Ghost Pepper

*Ghost Peppers haunt zombies that pass by and explode after a limited time.*

**You might not know it looking at her, but Ghost Pepper didn't always wear that white sheet everywhere she went. She first put it on as a lark for a Halloween party one year. Everyone else had these elaborate costumes, and she thought that it would be funny to dress like a plain ol' ghost. But she fell in love with that costume. It spoke to her. She'd found her calling.**

**Ghost Pepper** is a plant in *Plants vs. Zombies 2: Reflourished* and the second plant obtained in Holiday Mashup. She is unlocked at Holiday Mashup - Day 4.

Ghost Pepper attacks by haunting nearby zombies both in front of and behind her, dealing steady and continuous damage.

Ghost Pepper haunts and deals 30 damage every 0.5 seconds to each zombie in a 1x4 area around her. After 10 seconds from when she haunts her first zombie, Ghost Pepper will explode, dealing 450 damage to all enemies in a 3x3 area.

Additionally, Ghost Pepper is immune to most attacks from zombies, including transformations that make the plant passive (Wizard Zombie and Octo Zombie), and can be planted directly on water tiles in Big Wave Beach without the aid of a Lily Pad and sewers in Steam Ages.

## Almanac entry

**Ghost Pepper**

Ghost Peppers haunt zombies that pass by and explode after a limited time.

You might not know it looking at her, but Ghost Pepper didn't always wear that white sheet everywhere she went. She first put it on as a lark for a Halloween party one year. Everyone else had these elaborate costumes, and she thought that it would be funny to dress like a plain ol' ghost. But she fell in love with that costume. It spoke to her. She'd found her calling.

## Plant Food effect

When fed with Plant Food, Ghost Pepper haunts all zombies in a 3x4 area, dealing a total of 1120 damage over 3.5 seconds. The Plant Food effect will also reset Ghost Pepper's duration, allowing Ghost Pepper to stay on the lawn longer, similar to the Plant Food effect of Puff-shroom.

## Strategies

Ghost Pepper is one of the more unique instant-use plants in the game, in that she deals lingering damage in a long area that leads to an eventual explosion. Altogether, she acts as a great all-around instant use plant, able to handle all phases of the game with enough damage to clear away most hordes, while being strong enough to greatly weaken tougher zombies. Combined with her rather cheap sun cost, relatively fast recharge and imperviousness to (almost) everything, Ghost Pepper can basically be summed up as one of the most optimal counters to the zombie horde, reliably clearing lanes that would otherwise trouble the player.

Ghost Pepper's ghostly properties make for a great pick in various scenarios. Any special zombie ranging from Explorer Zombie, to Excavator Zombie, to Octo Zombie, will completely ignore Ghost Pepper, giving her similar flexibility to the non-permanence of most instant-use plants. Within Big Wave Beach and Steam Ages, Ghost Pepper is particularly useful for her ability to float, letting her be used without assistance via Lily Pad and be planted where most single-use plants cannot. Additionally, shoveling upgrades can be used to greatly reduce Ghost Pepper's overall cost - up to a mere 35 sun per planting - although doing so sacrifices the final explosion that comes from letting her expire. Ghost Pepper's Plant Food effect furthers her crowd control, both wiping out a huge area of standard zombies and resetting her timer, allowing her to dominate the lane she is in for extensive periods of time.

However, Ghost Pepper isn't completely impervious to the surrounding environment. Ice blocks and arcade machines that get pushed around by their respective Troglobites and Arcade Zombies can crush a Ghost Pepper that shares the same tile. Certain ranged attacks such as Hair Metal Gargantuar's shockwaves and Gargantuar Prime's lasers can also hit and destroy Ghost Pepper if planted in an inopportune range. Freezing winds in Frostbite Caves are just as chilling as with any plant, and can freeze Ghost Pepper and her timer in place if left without warming.

Notable competitors to Ghost Pepper come in the form of Lava Guava and Noctarine. While Ghost Pepper can deal with zombies spread out over one lane, Lava Guava deals stronger, concentrated damage to a single tile and Noctarine deals weaker damage over multiple lanes. Both alternatives disappear from the board after they start dealing damage, letting them skirt Ghost Pepper's aforementioned weaknesses. They also have different advantages to Ghost Pepper: Lava Guava's fiery traits are great for keeping warm in Frostbite Caves; Noctarine can be planted over other plants (good with ground plants like Spikeweed and Olive Pit) and directly synergises with shadow plants, both powering other shadows and dealing greater damage when powered himself. Overall, Ghost Pepper stands as the most flexible option for her faster recharge, moderate range and Plant Food effect, but depending on the situation, it may be better to consider her alternatives.

## Balance changes

### Version 1.1.4

* ▼ Sun Cost : 100 -> 125
* Target audience: General
	+ Developer note: Despite the sun cost increase at launch, Ghost Pepper has remained a strong early game plant capable of wiping out big clumps of zombies. A small cost increase should keep it in check while still allowing her to damage and defeat big clusters of zombies.

## Gallery

Seed packetBoosted seed packetA Ghost Pepper planted on top of a sewer
## Trivia

* Ghost Pepper's "Shackled Serrano" costume is based on the ghost of Jacob Marley from *A Christmas Carol*.
	+ Additionally, it is one of the Feastivus Costume Contest winners, submitted by Nanori#8008 and redrawn to better fit the game's art style.
* Ghost Pepper's "Shadow Puppet" costume is based on The Snatcher from *A Hat in Time*.
* Ghost Pepper's "Hotcchi the Pepper" costume is a now unobtainable costume that was available during the Spongebob Age event.
	+ The costume is based on Hitori Gotoh, also known as "Bocchi-chan," one of the main characters of *Bocchi the Rock!*.
	+ The sound effect Ghost Pepper makes when haunting zombies is an audio snippet taken from a scene from Episode 4 of the show.
* Ghost Pepper's "Screaming for Ice Cream" costume is one of the Harvest Festival Costume Contest winners, submitted by harden3512 and redrawn to fit the game's art style.