Melon-pult (PvZ)

Melon-pult is a lobbed-shot plant available in Plants vs. Zombies. He is the final plant unlocked in Adventure Mode in Plants vs. Zombies, upon completing Level 5-8. He attacks zombies by lobbing melons at the incoming horde at half the rate of a normal Peashooter, each dealing high damage to the initial target as well as splash damage in an area around it. Though, as with Threepeater, his area of effect covers three lanes. However, unlike Threepeater, Melon-pult's attack is triggered only when a zombie or a lawn obstacle appears in the lane in which he is planted.

Like with the projectiles from other lobbed-shot plants, the catapulted melons can bypass most shields that can otherwise block straight-firing projectiles such as Ladder Zombie's ladder nad Screen Door Zombie's screen door, as well as being capable of targeting submerged Snorkel Zombies in water.

About
Melon-pult is unlocked after completing Level 5-8, and costs 300 sun. Each melon deals 80 damage per shot worth of damage to the initial target, and 30 splash damage to all enemies in a 3x1 area. Melon-pult can be upgraded to Winter Melon, which deals identical damage but can also chill affected enemies, decreasing their movement and attack speed by 50%.

Suburban Almanac entry
Melon-pult

Melon-pults do heavy damage to groups of zombies.

Damage: heavy

Range: lobbed

Special: melons damage nearby enemies on impact

Firing Speed: 1/2x

There's no false modesty with Melon-pult. "Sun-for-damage, I deliver the biggest punch on the lawn,"  he says. "I'm not bragging. Run the numbers. You'll see."

Cost: 300

Recharge: fast

Upgrades
Melon-pults present on the lawn can be upgraded into Winter Melons for 200 sun, provided that the required seed packet is already purchased from Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies for $10,000. Winter Melons are effectively the same in terms of health and damage, but they can also chill zombies with their frozen melons.

Strategies
Overall, Melon-pult is a well rounded plant, neither excelling in fighting single targets like Gatling Pea nor neutralizing hordes of weaker threats like Fume-shroom or Gloom-shroom, and lacking any noticeable strengths or weaknesses. However, his projectile still deals a respectable amount of damage and does both job relatively well for his price tag of 300 sun, and suffers from neither the former's poor performance against shields and multiple targets, nor the latter's limited range. Melon-pult can consistently attack almost every enemy in the game, with the only exception of flying Balloon Zombies and underground Digger Zombies, and can bypass every method of shielding the zombies employ, such as Screen Door Zombie's door, Ladder Zombie's ladder and Snorkel Zombie's attempt at hiding underwater to avoid other offensive plants. Due to the aforementioned reasons, Melon-pult can be used to great effect both in normal, mini-games and Survival Mode levels.

Comparing two Melon-pults to a Gatling Pea and Torchwood combo: the former does 80 damage to single target and 30 splash damage per 1.4 second, while the latter does 160 damage to the initial target and 56 splash damage in the same time period. However, it should be considered that Melon-pult benefits greatly from his ability to deal splash damage to adjacent tiles, so two columns of Melon-pult will in fact deal 140 damage to the initial target, as well as 90 splash damage per 1.4 seconds to each lane. The first setup also takes noticeably less time to build, while costing 25 sun and a seed slot less. Besides, the latter combo cannot pass the roof's slope. Because of this, the first setup is more useful if the player is planning to place plants in column, while the second setup will find more use in Survival: Endless as a tool for guarding edge lanes, due to the constraint on planting space and the setup's high damage output per tile.

Melon-pult is useful in the Roof levels, since he (like the other lobbed shot plants) can shoot over the angle of the roof, in addition to being the strongest catapult plant not obtained from Crazy Dave. In Survival: Endless, a column of Melon-pults should be planted and converted into Winter Melons in order to suppress incoming zombie and give the player as much reflex time as possible, as it is generally Gloom-shrooms that are used instead to deal damage.

Trivia

 * If a zombie is in front of him, the zombie will instantly be hit by the melon.
 * He is the only lobbed-shot plant who can do this.
 * In the old iPhone and Android versions of the game, he is seen with no eyebrows, no leaves below, no catapult, and no stem in his seed packet, just a melon with eyes.