Jack O' Lantern

*Jack O' Lanterns spray fire down a lane, doing extensive burning damage over a short distance.*

## Almanac statistics

### Usage

Automatically sprays fire against zombies 2 tiles away

### Price from shop

20

**Is immune to frost**

**Warms nearby plants**

**"Boo! Mwah-ha-ha-haaaaah," opines Jack O' Lantern. Oh, yes. Things and stuff are scheduled to be seriously spooky when he's around. Count on it.**

**Jack O' Lantern** used to be the third plant available in Dark Ages Extra in *Alternate UniverZ*, but is now a Timeless Avenue gauntlet plant. He blows a flame jet two tiles ahead of him against oncoming threats which defrosts frozen ones and ignores combustible objects.

Jack O' Lantern used to be unlocked after beating DAX-VI before the 1.5 update. He was also available for a limited time during the Lawn of Doom event. In the 1.5 update, he is now hardcoded into automatically releasing his fire whenever a zombie get close, and because of this had to be replaced by Inferno.

## Almanac entry

**Jack O' Lantern**

SUN COST: 300

RECHARGE: 30

TOUGHNESS: 450

DAMAGE PER SECOND: 100

FLAME LENGTH: 2 Tiles

Jack O' Lanterns spray fire down a lane, doing extensive burning damage over a short distance.
Usage: automatically sprays fire against zombies 4 tiles away
Special: fire recharges over time
"Boo! Mwah-ha-ha-haaaaah," opines Jack O' Lantern. Oh, yes. Things and stuff are scheduled to be seriously spooky when he's around. Count on it.

## Plant Food effect

When given Plant Food, Jack O' Lantern summons Will-o'-the-Wisps that do continuous damage on five to nine random tiles and last for seven seconds.

## Costumes

* Current
* Pre 1.5

## Strategies

Jack O' Lantern can attack zombies that enter its range. With its powerful damage, he can clear out even Buckethead Zombies with no issue. However, as he needs to recharge in between, he can be quite vulnerable, so it is important to keep him alive at all times in order to maximize his usefulness.

Since he is a short-ranged plant, it is best to place him near your defensive plants. Using him in the tile behind your Wall-nuts can be useful, as you can stop zombies on the tile of the Wall-nut. This plant is especially useful when combined with a sun-producing plant with Plant Food and Tile Turnip, because multiple copies of him can easily cover the whole lawn if linked.

However, he should not be used against Sasquatch Imps, as they cannot be damaged by fire-based attacks. Otherwise, his utility is not hampered. Note that he instantly defrosts frozen zombies, so beware when using ice-based plants alongside him if their range doesn't exceed that of his.

Jack O' Lantern is a warming plant, making him a good choice to use on Frostbite Caves. However, due to his slow recharge, you may want to add extra sources of warmth for your plants, as well as for general attacking. Putting Jack O' Lantern on the front lines naturally protects your other plants against Hunter Zombie's snowball effect.

He is also a good plant to use in the Dark Ages. He can effectively burn Reanimator Zombies without letting them drop their Summoning Tombs, avoid Wizard Zombies from hiding behind tombstones and turning your plants into sheep, and his attacks cannot be deflected by Jester Zombies. When planted at the right, he can also stir clear of Zombie Kings trying to turn zombies into Knight Zombies.

## Balance Changes

### Version 1.4

* Total damage: 600 -> 700
	+ Dev Note: Jacko was always meant to be kind of a grave counter of Dark Ages, but leaving them at low health degraded his strength a ton. This also works as a nerf to DAX-VI and VIII, levels a few people do struggle on.

### Version 1.5

* Jack O' Lantern is now automatic due to AltverZ porting to 9.6.
* Moved from Dark Ages to being a "special" plant.

### Version 1.5.1

* Range: 4 Tiles > 2 Tiles
* Massively increased damage, adjusted reload time and fuel capacity.
* Permanently available for 20 guantlets.