Pumpcauldron

Pumpcauldron is a plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2. It is a seasonal plant, tied to Pumpcauldron's Apothecary Season in . Pumpcauldron is a supportive plant who is capable of boosting his fellow plants in different ways. Plants can be sacrificed to Pumpcauldron by planting them on him, which will cause him to brew a potion inside himself (he's a cauldron, it's not weird). From there, he works as a manual plant - tap to arm, tap again on a tile to fire a potion at that tile. After firing the potion, Pumpcauldron goes for a little snooze and doesn't wake up for 25 seconds. It's a cooldown.
Pumpcauldron's potions can be fired at empty tiles and then consumed by zombies, or fired at tiles occupied by plants to give them potent buffs. The potions will sit on the formerly empty tile until a zombie consumes them, or a plant is planted on them (so you can boost insta-use plants). The effects added to the potion are based on the family the sacrificed plant was from, and up to three different plants can be added to a brewing Pumpcauldron before it stops letting you sacrifice more. For each potion effect added to a potion, the effectiveness is reduced (both reduced to 50% effectiveness for 2 effects or all three reduced to 33% effectiveness for 3 effects). These are the different effects:
*Fila-mint
**Plant boost: Plants gain chain lightning on their attacks which deal 100/50/33% of the normal attack's damage to up to 4 additional targets. Effect lasts for 15 seconds.
**Zombie effect: The zombie that drank the potion takes 600/300/200 damage and chains a bolt of lightning to up to 12 additional targets which deals 300/150/100 damage.
*Reinforce-mint
**Plant boost: Plants gain 80/40/27% damage reduction from all sources and can absorb up to 3/2/1 additional Gargantuar smashes on top of their existing resistance for 15 seconds.
**Zombie effect: The zombie that drank the potion and all zombies in a 3x3 area are pulled to the current tile, and a rocky barrier is created with 1500/750/500 Toughness for 15 seconds.
*Bombard-mint
**Plant boost: Plants gain 1-tile splash damage on their attacks which deal 100/50/33% of the normal attack's damage, and explode when eaten for 600/300/200 damage in a 3x3 area for 15 seconds.
**Zombie effect: The zombie that drank the potion explodes, taking 3600/1800/900 damage and dealing 900/600/300 damage to all other zombies in a 3x3 area.
*Arma-mint
**Plant boost: Plants that have special cooldowns, such as or , have their cooldowns reduced by 60/30/20% for 30 seconds.
**Zombie effect: When a zombie drinks the potion, 6/3/2 Zomboid Turkeys with identical stats to are thrown at the 30/15/10 closest zombies on the lawn.
*Contain-mint
**Plant boost: Plants gain 100/50/33% improved stalling capabilities for 15 seconds, whether that means stalling effects, freezing effects, chilling effects, or anything else in that avenue.
**Zombie effect: When a zombie drinks the potion, they and all zombies in a 1x3 area are stunned for 18/9/6 seconds. If they are already stunned, the stun effect timer is extended by 18/9/6 seconds.
*Pepper-mint
**Plant boost: Plants gain fire protection which causes zombies that attack them to take 60/30/20 damage every second and grants them full freezing immunity for 15 seconds.
**Zombie effect: When a zombie drinks the potion, they gain a fire aura which deals 30/15/10 damage to other zombies in a 3x3 area around them every second for 15 seconds.
*Spear-mint
**Plant boost: Plants gain +5 pierce on their attacks, allowing them to hit more zombies at a time, and the piercing attacks deal 100/50/33% of the normal attack's damage upon piercing the target. Effect lasts for 10 seconds.
**Zombie effect: When a zombie drinks the potion, magic spears fly out to the left and right which deal 600/300/200 damage to all zombies in the lane.
*Enchant-mint
**Plant boost: Plants gain magic resistance which causes the next zombie to attack them to be hypnotized, and healed 100/50/33% of their max health. Resistance expires after 15 seconds.
**Zombie effect: The zombie that drank the potion as well as all other zombies on the tile are levitated back 2/1/0.66 tiles with a 60/30/20% chance for them to be levitated off the lawn entirely.
*Conceal-mint
**Plant boost: Plants gain a shadow shield similar to 's Plant Food effect which can absorb 600/300/200 more damage and lasts for 20 seconds, as well as powering the plant if it's a shadow plant.
**Zombie effect: The zombie that drank the potion is dropped into the void and immediately taken out, leaving a gaping hole that drops all new zombies that pass over it too for the next 4/2/1.33 seconds.
*Appease-mint
**Plant boost: Plants fire twice as many projectiles, with the additional projectiles dealing 100/50/33% of the normal projectile's damage and having 100/50/33% special effects for 15 seconds.
**Zombie effect: The zombie that drank the potion will fire two peas at once leftward which damage zombies, each pea dealing 30/15/10 dps to zombies. Effect lasts for 20 seconds.
*Enlighten-mint
**Plant boost: Plants produce 300/150/100% more sun than than usual with their sun-producing abilities, or produce faster depending on the type of sun-producing plant for 15 seconds.
**Zombie effect: When a zombie drinks the potion, it explodes in a solar blast that drops 25 sun for each zombie in a 3x3 area, with a maximum of 300/150/100 sun produced.
*Ail-mint
**Plant boost: Plants gain smelly protection - yes you read that right - which diverts zombies that attack them into other lanes and then stun those zombies for 6/3/2 seconds as they just take it all in. Protection lasts for 15 seconds.
**Zombie effect: The zombie that drank the potion is poisoned indefinitely, taking 30/15/10 dps damage every 0.5 seconds until they are defeated.
*Enforce-mint
**Plant boost: Plants gain an aura of confidence that increases their damage dealt to zombies in a 3x3 area around them by 60/30/20% for 15 seconds.
**Zombie effect: The zombie that drank the potion starts uncontrollably flailing their arms around, dealing 600/300/200 dps in damage to all zombies in a 3x3 area over 5 seconds.
*Winter-mint
**Plant boost: Plants gain a chilling effect on their attacks, which inflicts a 50% icy slow that lingers for 10/5/3.33 seconds each hit. Effect lasts for 15 seconds.
**Zombie effect: The zombie that drank the potion is frozen for 15/7.5/5 seconds, and radiates an ice aura during that time which chills zombies in a 3x3 area for 9/6/3 seconds.
==Origins==
	Pumpcauldron is based on a carved pumpkin, a fruit belonging to the squash genus. Pumpcauldron's hollow interior and carved face are based on Jack o' lanterns, carved pumpkins hollowed out and lit with a candle inside.
	Pumpcauldron is also based on a cauldron, which is a large pot for cooking or boiling over an open fire, with a lid and frequently with an arc-shaped hanger and/or integral handles or feet. In this case, Pumpcauldron brews potions, not food.
== Almanac Entry ==
== Upgrades ==
=== Plant Food effect ===
When fed Plant Food, Pumpcauldron slings 5 potions at random tiles which either help or hurt depending on whether there happen to be plants on those tiles. The potions are single-family brews chosen entirely at random, though if Pumpcauldron actively has a brew prepared inside himself the families that brew is made up of will have a higher chance to appear in the Plant Food potions.
===Enchant-mint Effect===
When boosted with , Pumpcauldron's cooldown is removed, meaning he can brew an unlimited number of times without falling asleep and his Toughness is increased by 1200 dps for the duration of the mint.
==Levels==
Level	Seed Packets	Coins 	Upgrades	Upgrades 	Upgrades 	Upgrades 	Upgrades 	Upgrades
Level	Seed Packets	Coins 	Sun Cost	Recharge 	Toughness	Cooldown 	Plant Food Power(Potions Flung)	
1 	0 	0 	225 	30 seconds	300 	25 seconds	5 	
2 	10 	1,000 	225 	30 seconds	350 	24 seconds	5 	
3 	75 	5,000 	200 	25 seconds	400 	23 seconds	5 	
4 	200 	10,000	200 	25 seconds	450 	22 seconds	6 	
5 	400 	20,000	175 	20 seconds	550 	20 seconds	6 	
6 	750 	30,000	175 	20 seconds	600 	18 seconds	6 	
7 	1,000 	40,000	150 	15 seconds	650 	16 seconds	7 	
8 	1,000 	60,000	150 	15 seconds	700 	14 seconds	7 	
9 	1,500 	60,000	150 	15 seconds	800 	12 seconds	8 	
10 	2,000 	75,000	125 	10 seconds	900 	10 seconds	8 	
 	 	 	125 	 	 	 	 	
===Mastery upgrades===
* Chance to Boost 
*Damage Pierce
==History==
===October 24th, 2019===
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===August 21st, 2022===
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===August 24th, 2023===
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==Strategies==
Pumpcauldron's wide variety of potions means that he can be helpful in any situation. Since the sun cost of the plants being sacrificed to Pumpcauldron don't have any influence of the potency of the effects, it's ideal to bring the cheapest possible option from all of the different plant families you'd want effects from. Keep in mind that, while it may not be very expensive in terms of sun cost, it does cost valuable seed packets to bring many different "filler" plants for brewing. It's recommended that instead of brining a bunch of cheap plants just to put into Pumpcauldron, you should incorporate different families into your lineup and simply sacrifice those plants instead.
Pumpcauldron's ability to mix different potion types together can be quite useful, especially if powerful duos or trios are achieved, but it's important to look out for anti-synergies. Just like and , some potion effects just don't go well together. For example, the Winter-mint zombie effect freezes a zombie and radiates a chilling aura... which is canceled out if combined with the Pepper-mint zombie effect which radiates a fiery damage aura. Likewise, some potion effects actually go quite well together. A particularly lethal combination is Conceal-mint, which opens up a shadowy hole, and Reinforce-mint, which pulls all zombies to the tile. Many zombies can be taken out with this combo. Moral of the story: think before you brew.
==Demonstration==
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== Gallery ==
PumpcauldronHDS.png|HD Pumpcauldron
PumpcauldronBrewReady.png|Pumpcauldron with a brew prepared
PumpcauldronCooldown.png|Pumpcauldron on cooldown
Pumpcauldron Reticle.png|Pumpcauldron's reticle
PumpcauldronCostume1.png|Pumpcauldron's costume (Skelecauldron)
PumpcauldronBrewReadyCostume.png|Pumpcauldron's costume with a brew prepared
PumpcauldronCooldownCostume.png|Pumpcauldron's costume on cooldown
Pumpcauldron ReticleCostume.png|Pumpcauldron's costume's reticle
==Trivia==
*Pumpcauldron was submitted to the 2019 Lawn of Doom Contest
Category:Sani's Stuff
Category:Support plants
Category:Plants with a cooldown
Category:Manually controlled plants
Category:Pumpkins
Category:Uncleared page