Hot Potato

Hot Potato
Hot Potatoes melt the ice blocks they're planted on.
Statistics
Sun Cost	0
Recharge	10 seconds
Toughness	300 damage
Damage	0 damage
Area	Single
Usage	Single, Instant
Family	Pepper-mint
Usage	Single use
Special	Melts an ice block
Statistics (China)
Sun Cost	0
Recharge	10 seconds
Class	Support
Quality	Common
Tags	Insta, support
In-game statistics
Unlocked	Beating Frostbite Caves - Day 1
Costumes
Code name	hotpotato
How does Hot Potato stay so positive and even-peeled all the time? Yoga, that's how. She never misses a class. Also, regular meditation. It's the only way she can handle the hard work of fighting zombies, day in and day out, without melting down.

Hot Potato is the first plant obtained in Frostbite Caves in Plants vs. Zombies 2. She is a single-use plant capable of thawing frozen blocks, freeing the zombie or plant that is trapped inside it, taking 2.5 seconds to do it, which makes her an environment modifier.

Origins

The real-life Solanum tuberosum in which Hot Potato is based on

Hot Potato is based on the real life potato, the starchy, tuberous root portion of the plant Solanum tuberosum.

The term "hot potato" refers to a children's game in which players attempt to pass an object to each other while music plays, in an attempt to not be the one holding the object when the music suddenly stops. It's also a slang for dangerous items that will cause devastating effects if not handled with care.

Almanac entry

Note: The stats shown below only apply to Level 1.

Hot Potato
	SUN COST 0 RECHARGE 10 TOUGHNESS 300 DAMAGE 0 AREA Single Usage Single, Instant Pepper-mint Plant Food: No Plant Food effect. Hot Potatoes melt the ice blocks they're planted on. How does Hot Potato stay so positive and even-peeled all the time? Yoga, that's how. She never misses a class. Also, regular meditation. It's the only way she can handle the hard work of fighting zombies, day in and day out, without melting down.

Hot Potato

SUN COST 0 RECHARGE 10 TOUGHNESS 300 DAMAGE 0 AREA Single Usage Single, Instant Pepper-mint Plant Food: No Plant Food effect. Hot Potatoes melt the ice blocks they're planted on. How does Hot Potato stay so positive and even-peeled all the time? Yoga, that's how. She never misses a class. Also, regular meditation. It's the only way she can handle the hard work of fighting zombies, day in and day out, without melting down.

Chinese version  (China only)

烤马铃薯可以融化场上冰块。 用法：一次性使用 特点：融化一个冰砖 烤马铃薯即使在去皮时也能活得如此积极，为什么？瑜伽，这就是答案。她从来没有错过哪怕一堂瑜伽课。此外，还有定期冥想。这是她能够面对僵尸战斗，日复一日辛勤工作而没有倒下去的唯一方法。 In English: Hot Potatoes melt the ice blocks they're planted on. Usage: single use Special: melts an ice block Even when Hot Potato is peeled, she is still living so optimistically. Why? Yoga, that's the answer. She never misses a class. Also, regular meditation. It's the only way she can handle the hard work of fighting zombies, day in and day out, without breaking down.

Upgrades

Pepper-mint effect

When boosted by Pepper-mint, Hot Potato will do an additional 60 damage per tick (or just do 60 damage if she is at level 1) to zombies on her tile. She will also gain the ability to melt octopi from Octo Zombies if she is not at level 5 and above.

Level upgrades

Level	Seed Packets	Coins	Upgrades
			Sun Cost	Recharge (Mediocre)	Toughness (Typical)	Damage*	Area
1	0	0	0	10 seconds	300 damage	0 damage	Single
2	10	1,000			350 damage	10 damage
3	75	5,000		9 seconds	400 damage	20 damage
4	200	10,000			450 damage	30 damage
5	400	20,000		8 seconds	550 damage	40 damage
6	750	30,000			600 damage	50 damage
7	1,000	40,000		7 seconds	650 damage	60 damage
8	1,250	50,000			700 damage
9	1,500	60,000		6 seconds	800 damage
10	2,000	75,000		5 seconds	900 damage

*This column will show the proximity damage-per-second it deals to zombies and obstacles in its tile while melting.
Note: At level 5, Hot Potato gains the ability to melt Octopi from Octo Zombie.

Mastery upgrade

• Toughness Bonus

Costumed (China only)

Recharge reduced by 20%.

Strategies

Hot Potato will be the first thawing option that is from Frostbite Caves available to the player. On earlier levels in Frostbite Caves, she will prove sufficient, as she can thaw single plants significantly faster than other warming plants and there is little pressure from the wind and Hunter Zombies. However, she is incapable of preventing plants from freezing in the first place, and her status as an instant plant means that she will be quickly overwhelmed in later levels and in the world's Endless Zone, Icebound Battleground.

In Special Delivery levels, try to save Hot Potatoes given to melt down important plants, such as heavy damage plants like Repeater and Bonk Choy. Avoid using Hot Potatoes on plants adjacent to a Pepper-pult or other thawing plants, as they already have the ability to melt frozen plants.

Another thing to remember is that Hot Potato can also thaw blocks with encased zombies. This makes Hot Potato a useful plant against the frozen Yeti Imps pushed by Troglobites and Zombot Tuskmaster 10,000 BC's ice barrier. It is recommended that the player only thaw zombies when sufficient firepower is present - a Weasel Hoarder freed at the wrong moment can quickly overrun the player's defense with Ice Weasels, though a Snapdragon can rectify that with sufficient Wall-Nuts.

If the player owns a level 2 (or above) Hot Potato or it is boosted by a Power Mint, she can be used strategically to deal damage to zombies walking on the tile Hot Potato is planted on. She has the ability to remove octopi as long as she is upgraded to that level or boosted by a Power Mint.

Balance changes

Update 5.7.1

• ▲ New ability: Starting at level 2, Hot Potato is able to deal 10-60 damage to all zombies within the tile Hot Potato is planted on every second

Update 6.0.1

• ▲ New ability: Starting at level 5, Hot Potato is able to melt octopi thrown by Octo Zombie.

EDIT: This buff seems to take effect already at level 4.

Update 10.5.1

• ▲ Can now be used across all worlds.

Related achievement

	So Thawful Thaw 13 ice blocks in a single level

Gallery

Hot Potato has a gallery!

Visit this page to see it.

In other languages

Please note that only official translations are used.

Language	Name	Description
English	Hot Potato
Simplified Chinese	烤马铃薯	lit. "Roasted Potato"
French	Patate chaude
German	Heiße Kartoffel
Italian	Tubero ardente
Brazilian Portuguese	Batata Quente	From batata and quente
Russian	Горячая картошка	lit. "Hot potato"
Spanish	Papa caliente

Trivia

• When thawing a plant, she lets out a deep sigh, and steam from the melting ice block rises up.
• She can be seen frozen during the Frostbite Caves part 1 trailer, despite the fact that she cannot be frozen in any way. This trait is also shared with Hurrikale.
• She reappears in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 as the marker for Kernel Corn's Butter Barrage ability and its alternate ability, the Bigger Better Butter.
• In older versions of Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, the plant summoned by Tater Toss was also called Hot Potato. This was later changed to Hothead for unknown reasons.
• She cannot plant on octopi and remove it when boosted by a Power Mint. This is a glitch.
• Hot Potato is one of the nine plants that have a food-related costume, the others being Spring Bean (if you count the coconuts), Citron, Buttercup, Guacodile, Gold Leaf, Fire Peashooter, Snapdragon, and Cold Snapdragon.

See also

• Grave Buster

View · Edit	Plants (Tower defense)	L · G