Gargantuar is the 23rd zombie encountered in Adventure Mode. These zombies have the highest health of any non-boss zombie in Adventure Mode, and in addition to having extremely high health, Gargantuars smash the player's plants instead of eating them, capable of destroying Spikeweeds and Spikerocks every 4 seconds, though the latter one only after a few hits. Along with this, Chomper is unable to instantly kill them, and instead can only bite to deal damage.
Once a Gargantuar has lost more than half of his health, and is at least six column's away from the player's house, he will throw his Imp, who lands several squares ahead.
When Gargantuar walks, the earth trembles. When he moans, other zombies fall silent. He is the zombie other zombies dream they could be. But he still can't find a girlfriend.
Gargantuar is a gigantic zombie.
Toughness: extremely high
When Gargantuar walks, the earth trembles. When he moans, other zombies fall silent. He is the zombie other zombies dream they could be. However, he still can't find a girlfriend.
(China only)(Archived content)
给力僵尸
和巨人僵尸一样同属巨型僵尸
强度: 极高
力拔山,气盖世。 战场上的王者,僵尸中的英雄。
In English: Encourager Gargantuar
A gigantic zombie like Gargantuar.
Toughness: extremely high
With strength that surpasses everyone and can wipe a mountain, he is the king on the battlefield and hero among the zombies.
Overview
The Gargantuar absorbs 3000 damage and his appearance changes after 1000 and 2000 damage before dying at 3000 damage or two instant kills. The Gargantuar throws his Imp at 1500 damage or one instant kill.
Since a Gargantuar's smash is somewhat slow, you can delay them with a Spikerock, which takes nine smashes before disappearing. Cheap plants, like Puff-shrooms or Scaredy-shrooms, are also a good choice, as they have fast recharge and cost little to no sun, which makes them good emergency delayers. It is advised that you attack him with at least one instant kill, or else he may do a lot of damage to your vital defenses. Winter Melons are quite useful against him, especially in Survival: Endless. Chompers cannot eat a Gargantuar whole and will only deal 40 damage per bite, making them a poor choice against him. Hitting a Gargantuar with a Jalapeno as soon as he throws his Imp will prevent both of them from doing damage to your defenses. A charged Potato Mine will deal damage to the Gargantuar when he crushes it. Hypno-shrooms do not work against him because he does not eat anything. However, a hypnotized zombie can eat a Gargantuar without being smashed. Rows of Gloom-shrooms adjacent to his path will work as well. Another way to take out a Gargantuar is to use two Gatling Peas and a Torchwood. It's possible to kill a Gargantuar without him throwing his Imp, by waiting for your regular plants to weaken him until he gets a patch on his arm, then using an instant kill shortly after. It should also be noted that a Gargantuar will not throw his Imp if he is more than six squares away from the player's house.
Gargantuars are weaker than their Giga counterparts, so they should be killed along with the Gigas. If they are kept slowed down, they can be killed by a few Fume-shrooms and Gloom-shrooms. Below are some common structures in Survival: Endless that can readily kill Gargantuars without using instants. Note that Gargantuars must be slowed down. Otherwise they need to be stalled
I, Zombie
A Gargantuar costs 300 sun.
In the I, Zombie level Me Smash!, these are useful in hard rows without multiple Squashes, although occasionally a single Squash and a Kernel-pult with other offensive plants can kill him. It is still recommended to use normal zombies to remove problems.
Vasebreaker
In Vasebreaker, save some Squashes to get rid of these zombies, though Potato Mines work as well. There will be a Gargantuar but it might be difficult as the Squashes will go away after some time and clicking randomly until the Gargantuar appears might outnumber your other lane.
Encourager Gargantuar was a variant of Gargantuar which only appeared in the Great Wall levels of Plants vs. Zombies: Great Wall Edition. It did not throw Imps when damaged.
Please note that only official translations are used.
Language
Name
Description
English
Gargantuar
Simplified Chinese
巨人僵尸
Traditional Chinese
殭屍巨怪
Dutch
Enormo
French
Gargantua
German
Gargantua
Italian
Zombi orco
Japanese
ガルガンチュア
Russian
Гаргантюа
Spanish
Zombistein
A portmanteau of "Zombi" (Zombie) and "Frankenstein" (Referencing to the Frankenstein's monster: an 8 ft. tall creature whose body was made of different corpses parts).
Trivia
Gargantuar is a pun based on the word "gargantuan".
Gargantuars will never spawn at the top lane of all game modes (except endless levels). The most probable reason is to avoid obstructing the view of the available plants menu at the top of the screen with their massive size. Players can take advantage of this behavior, as they can put plants there which otherwise would be smashed in a single smash of a Gargantuar, like a Pumpkin or a Spikeweed; or concentrate on investing their sun reserves for upgrading other lanes which demand more attention.
The Gargantuar's death animation will never have the Imp since when he dies, the Imp sinks through the trash can and vanishes.
A Lawn Mower or a Roof Cleaner can kill a Gargantuar for balancing reasons. He turns into a puff of smoke when defeated.
However, Gargantuar's body sprite had a "beheaded" wound visible, this can be assumed that Gargantuar used to have the decapitated dying animation but it remained unused. This returned in PVZ2.
In the I, Zombie level Me Smash!, the Gargantuar smashes the brain instead of eating it, as he has no eating animation.
The Gargantuar is the second most expensive zombie in I, Zombie, costing 300 sun. The only zombie which costs more in I, Zombie is the Dancing Zombie, which costs 350 sun.
If the Gargantuar is killed by an explosive instant kill (that turned the zombie into ash) and hasn't been able to throw his Imp, the body of the Imp will also disintegrate inside the trash can, and then his head will fall onto the pile of ash that the Gargantuar has turned into.
If the player uses an Ice-shroom to freeze a Gargantuar at the exact frame that it he throwing out his Imp (1.05 seconds after the Gargangtuar's health goes below
A Gargantuar throwing the Imp again
1500), the original Imp will disappear, and the Gargantuar will throw the Imp again.
The same thing happens when the Gargantuar is stunned by a butter from Kernel Pult or Mallet in iOS or Andriod versions.
When the Gargantuar is frozen at the exact frame when it smashes a plant, the plant would be intact, and the Gargantuar has to smash again.
The Gargantuar will ignore other hypnotized zombies and instead continue walking. As such, while hypnotized zombies can attack him, they won't be able to fully deplete his health unless he is stalled by constantly placing cheap plants to delay him. It takes 15 seconds for a regular Zombie to completely defeat him.
If a Chomper manages to kill a Gargantuar, it will show the chewing animation with a normal zombie's arm sticking out, even though Chomper supposedly can't eat him.
If a Gargantuar is killed while slowed by some sort of ice plant right at the starting point the player will be able to see the corpse while they are picking plants (Survival Mode and Last Stand Endless only).
Gargantuars can have one of three different clubs: an electricity pole, a wildlife crossing sign, or another zombie.
In an interview, George Fan describes two Gargantuar weapon ideas that were never implemented: "a leash with a chihuahua tied to it" and "a phone booth with the person still inside".
Gargantuar can only throw his Imp five squares away from the right side of the screen. If a Gargantuar loses half of his health at the fifth square, he won't throw the Imp.
The Imp lands on columns 3-5 on Roof, and columns 2-4 in other scenes. The exact position depends on the position of the Gargantuar
The Gargantuar is one of the three zombies that come in groups, the other two are the Zombie Bobsled Team and the Dancing Zombie with its Backup Dancers.
When a Gargantuar throws an Imp while he is frozen or slowed down, the Imp will also be slowed down. This feature did not return to later games.
When using the Action Replay software on the DS version, a glitch may occur in which when the zombies are viewed, the Gargantuar will be seen without a head, the Imp on his back, or his legs.
Two dying frozen Gargantuars without Imps
A rake will deal 1800 damage to a gargantuar, making him one of the only few zombies that can't be instantly defeated by it. The others are Zomboss, Giga-Gargantuar, and Tall-Nut zombie.
The Gargantuar's roar is the same roar used by Dr. Zomboss when his Zombot is destroyed.
The Gargantuar takes six hits in Co-op Bowling or four mallet hits.
The Gargantuar, the Balloon Zombie, and the Screen Door Zombie are three of four zombies that appear in I, Zombie levels, but not in I, Zombie Endless. This is probably to keep the player from making the puzzle too easy, since these three are very effective against the plants in the level. However, the normal Zombie is also omitted to make the game more challenging in another way, for a normal zombie can sometimes manage to clear a line with a single offensive plant, while the Imp can't in most cases.
It is rarely possible for a Gargantuar to be damaged by a Spikeweed or a Spikerock if they are planted under the Gargantuar.
As with all zombies that crush plants, if a Gargantuar crushes a sleeping mushroom, the flattened sprite shows them wide awake.
Gargantuar's concept design
As seen in the concept design for Gargantuar posted on the Plants vs. Zombies Facebook page, the Gargantuar was going to be a much more muscular zombie with short legs. His telephone pole is still present and has no Imp.
The Gargantuar has a collar around his neck. This is most likely because the Imp treats him like a mount or pet, but considering Imp's own description and Gargantuar's unused helmet design, this may also pay homage to how they both serve as a reference to Master and Blaster, characters in Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome. Like Master and Blaster, Imp serves as their brain whereas Gargantuar offers brawn.
In the DS and DSiWare versions, plants will be crushed before Gargantuar finishes his animation.
Sometimes, in the DSiWare version, the Gargantuar will change his weapon when he smashes a plant. This also happens in DS Versus Mode.
If playing the game on a mobile device, and the device has a vibration feature, he will trigger the vibration whenever he smashes a plant or is defeated and collapses to the ground.
A Jack-in-the-Box Zombie exploding and a Gargantuar's smash attack are the only ways a vase can be broken without the player's input.
A Gargantuar can smash a Cherry Bomb, Jalapeno, Doom-shroom, or Ice-shroom if timed correctly. However, this causes them to explode instantly rather than get flattened (though in Doom-shroom and Ice-shroom's case, this only applies when they are awake). Squash, on the other hand, is completely unaffected by being crushed.
Prior to the update that added the Journey to the West levels from Plants vs. Zombies: Endless Edition, regular Gargantuars existed in Great Wall Edition, with Encourager Gargantuars only appearing in Survival levels. After said update, regular Gargantuars were changed to use the same appearance as their Encourager counterparts, despite their visual lack of Imps.
When they reached half health, they would look as if they were about to throw nothing, only for an Imp to appear out of thin air.