooter, he is the second plant to have a unique noise when dug up.
 * He, Lava Guava, Banana Launcher, Escape Root, Missile Toe and Bamboo Shoot cannot be planted on mine carts. Trying to plant one will give the player the message, "You can't plant Jack O' Lanterns on rail carts."
 * He, Saucer, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Witch, and Smashing Pumpkin are the only plants based on pumpkins.
 * His flame jet uses the flame tile effect from Lost City.
 * He is the only plant to have an apostrophe in its name.
 * He can damage flying zombies despite attacking by burning the ground.
 * Like Fire Peashooter, his flames are not affected by the water in Pirate Seas and Big Wave Beach.
 * Even after the player defeats the final zombie and the reward drops, he can still be used.
 * When he is stunned by a Boombox Zombie, he glitches out and starts playing his activation and deactivation sounds repeatedly until the power ballad jam is finished.
 * He is the third special-edition plant to cost real money, the first being Sap-fling, the second being Strawburst, the fourth being Blooming Heart, the fifth being Witch Hazel, and the sixth being Parsnip.
 * His abilities may refer to how in real life jack-o'-lanterns include the use a flame, such as a candle, to make them glow from the inside.
 * He is the second premium plant to be manually controlled, the first being Strawburst.
 * Coincidentally, both plants are also special-edition.
 * His idling animation is similar to Peashooter's and Sun Bean's.
 * According to the credits, he is voiced by John Stumme.
 * Sometimes, his flame will not light up correctly. He can still be used the same way, but the player will not know how powerful the flame is.
 * He is very similar to Fire Gourd in the Chinese version of the game.
 * They both have a similar fire mechanic, both use fire as their main source of damage, and both need to recharge after being tapped on for too long.