Armor

**Armor** are items used by the zombies to protect themselves. The aim for this is to survive for longer periods, although they can also bypass the player's defenses, nullify the effects of the player's plants, float in the pool, etc.

## Armor types

### *Plants vs. Zombies*

#### Headwear

Zombies wear headwear on their heads to survive for longer periods of time, so that they can get closer to the player's house.

A few examples include:

* Hard hats
* Roadcones
* Buckets
* Football helmets
* Black football helmets

#### Shields

Zombies carry shields in front of them to withstand pea-based damage, including fire peas and frozen peas. Shields are completely powerless against fumes, Spikeweed, Spikerock, lobbed shots, and projectiles from behind. Newspapers and targets, being non-metallic, allow the splash effect of flaming peas to occur.

Shields include:

* Newspapers
* Trash cans
* Screen doors
* Ladders
* Targets

#### Vaulting abilities

Certain zombies use vaulting items for the purpose of jumping over plants, as well as making them faster than normal zombies. However, they tend to slow down after losing their vaulting item.

Vaulting items are:

* Poles
* Dolphins
* Pogo sticks

#### Vehicles

Zombies ride on vehicles with the goal being to try to get as close to your house as they can while taking as little damage as possible. If the vehicle is destroyed, the zombie(s) within is/are also killed. Zombonis and Catapult Zombies can be instantly destroyed by Spikeweeds or Spikerocks.

Vehicles are:

* Ice resurfacers
* Bobsleds
* Catapult machines
* Zombot

#### Weapons

Weapons are used to attack the player's plants.

Weapons include:

* Jack-in-the-boxes
* Catapult machines
* Barbells
* Gas cans lit by cigars
* Torches
* Clubs
	+ Zombies
	+ Wildlife crossing signs
	+ Telephone poles
* Barrels

#### Metallic armor and objects

Metallic armor and objects are very resilient against all types of damage, but they can be stolen by Magnet-shrooms. Keep in mind that these have already been mentioned above.

Metallic armor and objects include:

* Buckets
* Screen doors
* Football helmets
* Ladders
* Pogo sticks
* Pickaxes
* Jack-in-the-boxes
* Trash cans

#### Other items

* Bungee cord - Bungee Zombies use this to steal plants or to drop zombies.
* Flag - Signals a huge wave of zombies.
* Ducky tube - Used by Ducky Tube Zombies to float in the pool.
* Snorkel - Used by Snorkel Zombies to swim under the water, similar to Digger Zombies except that catapults can kill Snorkel Zombies.
* Balloon - Allows Balloon Zombies to float over defenses, excluding Cactus, Cattail, Blover, and explosive plants.

### *Plants vs. Zombies 2*

* Roadcone
* Bucket
* Sarcophagus
* Barrel
* Shields
* Knight helm
* Ice block
* Shovel
* Parasol
* Microphone
* Arcade machine
* Speaker
* Skull
* Brick
* Hamsterball
* Galea

## Trivia

* The black football helmet is the most powerful armor, absorbing 2800 damage per shot.
* The football helmet is the strongest helmet on the full version of game, and the fourth strongest among all armor.
* The jack-in-the-box is the most powerful weapon that can kill any plants in one hit. Its explosion can destroy up to nine plants (even more with Pumpkin, Flower Pot, or Lily Pad) and can destroy explosives (not Potato Mines or sleeping Ice-shrooms or Doom-shrooms) if timed correctly.
	+ If it appears in a Roof level, and if you have Pumpkins on all of them, this can lead to up to 27 plants destroyed at once.
* The hard hat is the weakest headwear and also the weakest armor in *Plants vs. Zombies*, only taking 100 damage per shot before falling off.
	+ In *Plants vs. Zombies 2*, this record is beaten by the Cowboy Zombie's hat, only absorbing 40 damage per shot.
* The newspaper is the weakest shield and the second weakest armor in *Plants vs. Zombies*, (third worst in *Plants vs. Zombies 2*) only taking eight normal damage shots before falling apart.
* Fumes, lobbed shots, Spikeweed, Spikerock, boomerangs, and lasers ignore all shields but do not ignore headwear, even though Spikeweed and Spikerocks attack from below. The same can be said for lobbed shots.

## See also

* Magnet-shroom
* Zombies
* Shields
* Headwear
* Vaulting zombies
* Metallic objects