Citron


 * For other versions, see Citron (disambiguation).

Citron is the third plant obtained in Far Future in Plants vs. Zombies 2. When planted, it is relatively small. Then, it charges up its attack and gets larger. When fully charged, it will shoot a powerful ball of plasma approximately every 10 seconds that does 40 normal damage shots to a zombie.

Origins
Citron's name is derived from Citrus medica, known as the citron in English. However, its round body and orange color resemble the more widely known orange. Citron could also be a combination of citrus (a family of fruits including oranges, lemons, limes, kumquats, grapefruits, citrons, etc.) and the suffix tron, which usually relates to something mechanical, electrical, or futuristic (which makes sense, as Citron is unlocked in Far Future and shoots balls of electric plasma).

Overview
When Citron is first planted, it is small. At that stage, it charges its projectile and quickly gets bigger until it reaches its charged stage. It takes seven seconds to charge up the first ball of plasma, then takes ten seconds to charge after that. If there are no zombies or tombstones in front of the Citron, it will keep the plasma ball charged until one appears. The plasma balls that Citron fires deal 40 normal damage shots to zombies, and do not deal splash damage.

Plant Food effect
Upon the usage of Plant Food, Citron gets struck by lightning and shoots a giant glowing light-blue plasma ball that travels down the lane, flinging away most types of zombies and tombstones in that lane. The plasma ball disintegrates upon impact with any robot, mechanized zombie (minus Zombie Bull and Bug Bot Imp), or Gargantuar, dealing 200 damage (125 to Dr. Zomboss, and 300 to Jurassic Gargantuar)

Costumed
Citron now deals higher damage and produces chains of electric current to attack zombies.

Strategies
Citron's greatest advantage is its high damage per second capability. Against a single target, Citron can easily outmatch most controllable plants, including Strawburst and Banana Launcher. Thanks to this, Citron is a powerful choice against single high-health targets such as Robo-Cone Zombie and Gargantuar. However, its high cost, slow firing rate, and the inability to control Citron mean that large numbers of zombies will present a great challenge, as Citron will deal huge amounts of overkill damage and waste its shots. Because of this, Citron should be paired with other crowd-controlling plants like Laser Bean or Fume-shroom, and it should not be used by itself.

The Plant Food ability is very similar in many parts to Laser Bean's. The main difference between the two is how they deal with larger, tougher zombies. Laser Bean's Plant Food ability is not stopped by mechanical enemies, effectively making Laser Bean more useful than Citron for crowd control. Conversely, Citron's can instantly kill zombies that Laser Bean's cannot, making Citron ideal against single Gargantuars and Gargantuar Prime, who will release their Imp after passing the 91 normal damage shots mark. Regardless, in levels without tough zombies, the two plant food effects are perfectly interchangeable with no major differences.

Citron should be avoided against fast zombies like All-Star Zombie and Surfer Zombie or zombies that block or deflect straight-firing projectiles like Shield Zombie, Jester Zombie, and Excavator Zombie. All-Star Zombies and Surfer Zombies can reach the Citrons quickly and destroy them. Shield Zombie, Jester Zombies, and Excavator Zombies, on the other hand, will nullify the plasma ball. The same does not apply to its Plant Food ability projectile, so Citron can be boosted to deal with these threats should the situation get dire.

Do not use Citron on levels with Chicken Wrangler Zombies or Weasel Hoarders, as they release many small, extremely weak yet fast Zombie Chickens and Ice Weasels. Citron is unable to conquer them alone due to its slow attack speed, plus the fact that it can only hit one target at a time.

Tips: Avoid using Citrons on levels where tombstones are present as their plasma will hit them, wasting an attack. Also, Tomb Raiser Zombies pose a major threat against Citron in Ancient Egypt as they will continuously create more tombstones while Citron's fire rate is slow and can only destroy one at a time.

In the Chinese version, it is recommended to upgrade Citron to level 4, since when it is planted, it has a chance to immediately activate its Plant Food ability. In addition, Sweet Potato can help attract more zombies so Citron could kill them easily.

Trivia

 * If one looks closely at a zombie that has been flung from its Plant Food ability, small bolts of electricity will arc around the zombie.
 * Before Far Future was released, it was originally going to cost 400 sun, according to an official screenshot released on Tuesday Exclusive prior to the world's release by Electronic Arts.
 * It was the second Far Future plant to be previewed in Piñata Parties, with the first being Laser Bean.
 * During Last Stand setup, its animation stops once it is fully charged, possibly due to a bug. Once the level starts, its animation will resume. This also happens in Far Future - Day 15, in the seed selection screen.
 * Magic Vine's projectile from Plant Food upgrade is a recolored version of the Citron's.
 * The Puzzle Piece to unlock it shows a fully charged Citron, while the Puzzle Piece to unlock its costume shows an uncharged Citron.
 * In a Zomboss battle, if there are fully charged Citrons in the lanes the Zombot is in, the Citrons will shoot at the Zombot while it is leaving.
 * This is similar to Zomboss battles with Spikeweed and Endurian as they will also attack the Zombot as it is leaving if they are close enough.
 * Its Plant Food effect plasma ball is currently the most powerful projectile when damaging Jurassic Gargantuar, dealing 300 normal damage shots.
 * Its Plant Food effect can destroy multiple robot zombies and/or Gargantuars at once if it is activated close enough.
 * This is no longer true for Gargantuars in the 6.7.1 update.

Pomelo Cédrat Цитрон