Excavator Zombie

* Lost
* Halloween

*Digs up plants and throws them behind him.*

Excavator Zombie once heard a song about having a hammer. He liked the idea, but decided it was too mainstream for him - so he got a shovel. Now he's confident that he's clearly the coolest zombie, the others are just too jealous to admit it.

**Excavator Zombie** is the sixth special zombie encountered in Lost City in *Alternate UniverZ*. He holds a golden shovel that can protect himself and all zombies behind him from incoming projectiles shot by straight-shooting plants like Peashooter. Additionally, he can shovel up plants when he gets close to them and throws them two tiles back.

## Possessed Excavator

*Shoves defensive plants to their tombs at record speed.*

## Almanac statistics

### Special

Shovel deflects straight projectilesDigs up and throws away defensive plants

### Weakness

All non-straight attacks (steals shovel)
 (cannot be shovelled when protecting a non-defensive plant)

## In-game statistics

### First seen

LOD-II

Got criticised numerous times for trying to possess and bury people as fast as possible. You can't blame the guy though, his rotten flesh "Plate o' Fun" will go cold. No, this is the only good time when he can eat it.

**Possessed Excavator** is the second special zombie encountered in Lawn of Doom in *Alternate UniverZ*. He holds a metallic shovel that can protect himself and all zombies behind him from incoming projectiles shot by straight-shooting plants like Peashooter. Additionally, he can shovel up defensive plants like Wall-nut or Endurian when he gets close to them and throws them back.

## Almanac entry

* Lost
* Halloween

**Excavator Zombie**

TOUGHNESS: Protected

SPEED: Hungry

Digs up plants and throws them behind him.

Health: 350
Speed: 1.35
Special Ability: blocks all straight projectiles with his shovel
Weakness: piercing and lobbing plants

 Excavator Zombie once heard a song about having a hammer. He liked the idea, but decided it was too mainstream for him - so he got a shovel. Now he's confident that he's clearly the coolest zombie, the others are just too jealous to admit it.

**Possessed Excavator**

TOUGHNESS: Protected

SPEED: Speedy

Shoves defensive plants to their tombs at record speed.

Health: 350
Speed: 1.84
Special Ability: shovel deflects straight projectiles
Extra Ability: digs up and throws away defensive plants like Wall-nuts or Endurians
Weakness: shovel can be stolen by Magnet-shroom, Pumpkin cannot be shovelled if a non defensive plant is inside it

Got criticised numerous times for trying to possess and bury people as fast as possible. You can't blame the guy though, his rotten flesh "Plate o' Fun" will go cold. No, this is the only good time when he can eat it.

## Overview

Excavator Zombie absorbs 350 damage and degrades upon an absorption of 175 damage before dying at 350 damage.

## Encounters

### Excavator Zombie

* Player's House: Piñata Party

* Lost City: LC-VII, LC-VIII, LC-IX, LC-X, LCX-I, LCX-II, LCX-VI, LCX-VII and LCX-IX

* Volcanic Lost City: VLC-II, VLC-VI and VLC-VIII

* Summer Splashdown: SS-I and SS-VI

* Birthday Bashers: BB-VII

* Heroic Showdown: HS-VII, HS-VIII, HS-IX and HS-X

* The Breakroom: TB-VI

* Plant Showcase: Lightning Road and Natural Medication

* Timeless Avenue: Incendiary Program, Sun Stun and Roguelike Hunt

* Invaded Levels: Invaded LCX-I

* When Worlds Flourish: 3

* Endless Zones: Temple of Bloom

### Possessed Excavator

* Player's House: Piñata Party

* Lawn of Doom: LOD-II, LOD-III, LOD-IV and LOD-VII

* Birthday Bashers: BB-III, BB-VI and BB-VIII

* Heroic Showdown: HS-VII, HS-VIII, HS-IX and HS-X

* Seasonal Eggbreaker: EB-II

* Timeless Avenue: Illusion of Choices

* When Worlds Flourish: 14 and 15

* Endless Zones: Celebratory Carousel Crash

## Strategies

### General

Excavator Zombies are one of Lost City's most dangerous zombies. They are very fast, and defensive plants like Wall-nut are useless against them. After reaching the sixth column, he is considerably hard to defeat without the help of instant-kill plants like Cherry Bomb and stalling plants like Hurrikale.

If you see this zombie on the seed selection screen, make sure to bring a plant whose attacks are not absorbed by the shovel. After seeing this zombie entering the lawn, plant a lobbed-shot plant like an A.K.E.E., and try to use other plants to keep him stunned for a while. However, this must be done quickly as he can reach your lawn mower or house if you don't defeat him in time. When these zombies come alone, using a Bonk Choy can be a good way to defeat them (the punches bypass his shovel and can attack from behind). Similar to Bonk Choy, the Celery Stalker and Split Pea can also attack the Excavator Zombie from behind.

The Excavator Zombie is also weak against Area Effect plants since they will ignore the shovel. Two columns of Laser Beans should be enough to kill the Excavator Zombie before he gets near your defensive plants. After an update though, he can actually eat plants. If you put the plant while his shovel is in a different tile, he will attempt to eat so now using Chili Bean or Explode-O-Nut is a valid option. Unusually, he can eat Spikeweeds and Spikerocks too.

Do not use Plant Food on the straight shooting-based plants when Excavator Zombie is approaching. It will only compound your problems, as Excavator Zombie will block them all, wasting Plant Food. Exceptions are plants that can penetrate the shovel.

The Infi-nut is extremely useful against him with his Plant Food ability, as the force field will prevent him from moving plants behind the Infi-nut.

Although Phat Beet bypasses his shovel, it is a bad choice to use them because he can survive due to his speed, either shoveling or going pass through them.

A Parasol Zombie and Excavator Zombie pair can be very hard to defeat, because they move together and can stop any projectile. Instant-kill plants are still your best choices to kill them, along with two plants with forward projectiles and two lobber plants in the same lane. Two Red Stingers and two A.K.E.E.s can kill them. However, it is not recommended to use forward or lobber plants without area of effect as these zombies will appear in higher density later on.

Plants that can attack through multiple zombies, such as Bloomerang, Snapdragon, Lightning Reed, Laser Bean, and Fume-shroom can also simultaneously bypass the Excavator Zombie's shovel and damage both the Excavator and Parasol Zombie, making them another way to defeat the pair of zombies. Lava Guava, Holly Barrier and Boom Balloon Flower are also good choices as they will cause a lot of damage to other zombies as well.

### Possessed Excavator

Possessed Excavator is much faster than his normal variant, though is easier to deal with. He is now limited to only shoveling defensive plants, which can be countered by Pumpkin if a non-defensive plant, such as Sunflower, is being protected by it. You can also use Magnet-shroom to remove his shovel, rendering him useless and like a Basic Zombie with more health. Grounded plants, like Spikeweed or Spikerock will also be less useful against the Possessed Excavator, as with or without shovel, he can eat them without trouble.