Shield Zombie

Protect himself and nearby zombies with a force field.

### Weakness

  (stuns him as well as deactivates the shield)                  (can attack through the shield)
 (charge attack can attack through the shield)
   (can hit him from behind)
  (ignores shield)  (knocks him back while also deactivates the shield)

### First seen

Far Future - Day 2

Shield Zombie developed his system using funds from a BiteStarter campaign. The push goal for pushing plants was not met.

**Shield Zombie** is a robotic zombie that appears in Far Future. It creates a non-damaging force field in front of itself, covering three lanes to protect itself and other nearby zombies from incoming attacks. However, E.M.Peach can disable it and its force field and penetrating attacks can penetrate through the shield.

## Appearance

Shield Zombie looks like a Future Zombie, but it wears a white helmet with a red stripe in the middle and a pair of green visors. It pilots a machine which consists of a glass capsule with an antenna on top and a metal bottom with threads attached to it. It moves with treads like a tank. As it gets damaged, the glass will start to shatter.

## Almanac entry

**Shield Zombie**

TOUGHNESS: Protected

SPEED: Basic

Protect himself and nearby zombies with a force field.

Special: creates a shield to protect from incoming attacks

Shield Zombie developed his system using funds from a BiteStarter campaign. The push goal for pushing plants was not met.

## Overview

Shield Zombie absorbs 500 damage per shot, while the force field absorbs 1200 damage per shot, and its appearance changes upon absorbing 80, 160, 220, 300, 360, and 440 damage per shot before dying at 500 damage per shot.

## Encounters

### *Plants vs. Zombies 2*

Player's House: Piñata Party

Pirate Seas: Piñata Party

Far Future: Days 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, Terror from Tomorrow, and Piñata Party

Dark Ages : Premium Plant Quest: Hot Date - Step 6

Frostbite Caves: "Electrical Boogaloo" Epic Quest - Step 2

Lost City: "Aloe, Salut!" Epic Quest - Step 4 (portal only)

Modern Day: Days 1, 10, 33, 44, and Highway to the Danger Room (portal only in Modern Day - Day 1)

### *Plants vs. Zombies 2 (Chinese version)* (China only)

Player's House: Premium Plant Quest: Parsnip

Far Future: Days 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and Ultimate Challenge

Lost City: Boss Rush

Modern Day: Days 7, 26 and World Cup (portal only in Modern Day - Day 7)

## Strategies

By themselves, Shield Zombies do not pose much of a threat as they do not have much health. However, they can be very dangerous if they come with a group of Robo-Cone Zombies, Mecha-Football Zombies or Gargantuar Primes. Laser Bean can penetrate the shield, so you can attack Shield Zombie directly. If you plant a Magnifying Grass quickly enough, one hit can kill a Shield Zombie. E.M.Peach can disable it, stopping the shield for ten seconds, not to mention the other robots he can disable, giving the player time to defeat them. Lightning Reed's attack cannot bypass the shield on its own, but if the lightning bolt attacks another zombie, it can arc towards Shield Zombie and cause damage; however, there are times that it can bypass without the help of a zombie. Fume-shroom is a good counter, but keep in mind that due to its limited range one must make use of defensive plants and a Winter Melon. Bloomerang can also damage and bypass the shield. Finally, with enough hits, the shield will be disabled, making a Citron viable, as it deals large damage on its own. Spikerock or Spikeweed can attack it from below and bypass its shield, making it a good idea to use it in Terror from Tomorrow. Keep in mind that they cannot puncture the Shield Zombie's treads, therefore it needs to be stopped so it can take sufficient damage. Note that the shield can block the butter from Kernel-pult. The shield will also stop when the zombie starts to eat a plant. Snapdragon also works because it can ignore its shield, but because of its short range, it is better to protect it with a Wall-nut, Tall-nut, or Infi-nut. Be careful if you use Citron's Plant Food ability as even though Shield Zombie has less health than the plasma ball itself, it is still a machine, thus wasting the effect. If you only have a Spring Bean, plant it near it to remove the shield and place a Spikeweed or Spikerock to destroy it. Avoid using Potato Mine against it as the Force Field will trigger the mine prematurely without killing the zombie, but it will blow up the force field. Primal Potato Mines can kill it instantly as it has increased explosion area. Hurrikale can be used to push him and the force field back, therefore allowing more time to kill him, though it only delays one lane of enemies.

Celery Stalker is effective against this zombie as they cannot affect him when he is underground and will attack him directly from behind. Due to a bug, sometimes the plant will surface too quickly, causing the zombie to eat him, therefore delaying him. However the plant's high damage takes him out quickly.

Guacodiles can be very useful against Shield Zombies. They can break through the shield and Shield Zombie to deal a great amount of damage. However, you need to have at least two Guacodiles to do this. Combining this plant with Sweet Potato is a very good idea.

Cactus can also be quite helpful against Shield Zombies. Although Cactus' projectiles are rather weak, it still has the ability to pierce through multiple obstacles at once. Cactus fed with Plant Food would be best choice to counter this zombie if you plan on using only it for offense.

*Do not* use Plant Food on the straight-shooting plants when Shield Zombie has activated its force field . It will only compound your problems, as Shield Zombie will block them all, wasting plant food. Exceptions are anything that can pass through the forcefield and Citron's big blue plasma ball.

Note: Avoid using Primal Peashooter against this zombie as the peas do not affect the Shield Zombie when force field is armed, though it does have the potential to cripple this enemy when it's unprotected.

## Videos

Plants vs. Zombies 2 New Shield Zombie - Far Future Day 2 (Ep.237)By Alex5432000
## Trivia

* If it is kicked by a raptor, its shield will disappear. (Modern Day only)
* In its Almanac entry, BiteStarter is a parody of Kickstarter. Also, it states that the goal to push plants was not met, referring to Mecha-Football Zombie.
	+ If it does have such ability, the game will become extremely unbalanced.
* The helmet that it wears resembles the ones that the X-Wing pilots wear in *Star Wars*.
* It uses claws that come out from the machine to eat plants, similar to Robo-Cone Zombie.
* Its shield was originally going to be blue, and completely surround the zombie and other zombies within a 3x3 area, but was later changed to purple and moved to only being in front of the zombie. The blue shield is only seen in one screenshot which was released by Electronic Arts the Tuesday prior to the world release.
	+ The color was most likely changed due to the color similarity to Infi-nut's Plant Food force field, therefore creating confusion.
* The tube that goes from the Shield Zombie's head into the top of its machine is probably what lets it live, this is noticeable because when it is stunned by the E.M.Peach, it starts to move in its seat and when the machine is defeated the zombie dies.
	+ Although Snorkel Zombie's *Plants vs. Zombies* Almanac entry exclaims that zombies don't need anything to live, it may be just something that holds the helmet.
* Shield Zombie is the only zombie that does not use a steering wheel to control the machine. Instead, it uses a set of joysticks.
* Shield Zombie, Treasure Yeti, Zombie Bull, and Bug Bot Imp are the only machines in *Plants vs. Zombies 2* that cannot survive an instant kill.
* If Shield Zombie's force field absorbs too much damage all at once, it will be deactivated for a few seconds, leaving it open to other attacks.
* Shield Zombie and Bug Bot Imp are the weakest zombies that operate a machine, with less health than Conehead Zombies, but unlike Bug Bot Imp, Shield Zombie will still block a Plant Food charged Citron.
* Its toughness is actually Protected and its speed is actually Stiff while currently its toughness is said to be Average and its speed is said to be Basic.
* According to the game files, Shield Zombie's original name was Protector Zombie.
* If Shield Zombie is deactivated by E.M.Peach, it will push the joysticks and try to get the machine to move, which won't happen until 10 seconds pass.
* If it is frozen by an Iceberg Lettuce while its force field is up, the zombie itself will freeze, but its force field will stay.
* Shield Zombie and Bug Bot Imp are the only machined zombies that can be devoured by Chomper. This likely for balacing reasons.
* Ghost Pepper can attack its shield although there is no haunting animation around it. It can also attack through the shield.
* Sweet Potato can make Shield Zombie switch lanes with its force field activated, but Shield Zombie will detach from its force field, since its force field cannot switch lanes and is only programmed to move whenever Shield Zombie is moving.
* It is different in *Plants vs. Zombies Online*, having a different design and having a blue shield, like it was planned to do in the beta.
* In the 3.4.4 update, Shield Zombie's force field is immune to splash damage caused by Coconut Cannon, Melon-pult, Pepper-pult, and Winter Melon. Zombies behind the force field also become immune to splash damage.
* Spikeweed and Spikerock cannot pop the machine's treads, though they are still effective against the machine themselves.
* Bonk Choy does not punch the force field. It will target other enemies if possible.
* It can utilize sandstorms, but only in Piñata Party.
* If Shield Zombie is hurled back by Chard Guard, its shield will disappear.
* Shield Zombie, Basic Zombie, Dr. Zomboss, Knight Zombie, Wizard Zombie, Snorkel Zombie, Octo Zombie, Cave Zombie, Troglobite, Lost Pilot Zombie, Relic Hunter Zombie, Boombox Zombie, and Jurassic Zombie are the only zombies that have represented the game icon. This zombie represented the Far Future icon.
* During an Arena game, there is a glitch where the shield animation and sound effect will still play after the timer ends. It only stops when the tournament screen appears.
* In the "Inzanity" Epic Quest, it is possible to run into this zombie in a Modern Day background with trap tiles. If a boulder tile is activated, the machine will go flying, but the shield will remain in place until the zombie goes off the screen. The fire tile will still destroy the shield and zombie as normal.

## See also

* Force field
* Mechanical zombies

es:Zombi escudo
ru:Зомби со щитом