Sap-fling

Sap-fling is a special-edition premium lobbed-shot plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2. It was added in the 3.1.1 update, and was available to purchase from December 4, 2014 to January 13, 2015. Sap-fling and the other special-edition plants returned in the Luck O' The Zombie event, lasting from March 11, 2015 to March 24, 2015. It once again reappeared in the stores from July 7, 2015 along with the new Piñata Parties (codenamed "unvault") advertising the availability of all the limited plants for limited time. Sap-fling yet again returned on December 16, 2015 as a premium plant sponsoring the third Feastivus event. The most recent return of Sap-fling is during the Unvault Week.

Sap-fling creates a puddle of sap on the square nearest to the first zombie by throwing its sap-covered pinecone, which can not be blocked or reflected by any means. The sap puddle does not deal any damage to zombies and disappears after ten seconds, but will slow all grounded zombies on it by 50%. Sap-fling's slowing effect does not stack with other slowing effect, such as the chilling effect from Winter Melon, or Red Stinger's Plant Food ability. The sap tile does not affect flying zombies, nor can it be laid on Pirate Seas's ocean or Big Wave Beach's water tiles.

Origins
Sap-fling's name is a portmanteau of "sap," referring to the orange sap that it throws at the zombies, "sapling," the type of plant this plant is based on and "fling," referring to the fact that it is a lobbed-shot plant.

Almanac entry
Sun cost: 150

AREA: Tile RANGE: Lobbed RECHARGE: Fast

Sap-flings create zombie-slowing puddles of sap.

Damage Details: does no damage on impact, but creates sap puddle Special: slows zombies who walk in puddle

You've gotta see Sap-fling's throwing arm to believe it. He may be young, but everyone agrees ... the kid's got TALENT. Scouts from some of the biggest Pinecone Ball teams have been keeping a close eye on him. He could be headed to the majors. Oh sure, some knock him for his incredibly sticky spitball. But he only uses all-natural sap, so it's entirely legal.

Plant Food effect
When fed with Plant Food, Sap-fling throws 20 pinecones randomly on the lawn, turning into sap puddles which will stay for 15 seconds.

Costumed
When fed with Plant Food, it releases a large amount of sap in an area, which has a 100% chance to immobilize zombies in amber.

Strategies
As a plant with slowing down effect for an entire tile, Sap-fling can be used as a substitute for other ice-based plants such as Winter Melon for suppressing the crowd. While Sap-fling does not deal any damage to enemies, its relatively low cost and synergy with fire-based plants like Pepper-pult, Fire Peashooter, and Snapdragon makes Sap-fling a more practical choice in normal levels. However, be aware that Sap-fling will not function well in several levels like Big Wave Beach as it poses a particularly great threat to Sap-fling, as most of the tiles are usually flooded and it does not allow sap tiles to be placed, and its firing rate is quite slow, like other lobbed shot plants.

The slowing effect of the sap allows plants with limited range or one tile effect such as Bonk Choy, Ghost Pepper and Spikerock to deliver more damage against zombies as they move slower inside their shooting range. This effect is also very useful for plants with slow fire rates, like Laser Bean, Fume-shroom, Bloomerang, Dandelion, and other lobbed-shot plants as these plants can deliver more shots against zombies.

Sap-fling particularly shines in Frostbite Caves, with its ability to work with fire plants. Furthermore, ice floes can bottle the zombies up, so with a swift Hurrikale push or Chard Guard toss, all the zombies will be in one tile, allowing Sap-fling to slow all the zombies down and let splash damage plants do more damage, such as Pepper-pult and Dandelion.

Trivia

 * Defeated zombies may also be affected by its puddle, unlike with freezing effects. Their dying animation will also be slowed down.
 * It appears to have a cold, often sniffling and wiping its sap on the ground as if it was snot from a runny nose. In the Zen Garden, when watered, it will sneeze and some sap will be thrown to the ground as if it was snot.
 * It and Cold Snapdragon are the only plants that sneeze as if they had a cold.
 * Coincidentally they are also both premiums, both slow zombies, both cost 150 sun, and both released during December.
 * Prior to the 3.2.1 update, zombies would turn orange if pinecones hit them. Along with that, when it lobs projectiles, it makes the sound of a tree creaking. However, these sounds have been suppressed after the 3.2.1 update.
 * According to the concept art, it was originally going to fall over and crush zombies after they came near it. It was also originally much larger. The original idea was possibly scrapped because it resembled Squash's ability too much.
 * In the Chinese version, it was going to be called 闷棍一扔, which translates to "sap fling"
 * In the Chinese version, it cannot be used in Sky City levels. The same applies to E.M.Peach, Blover, Bamboo Shoot, and Freeze Mushroom.
 * Before update 4.1.1, it and Lava Guava can halt MC Zom-B from moving while MC Zom-B's jam is played, as MC Zom-B will blindly attack the sap or lava tile even if no plant is in its area of effect. Along with this, Troglobites in Frostbite Caves and Arcade Zombies in Neon Mixtape Tour could not push frozen blocks and arcade machine onto sap. These glitches were patched in the 4.1.1 update.
 * It and Shadow-shroom are the only plants that use sticky liquids to affect zombies.
 * Coincidentally, they both start with the letter S and have a hyphen in them.
 * Before the 3.1 update, when a chilled zombie stepped on a sapped tile, it would turn green.
 * It is the only plant that can attack zombies, but cannot damage them.
 * It is one of three lobbed-shot premium plants, the others being Blooming Heart and Apple Mortar.

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