Digger Zombie (Plants vs. Zombies)

Digger Zombie is a zombie that digs beneath the yard using his pickaxe, eventually emerging on the left side of the lawn to attack the player's plants from behind. He wears a helmet to protect himself. He pauses for five seconds after resurfacing before proceeding to eat the player's plants. He is not present on Roof levels, as there is no soil to dig through, but does appear on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation 3's Co-op Roof level. Without advance preparation, they have the potential to do devastating damage to lanes of plants. Note that he eats the plants from left to right like Prospector Zombie and zombies carried by pterodactyls in the second game. He never makes an attempt to get into the player's house, unless if his pickaxe gets stolen by a Magnet-shroom. He is the 18th zombie encountered in Adventure Mode.

Audio

Sound	Description
	Digger Zombie digging his way underground

Almanac entry

PvZPvZ:GWE

Digger Zombie
This zombie digs to bypass your defenses. Toughness: medium Speed: fast, then slow Special: tunnels underground and appears on the left side of the lawn Weakness: split pea and magnet-shroom Digger Zombie spends three days a week getting his excavation permits in order.

 (Archived content) (China only)

土地公僵尸
这种僵尸通过挖隧道来穿过你的防御。 强度： 中 速度： 快，而后慢 特点： 穿过地下隧道并出现在草坪的左侧 弱点： 双向射手和磁力菇 土地公僵尸每周花费三天时间往返在不同的寺庙里收集供品。

In English: Tudigong Zombie This zombie bypasses your defenses by digging tunnels. Toughness: medium Speed: fast, then slow Special: tunnels underground and appears on the left side of the lawn Weakness: split pea and magnet-shroom Tudigong Zombie spends three days a week collecting offerings from different temples.

Overview

The Digger Zombie absorbs 370 damage and his appearance changes upon absorbing 40, 80 and 100, when the hard hat is destroyed, and 235 damage before dying after 370 damage. He will dig under your defenses, and eat them from the back. If he encounters an armed Potato Mine while digging underground, it will be triggered and will blow him up. If Magnet-Shroom steals his pickaxe, he stops in confusion for a second, before popping out of the ground and becoming a zombie that attacks as typical zombies.

Encounters

• Adventure Mode: 4-6, 4-7, 4-10
• Puzzle Mode: Can You Dig It?, Three Hit Wonder, All your brainz r belong to us, I, Zombie Endless, Last Stand: Fog, Last Stand Endless
• Survival Mode: Survival: Fog, all Survival (Hard) and Survival (Endless) levels (except Roof)
• Co-op Mode: Co-op Roof, all Co-op Hard levels (except Co-op Hard Roof), Co-op Endless
• Others: Versus Mode

Strategies

General

• The Digger Zombie's unique method of attack makes him a powerful threat. Without the proper preparations, he can easily render an entire row of plants useless.
• Split Pea is the earliest plant that specializes in dealing with Digger Zombies. Therefore, in early Fog levels, Split Peas may be used both as a main offensive tool against zombies, and as a defensive tool against Digger Zombies in particular.
  • Note that a single Split Pea will not be able to kill a Digger Zombie before he could eat the leftmost plant in the row (assuming it is not a defensive plant, but a sun producer like Sunflower).
• Starfruit, a plant that can be acquired in later Fog levels, is also a good choice to use against Digger Zombie. However, while Starfruit's firepower can be devastating in large numbers, a single Starfruit will struggle against a Digger Zombie, as the Starfruit can only deal half as much damage to the Digger Zombie as a Split Pea. Starfruits can only comfortably deal with Digger Zombies in later stages of the game, when the player has amassed enough sun to plant multiple Starfruits in one row.
• Magnet-shrooms has the ability to steal the Digger Zombie's pickaxe, forcing him to surface.
  • However, after resurfacing, he will start walking towards the player's house, instead of away from it, making him a threat. This makes the Magnet-shroom unreliable against Digger Zombies, especially in Survival levels where they appear in larger numbers.
  • Additionally, when a Digger Zombie's pickaxe is stolen, he will surface at the same position where it was stolen. This means that he has a chance to spawn in the middle of a lawn's defense. If he is not dealt with in time, he can easily destroy expensive attacking plants, such as Melon-pults, before being defeated.

• In Survival: Endless, Gloom-shrooms (often planted in the first 3 columns), Spikerocks (planted at the leftmost column of the lawn) are popular choices to deal with Digger Zombies, as they can appear in much larger numbers than normal, and single-target plants like Magnet-shrooms and Split Pea are no longer reliable against larger hordes.
• Pumpkins can be used to protect plants on the leftmost column, allowing your other plants more time to kill any Digger Zombies that emerge.
• For emergencies, instant-kills, especially the Jalapeno, are great choices against Digger Zombies, as their area of effect allows them destroy all Digger Zombies in a row, regardless of the square they are planted on in that row.
  • Note that explosive instant-kills can kill Digger Zombies even while they are mining. Therefore, Doom-shrooms can make very quick work of them due to their large explosion radius.

• Armed Potato Mines will explode when a digging Digger Zombie reaches them.
  • This is a very cheap method to deal with them, but as Potato Mines take a long time to arm and recharge, this might also be very unreliable.
• A Chomper planted on the leftmost square of the lawn can eat a Digger Zombie as he emerges from the ground.

I, Zombie

• Digger Zombies are incredibly helpful, and are capable of rendering entire rows of plants useless if used in the right circumstances. However, it is important to be aware of other plants on the lawn that might be able to kill Digger Zombies. Generally, it is a rule of thumb not to use Digger Zombies to deal with these plants, but if the right conditions present themselves, they may still be used (albeit to a lower efficiency).
  • Threepeaters can attack Digger Zombies in lanes adjacent to their own. However, the further into the lawn Threepeaters are, the more vulnerable they are to Digger Zombies themselves.
  • Starfruits' irregular attack pattern may also prove to be a problem for Digger Zombies.
    • Digger Zombies can survive Starfruits planted in column two (from the left), as the Starfruits will not do enough damage to them before being eaten themselves.
  • Split Peas are direct counters to Digger Zombies. Generally, avoid using them in lanes where Split Peas are present, and seek different methods to deal with them.
    • However, Digger Zombies can survive Split Peas if they are planted in the first column (from the left). In such circumstances, Digger Zombies can still be used.
  • Squashes and Potato Mines can deal with Digger Zombies as soon as he enters their area of effect.
    • The Potato Mine, in particular, can detonate and kill a Digger Zombie even while he's underground.
• Magnet-shrooms are an interesting case. While it is also not recommended to use Digger Zombies within their area-of-effect, they may still be used to the player's advantage.
  • As they need time to recharge, a metallic zombie may be sent to make the Magnet-shroom occupied. (This metallic zombie may be a Buckethead Zombie or another Digger Zombie)
  • After a few seconds, a Digger Zombie may be sent. The goal is to allow the Digger Zombie to dig his way through the defenses, then has his pickaxe stolen by the Magnet-shroom (which has finished recovering from the first item) as he reaches the final square.
    • This then turns him into a normal zombie, allowing him to eat the brain on that row.
  • This method requires accurate timing, and may be very difficult to accomplish.

Gallery

Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Digger Zombie.

Visit this page to see it.

In other languages

Please note that only official translations are used.

Language	Name	Description
English	Digger Zombie
German	Buddel-Zombie
Spanish	Zombi picado (Original PC and Nintendo DS versions) Zombi Excavador (GotY version) Zombi Paleto (Tree of Wisdom's advice mistranslation)	"Chopped zombie" "Digger Zombie" "Gawky Zombie"
French	Zombie mineur
Italian	Zombi minatore
Japanese	ディガーゾンビ Digā Zonbi
Korean	광부 좀비 Gwangbu Jombi
Dutch	Graafzombie
Brazilian Portuguese	Zumbi Escavador
Russian	Зомби-Землекоп
Simplified Chinese	矿工僵尸 Kuànggōng Jiāngshī 土地公僵尸 Tǔdìgōng Jiāngshī	Miner Zombie 土地公僵尸 in Plants vs. Zombies: Great Wall Edition
Traditional Chinese	礦工殭屍 Kuànggōng Jiāngshī	Miner Zombie

Trivia

• Digger Zombie can lose either his left or right arm, depending on which way he is going. Also, when Digger Zombie is not facing the lawn, his left leg is twisted and has a shoe.
• While digging, Digger Zombie is the fastest zombie in the game, with the exception of a Dolphin Rider Zombie that still has his dolphin. But, after finishing the digging, he is the second-slowest zombie in the game behind the Trash Can Zombie.
• Digger Zombie's health is on the low end of the zombies with medium toughness, with Catapult Zombie's health being at the high end.
• There is a similar zombie called Prospector Zombie in Plants vs. Zombies 2. Both can go to the left side of the lawn then walk to the right side.
  • The same applies to zombies dragged by pterodactyls in Jurassic Marsh.
• In the Nintendo DS version of Plants vs. Zombies, Digger Zombie has an unusual hitbox, as when he stands on a Spikeweed he does not receive damage until near the edge when eating a plant.
  • He also can't be eaten by Chomper in this version.
• Even after Digger Zombie surfaces, a Magnet-shroom can still steal his pickaxe.
• Digger Zombie does not make a zombie's disgusted face when biting a Garlic; instead, a zombie's disgusted sound is heard while the Digger Zombie changes lanes.
• Digger Zombie's hard hat is available in the Xbox Live Marketplace as a hat for one's avatar. It costs 160 Microsoft Points.
• Digger Zombie can eat defensive plants with ladders on them, as the ladders are on the opposite side from him.
• He and Newspaper Zombie are the two zombies that can have a question mark over their head, but in the mini-game Zombie Trap, if a zombie attracted to a brain gets too far away from the brain, the zombie will have a question mark on the zombie's head and walk towards the house.
• Digger Zombie, Snorkel Zombie, and Balloon Zombie are the only zombies that lack a shoe. This, however, excludes Zombie Yeti, Jack-in-the-Box Zombie, and Imp (which do not wear shoes). This is also assuming Dr. Zomboss wears both shoes, as his feet are not visible.
• When Digger Zombie dies while moving away from the house, his head will fall off facing the opposite direction. This also happens to Zombie Yeti when it is running away.
• His helmet's light does not work on level 4-10, as the level itself is supposed to be dark.
• Even while underground, Digger Zombie will still scare Scaredy-shroom.
• He is the only Almanac zombie who does not appear in any mini-game nor canceled mini-game.
• In I, Zombie, Digger Zombie first appears in Can You Dig It?.
• A bug in the Nintendo DS version of Plants vs. Zombies is that if a plant is on the leftmost block on the lawn and a Digger Zombie (facing the right) eats the plant, the Digger Zombie will walk towards the right but still eat the plant and make the eating noise. This is the only way to let a zombie walk and eat a plant at the same time, not counting the Incorrect Eating Animation glitch in the Android version caused by the same thing that causes the Floating Cone/Bucket/Helmet Glitch.
• Digger Zombie does not appear on the roof in most versions, because it is impossible to dig through the panels. The other zombies that do not appear on the roof are Dancing Zombie, Backup Dancer, Ducky Tube Zombie and his variants, Dolphin Rider Zombie, Snorkel Zombie, and Zombie Bobsled Team. Despite this, he appears in Co-op Roof for an unknown reason.
• If timed correctly, the player can make a Digger Zombie eat a Potato Mine while both of them are underground.
• Catapult Zombie's head looks similar to Digger Zombie's, however Catapult Zombie has an oil stain around his mouth.
• The Digger Zombie likes pink tricycles, as seen in the Zombies on Your Lawn video.
• According to the game's composer Laura Shigihara regarding the cover art for the Plants vs. Zombies Original Soundtrack, Digger Zombie may actually have a softer side to him, considering his like for pink tricycles, implying he actually has no direct hate for the plants.
• Like the in-game Football Zombie, the Digger Zombie's eyes are colored red instead of yellow.
• If they are killed with explosive plants while underground, they will despawn.

See also

• Hard hat
• Pickaxe
• Split Pea
• Starfruit
• Magnet-shroom
• Prospector Zombie

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