Fat Zombie

Internal gasses cause this enemy to explode after death, dealing damage within a large area.

## Base Stats

###  Melee Damage

* 46 (explosion, documented)
* 23, 46, and 92 (explosion, factual)
* 10 (flesh chunk)

###  Speed

2

Nickname "**Fat Zombie**" is a large infected dressed in a white tank top with a yellow face print and black pants. His stomach and arms are bloated and he has large sacks around his neck.

Though too fragile for his knockback immunity to matter, Fat Zombie may a very problematic enemy to fight against in part due to his extremely damaging on-death ability. Upon being killed, Fat Zombie explodes, dealing high Area of Effect damage to all units, stationary units, and zombies in a large radius around the spot where he was killed. Immediately after exploding, a chunk of flesh is sent flying in a random spot forward or backward, dealing 35 damage upon landing. However, this flesh chunk's random arc makes it easily irrelevant, as it cannot precisely damage player units, being more likely to harm zombies instead.

Although Fat Zombie can cause quite a bit of trouble, he can be used to players' advantage. Because his explosion can damage other zombies, it's a good idea to wait until a big wave of zombies runs by and drop Empty Barrel or Red Barrel on him, destroying, or at least severely damaging, the swarm. The same method also applies to missions where plenty of zombies are on the battlefield at the beginning, making it much easier to reach and destroy the barricade (provided if he moves close enough for his explosion to hurt them). If many of them spawn at once, it can cause a chain reaction where several Fat Zombies explode upon damaging each other, demolishing many zombies accompanying them. This is particularly useful against the likes of Witch and Runner since the explosion's much larger area of effect can catch them consistently.

If a mission mostly consists of waves containing Fat Zombies, it might be difficult to destroy the barricade as most ranged units might shoot Fat Zombie down while melee units are attacking the barricade, well inside the radius of its powerful explosion, unless a stray pellet goes off course and hits him before he gets close. Sheriff Charlotte and Sniper Polina might help with this thanks to their longer range, although both are not readily avaliable when Fat Zombie is relevant. Nevertheless, ranged units are still a safe option when fighting Fat Zombies.

In terms of melee units, Firefighter is the best counter to Fat Zombie as he is immune to explosions and the zombie can't attack. Additionally, his unique AI allows him to head directly to a nearby Fat Zombie when not currently fighting another enemy, then easily kill it. While some other units such as Light Soldier also possess this AI, they will likely die to the explosion so it isn't recommended to use them.

### Abilities

* Explodes on death, causing a large, ring-shaped blast of blood.
	+ Damage depends on proximity. Closer units and enemies can take up to three hits in total starting from the highest possible damage down to the lowest possible damage, with the max possible explosion damage able to be taken totaling up to 161.
		- A chunk of flesh drops in a random spot, dealing 10 damage to units and zombies.
* Unable to attack.
* Knockback resistance.

## Trivia

* Fat Zombie's general appearance, description, and abilities are likely inspired by the Boomer special infected from the Left 4 Dead franchise, seeing it was named after said zombie in the original *Dead Ahead*. Unlike the actual Boomer, however, Fat Zombie just explodes when damaged, and does not have any additional abilities to help other zombies.

## Gallery

Journal entry.