Pepper-pult


 * Not to be confused with the Bell Pepper in Plants vs. Zombies: All Stars.

Pepper-pult is the second plant obtained in Frostbite Caves in Plants vs. Zombies 2. It lobs flaming peppers at the rate of a Cabbage-pult that can deal splash damage in a 3x3 area. When upgraded in the Chinese version, it will lob napalm peppers which have a similar appearance to napalm peas. It is immune to Hunter Zombie's snowballs as well as chilling winds and also emits a pulse at half the fire rate of itself that can slowly thaw any frozen plant in a 3x3 area. Pepper-pult is the sixth lobbed-shot plant listed in Plants vs. Zombies 2.

A direct hit from Pepper-pult deals 2.5 normal damage shots, while the splash damage equals to 0.5 normal damage shots.

Almanac entry
Sun cost: 200

DAMAGE: Moderate

RANGE: Lobbed

RECHARGE: Sluggish

Pepper-pults lob flaming peppers at zombies and keep nearby plants warm.

Special: warms nearby tiles

Some say Pepper-pult is a hot head. Some find his fiery disposition off-putting. But the truth is, he's just very focused and determined. He loves what he does. He appreciates everything he has. "I came from the weedy side of the lawn," Pepper-pult explains. "I worked hard to pull myself up by my roots. I'm a self-made pepper and I don't take a single thing for granted."

Plant Food
Pepper-pult when fed with Plant Food launches three giant flaming peppers that target any large groups zombies on screen, each pepper firebomb dealing 30 damage in a 3x3 area.

Costumed
Pepper-pult launches four bursts of giant flaming peppers instead of three.

Strategies
The player should try to space out Pepper-pults so as to cover as much ground and reach every plant possible. Warm the sun producing plants by planting a row of Pepper-pults in the leftmost column, especially in Last Stand. When frozen zombies are near, the player should make sure their warm defenses are congregated nearby. Another strategy is to block Hunter Zombies with Pepper-pults. They cannot be frozen, and with enough firepower from behind, the Hunter Zombie can easily be destroyed.

Try not to use Pepper-pults as your only offensive plant. Even though they have a reasonable sun cost, their sluggish recharge makes them slightly impractical alone, since it will take a long time to set up your defense, potentially allowing zombies to overrun your lawn.

They are a bit useful in Lost City due to their easily obtainable sun cost & moderate damage which can take out Excavator Zombies with ease. The pepper-firebombs from its Plant Food effect can also dispatch of Parasol Zombies even with a single direct hit, completely ignoring the parasol (the firebombs are classified as explosives but not lobbed-shot projectiles). The only problem is, as stated above, the sluggish recharge of its seed packet, so it is best to have a secondary offensive plant, like Laser Bean.

Do not use it against Imp Dragon Zombies as they are completely immune to the fiery peppers. If they come in large groups, they can defeat all the Pepper-pults easily.

Trivia

 * It is based on a bell pepper, a sweet type of pepper.
 * It is similar to its counterpart in Plants vs. Zombies: All Stars. The main differences though is that it throws flaming peppers instead of normal ones, the bottom leaves are green while its counterpart has orange ones and they also have different eyebrows.
 * It is the second new lobbed-shot plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2, the first being Sap-fling. It is also the first new lobbed-shot plant that deals damage.
 * It does splash damage in a 3x3 area, similarly to Winter Melon and Melon-pult.
 * Pepper-pult is the fourth plant in the series based on a pepper. The other three are Jalapeno, Chilly Pepper, and Ghost Pepper.
 * It is also the first pepper to not explode.
 * Pepper-pult, Torchwood, and Fire Peashooter are the only plants to have visible flames.
 * Along with Hot Potato and Lava Guava, these are also the only plants in the game to be able to thaw other plants and are immune to ice, although the heat pulses do not exist outside of Frostbite Caves.
 * It and Hot Potato are the only plants that can thaw other plants while not being a premium.
 * Although Snapdragon's fire breath can thaw frozen plants as well, and even the first levels of an ice block if there are any nearby to activate its attack, Snapdragon is not immune to ice because it does not have visible flames on its sprite.


 * Sometimes, during its idle animation, Pepper-pult will glance behind it (either to see if its pepper is burning or just to check stuff behind it), then glare forward (probably at the zombies), then shift suddenly (to refresh itself, maybe).
 * It will also glance its back occasionally before lobbing a pepper (perhaps to signal its fellows to fire with him).


 * Dandelion, Flame Mushroom, Freeze Mushroom, Pomegranate Machine Gun, and Pepper-pult are the only non-instant attacking plants with a Sluggish recharge.
 * It is the only lobbed-shot plant that has a Sluggish recharge.
 * After it has been watered, its pepper's flame goes off and then it will spark its pepper twice and then set it alight again. A similar thing happens to Torchwood, Fire Peashooter, and Lava Guava.
 * Ghost Pepper and Pepper-pult have the longest watering animations in the Zen Garden.
 * When an Explorer Zombie's torch is put out, it can re-ignite the torch, like other fire-based plants.
 * Just like every other fire plant (except for Lava Guava), Pepper-pult has no immunity against the torch of an Explorer Zombie.
 * All fire plants can be incinerated by the lasers of a Gargantuar Prime or a Turquoise Skull Zombie, though.
 * In the 3.2 update, Jester Zombies could not deflect Pepper-pult's projectiles.
 * Pepper-pult has the least damaging splash damage compared to the other lobbed-shot plants.
 * Sometimes when Plant Food is used on it, it makes the same noise that Cabbage-pult makes when Plant Food is used on it before it starts launching giant peppers.
 * It is the first plant in the international version to be brought from a Chinese game. The second one being Dandelion.
 * Sap-fling and Pepper-pult are the only lobbed-shot plants in the game that can rotate their peduncle. Sap-fling does this only during its Plant Food effect.
 * It is the most expensive plant in Frostbite Caves.
 * It is the only plant to have its event costume be its only costume.