Ultomato

*Ultomatoes charge up slowly, then fire a devastating beam down the lane that damages zombies as long as the charge lasts. Ultomatoes can be made more powerful by planting multiple Ultomatoes on the same tile.*

## Almanac statistics

### Toughness

150 (green)
300 (yellow)
450 (red)

### Damage

190 (green)
420 (yellow)
700 (red)

### Usage

Costs +25 more sun for each Ultomato on the board

### Special

Can be planted on top of itself, mutating from green to yellow to red

### Price from shop

20

**Ultomato yawns as unimaginable energies build up inside his being. It's cool. He can afford to wait. He's got allllll day.**

**Ultomato** is a Timeless Avenue gauntlet plant in *Alternate UniverZ*. He releases a powerful and devastating laser every 6.9 seconds down the lane he is planted in, but shortly afterwards needs to recharge. The laser lasts for two seconds. When released, it will target the first available zombie in its lane, repeatedly attacking it. If that zombie is defeated and the laser still has some duration left, it will target the next available enemy.

Ultomatoes can be planted on each other to increase their power, but their cost also increases the more Ultomatoes there are on the field. If an Ultomato is defeated, getting shoveled, or being given Plant Food, the sun cost will decrease.

## Almanac entry

**Ultomato**

SUN COST: 150

RECHARGE: 15

TOUGHNESS: 450

DAMAGE: 700

Ultomatoes charge up slowly, then fire a devastating beam down the lane that damages zombies as long as the charge lasts. Ultomatoes can be made more powerful by planting multiple Ultomatoes on the same tile.
Ultomato Health: 150 (green), 300 (yellow), 450 (red)
Ultomato Damage: 190 (green), 420 (yellow), 700 (red)
Ultomato Attack Speed: 6.9s
Special: can be planted on top of itself, mutating from green to yellow to red
Usage: costs +25 more sun for each Ultomato on the board

Ultomato yawns as unimaginable energies build up inside his being. It's cool. He can afford to wait. He's got allllll day.

## Plant Food effect

When fed Plant Food, Ultomato will self-destruct, exploding and damaging everything for 1800 damage within a 7x7 area on-screen. His sun cost will drop by 25, 50, or 75 sun corresponding to what stage he exploded in, due to him leaving the lawn.

## Strategies

Ultomato has the potential for extremely high damage output, for a correspondingly high sun investment. A big Ultomato deals enough damage to one-shot a Conehead Zombie, and the enduring nature of the laser means that any leftover damage will continue on to the next target. The laser cannot be blocked or reflected by Excavator Zombie, Parasol Zombie, or Jester Zombie. However, the cost mechanic means that a single big Ultomato costs 525 sun to plant, and a full column of them would cost 4875 sun, which is typically not practical.

Ultomato's attack style has similarities to Citron, charging up for several seconds and then firing. However, it is more powerful at full strength, cannot be reflected, recharges slightly faster, and excess damage is not wasted but passed on to the next zombie, making it somewhat better at crowd control. The trade-off is that Ultomato is much more expensive, and its Plant Food effect is generally less useful when treating him as a main attacking plant.

Since Ultomato's attack power is slightly more than doubled with each growth stage, there is a very big difference between medium and big sizes, making it more efficient to upgrade an existing Ultomato than to plant a second one. As a result, Ultomato works well on minecarts in Wild West, where a single fully upgraded Ultomato can provide extra muscle on lanes that need it and can be moved out of harm's way while recharging.

Ultomato is primarily vulnerable due to its slow rate of fire and inability to hit an area (it can hit multiple zombies with one laser, but only if it has enough power to overwhelm them all one by one). It is a very risky choice against Zombie Chickens or Ice Weasels; if the laser fires at the right time, it can destroy all of them and continue on to hit targets behind them, but if not, they will easily overwhelm Ultomato before it can fire.

Like lobbed-shot plants, Ultomato can bypass obstacles like tombstones to hit zombies behind them, but will target and destroy the obstacles if there are no zombies in the lane. A big Ultomato can destroy a Troglobite and severely damage a frozen block in one shot. If a Barrel Roller Zombie is pushing a barrel, Ultomato will prioritize the barrel roller over the barrel but otherwise will hit the barrel if the barrel is in front of other zombies.

If an Ultomato dies after being upgraded, you should not revive him with Intensive Carrot **unless** you think you can easily afford to upgrade him again. This is because of a mechanic associated with the aforementioned plant where the revived plant in question will always be revived to its on-planting state; this applies to all plants, including ones that go through multiple stages like Ultomato.

Ultomato's Plant Food effect has a very large area of effect, but unlike most other plants, Ultomato is destroyed in the process (and it can be quite expensive to replant), so it is often a better choice to give Plant Food to another plant. It is not usually a good idea to plant Ultomato on a Power Tile. On the other hand, if used only as such, it effectively becomes a larger Cherry Bomb.

Ultomato is a solid choice in levels with the "Don't lose more than X plants" objective, but it does require support in order to reduce the chances of losing plants. It is also a good idea to have a lot of sun and lure zombies with Sweet Potato or Void Orchid, albeit you need to support them as well. However, be careful, as using Plant Food on Ultomato counts as losing a plant.

## Balance Changes

### Version 1.6.2

* Sun cost: 150 -> 125
* Stage 2 damage: 420 -> 480
* Stage 3 damage: 700 -> 800
	+ Dev Note: While big laser blast always feels good, it could've felt a bit better for how much you pay for one.