Cardio Zombie

Cardio Zombie
Advances to a set spot on the board, then tosses buffing brains at other zombies until he's chased away or retreats on his own.
Almanac statistics
Toughness	Hardened
Speed	Stiff
Special	Throws buffing brains that make zombies stronger
In-game statistics
In-game toughness	Undying
In-game speed	Speedy, then N/A
Health	8000 10000 15000
Damage	Instant-kill
First seen	Arena - Electric Peashooter's Tournament.
Code name	general_treadmill_phase1/2/3
Cardio Zombie is all about health, healthiness and healthy lifestyles. He refuses to consume carbs, downing nothing but high-protein brains for every meal. In his opinion, other zombies really need to up their game. NO EXCUSES!

Cardio Zombie is a zombie that can only be found in Arena and Penny's Pursuit in Plants vs. Zombies 2. He will advance to the 7th column when spawned and will crush any plant with his treadmill. After reaching the 7th column, he will throw brains at his fellow zombies, significantly increasing their health and speed. After a while, he will leave the lawn.

He is immune to the following effects:

• Hypnosis by Caulipower and Enchant-mint
• Stun effects from gas clouds
• Knockback
• Freezing
• Shrinking Violet/Enforce-mint
• Imp Pear's Plant Food ability
• Knockback

Almanac entry

Cardio Zombie
	TOUGHNESS Hardened SPEED Stiff Advances to a set spot on the board, then tosses buffing brains at other zombies until he's chased away or retreats on his own. Cardio Zombie is all about health, healthiness and healthy lifestyles. He refuses to consume carbs, downing nothing but high-protein brains for every meal. In his opinion, other zombies really need to up their game. NO EXCUSES!

Stages

Phase	Length	Health	Points on defeat	Attacks
1	40 seconds	8,000 damage	50,000	Throws 3-5 boosting brains at other zombies
2	40 seconds	10,000 damage	75,000	Throws 5-8 boosting brains at other zombies
3	40 seconds	15,000 damage	100,000	Throws 8-12 boosting brains at other zombies

Encounters

• Arena (certain tournaments)
• Penny's Pursuit (certain levels)

Strategies

General

Cardio Zombie is a major threat as he will boost other zombies, granting them immunity to Imp Pear and enhancing their stats but beyond that if you can handle them then he's not that big of an issue. The real incentive to killing Cardio Zombie however is the extreme amount of points he will give if he is indeed defeated.

He also does not eat plants as he will crush them with his treadmill, meaning plants like Chili Bean and Sun Bean are useless against him. He can also crush underground plants such as Spikeweed, Cactus, and instantly destroy the Spikerock.

Defeating Cardio Zombie

Depending on the player's Arena league, plant levels, and strategy, defeating Cardio Zombie may or may not be possible. In lower leagues, you might be able to muster a viable response, but at higher ones, he'll be virtually invincible and require more plants that deal devastating amounts of damage in short amount of time.

Try to use Kernel-pult to stun him and place strong attackers like Pokra or Bonk Choy to defeat him as soon as possible before he leaves.

Using Explode-O-Nut/Explode-O-Vine can be useful for defeating him, as when planted under him will instantly explode, and ~4 of these should be able to defeat him on the first rounds, when combined with plants like Celery Stalker or Pokra. A Squash can be good to have, and even better with upgrades as he will become simply invincible and stomp Cardio Zombie several times. Spamming Primal Potato Mines with the help of Tile Turnip can also be useful, as any armed ones that he can run over will just explode and while the spawned dupes don't work if they land on him, Primal Potato Mine's massive splash area can catch him from other lanes.

Boosting Bowling Bulbs can seriously damage him, and its possible to hit multiple times if there is a large enough crowd, which are more often than not rather common in Arena. Another strategy is to also use Appease-mint family plants like Mega Gatling Pea or Threepeater, Pea Vine and Torchwood upgraded on higher levels which can also be more devastating towards him as a single Plant Food effect will be enough to destroy him (even in his third phase) in just a few seconds once he appears.

Gallery

• 

  Almanac entry

• 

  Almanac entry (part 2)

• 

  Almanac entry (10.5.2)

• 

  Almanac icon

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  Sprites and textures

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  Sprites and textures (brain)

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  Almanac texture

• 

  Render of Cardio Zombie in Phase 1

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  Render of Cardio Zombie in Phase 2

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  HD Cardio Zombie in Phase 3

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  Cardio Zombie in an ad

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  Three Cardio Zombies in an ad via main menu

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  Ability animation

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  Cardio Zombie leaving

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  Poisoned Cardio Zombie

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  Cardio Zombie about to throw a brain

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  Buttered Cardio Zombie

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  A brain used by Cardio Zombie to boost zombies

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  Cardio Zombie's arm degrade

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  Defeated Cardio Zombie

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  Cardio Zombie defeated (third phase, animated)

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  Primal Potato Mine defeating Cardio Zombie as a glitch (note that Cardio Zombie has no head)

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  Cardio Zombie in Lost City

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  Cardio Zombie in Neon Mixtape Tour

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  Frozen Cardio Zombie

In other languages

Please note that only official translations are used.

Language	Name	Description
English	Cardio Zombie
Simplified Chinese	跑步机僵尸	"Treadmill Zombie"
French	Cardio Zombie
German	Ausdauer-Zombie
Italian	Cardiozombi
Brazilian Portuguese	Zumbi Fitness	"Fitness Zombie"
Spanish	Zombi cardio

Trivia

• Cardio Zombie is the first general zombie.
• In his in-game ad, the background is stylized the same as Neon Mixtape Tour's in-game ads.
• When he leaves, the Cardio Zombie turns around, but his treadmill does not, and the treadmill's conveyor is still moving in the original direction, which realistically should have ejected him off-screen.
• The brain he uses to boost zombies looks different from the brain that can be seen on a game over screen.
• In the 7.1.3 update, his speed listed in the Almanac was changed from 'Creeper' to 'Stiff'.
• If one listens closely, when Cardio Zombie enters the lawn, he makes a low wheezing noise.
• A glitch can occur that when a Primal Potato Mine explodes and defeats Cardio Zombie, his defeated animation will play, but he will have no head.
  • The same also happens to Roman Caesar Zombie, where the head of the zombie carrying the column will dissapear.
• Cardio Zombie has three different phases, each with a different treadmill models that are more resistant than the others. This can be easily observed in timed levels from his appearances in Penny's Pursuit or Arena.
  • His treadmill in the almanac seems to be a fusion of all three.
  • He also has three different death animations. In the first two phases, when defeated, he trips once, then the treadmill explodes violently and he zips backwards. The second one plays the same animation as the first phase with his arm already fell off. In the third phase, he trips multiple times before the treadmill explodes, except his head pops off and rolls on the ground.
• His internal name is general_treadmill_phase1/2/3.
  • His chinese name from the Catapult Zombie poll is likely derived from this.

See also

• Arena
• Brain
• Dark Alchemy
• Roman Caesar Zombie
• Z-Mech

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