Gargantuar

Gargantuars are the third strongest zombie in existence (only the Giga-Gargantuar and Dr. Zomboss are stronger), taking two instant kills to destroy. It is a massive land zombie that carries an Imp on its back. It has a huge amount of health. When a Gargantuar gets down to about half its health, it throws the Imp on its back about half the screen towards the house. It uses its club to crush the player's plants. Because it can crush them, it can destroy every plant in its path, even Spikerocks and Spikeweeds. Unless killed by an explosion, upon dying Gargantuars roar, sway, and fall over, landing with a ground (and screen) shaking thud.

Overview
Absorbs 150 Normal Damage Shots. Appearance changes after 50 and 75 Normal Damage Shots, and dies after 150 Normal Damage Shots, or 2 instant kills.

Strategy
You can delay a Gargantuar with Spikerocks, which take nine smashes before they disappear. It is advised that you blast it with at least one explosive plant, or else it may do a lot of damage to your vital defenses. It works well to slow them with a Winter Melon or Snow Pea. Chompers are almost useless; they continuously bite it, doing minimal damage until completely crushed. You can also try to slow Gargantuars by planting something cheap to delay it, such as a Sun-shroom or a Puff-shroom. A charged Potato Mine will deal damage to the Gargantuar when it crushes it. Hypno-shrooms do not work against it, because it does not try to eat anything. Rows of Gloom-shrooms adjacent to his path will work as well. In the Survival Mode Pool levels (especially Survival: Endless) you can stagger it a bit so that Gloom-shrooms in the pool kill Gargantuars before they reach ones on dry land. In the I, Zombie level Me Smash!, These are useful in hard rows without multiple Squashes, although occasionally a single Squash and a Kernel-pult with other offensive plants can kill it too. In Vasebreaker, save some Squashes to get rid of these zombies, though Potato Mines work as well.


 * Note: If you attack a Gargantuar with an instant kill, make sure to prepare for the Imp it will throw unless it is halfway through the lawn. The best way to do this is to plant a Pumpkin where it lands, and make sure that an offensive plant can reach it, but instant kills (preferably Jalapenos) can also work. If you're dealing with only one Gargantuar at once, then the easiest way to defeat him and his Imp is to use Squash first, and Jalapeno second. If there are multiple in the same column, a Cherry Bomb works better than that of Squash. It's also possible to kill the Gargantuar before it can throw its imp.

Giga-Gargantuar


The Giga-Gargantuar is the most powerful zombie in the game. Found only in Survival: Endless, it has twice as much health and takes 150 more normal hits (making 300 Normal Damage Shots) than a regular Gargantuar. To distinguish itself from its lesser brethren, the Giga-Gargantuar has crimson-red eyes. One can take four instants, which means the Cob Cannon is a good plant to have in your arsenal. It is also a good idea to pack extra instant kills such as Squash, Jalapenos, Cherry Bombs. After two hits from an instant, a Giga-Gargantuar will hurl a Giga-Imp into your defenses, unless it is already half-way into your lawn. Imps thrown by Giga-Gargantuars have 50% more health (making them take nine normal damage shots) than an ordinary Imp. These Giga-Gargantuar and Giga-Imps do not have Almanac entries.

Trivia

 * A Lawn Mower can kill a Gargantuar, despite the size of the Gargantuar. When it is killed by one, the Gargantuar turns into a puff of smoke even though the Gargantuar is not mechanical.
 * In the I, Zombie level Me Smash, the Gargantuar squashes the brain instead of eating it.
 * However, there is a biting sound when this happens. The same sound is also played after it kills a plant. This happens because Gargantuars have no eating animation
 * This is also played when a Zomboni, a Catapult Zombie, or Dr. Zomboss's Fireball/Snowball attack kills a plant, or when the Zombot's foot crushes other plants.
 * The Gargantuar is the most expensive plant in the puzzle I, Zombie costing 300 Sun
 * If the Gargantuar is killed by an explosive and hasn't been able to throw its Imp, the body of the Imp will also disintegrate inside the trash can and then its head will fall onto the pile of ash the Gargantuar has turned into.
 * If the Gargantuar is killed while in the process of throwing an Imp, the Imp will recede back into its trash can.
 * The Gargantuar will not hit other zombies that have been affected by a Hypno-shroom. Instead, the Zombie will just die.
 * After the Gargantuar has half health gone, bandages will appear on its body.
 * Gargantuars can have one of three different clubs: a telephone pole, a wildlife crossing sign, or another zombie.
 * The zombies that the Gargantuars use have cut ties on their clothes.
 * Gargantuars only use normal zombies as clubs.
 * Their hand's graphics seem to be designed specifically for the telephone pole, as for other clubs their fingers partially overlap the sprite of the wildlife crossing sign or zombie.
 * The name Gargantuar likely comes from its gargantuan size or possibly as a reference to the Toho movie "The War of the Gargantuas".
 * The Gargantuar has an open-toed shoe.
 * Gargantuars can only throw its Imp 4 squares away from the right side of the screen, if a Gargantuar loses half of its health at the fifth square, he can't throw an Imp.
 * The Gargantuar is one of the three zombies that have a Giga form. The other two are the Imp and the Football Zombie.
 * The Gargantuar is one of the three zombies that is a come in groups, the other two are the Zombie Bobsled Team and the Dancing Zombie with the Backup Dancers.
 * When a Gargantuar throws an Imp while it is frozen/slowed down, the Imp will also be slowed down.
 * If the Giga-Gargantuar is killed by an explosive (i.e. instant kill), his eyes will be white instead of red.
 * It is logically impossible for a Gargantuar to fit inside a vase in Vasebreaker, yet they can anyways.
 * A Garden Rake works as an Instant Kill if it hits a Gargantuar.
 * The Gargantuar, the Bungee Zombie, the Balloon Zombie above the pool, the Zomboni, the Catapult Zombie, and Dr. Zomboss are the only zombies whose heads don't fall off when killed or defeated.
 * When the Gargantuar smashes a plant, the whole screen shakes.
 * The screen also shakes when the Gargantuar's dead body hits the ground.
 * The Gargantuar, the Ladder Zombie, the Balloon Zombie (while on its balloon), the Digger Zombie (while digging), the Zomboni, and the Catapult Zombie are the only zombies that can get past a Tall-nut by themselves without eating the plant.
 * When using the Action Replay on the DS version, a glitch may occur in which when the zombies are viewed, the Gargantuar will be seen without a head, the Imp at its back, and its legs.
 * The Imp on the Gargantuar holds reigns tied to the Gargantuar's collar but when he throws the Imp the reigns dissapear.
 * The Gargantuar barely degrades at 50 hits, but at 75 hits his shirt rips, his toes burst out of his left shoe, he is covered in plasters and the trash can gets dented.