Zombot River Hydra

Zombot River Hydra is the boss in Plunging Rapids in Plants vs. Zombies: Lost World, appearing on Level 4B. The Zombot River Hydra, unlike other Zombots, has individual heads with individual healths (meaning that there will be 5 health bars, each one representing its respective head). There are five heads, each occupying one lane: green, purple, blue, red and plasma (plasma is white in colour and has glowing eyes). The Zombot can perform the following actions:
*Two heads within the boss battle will switch positions anytime, or one head will move into an empty spot that no head is occupying (no lane can be occupied by more than one head).
*Two (or one if there is only one head left alive) heads will spawn zombies by roaring, and zombies will rise up from the water in each of the two heads' lanes from the 6th-7th column.
*One head will perform a unique ability. These are the following heads and each of their unique abilities:
**Green - Releases a green gas that spreads throughout the whole lane, poisoning plants and zombies (ignoring armor) for 45DPS per second (plants and zombies that are low or underwater are safe (e.g. Lilypad or Snorkel Zombie while underwater)). This gas will linger for 10 seconds before disappearing.
**Purple - Fires a shot of purple venom at a randomly selected water tile, instantly killing all plants there.
**Blue - If this head spawns zombies, immediately after that, there is a 50% chance for the head to use the Zombot's tail to whip the water in front of it, creating a wave that pushes all zombies near it two tiles ahead (zombies will only be affected if they are at least two tiles near the head).
**Red - Sinks into the river, then emerges near the tent in the same lane to eat all plants and zombies in the first and second column. It will then move back to its position and heal itself for 500DPS after eating.
: The plasma head, however, does not have a unique ability it can perform, but it is immune to all kinds of damage except for Plant Food effect damage (because of this, the boss fight level will have a relatively higher abundance of Plant Food than most other levels).
Each head also has two lives, and will have two forms, each representing its first and second life respectively: normal and rebuilt. Every head during the beginning of the level is a normal head. When a head is defeated the first time, it gets decapitated from the damage dealt to it, and the head will fall forwards, killing all plants and zombies three tiles ahead of that head (note that this will also happen after defeating the same head the second time). After all normal heads have been defeated, all heads will rematerialise and enter their rebuilt form (this is the heads' second and last life). These heads will have the exact same health, but, however, their unique abilities will slightly change from the regeneration as so:
*Green - Releases a fire instead of gas, instantly killing all plants and zombies in its lane (as before, plants and zombies that are low or underwater are safe).
*Purple - Fires oil instead of venom. This oil, after instantly killing all plants on its tile, it will continue to linger on that water tile, rendering it unplantable until the oil disappears (it takes 45 seconds for it to disappear)
*Blue - It will now always use the Zombot's tail to propel zombies forward. This time, the wave is powerful enough to also push any plants within the wave's range (two tiles ahead of the head) to be pushed backwards one tile (consequently pushing other plants behind it if space is unavailable).
*Red - Instead of the two leftmost tiles in its lane, it will choose any two random water tiles to eat all plants and zombies there. It will also heal itself and all other remaining heads for 250DPS.
The plasma head is also now immune to Plant Food effects, and vulnerable to normal damage.
==Origins==
The Zombot River Hydra is based on the Lernaean Hydra, a monster in greek mythology well-known for being able to regenerate heads when one of them is cut off (each head of the Hydra having two lives is a reference to this). NOTE: It is commonly known for the Hydra to regenerate two heads when one is cut off, but the number of heads it regenerates varies by historical source, and, in the Zombot River Hydra's case, it will only regenerate one head when one is cut off. The plasma head's immunity trait is a reference to the Hydra that was said to also have one immortal head.
==Almanac entry==
Zombot River Hydra
Toughness: Undying
Speed: Hungry
The legendary monster now mechanized to terrorize flora of all kinds.
Special: Each head has its individual health and a unique ability.
Special: Each head has two lives.
Every undead has experienced resurrection at least once, and so has Dr. Zomboss. Dr. Zomboss then thought about this experience himself and came up with a big brain idea (literally). "Why give a Zombot a life of its own when you could give two instead?"
==Zombies summoned==
The Zombot River Hydra does not have any set phases (due to each head having its individual health), therefore, the zombies spawned by a head will depend on whether the head is a normal head, or rebuilt. The following are the zombies it can spawn when the head is:
*A normal head - Zombie, Conehead Zombie, Buckethead Zombie, Impfinity Clone, Ducky Tube Zombie (Basic and Conehead variants), Snorkel Zombie, Balloon Zombie.
*A rebuilt head - Zombie, Conehead Zombie, Buckethead Zombie, Newspaper Zombie, Ducky Tube Zombie (Buckethead and Brickhead variants), Snorkel Zombie, Brickhead Zombie, Lifeguard Zombie, Gargantuar (with Imp).
Some zombies arrive without the Zombot River Hydra spawning them directly, those being Octo-Pet and Zombie Croc. Octo-Pet's abilities remain the same, occasionally coming in to drag plants down, and strong currents now come more than once during the boss fight, allowing more Zombie Crocs to arrive.
==Strategies==
Due to the amount of abilities that the Zombot River Hydra has in total, this is a very complicated Zombot to deal with. Unlike the most Zombots, Plant Food effects are unable to stun the Zombot's heads when it is about to attack, which makes most of the attacks performed by the heads, both in normal and rebuilt form inevitable. You shouldn't worry too much about the green, purple and red head's abilities both in their normal and rebuilt forms, because not only do they take out plants, but they take out zombies as well. But, of course, that does not mean you should lower your guard. Replace your plants that get killed by the heads as soon as possible, unless the normal green head releases its poisonous gas, in which you would be advised to wait for the gas to disappear before planting (unless there's a Snorkel Zombie hiding underwater, in which you'll need to plant some plants in front of him in order to trick the zombie into emerging and getting damaged by the gas). Try to also take out the red head as quickly as possible, because its ability allows is to heal itself in its normal form, but it can heal all other heads when in its rebuilt form, so letting the red head stay on the lawn without being dealt with significantly can prolong the battle. Compared to most other heads, the blue head can be dangerous in terms of directly aiding the zombies. Because the normal blue head can sometimes forcefully push zombies deep into your defences right after spawning them, it can be a serious threat to your defenses. Its rebuilt form is more dangerous, since it can also push your plants down the lane and cause your defense to become disorganized, so you'll need to be wary if the blue head starts to spawn zombies; make sure the lane is prepared for the attack, and won't get severely breached. The plasma head can be annoying the deal with, since it does not take any damage from normal attacks in its normal form, so it would be advisable to use most of your Plant Food you collect in trying to attack the plasma head. In its rebuilt form, on the other hand, since it is now immune to Plant Food, try to flood the lane with more plants in order to overwhelm the head with large amounts of damage.
==Gallery==
== Trivia ==
* Dr. Zomboss can only appear in one head at a time in this battle (for obvious reasons). If the head he is in gets defeated, he will instantly retreat into any other head that is still standing.
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