Witch Hazel

*Witch Hazels use magical sorcery to transform zombies on adjacent lanes into Solar Tomatoes.*

## Almanac statistics

### Weakness

Deals damage to Gargantuars and certain zombies instead.

*As one of the most powerful magic users in the Plant Kingdom, she's often chosen to participate in the magical duels between plants and zombies. She's not really too stable though - as she's known for quickly snapping at other plants. She also enjoys petting any cat within her sight... and talk shows, for some reason. Is that a Witch thing?*

**Witch Hazel** is a Tier III plant. It turns zombies from its lane and adjacent lanes into level 1 Solar Tomatoes, targeting Wizard Zombies first. If it attacks a zombie it cannot transform, such as a Gargantuar, it will deal damage to it instead.

## Plant Food effect

Witch Hazel fires a strong beam that deals a ton of damage at the leftmost zombie and turns it into a Witch Hazel, as long as there's space for it to spawn. This attack can target any lane, but cannot target zombies behind Witch Hazel.

## Strategies

> *This strategy refers to the pre-rebalance of Witch Hazel.*
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Witch Hazel is a surprisingly versatile plant, able to excel in all stages of the game in the right circumstances. In the early game, Witch Hazel's 3 lane range allows it to cover the majority of the board, handling sparse early waves. If an early Plant Food is available, Witch Hazel can produce a copy of itself by utilizing a zombie outside of its range, allowing their combined range to spam the entire board. Its slow attack speed can also be a strength: since it instantly defeats zombies, it is able to stall out early waves by not touching their HP before defeating them, like most attackers would. Later into the game, Witch Hazel functions more like a support plant. The stun provided by the Solar Tomatoes spawned is surprisingly valuable, and groups of zombies in later waves can lead to massive amounts of sun produced. Even if Witch Hazel targets a zombie it cannot transform, it does substantial damage to it, which is beneficial regardless. In all phases of the game, since Witch Hazel instantly defeats most zombies that it attacks, ignoring their HP, it is much less affected by Zombie Leveling than most other plants. Overall, the varied roles that Witch Hazel can play throughout the game make it a very flexible and effective option.

All that being said, Witch Hazel does have notable weaknesses that the player needs to work around. Most notably, its slow cooldown means that it cannot be spammed. Due to its slow attack speed, it fares poorly against rushy early games with multiple low health zombies such as Jurassic Marsh levels. In these circumstances, other early game plants may be necessary to support Witch Hazel. Ground plants like Spikerock and most walls have poor synergy with Witch Hazel, as they impede its ability to spawn Solar Tomatoes. Grid Items like tombstones, ice blocks and crystals can also impede Witch Hazel. Ambushes and zombies that come in mid-screen can also interfere with Witch Hazel.

While most walls group zombies on its tile, preventing Witch Hazel from spawning Solar Tomatoes, Infi-nut extends further than 2 tiles ahead. This, even if there are plants in the 2 tiles in front of Infi-nut, zombies will be considered 3 tiles ahead of Infi-nut and this Witch Hazel can function. Since Witch Hazel has a very strong Plant Food ability in the early game which allows it to compensate for slow cooldown, Power Lily can be a good pick to get up a second Witch Hazel quickly.

In Big Wave Beach, since Witch Hazel cannot spawn a Solar Tomato in the water, its effectiveness is greatly reduced. Pirate Seas is also a bad world for Witch Hazel as it struggles against Imp Cannons and Swashbucklers.

## Trivia

* Witch Hazel cannot transform certain zombies into Solar Tomatoes, dealing heavy damage instead. Prior to 2.0, Giant Imp could be transformed, but in 2.0 this was changed.
* In 2.2,, in a CDN patch, she was rebalanced thanks to being able to 1-shot Giant Zombie Fireflies in Survival: Chard Guard, by having her sun cost lower with leveling, damage increase with leveling, firing cooldown increased by 4 seconds no longer affected by leveling,and toughness n' recharge no longer being affected by leveling.
	+ This makes Witch Hazel attack slower but much heavier, cost much less but mentains a constant recharge, toughness. She still transforms zombies, whenever possible, into level 1 Solar Tomatoes.
	+ In 2.3 she'll also no longer be able to 1-shot Giant Zombie Fireflies.

## Level Changes

**Witch Hazel**

SUN COST: 275

RECHARGE: 120

STARTING RECHARGE: 15

TOUGHNESS: 50

DAMAGE: 400

FIRING COOLDOWN: 30

Witch Hazels use magical sorcery to transform zombies on adjacent lanes into Solar Tomatoes.

Special: target Wizard Zombies firstWeakness: deals damage to Gargantuars and certain zombies instead