Balloon Zombie (PvZ2)

*For other uses, see Balloon Zombie (disambiguation).*

## **Balloon Zombie**

Balloon carries zombies over barriers and ground defenses.

Balloon zombie has no idea where the balloon came from, but he's going with it and he's open to seeing where it takes him.

**Balloon Zombie** is a flying zombie in *Plants vs. Zombies 2* that floats gently above the lawn with a red balloon with an angry face drawn on tied around its waist. The balloon acts as armor and the zombie himself can hover over most plants until the balloon is popped and the zombie drops to the ground. He can be blown away by a Blover or killed by explosive plants besides the Potato Mine, Primal Potato Mine, and Escape Root (if it turns into the two previous plants) while still in the air.

## Almanac entry

**Balloon Zombie**

TOUGHNESS: Solid

SPEED: Speedy

Balloon carries zombies over barriers and ground defenses.

Balloon zombie has no idea where the balloon came from, but he's going with it and he's open to seeing where it takes him.

## Overview

Balloon Zombie's balloon can be damaged by any normal attacking plants, except for ground based ones (such as Spikeweed). Spike projectiles no longer instantly pop the balloon, and now simply deal normal damage to it. After taking a certain amount of damage, his balloon pops dropping him on the ground similar to the Bug Zombie. The zombie himself walks much faster than in the original game.

Balloon Zombie absorbs 900 damage per shot. His appearance changes upon absorbing 650 damage per shot when his balloon is popped, before dying at 900 damage per shot.

In Player's House - Day 3 and 4, he absorbs 500 damage per shot. His balloon is popped at 350 damage per shot, before dying at 500 damage per shot.

## Encounters

* Player's House: Piñata Party; Since 7.1 update: Days 3 and 4
* Pirate Seas: "Rescue the Gold Bloom" Epic Quest - Step 6
* Modern Day: Days 9, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 35, 38, 39, 44, Highway to the Danger Room and "Rescue the Gold Bloom" Epic Quest - Step 1
* Arena: Dandelion's Brainstorm Tournament, Holly Barrier's Escalating Tournament, Gold Bloom's Tournament, Torchwood's Tournament, Dandelion's Tournament, Torchwood's Boosterama Tournament, Tumbleweed & Friends VS Zomboss Tournament

## Strategies

The Balloon Zombie behaves much like his original counterpart in the first game, except he now has the same behavior like the Bug Zombie, since he is dropped after his balloon is popped. However, his speed is faster.

* He will temporarily stop moving forward to raise altitude when flying over a plant, a fact which can be used to stall it. This trait also applies to Jetpack Zombie, Bug Zombie and Blastronaut Zombie.
* Cactus is not recommended against Balloon Zombies, since it cannot stretch high to pop their balloons with their spikes now.
* Use a Blover or Hurrikale against Balloon Zombies with their balloons to instantly kill them quickly in large numbers.
* Tall-nuts and plant-made force fields can now stall him. A good combination is to use Tall-nut and a powered Nightshade (affected by Moonflower) to deal against a Balloon Zombie.
* Primal Peashooter can stall Balloon Zombie and make him fly over other plants, which stops Balloon Zombie for a short time when he rises above a plant.
* Shadow-shroom, Goo Peashooter, Stunion (at least level 5), and Ail-mint can be used to defeat Balloon Zombie even with his balloon. However, Plant Food is needed for Shadow-shroom, as Balloon Zombies cannot reach the Shadow-shroom while airborne.

## Trivia

* Unlike in the first game:
	+ Balloon Zombie now wears two shoes, as opposed to only one.
	+ He can no longer fly pass Tall-nut.
	+ His balloon can no longer be popped by Cactus, but other plants can damage him while he is floating.
* In Balloon Zombie's zapped death animation, it shows that there is a monkey wearing a fez riding a bicycle in his balloon.
	+ However, this monkey does not appear when his balloon is popped normally. As of the 7.4.1 update, the monkey is removed regardless of whether or not the zombie is zapped.
	+ There used to be a glitch that happened in version 4.4, when zapped by a Electric Blueberry, it leaves a sun instead of its zapped animation, it happens because the sprite needed for the animation was not added in the game, and when the game is missing a sprite, it is replaced by a sun instead.
* Balloon Zombie's balloon is significantly larger than in the first game, and lighter in color.
* Before the 4.5.1 update, Balloon Zombie had a bone sticking out of his arm. However, this did not appear in his almanac icon.
* When viewed through the Almanac, Balloon Zombie can appear with or without its balloon.
	+ This is the only zombie whose appearance is not consistent in the Almanac.
* Balloon Zombie's head disappears when he dies, instead of it "popping" off like other zombies.
	+ This is may be a nod to the bug in several versions of the original game, where Balloon Zombie's head disappears rather than falling off.
	+ When this zombie is defeated, his head uses the balloon's popping animation, looking like his head is actually "popping."
	+ This also applies to Super-Fan Imp and the Imp's Summer Nights costume.
* He does not lose his arm before his head pops.
* His head and body structure is the same as a normal zombie's unlike in *Plants vs. Zombies*.
* There are two errors in the Almanac:
	+ It says the balloon carries zombies, although it only carries one type of zombie.
	+ In the description, the z in the word zombie is in lowercase, but it should be capitalized instead.
* This is the first zombie that uses balloons to bypass the player's defense, the second being Balloon Imp Child.
* In the Big Brainz Piñata Party event, the big-headed Balloon Zombie does not have his hat on.
* Him, Jetpack Zombie, Blastronaut Zombie, Bug Zombie, Seagull Zombie, and Pelican Zombie are the only zombies that cannot be killed by Grimrose (while flying).
* There is a glitch when using Thyme Warp on a Balloon Zombie in Modern Day - Day 9, his balloon will appear to pop and he will walk, but when he encounters a plant, his balloon reappears and he rises over it.
* If he bumps into a hypnotized zombie, he will not attempt to eat that zombie and will instead use his hovering animation to bypass them, as if they were plants. He will continue to do so until the balloon is popped by the hypnotized zombie. Most other aerial zombies will attempt to eat the hypnotized zombie instead.

## See also

* Balloon
* Bug Zombie
* Balloon Imp Child