Gargantuar

Gargantuars are the third strongest zombies 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 sometimes 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, if you hit it twice within about 1 second.

Giga-Gargantuar


The Giga-Gargantuar is the second most powerful zombie in the game, with only Dr. Zomboss being tougher. Found only in Survival: Endless, it has 50% more health and takes 75 more normal hits (making 225 Normal Damage Shots) than a regular Gargantuar. To distinguish itself from its lesser brethren, the Giga-Gargantuar has crimson-red eyes. One can take three 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 three hits from an instant, a Giga-Gargantuar will hurl an 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.
 * 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 is also played when a Zomboni, a Catapult Zombie, Dr. Zomboss's Fireball/Snowball attack, or when the Zombot's foot crushes other plants.
 * 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, a patch will appear on his body.
 * Gargantuars can have one of three different clubs: a telephone pole, a wildlife crossing sign, or another zombie.
 * The wildlife crossing sign carried by the gargantuar says 'XING' on it. It may mean "crossing".
 * The zombies that the Gargantuars use have cut ties on their clothes.
 * Gargantuars only use normal zombies as clubs.
 * His hand seems to be designed only for the telephone pole, as for other clubs his fingers are partially clipping, not fitting the sprite of the wildlife crossing sign nor the zombie.
 * The name Gargantuar likely comes from its gargantuan size or possibly as a reference to the Toho movie "War of the Gargantuars".
 * The Gargantuar has an open-toed shoe.
 * The Gargantuar has a slight resemblance to the Super Mutant Behemoth from Fallout 3.
 * 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 somewhat impossible for a Gargantuar to fit inside a single vase in Vasebreaker.
 * A Garden Rake works the same as an Instant Kill when it hits a Gargantuar.
 * This happens even though Crazy Dave says that the Garden Rake kills the first zombie that steps on it.
 * The Gargantuar, the Bungee Zombie, the Balloon Zombie above the pool, the Zomboni, the Catapult Zombie, and Dr. Zomboss are the only zombie whose heads don't fall off when killed or defeated.
 * When the Gargantuar strikes, the whole screen will shake.
 * The screen will also shake when the Gargantuar's dead body falls onto 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 itself 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.