Gargantuar is the 23rd zombie encountered in Adventure Mode. These zombies have the highest health of any non-boss zombie in Adventure Mode, and in addition to having extremely high health, Gargantuars smash the player's plants instead of eating them, capable of destroying Spikeweeds and Spikerocks, though the latter one only after a few hits. Along with this, Chomper is unable to instantly kill them, and instead can only bite to deal damage.
Once a Gargantuar has lost more than half of his health he will throw his Imp, who lands several squares ahead, only throwing the Imp when at least six columns away from the player's house.
When Gargantuar walks, the earth trembles. When he moans, other zombies fall silent. He is the zombie other zombies dream they could be. But he still can't find a girlfriend.
Overview
The Gargantuar absorbs 3000 damage per shot and his appearance changes after 1000 and 2000 damage per shot before dying at 3000 damage per shot or two instant kills. The Gargantuar throws his Imp at 1500 damage per shot or one instant kill.
Since a Gargantuar's smashing animation is quite slow, you can delay a Gargantuar with a Spikerock, which takes nine smashes before disappearing. Cheap plants, like Puff-shrooms, are also a good choice, as they have fast recharge and cost little to no sun, which makes them good emergency delayers. It is advised that you attack him with at least one instant-kill or else he may do a lot of damage to your vital defenses. Winter Melons are quite useful against it, especially in Survival: Endless. Although Chompers cannot eat a Gargantuar whole, they can keep biting at him, dealing 40 DPS per bite, making them good for weakening them. Hitting a Gargantuar with a Squash, followed by a Jalapeno kills him fast, and prevents the Imp from doing serious damage. A charged Potato Mine will deal damage to the Gargantuar when he crushes it. Hypno-shrooms do not work against him because he does not eat anything. However, a hypnotized Imp can eat a Gargantuar without dying. Rows of Gloom-shrooms adjacent to his path will work as well. In the Survival ModePool levels (especially Survival: Endless) you can stagger him a bit so that Gloom-shrooms in the pool kill Gargantuars before they reach ones on dry land. Another way to take out a Gargantuar is to use two Gatling Peas and a Torchwood. You can also kill a Gargantuar without making him launch his Imp. You need to have good defenses, though. First, let your plants damage him until his arm gets a patch. Once that happens, quickly use an instant kill. He will die and the Imp will not even be thrown.
The most useful strategy for Gargantuars, working well in both Dr. Zomboss's Revenge and Column Like You See 'Em, is using two Jalapenos, one to activate the Imp and another one to take them out without major damage from the Imp.
I, Zombie
A Gargantuar costs 300 sun.
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 him. It is still recommended to use normal zombies to remove problems.
Vasebreaker
In Vasebreaker, save some Squashes to get rid of these zombies, though Potato Mines work as well. There will be a Gargantuar but it might be difficult as the Squashes will go away after some time and clicking randomly until the Gargantuar appears might outnumber your other lane.
Gargantuar is a pun based on the word "gargantuan".
Gargantuars will never spawn at the top lane of all game modes (except endless levels). The most probable reason is to avoid obstructing the view of the available plants menu at the top of the screen with their massive size. Players can take advantage of this behavior, as they can put plants there which otherwise would be smashed in a single smash of a Gargantuar, like a Pumpkin or a Spikeweed; or concentrate on investing their sun reserves for upgrading other lanes which demand more attention.
The Gargantuar's death animation will never have the Imp since when he dies, the Imp sinks through the trash can and vanishes.
A Lawn Mower or a Roof Cleaner can kill a Gargantuar for balancing reasons. He turns into a puff of smoke when defeated.
However, Gargantuar's body sprite had a "beheaded" wound visible, this can be assumed that Gargantuar used to have the decapitated dying animation but it remained unused. This returned in PVZ2.
In the I, Zombie level Me Smash!, the Gargantuar smashes the brain instead of eating it, as he has no eating animation.
Ironically, the game will still say "The Zombies ate your Brains" when he enters the house, despite him never eating brains.
The Gargantuar is the second most expensive zombie in I, Zombie, costing 300 sun. The only zombie which costs more in I, Zombie is the Dancing Zombie, which costs 350 sun.
If the Gargantuar is killed by an explosive instant kill (that turned the zombie into ash) and has not been able to throw his Imp, the body of the Imp will also disintegrate inside the trash can, and then his head will fall onto the pile of ash that the Gargantuar has turned into.
If the player uses an Ice-shroom to freeze a Gargantuar at the exact frame that it he throwing out his Imp (1.05 seconds after the Gargangtuar's health goes below
A Gargantuar throwing the Imp again
1500), the original Imp will disappear, and the Gargantuar will throw the Imp again.
The Gargantuar will ignore other hypnotized zombies. The zombie will eat the Gargantuar, but they usually cannot defeat the Gargantuar before he goes away because of the Gargantuar's high health, unless the Gargantuar is stalled by constantly placing cheap plants to delay him. It takes 15 seconds for a regular Zombie to completely defeat him.
If a Chomper manages to kill a Gargantuar, it will show the chewing animation with a normal zombie's arm sticking out, even though it supposedly cannot eat him.
If a Gargantuar is killed while slowed by some sort of ice plant right at the starting point the player will be able to see the corpse while they are picking plants (Survival Mode and Last Stand Endless only).
Gargantuars can have one of three different clubs: a telephone pole, a wildlife crossing sign, or another zombie.
In an interview, George Fan describes two Gargantuar weapon ideas that were never implemented: "a leash with a chihuahua tied to it" and "a phone booth with the person still inside".
Gargantuar can only throw his Imp five squares away from the right side of the screen. If a Gargantuar loses half of his health at the fifth square, he will not throw the Imp.
The Gargantuar is one of the three zombies that come in groups, the other two are the Zombie Bobsled Team and the Dancing Zombie with its Backup Dancers.
When a Gargantuar throws an Imp while he is frozen or slowed down, the Imp will also be slowed down. This feature did not return to PVZ2.
When using the Action Replay software 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 on his back, or his legs.
Two dying frozen Gargantuars without Imps
A rake will deal 1800 damage to a gargantuar, making him one of the only few zombies that cannot be instantly defeated by it. The others are Zomboss, Giga-Gargantuar, and Tall-Nut zombie.
The Gargantuar's roar is the same roar used by Dr. Zomboss when his Zombot is destroyed.
The Gargantuar, the Balloon Zombie, and the Screen Door Zombie are three of four zombies that appear in I, Zombie levels, but not in I, Zombie Endless. This is probably to keep the player from making the puzzle too easy, since these three are very effective against the plants in the level. However, the normal Zombie is also omitted to make the game more challenging in another way, for a normal zombie can sometimes manage to clear a line with a single offensive plant, while the Imp cannot in most cases.
It is possible for a Gargantuar to be damaged by a Spikeweed or a Spikerock if they are planted under the Gargantuar.
If a sleeping mushroom is squashed by a Gargantuar, the mushroom will become a flattened woken version of the mushroom.
Gargantuar's concept design
As seen in the concept design for Gargantuar posted on the Plants vs. Zombies Facebook page, the Gargantuar was going to be a much more muscular zombie with short legs. His telephone pole is still present and has no Imp.
The Gargantuar has a collar around its neck. This is most likely because the Imp treats him like a mount or pet.
In the DS version, plants will be crushed before Gargantuar finishes his animation. This makes him harder to defeat in the DS version. This also happens in the DSiWare version.
Sometimes, in the DSiWare version, the Gargantuar will change his weapon when he smashes a plant. This also happens in DS Versus Mode.
If playing the game on a mobile device, and the device has a vibration feature, he will trigger the vibration whenever he smashes a plant or is defeated and collapses to the ground.
