All-Star (Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare)

For other uses, see Football Zombie (disambiguation).

All-Star is a zombie in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2. The All-Star is a playable character on the zombie's side. He is classified as a powerful tank in the zombie faction. Due to his health, he can tank on multiple hits making himself resistant to most plants attacks. He can even survive a direct hit from a Potato Mine and the explosion of a Chili Bean Bomb (only if his health is over 175). However, he is the slowest zombie character, making him ineffective in chasing plants. The All-Star is armed with an Imp Punt ability which can deal high explosive damage to groups of plants. His Sprint Tackle ability allows him to tackle wounded opponents, vanquishing them or knocking them out of the battle or used to escape threat from plants, especially the Chomper. His Dummy Shield ability allows the All-Star to create a temporary shield for himself and his team from plant attacks.

Descriptions

Stickerbook description

All-Star Zombie is always the first one on the field, and the last to leave. He uses suppression fire to hold the Plants at bay, and his Tackle Dummies are the best offensive linemen around.

In-game description

The All-Star's game-plan involves suppressing the Plants with a never-ending barrage of footballs.

AI health

Easy: 120
Normal: 160
Hard: 200
CRAAAAZY: 240

Variants

Primary weapon

The All-Star's primary weapon is the minigun-like Football Cannon. It is capable of shooting footballs at a high rate, dealing 4-9 impact damage and 5-10 critical damage based on distance. Since the Football Cannon has unlimited ammo and never reloads, it can be fired for extended periods. However, firing it for too long will make the Football Cannon overheat and become momentarily unusable, putting the All-Star in a vulnerable state.

It takes about one second for the All-Star to rev up the weapon before it can fire (which can be avoided by zooming in before you start firing), and takes another second for it to fully stop firing. Firing the Football Cannon also reduces the All-Star's movement speed. These traits mean that the Football Cannon is not a weapon that you want to be caught out of position with.

Abilities

Left abilities
Imp Punt	With Imp Punt, the All-Star punts an Imp that rolls forward and explodes after a short time, dealing 150 damage to plants within its blast radius.
Long Bomb	An alternate ability of Imp Punt, Long Bomb allows the All-Star kicks an Imp up very high, which explodes when he lands and deals 150 damage.
Center abilities
Sprint Tackle	With the Sprint Tackle, the All-Star rushes forward, dealing 75 damage and knocks plants into the sky. This can serve as a short-ranged attack.
Ultra Tackle	An alternate ability of Sprint Tackle, Ultra Tackle does 90 damage but has a longer recharge time.
Right abilities
Dummy Shield	Dummy Shield is a shield that the All-Star places to protect himself.
Shield Decoy	An alternate ability of Dummy Shield, the player can have four Shield Decoys, but it is weaker.

Left abilities
Imp Punt	With Imp Punt, the All-Star punts an Imp that rolls forward and explodes after a short time, dealing 150 damage to plants within its blast radius.
Long Bomb	An alternate ability of Imp Punt, Long Bomb allows the All-Star kicks an Imp up very high, which explodes when he lands and deals 150 damage.
Center abilities
Sprint Tackle	With the Sprint Tackle, the All-Star rushes forward, dealing 75 damage and knocks plants into the sky. This can serve as a short-ranged attack.
Ultra Tackle	An alternate ability of Sprint Tackle, Ultra Tackle does 90 damage but has a longer recharge time.
Right abilities
Dummy Shield	Dummy Shield is a shield that the All-Star places to protect himself.
Shield Decoy	An alternate ability of Dummy Shield, the player can have four Shield Decoys, but it is weaker.
Future Dummy	An alternate ability of Dummy Shield, the Future Dummy is stronger than the default Dummy Shield, but only one Future Dummy can be placed down at a time. When the Future Dummy is destroyed, it explodes (dealing up to 75 damage to nearby Plants).

Weapon upgrades

Supercharged Football Coolant

The Supercharged Football Coolant (i.e. water) reduces the amount of heat each ball generates when shot.

Overheat Reduction

The weapon is almost guaranteed to not overheat, as long as this mod is installed.

Super Football Compression

By the compressing the footballs before firing them the weapon damage has increased.

Strategies

Team Vanquish

The All-Star's high health makes him one of the toughest opponents in this game mode. His high firepower, durability, and dangerous abilities can make for a powerful offensive and defensive threat. Since other plants' health is less than the All-Star's, he has a high chance to win battles, even on his own. Sprint Tackle is useful and can serve as a finishing move or effective fallback; it can be used to finish off any wounded plants or used for escaping a threat when things are not going well.

When launched into a large cluster of plants, a well-timed Imp Punt can score you a multi-vanquish and even a decent vanquish streak and potentially secure your team a win in the process. However, a troupe of Sunflowers can counteract this by reviving their fallen teammates. Make sure to charge into the fray and finish off any plants trying to take you down or flee the scene.

His primary weakness is the Chomper. Chompers can easily vanquish the All-Star due to his slow movement speed. Also, a Chomper can instantly vanquish any All-Star by chomping him from behind, using Spikeweeds, or using his Burrow. When Gooped, All-Star can provide little to the rest of the zombie team. Because of the All-Star's size, there is a high chance that when you are covered in goop, you will be taken down quickly.

All-Star is vulnerable when plants gang up on him. Make sure the All-Star's abilities are active and ready to be used before charging into a group of plants, as he can easily escape before being vanquished.

Gardens & Graveyards

The All-Star is always the top class in this mode before anyone else. The Imp Punt or Long Bomb is very useful for crowd control in the garden, while Sprint tackling lined up plants is also very good for crowd control. Using the Dummy Shield provides a line of cover, protecting zombies from plants firing outside the garden. When there is a large group of plants protecting the garden, using Imp Punt, and then immediately Sprint/Ultra Tackling will take out most of them. You would have a better chance of doing this when going into the garden with other All-Stars, as the Football Cannon is not suitable for taking groups of plants out.

The All-Star could also easily take singular plants outside the garden, but the All-Star is an easy target for a Cactus or Chomper due to his slow movement speed. As All-Star's weapon is somewhat precise, he can take out enemy drones with little difficulty. However, the Football Cannon's crosshair is quite inaccurate, and the weapon itself has a slight spread, meaning All-Stars are not the best choice for taking down plant air support.

Peashooter

When a Peashooter is in Pea Gatling mode, try to tackle him or toss an Imp Punt at him.
- If he is on a rooftop or elevated surface, then try chucking a Long Bomb at him.
Use your Dummy Shield or Shield Decoy to protect yourself if a Peashooter tries to attack you while constantly jumping around with Hyper.
Try to attack the Peashooter with your Sprint/Ultra Tackle to knock some health off of him, which will give you an advantage during the duel.

Chomper

When a Chomper is burrowing towards you, wait for him to almost reach you before using your Sprint Tackle in his direction. Doing so will force him to turn around and waste valuable dig power.
- Sprint tackling too early may result in him having enough dig power to catch you.
If a Chomper burrows towards you in a narrow walkway, e.g., the Jewel Junction mine entrance, it is possible to use Dummy Shields to block him.
If your Sprint Tackle is not available while a Chomper burrows towards you, try to locate and reach the nearest wall and launch an Imp against it. While the Chomper rises to eat you, the Imp explosion should take him out first. This method should only be used as a last resort since the Imp Punt deals 150 damage, and an upgraded Chomper (which has 175 health) or Armor Chomper (which has 200-225 health) can survive your Imp Punt and eat you anyway.
A simpler way to avoid his Burrow when Sprint Tackle is unavailable is to hop onto an elevated surface such as a dumpster, truck, or car.
- You can also find teammates and hope the Chomper gives up, as Chompers do not do well with crowd control. Travel in groups to minimize your chances of encountering a Chomper.
As an absolute last resort, frantically jumping around can minimize the chance of the Chomper successfully eating you. However, keep in mind that it is still possible for him to chomp you while you jump if the timing is right.

Sunflower

A Sunflower's Sunbeam or Solar Flare Beam is incredibly deadly to the All-Star due to the All-Star's large hitbox. Try to use an Imp Punt if you are close enough to a Sunflower rooted in the ground, and then retreat. The bright glowing beam coming from the Sunflower (possibly towards you) should be an indication to retreat or wait for a teammate to take her out.
- As with Peashooters using Pea Gatling on higher places, throw a Long Bomb towards Sunflowers using Sunbeam or Solar Flare Beam on higher places.
Use Sprint Tackles more than Imp Punts when dealing with an unrooted Sunflower, as her fast movement and small stature make her the most challenging plant to take out with the Imp Punt. Fortunately, Sunflowers tend to be fragile (all but Metal Petal have 100 health), so fighting one is not much of a problem if you have enough health.

Cactus

Cactus can be a considerable threat to the All-Star from a long distance due to the All-Star's size and slow movement speed, but up close, the All-Star can make short work of her. Try to approach the Cactus without being seen to make for an easy target.
Watch your surroundings when fighting against a Cactus at her base to minimize the chances of your movement becoming obstructed by Tallnut Battlements, and avoid accidentally stepping on Potato Mines.

Citron

Citron's EMPeach can be especially dangerous to the All-Star. The moment you see his cannon flash, quickly place a Dummy Shield before he hits you with it to avoid being stunned. Doing this protects yourself and potentially other zombies in the process.

Balancing changes

Post beta

▼ Velocity was decreased from 7.68075 m/s to 7 m/s.

Trouble in Zombopolis: Part Two DLC

▼ Effectiveness of overheat upgrade was decreased.

Related achievements

	Offensive Line As an All-Star, Vanquish 5 Players using the Sprint Tackle in a session

	Hunting Season Vanquish 100 Foot Soldiers, 100 Scientists, 100 Engineers and 100 All-Stars

Gallery

Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for All-Star.

Visit this page to see it.

In other languages

Please note that only official translations are used.

Language	Name	Description
English	All-Star
Traditional Chinese	全明星
French	Sportif
German	All-Star
Italian	Fuoriclasse
Japanese	オールスター
Polish	Gwiazda Sportu
Brazilian Portuguese	All-Star
Spanish	All-Star

Trivia

Despite being referred to as the slowest class in-game, his base movement speed is actually faster than other characters except for Sunflowers and Scientists.
- He is most likely referred as "slow" due to the fact he takes time to start and stop firing, slowed while doing so, and lack of mobility abilities.
The exact number of shots an All-Star can fire before the weapon overheats is 77.
He has Dr. Zomboss' face on the front of his jersey.
The All-Star is one of the three zombies whose variants' names end with the same word: Star.
- Another zombie is the Imp, whose variants' names end with the word Imp, except for Lil' Drake. Another is Super Brainz and his variants, as all of their names end on the word "Brainz."
In Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, when eaten by a Chomper, All-Star sometimes makes a strange gargling noise.
- This applies to every All-Star variant.
- However, this noise was removed in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2.
All-Star is the only playable zombie class in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare that can survive a Potato Mine or Chili Bean Bomb.
- However, this only applies if his health is higher than 175.
- This does not apply in Garden Warfare 2, as Super Brainz and an Imp's Mech can also survive a Potato Mine or Chili Bean Bomb if their health is above 175.
Some All-Star variants have their own unique reticle. Typically, the reticle is in the shape of the ball of the sport that the variant is based on (Ex: All-Star's reticle is a football, while the Goalie Star's reticle is an ice puck).
All-Star and all of his variants (except Wrestling Star, Golf Star, and Tennis Star, since they do not have numbers on their backs) have different numbers on their backs, respectively (All-Star has #26, Goalie Star has #98, Cricket Star has #63, Rugby Star has #47, Baseball Star has #27, Hockey Star has #00, and Moto-X Star has #13).
- The All-Star's number might be a reference to Z being the 26th letter of the alphabet. Hockey Star's number might be a reference to Hicham Zerouali, who was the only person to wear the number 0 on their jersey. It may also reference Clark Griswold from the movie Christmas Vacation, who wore a hockey jersey with #0. Moto-X Star's number may either be a reference to 13 being unlucky or the fact that it is Jason Kapalka's favorite number (Jason Kapalka is one of the 3 founders of PopCap).
According to the developers, All Star shoots "around 400 footballs a minute."
- This grants the basic All-Star a fire rate of five shots per second which is true in-game.
- This is also a reference to the Valve's company short called "Meet the Heavy" where the character states its mini-gun shoots ten thousand bullets per minute.
Initially, there was going to be an ability for the All-Star that would let him "hulk out," as quoted by Justin Wiebe.
All of the All-Star's variants are themed after different sports: baseball, rugby, cricket, hockey, ice hockey, wrestling, golf, tennis, and motocross.
He along with Super Brainz and Captain Deadbeard are the only playable zombies classes with no variants that wear a backpack of some kind.
He no longer wears red socks in Garden Warfare 2, but they reappear in Battle for Neighborville
He, Soldier, Engineer, Sunflower, Peashooter, and Cactus are the only character classes who do not have a legendary variant.