Firebolt Zombie

Firebolt Zombie is a General zombie that can only be found in Arena and Penny's Pursuit in Plants vs. Zombies 2. Just like the other General Zombies, he only advance to the 9th column and having several different stages of attacks.
He has 5 different abilities, though they comes in pair of two for both fire and electricity except for his final ability. His first ability is "Firebomb", which will have him throw a fireball at the frontmost plant in any lane, dealing damage in a cross shape around the hit target. His second ability is "Lightning Bolt", which will have him throw a lightning bolt forward at the frontmost plant in any lane as well, but this time dealing damage in an arc that can hit multiple plants at once. Both abilities will only hit one target as long as the target hit is a defensive plant (mainly Enforce-mint family plants, but also others like Buttercup or Torchwood).
His has a second set of abilities, which has both "Flamethrower" and "Bolt Zapper". For "Flamethrower", he will shoot flames to the ground as it travel forward, burning plants in the process and leaving a scorched tile on plants that were burnt. It will only travel for 5-9 seconds before stopping. "Bolt Zapper" is similar where he shoots a bolt of lightning, but this time can be in 3 different lanes including adjacent lanes. It last for 8-12 seconds before stopping. Both ability will advance to the plant behind only when the plant in front dies, so again, defensive plants can stop them.
His final ability is "Metoer Dive", which will have Firebolt Zombie fly up and crash down into the ground, creating an earthquake that travel along the ground, before erupting upward and destroying plants in the entire lane. This can only be stop by a ground plant such as Spikeweed, Spikerock, Celery Stalker, Olive Pit etc. Though they will also be destroyed (Except for Spikerock who will degrade once).
As a General Zombie, he is immune to the following effects:
*Hypnosis
*Knockback
*Stunning
*Freezing
*Shrinking
*Imp Pear's Plant Food ability
==Origins==
Firebolt Zombie has several origins, especially for both of his powers. The main inspiration is The Flash from DC Comics, specifically Berry Allen, who has lightning power and his Chinese Superhero name directly translate to "Lightning Hero", further explaining Firebolt Zombie's power. His red clothes are also similar to The Flash's red suit, lastly his glasses' lightning symbol is also similar to The Flash's mask.
While I can't show pictures here, he is also similar to the page creator's Original Character, who has lightning power and dressed in red and yellow, though not much else.
 Aside from these two, his glasses also have origins, mainly being Electric Slide from BfN, who has a see-through colored glasses with lightning symbols, and of course Electric Slide also have electric power.
 For more of his powers, aside from the contest he is from themed around fire and electric, he also have inspiration from multiple characters with both fire and electric power. Such as the Firebenders from Avatar the Last Airbender, who can control fire and generate lightning, though not control them. And Fire God Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat 11, as the fusion between Liu Kang and Raiden, who has fire power and lightning power respectively, Fire God Liu Kang controls over both power. (Though he lost the lightning power later)
His name comes from "Firebolt", while not exactly a real word, is used for vehicles such as the Starfire Firebolt, USS Firebolt (PC-10), AQM-81A Firebolt and most notably the broomstick Harry Potter uses to ride and fly, which can explain Firebolt Zombie's ability to fly by himself. It also has the word for "Fire" and "Bolt" (Used for lightning bolt).
His Meteor Dive and earthquake ability comes from "Earthquake Light", also known as Earthquake Lightning. A phenomenon that is caused by earthquake that disrupt the electricity network to create bright flashes in the sky. Though in this game, there is no flashes to make sure players won't go blind. The name "Meteor Dive" comes from meteor hitting the earth, which can cause earthquake as long as its big enough.
==Almanac entry==
==Stages and overview==
Sea Serpent Zombie degrades visually in all phases at 50% phase damage taken, which will have his wings look broken and have holes all around.
Phase	Length 	Health 	Points on defeat	Attacks
1 	35 seconds	7500 damage 	45,000 	Shoot either fireball or lightning bolt 1 at a time. (Firebomb and Lightning Bolt)Shoot flames for 5 seconds or lightning for 8 seconds forward. (Bolt Zapper and Flamethrower)Never perform Meteor Dive at this phase.
2 	30 seconds	9000 damage 	70,000 	Shoot either fireball or lightning bolt 2 at a time. (Firebomb and Lightning Bolt)Shoot flames for 7 seconds or lightning for 10 seconds forward. (Bolt Zapper and Flamethrower)Meteor Dive at most once only, causing eruptions from the ground.
3 	25 seconds	13,500 damage	90,000 	Shoot either fireball or lightning bolt 3 at a time. (Firebomb and Lightning Bolt)Shoot flames for 9 seconds or lightning for 12 seconds forward. (Bolt Zapper and Flamethrower)Meteor Dive at most 3 times, causing eruptions from the ground.
==Audio==
Sound	Description
 	His "Firebomb" ability
 	His "Lightning Bolt" ability
 	His "Flamethrower" ability
 	His "Bolt Zapper" ability
 	His "Meteor Dive" ability
==Encounters==
*Arena (certain tournaments)
*Penny's Pursuit (certain levels)
==Strategies==
Firebolt Zombie is one of the deadliest General Zombie in the game. He a lot more abilities than the others, though most can be defended in the same way. It is important for you to take advantage of your knowledge about this guy before taking him head on. Unlike every other General Zombie, who focus on supporting zombies, Firebolt Zombie opts for a full offensive abilities, dealing heavy damage to your plants to make way for other zombies to slip by. They do have one glaring weakness, being their health, which is the lowest amongst the General Zombies, but we will get to himself later, first we will look at his abilities:
For his first set of abilities, they would be "Firebomb" and "Lightning Bolt", both are deadly abilities that can quickly destroy groups of your plants. With Firebomb, a cross shape might not seem big, but since this is the most common ability alongside Lightning Bolt, Firebolt Zombie can easily destroy your plants at the front with 2-3 fireballs. With Lightning Bolt, it is even deadlier, able to zap through your plants and damage plants back in your defense, most notably sun-producer and strong attackers. Therefore you have to use defensive plant to make sure you aren't overwhelmed, such as Tall-nut, Primal Wall-nut or Blockoli. They can safely block splash attacks from reaching your plants. The most reliable would be Tall-nut thanks to their high health, but Primal Wall-nut can be better in a lot of situation due to their quick recharge, allowing you to replant them with Wall-nut First Aid to not leak attacks through the time gap when you don't have defensive plants recharged. Pumpkin is also a good option as you can block projectiles while having another plant in that spot. For desperate measures, Ghost Pepper and all Mint plants can block projectiles, although the projectiles will still spread around, their invincible health means they themselves will not be destroyed by them.
For his second set of abilities, they would be "Flamethrower" and "Bolt Zapper". These two are especially dangerous thanks to their high damage output and more. Flamethrower is the more dangerous of the two as it can leave burnt tiles on destroyed plants, preventing the player from planting on those tiles for 5 seconds, though it last shorter than its electric counterpart. Speaking of, Bolt Zapper is more versatile, as it can be used on adjacent lanes, meaning when you see this move appears, you have to protect more than 1 lane in order to make sure your plants won't be destroyed. It also last longer. Both abilities can be once again, blocked by defensive plants, though it isn't a guarantee counter, as once they have low health and you weren't able to heal them, they will perish just like other plants. Since Arena and Penny's Pursuit levels force the player to bring a lot less plants, you'll have to decide whether to use a more long term option with Tall-nuts and using Plant Food on them, or a more short term option that require more sun as the match goes on with Primal Wall-nut that will be safer.
For his final and most powerful ability "Meteor Dive", it will be devastating if he gets to use it. That is, if he gets to use it. He will never perform this move at Phase 1, and at Phase 2, only use it once. Only Phase 3 will have him use it 3 times. With his lack of high health, you can destroy him before he perform them, especailly at Phase 2. Using powerful plants such as Pea Vine and Torchwood combo, Pokra (Though you have to put it up close, so putting a Pumpkin to protect it from Firebolt Zombie's other attacks can be useful), Ultomato etc. can overpower him and stop him from attempting this ability to begin with. However, this can't always be the case, as you might get unlucky or overwhelmed by other zombies. Therefore to stop this effect, you will need ground plants, more specifically, Spikerocks. Spikerocks can block Meteor Dive 3 times, each time losing one of their spikes, one Spikerock is capable of saving a lane as long as its in the front. However he is also the most expensive option, so if you don't have enough sun, Spikeweed would be a better choice from the rest. While other plants aren't bad, they are not as good as these two thanks to higher sun cost, slower recharge speed, not always in the ground for some plants like Cactus etc. Iceweeds can be an alternative option than Spikeweeds, while they have slightly higher cost, they are more useful in fighting other zombies.
To deal with Firebolt Zombie himself... a lot of things can work. As he is a glass cannon, you can defeat them with strong plants like the previously mentioned plants (Pea Vine and Torchwood, Pokra and Pumpkin or Ultomato). Melee plants like Headbutter Lettuce should be protected with Pumpkin like what been said about Pokra so that they can't be destroyed by his attacks easily. Make sure to use your Plant Food to defeat them as they worth a lot of points in Arena, do remember that Plant Food on plants like Melon-pult may not be as useful as single lane types Plant Food like Repeater as those have more focus fire on a single target. Though he doesn't have as much points as other General Zombies due to his lower health. Still, he should be taken care of first since defensive plants can still slowly die from his attacks and you might not have enough ground plants to block Meteor Dive.
In the Chinese version, you can utilize one of the most powerful defensive plant: Ents. Their high regenerating health can block a lot of attacks, as Firebolt Zombie can't perform attack quickly, Ents can heal up and continue blocking any incoming attacks. Though the ground plants protection are the same as there aren't that many unique and useful ground plants. One note is that the earthquake also erupt from the ground, meaning it can still hurt flying plants.
==Gallery==
File:Firebolt Zombie HD.png|Firebolt Zombie HD
File:Firebolt Zombie Degrade HD.png|First and only degrade
File:Firebolt Zombie Lawn.png|Firebolt Zombie on the Penny's Pursuit Lawn
File:Firebolt Zombie Almanac.png|Almanac Icon
File:Firebolt Zombie Ability Showcase 1.png|His "Firebomb" and "Lightning Bolt" abilities.
File:Firebolt Zombie Ability Showcase 2.png|"Flamethrower" ability.
File:Firebolt Zombie Ability Showcase 3.png|"Bolt Zapper" ability.
File:Firebolt Zombie Ability Showcase 4.png|"Meteor Dive" ability.
File:Firebolt Zombie Advertisement.png|Firebolt Zombie's Teaser/Advertisement
File:Firebolt Zombie Screenshot.png|In-game Screenshot of Firebolt Zombie flying to the lawn.
==In other languages==
==Trivia==
*Just like Sea Serpent Zombie, he is a general zombie created with the intend to be in Plants vs. Zombies: Kingdom of Taco.
*Like every General Zombie, his almanac incorrectly state his Toughness as Hardened and his Speed as Creeper.
*As the General Zombie with the lowest health, he is the only one whose Toughness can be lower than Undying.
*He is also the General Zombie with the least amount of time on the lawn, when at the lowest will only last for 25 seconds.
*He is the General Zombie with the most abilities, with 5.
*His tail is an homage to Sea Serpent Zombie, who was going to have a tail but didn't, therefore he has it instead.
Category:DarkMatter Creations
Category:General Zombies
Category:Zombies with "Creeper" speed
Category:Zombies with "Hardened" toughness
Category:Penny's Pursuit
Category:Zombies that don't attack your house
Category:Zombies that don't move
Category:Ranged Zombie
Category:Plants vs. Zombies 2 zombies