Pepper-pult

*Pepper-pults lob flaming peppers at zombies and keeps nearby plants warm.*

**Is immune to frost**

**Warms nearby plants**

**Some say Pepper-pult is a hot head. Some find his fiery disposition off-putting. But the truth is, he's just very focused and determined. He loves what he does. He appreciates everything he has. "I came from the weedy side of the lawn," Pepper-pult explains. "I worked hard to pull myself up by my roots. I'm a self-made pepper and I don't take a single thing for granted."**

**Pepper-pult** is the second plant available in Frostbite Caves in *Alternate UniverZ*. He is a lobbed-shot plant that deals splash damage to nearby zombies in a 3x3 radius, and can also warm nearby plants.

Pepper-pult is unlocked after beating FC-III.

## Almanac entry

**Pepper-pult**

SUN COST: 225

RECHARGE: 15

TOUGHNESS: 300

DAMAGE: 60

FIRING RATE: 2.9

RANGE: Lobbed

Pepper-pults lob flaming peppers at zombies and keeps nearby plants warm.
Special: immune to frost
Special: warms nearby plants

Some say Pepper-pult is a hot head. Some find his fiery disposition off-putting. But the truth is, he's just very focused and determined. He loves what he does. He appreciates everything he has. "I came from the weedy side of the lawn," Pepper-pult explains. "I worked hard to pull myself up by my roots. I'm a self-made pepper and I don't take a single thing for granted."

## Plant Food effect

When given Plant Food, Pepper-pult lobs 4 big flaming peppers at zombies that split into smaller one, each pepper deals 300 damage in a 3x3 area.

## Costumes

* Current
* Pre 1.5

## Strategies

By himself, Pepper-pult is a moderately powerful offensive plant and can hold himself against most threats. His attacks can inflict area damage as well, similarly to Melon-pult (though with a larger area). His main value however is his ability to warm nearby plants, preventing them from being disabled by the wind and Hunter Zombies. Most of the time, he will be used in most Frostbite Caves levels. His greatest weakness is his slow recharge rate, which prevents the player from quickly covering the lawn against the cold and against huge waves of zombies.

As such, the player should try to space out Pepper-pults in order to cover as much ground and reach as many plants as possible. When frozen zombies are near, the player should make sure their warm defenses are congregated nearby. Pepper-pult can also be planted at the front line to block Hunter Zombies and protect other plants, although this also makes him vulnerable against other threats.

In later levels and Icebound Battleground, Pepper-pult may suffer against Sasquatch Imps, which are immune to all fire-based attacks, making Pepper-pult useless in battle against them unless paired with another non-fire-based attacking plant, such as Repeater or Kernel-pult.

In Lost City, Pepper-pult can be used to deal with Excavator Zombies, though one should be wary if the Pepper-pults are placed towards the front, as if Excavator Zombies can shovel them, their sluggish recharge means Pepper-pult will not be available for a while. He is also risky to use them in levels with Parasol Zombies, since they ignore Pepper-pult's projectiles outright.

He faces competition from Fire Peashooter because of the latter's higher damage and superior recharge in exchange for double the sun cost. However, Pepper-pult has the advantage of being a lobbed-shot plant, meaning he can ignore frozen blocks and other obstacles like tombstones to attack zombies, as well as a larger area of damage. Thawing frozen plants may be a higher priority than attacking zombies though, so the choice is entirely up to the player.

## Balance Changes

### Version 1.6.2

* Damage: 50 -> 60
* Splash damage: 25 -> 15
	+ Dev Note: During Weekly Challenges Pepper-pult proved himself to be REALLY useful, even outside Frostbite Caves, more than we anticipated. We're moving some of his splash into his main damage to tone down the crowd control capabilities.