Surfer Zombie

*For the version in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, see Surfer Zombie (PvZH)*.

Surfs past plants on the water, then carries board on land.

 (attacks can destroy the surfboard and zombie instantly)
 (cannot be crushed)
 (prioritizes zombie)

Surfer Zombie took up surfing just last year. At first, he only did it because he thought it would make him look cool. But he was a natural. Now he can hang 10 with the best of them. Now he's headed to the pro circuit. Now he IS cool.

**Surfer Zombie** is a zombie encountered in Big Wave Beach.

He uses a surfboard to surf in water, ignoring all plants. Once he reaches land, he will carry his surfboard and use it as a shield against lobbed-shot plants, until he encounters a plant to crush with his surfboard. When he does, the surfboard will instantly kill the first plant in where it is placed, and it will behave like a tombstone that cannot be destroyed by Grave Buster. This ability makes him an environment modifier.

After the surfboard is placed, the Surfer Zombie will behave like a normal zombie. His surfboard can place itself when this zombie dies on land. However, it is possible for lobbed-shot plants to damage the board and break it before deployment is possible.

Additionally, if he is defeated by electrocution or an explosion (with the burnt animation), the surfboard will simply vanish.

## Description

Surfer Zombie is a fast zombie in water, but once he reaches the shore, he will carry his surfboard and crash it into any plant he encounters.

His hair is blonde and is combed backwards. He wears orange swimming trunks with a white line at the left side of it. His surfboard is colored light yellow and has cracks on the front portion of it, as well having blue lines on both the left and right sides and an orange line on the middle portion of the surfboard.

## Almanac entry

**Surfer Zombie**

TOUGHNESS: Dense

SPEED: Flighty

Surfs past plants on the water, then carries board on land.

Damage: can crush a plant with his board

Surfer Zombie took up surfing just last year. At first, he only did it because he thought it would make him look cool. But he was a natural. Now he can hang 10 with the best of them. Now he's headed to the pro circuit. Now he IS cool.

## Overview

Surfer Zombie absorbs 350 damage per shot and degrade upon absorbing 175 damage per shot (Where his hand drops). His surfboard absorbs 700 damage per shot from lobbed shots only and does not block other shots. It has 4 degrades.

## Encounters

Player's House: Piñata Party

Big Wave Beach: Days 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, Tiki Torch-er, and Piñata Party

Modern Day: Days 2, 18, 19, 21, 23, 33, 44 and Highway to the Danger Room (portal only)

Arena: Caulipower's Escalating Tournament, Blastberry Vine's Big Boom Season

## Strategies

Although the Surfer Zombie has health on the lower end of the Protected spectrum, he is very fast when on water. When he reaches land, he will place his surfboard on your plants, which you cannot plant on unless you destroy the surfboard. Make sure you kill the zombie before he reaches land, as if he reaches land, killing him after that will result in him dropping his surfboard on the tile. If combined with multiple Octo Zombies, Fisherman Zombies, and Deep Sea Gargantuars, they will wreak havoc onto your defenses.

Magnifying Grass and Winter Melon are among the best plants to defeat Surfers before they reach shore. The Magnifying Grass can quickly kill a Surfer in one shot for 50 sun. It also has a fast recharge time, allowing many to be planted in a hurry, and if a lot of sun stored, the player can shoot through other zombies in the way if waiting for the Surfer to pull ahead is not an option. The Winter Melon's damage power and slowing effect can bring down Surfers and their allies together in the water (such as Snorkel Zombie). However, he has the advantage over Magnifying Grass in levels with limited sun or planting options, and zombies near the front lines can possibly distract Winter Melons long enough for Surfers to slip through.

Among the plants introduced in Big Wave Beach, Guacodile, Chomper, and Tangle Kelp are the best choices for defeating Surfers. Chomper can eat both the Surfer and his surfboard whole, even if he reaches shore, as well as destroy a surfboard on the ground quickly if one is in front of him, and this attribute is shared with Toadstool. When placed out in the water, a Guacodile will be triggered when the Surfer Zombie passes over it, usually dealing enough damage to finish the surfer off. If the Surfer attempts to crush it, he will just trigger Guacodile's biting attack.

If a Surfer Zombie does make it to shore, plants that destroy the Surfer Zombie and surfboard together (without letting the surfboard drop during the death animation) are extremely useful, such as Chomper, Lightning Reed, Cherry Bomb, Squash, Jalapeno, and Jack O' Lantern. Cherry Bombs are helpful for destroying a group of Surfer Zombies in the water or on land. However, they require a Lily Pad planted first before they can be detonated above water. It is highly recommended to use instant kill or high damage-rate plants to take out Surfer Zombie as the zombie himself is tough enough to kill, but its surfboard has the same amount of health as a tombstone. Destroy the Surfer Zombie and his surfboard as quick as you can or your lawn will be swarmed with surfboards.

Shrinking Violet and Enforce-mint can also be useful, as it will cause the surfboard to be unable to crush a plant.

A Split Pea is best used when on water if a Surfer Zombie passes your defenses, so that it can deal damage to both the surfboard and the Surfer Zombie. In addition, a Laser Bean (when upgraded with Plant Food) will instantly destroy him when on water in one hit, so plant it in front of your lawn mowers. You can also use Tangle Kelp or Plant Food on a nearby one to keep this zombie from reaching land. Fume-shrooms are best used with Plant Food to push this zombie and prevent him from reaching land. Hurrikale will also push this zombie back and slow him down, preventing him from reaching the land. Caulipower can hypnotize this zombie even if he has his surfboard, which can be used to your advantage (since when hypnotized, he can crush zombies with the surfboard and it will act as a barrier for zombies to destroy).

Do note however, that when a Surfer Zombie manages to reach the shores, be ready as you will lose one of your plants in exchange for killing him unless you succeed in destroying the surfboard (Since the surfboard also uses a plant-replacement coding, Plant Food never helps, and due to this glitch he can sometimes replace a squash that is supposed to crush him). Laser Beans and Bowling Bulbs can also assist you in weakening the Surfer Zombie if you are in trouble of handling him, allowing you to save much time but you can also assist with Lightning Reed because when defeated by a Lightning Reed, he will not leave his surfboard on a plant or tile, so you can plant two columns of Lightning Reeds, if you do not want to lose a plant when you defeat him, remember to choose Winter Melon because they make a perfect combination for defeating tons of Surfer Zombies.

Note: Avoid using Citron against this zombie (unless fed with Plant Food), as this zombie can bypass your Citron fast or even destroy it, and the charging time to shoot a plasma ball takes longer.

## Trivia

* When he reaches the shore, he will trip over then suddenly appear with his surfboard.
* When he enters the player's house with the surfboard, it will disappear.
* If he is attacked by a lobbed-shot plant on land, the projectiles will damage the surfboard instead.
* In the Almanac, his surfboard has more cracks than in the seed selection screen. Also, after he places his surfboard, the surfboard appears to have no cracks at all.
* Strangely, when he tries to destroy Squash, Potato Mine or Primal Potato Mine, the surfboard will land on the tile behind them, this leaving the plant unaffected. This happens whether or not Potato Mine is armed.
* The death animation when he is riding on waves makes him fly up into the air and fall straight down into the water.
* Him, Snorkel Zombie, Octo Zombie, Deep Sea Gargantuar, and Barrel Zombie are the only zombies without shirts, excluding the animal zombies. However, it can be debated whether the Ancient Egypt zombies' (apart from Explorer Zombie) bandages count as shirts.
* He sometimes makes a grunting sound a few seconds after disembodied on land.
* If he tries to slam a Spring Bean that is about to bounce away a zombie with his surfboard, the surfboard breaks and will not crush the plant.
	+ This also can happen if two surfboards are placed on the same tile (this can only happen if a second Surfer Zombie dies on land and auto-places his board, as they never attempt to place their boards on top of each other while alive). Both will be destroyed, making this a helpful glitch to get rid of surfboards on the lawn.

* If a lawn mower kills him while he is surfing, two zombie heads will briefly appear. The correct head falling off and another head staying on the body, missing hair and a lower jaw.
* When he gets hit by a lawn mower while surfing, his surfboard will land into the water.
* He is one of the few zombies which can damage Ghost Pepper in certain ways. He can crush the plant directly provided if he is in front of the plant.
* In Tiki Torch-er, specifically in higher levels, Surfer Zombies may sometimes come in walking instead of surfing when the huge waves of zombies approach. This is because they spawn so far away from the lawn that the water does not exist.
* In the 3.8 and 3.9 updates, his surfboard absorbed 20 DPS before being destroyed.
* His surfboard is almost identical to the Cavalry Zombie's lance.

* He makes a cameo in *Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2* in Moon Base Z, where the player spawns when they need to capture the Lunar Motel, they can see a picture of him riding on his surfboard with his hair on fire with a big "SUN" on the front of the picture.
* He is voiced by Chris Sampson according to the credits.
* If he places his surfboard and is killed while still in his surfboard placing animation, he will use his death animation when surfing, even if this happens on land.
* His wig will fall off when the player defeats him while surfing.
* In the 6.1.1 update, there was a glitch that Surfer Zombie can spawn 2 surfboards, one upon making contact with a plant, and one upon being killed. This is similar to that of Excavator zombie as he will hold a shovel and drop another when defeated.
* When his surfboard lands, there's a small pile of sand in front of it, even if the world is not Big Wave Beach.

## See also

* Surfboard
* Lance

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