Dark Ages - Night 20

*For the Chinese version of the level, see Dark Ages - Night 20 (Chinese version).*
*For the level before the v1.8 update, see Dark Ages - Night 20 (Chinese version: pre-1.8).*

## Rewards

### Replaying

A money bag

**Dark Ages - Night 20** is the twentieth level of Dark Ages in *Plants vs. Zombies 2*. Dr. Zomboss makes his appearance in this level with his Zombot creation called Zombot Dark Dragon. Being a boss battle itself, the player is forced to beat Dr. Zomboss and his zombies in order to win the level. When this level is finished for the first time, the player gets the Dark Ages Trophy.

## Dialogue

### Intro

*(Dr. Zomboss appears)*

Dr. Zomboss: A question for you, my Ignoble Foes!

Dr. Zomboss: Has thou noted how violent thine plants become upon consuming Plant Food?

Dr. Zomboss: Perchance, hast thou wondered what Plant Food is truly made of?

Dr. Zomboss: Verily, I shall tell thee. It's zombies! Plant Food is made of zombies!

*(Dr. Zomboss disappears, Crazy Dave and Penny appear)*

Crazy Dave: Unpossible! We feed our plants only the highest quality organic uhm...

Crazy Dave: Hey Penny, what is Plant Food made of?

Penny: I fear the true nature of Plant Food requires further analysis, User Dave.

Penny: Excuse me while I run some tests.

*(Crazy Dave and Penny leave)*

### Outro

*(Crazy Dave and Penny appear)*

Penny: I have found no evidence that Plant Food contains zombies or zombie byproducts.

Crazy Dave: Phew! Plants shouldn't eat zombies who eat plants.

Crazy Dave: Except Chomper. He has to. Dude needs the fiber.

*(Crazy Dave and Penny leave, Dr. Zomboss appears)*

Dr. Zomboss: Why does thine time-traveling jalopy lie to thee?

Dr. Zomboss: Now, I pray, imagine maniacal laughter as I depart.

*(Dr. Zomboss disappears)*

## Difficulty

The Zombot Dark Dragon can summon random zombies across the field frequently and more dangerously than the other Zombots faced before. In addition, this Zombot still has a two-lane destroying attack (breathes fire instead of rushing), and has another attack that will rain down Imp Dragon Zombies. The Magnet-shroom is always boosted in this level. However, only one will be given at a time, so to use it again, the player must dig it up. The Jester Zombie can be difficult to defeat early, as Pea-nut and Kernel-pult provide ammunition for the Jester Zombie, and two columns of Fume-shrooms are recommended to defeat it, which can take some time to set up. Wizard Zombies can easily overwhelm the player in large groups, so be ready to take them out as fast as possible. Knight Zombies can easily be countered by the given (and boosted) Magnet-shroom. The Zombot Dark Dragon can do devastating damage if not countered properly. For example, it can rain a few Imp Dragons and then use its fire-breathing attack. Since the Imp Dragons are invulnerable to fire attacks, they will survive the blast and forge deep into your defenses. Using Magnet-shroom strategically is the key to win. Also, Puff-shrooms are nearly useless in this battle, as they are too weak to combat most zombies, and they provide more projectiles to deflect for the Jester Zombie. However, using Plant Food on Puff-shrooms is not always a bad idea. Dark Ages Gargantuars can be summoned many times during the second phase, which can easily result in a lawn mower being lost and even a level if one of them are missing and they reached the player's house. Using Plant Food on Fume-shroom can be extremely useful, especially if the Dark Ages Gargantuar is knocked into the Zombot Dark Dragon where he will be instantly defeated. Additionally, letting the Zombot Dark Dragon do its flame breath attack will also kill him as well. It's almost impossible to beat the Zombot without boosting all the plants (Magnet-shroom is boosted by default, and if you are willing to, then you should spend 100 gems on the Pea-nut). Because the Puff-shrooms are underpowered and are provided often, boosting them can allow you to easily take out many zombies including Dark Ages Gargantuars. Boosted Fume-shrooms seem to be the only effective way to defeat Zombot Dark Dragon, and they are pretty common later in the game. Kernel-pult is more of a Wizard Zombie counter, with splashing butter all over the screen, they become significantly less dangerous.

## Strategies

* Note: The Magnet-shroom is always boosted, even if it is not in the Zen Garden.
* You can only ever have one Magnet-shroom at any given time in this level. Therefore, always dig it up after you use it.
* Note: The seventh column can **only** be targeted when the dragon spits fires with Imp Dragon Zombies. Take advantages of this for Puff-shrooms.
* When the dragon's cheeks puff up, it means its about to breathe fire (it is a variant of the charge attack). When this happens, immediately give Plant Food to the Fume-shroom only or plant the boosted Magnet-shroom as they can stop the Zombot. Do not hesitate and do not make a mistake or your plants will be burned.

Place your Kernel-pults at the back, three columns of Fume-shrooms in front, and then the rest Pea-nuts and Puff-shrooms. Use Plant Food on Fume-shrooms, but always have two for Gargantuars.

### Phase one (full health)

* **Summoned zombies**
	+ Peasant Zombie
	+ Conehead Peasant
	+ Buckethead Peasant
	+ Jester Zombie
	+ Wizard Zombie
	+ Imp Dragon Zombie
* Immediately plant as many plants as you can to kill the Wizard Zombies quickly. Remove the Puff-shrooms when you see Jester Zombies. Pea-nuts make an excellent decoy in this level in order to lure the Jester Zombie.
* Kernel-pult is not compulsory, it will only help you as the last resort or stun the zombies, especially Wizard Zombies. However, its projectiles can be deflected by Jester Zombies, so make sure that there is at least one Fume-shroom on each lane.
* Imp Dragon Zombies are not a threat, except when the Zombot Dark Dragon uses its flame attack. Kill them quickly.
* **Note**: Each lane should have at least one Fume-shroom in case of Jester Zombies.

### Phase two (one-third of health is gone)

* **Summoned zombies**
	+ Peasant Zombie
	+ Conehead Peasant
	+ Buckethead Peasant
	+ Imp Dragon Zombie
	+ Dark Ages Gargantuar
	+ Imp Monk Zombie
* Dark Ages Gargantuars will be summoned during this phase and are considered as the largest threat. Use Fume-shroom's Plant Food Upgrade to weaken the Gargantuars, as once it is pushed back to the very front of the lawn, the scorched tiles will burn it. However, Zombot Dark Dragon will become more relentless in this phase and it can call more than one Dark Ages Gargantuar in some occasions. Be sure to dispose all of them before they could cause more serious havoc.
* Wizard Zombies and Jester Zombies will not be summoned in this phase, therefore, you do not need to worry about them.
* Zombot Dark Dragon will use its fire breath ability here, removing all of your plants in a 2x2 row. This is identical to its charge attack from his first four creations. But it will not allow you to replace lost plants immediately.
* Fill Puff-shrooms on the sixth and seventh column to attack Dr. Zomboss.

### Phase three (two-thirds of health is gone)

* **Summoned zombies**
	+ Conehead Peasant
	+ Buckethead Peasant
	+ Imp Dragon Zombie
	+ Knight Zombie
	+ Wizard Zombie
* Wizard Zombie appears again in this phase, and Dark Ages Gargantuars will not be summoned anymore. Watch out for Wizard Zombies and stall them with Plant Food or by planting extra plants.
* Knight Zombies are exchanged for Dark Ages Gargantuars.
* Use all remaining Plant Foods on the Puff-shrooms if you can finish the Zombot with it.

## Trivia

* This is the first of two Zomboss fights where the player is meant to always get a boosted plant (in this case Magnet-shroom) and always gets a premium plant (in this case Pea-nut) at one point. The second is Big Wave Beach - Day 32 (with Lily Pad as the boosted plant and Homing Thistle as the premium plant).
* The Zombot Dark Dragon will always target Magnet-shrooms first with its fireballs.
* Before starting the battle, Dr. Zomboss said Plant Food is made out of zombies which is somewhat true as zombies drop Plant Food.
* Chomper is referenced after the battle, even though it did not appear in the game at the time of Dark Ages - Part 2's release. This is because the game is hinting that Chomper will appear in the next world, Big Wave Beach. This trait also applies in Hypno-shroom.
* This is the only Zomboss fight where the player faces him on Level 20, instead of Level 25 or higher.
* Additionally, this boss is the first creation to neither appear to be quadrupedal nor be fully visible.
* This is the first Zombot who has the charge attack does not include the creation performing a running dash across two adjacent rows.
	+ The charge attack is also unique for disabling affected tiles (lasts for a few seconds) so plants cannot be placed there for a short time.
* The player can only have five Kernel-pults, ten Fume-shrooms, ten Pea-nuts, ten Puff-shrooms, and one Magnet-shroom on the lawn at a time.
* When completing this level for the first time, the trees on the map will be grown.
* The Zombot Dark Dragon can kill Dark Ages Gargantuar if the Zombot is in its lane and the Dark Ages Gargantuar is close enough (buttered by Kernel-pult early or pushed back by Fume-shroom's Plant Food effect).
* It's the second Zomboss battle with a plant that is not obtained in that world (Kernel-pult) with the first being Ancient Egypt - Day 25 (Wall-nut), the third being Frostbite Caves - Day 30 (Threepeater), the fourth being Lost City - Day 32 (Bonk Choy), the fifth being Neon Mixtape Tour - Day 32 (Stunion) and the sixth being Jurassic Marsh - Day 32 (Bonk Choy and Chard Guard).
* Before the 5.8.1 update, because of a glitch Magnet-shrooms were not boosted. This was fixed in the aforementioned update.

\*: Removed ~: Epic Quest