Wizard Zombie is the ninth zombie encountered in Dark Ages in Plants vs. Zombies 2. He can transform any plant into sheep, excluding instant-use plants and Ghost Pepper (although he can lower the survival time of Ghost Pepper). The plant will stay as a sheep until the Wizard Zombie transforming it was killed, making him technically an environment modifier.
He is similar to Octo Zombie and Hunter Zombie, as all of them can render plants useless from a safe distance. The main difference is that the effects of Octo and Hunter are considered obstacles and can be destroyed at any time, while the effects of Wizard can only be undone through killing the Wizard that casted the spell. Like the Octo Zombie, Wizard Zombie disables plants instead of eating them, in most cases. If there are no plants left to transform in its lane or the lanes adjacent to it, he will then proceed to the player's house.
Wizard Zombie wears a blue robe and a blue wizard hat with the top of the hat being bent like a spiral. He has gray thick eyebrows and a beard that is so long that the bottom of it is tied with a brown hair tie. In his right hand, he wields a wooden staff with a purple colored crystal orb on the top. Wizard Zombie lifts his staff to release a magical beam to transform plants into sheep. Instead of wearing footwear, like all the other zombies in Dark Ages, the Wizard Zombie wears bandages on his feet. The bandages might reference the Black Plague or it might just be Medieval footwear.
Audio
Sound
Description
Wizard Zombie transforming.
Wizard Zombie transforming a plant.
Plant being transformed back.
Wizard Zombie groaning.
Sheep's sound.
Almanac entry
Normal Mode
Wizard Zombie
TOUGHNESS
Dense
SPEED
Creeper
Transforms plants into passive sheep.
All the zombies agree, Wizard Zombie's powers of transmutation are impressive. But what they don't get is ... why sheep? Everyone knows it would be more helpful if the Wizard used his powers to turn plants into, say, more zombies. But yeah, no one is going to say that to his face.
Wizard Zombie noticed, that he enjoys turning plants into smithereens with magic himself than turning them into sheep.
Plague Pharmacy effect: Fires a load of fireballs.
Overview
Wizard Zombie absorbs 490 damage and his appearance changes upon absorbing 245 damage, which is when he loses his arm, before dying at 490 damage. When he first appears on the lawn, he will transform a plant into a sheep between 7-9 seconds, after that every 11-14 seconds, he will transform a plant into a sheep.
This is a very dangerous zombie (and also extremely annoying to deal with), especially if he comes in large groups. He uses his low speed to his advantage in order to keep transforming for your plants into sheep, effectively supporting other zombies. If left unchecked, the Wizard Zombie can easily cause you to lose entire levels by himself. Therefore, the best way stop wizard zombies is to kill them quickly. Coconut Cannon, while expensive, is a particularly good choice since they can deal with large amounts of Wizard Zombies quite easily; just be sure to plant them at the back of the lawn. Plants that can attack behind themselves such as Phat Beet or Celery Stalker can be useful as the Wizard Zombie cannot transform plants behind himself.
Guacodiles are also good against Wizard Zombies, due to their reasonably cheap cost and fast recharge. Place the Guacodile right where a Wizard Zombie is so he immediately triggers the rush attack. One rush attack is sufficient to kill a Wizard Zombie without a chance of the Guacodile being turned into sheep, while severely weakening other zombies behind it. However, two Guacodiles are needed for Wizard Zombies if they are not caught during the initial moment of the rush attack. The Wizard Zombie always targets the plant furthest from your house in its lane or an adjacent lane, so it's a good idea to leave your long-range offensive plants close to your house so they are less likely to be turned into sheep.
You can also place "bait" plants with a fast recharge such as Puff-shrooms or even extra Sun-shrooms and Sunflowers in front of the Wizard Zombie when he is about to use his ability, causing him to transform them instead and waste his attack for another 11 seconds or so. Another good strategy for killing it is using multi-target plants such as Laser Bean and Bowling Bulb, though projectiles from Bowling Bulb can be reflected by Jester Zombie. Two Laser Beans can assure that Wizard Zombies get only one or two long-range casts, with the second one being reversed quickly. Also, using Stallia and Puff-shroom to slow and absorb casts respectively can minimize, or even completely prevent, major damage due to plants being turned into sheep.
As the Ghost Pepper cannot be transformed by this zombie, use this plant to deal with large amounts of Wizard Zombies. Remember that as the Ghost Pepper's range is close, they will need to be planted near the Wizard Zombies to do damage. Her explosion can also be used to damage wizards. You can use Infi-nut or Moonflower's Plant Food effects, as these are the only things the Wizard Zombie actually eats. If you place them near the front, they can stall them early and prevent them from turning more plants into sheep.
Witch Hazel is another option against Wizard Zombies, since it not only kills them instantly but also prefers to target them. They will also get transformed into Puff-shrooms, which can be used as an extra wall as well as a target for other Wizard Zombie's magic. Caulipower and Hypno-shroom and Enchant-mint are also good ideas, as Wizard Zombie will fall easily to hypnotized zombies. However, as they suffer from their very limited targeting, they will not fare too well against larger numbers of Wizards.
As the Wizard Zombie never eats plants that he can transform, practically anything that requires to be eaten for it's effect to be trigger is useless. However, one can still use Infi-Nut's Force Field, as it will not vanish even when the plant is a sheep.
Wizard Zombies are surprisingly helpful in Save Our Seeds. Not only will transform endangered plants not count as losing it, but they will also protect the plant from harm from any other zombie. However, the player still needs to eliminate the other zombies close to the endangered plants before the Wizard Zombie dies or they'll easily destroy the plant.
Wizard Zombies and Dark Ages Gargantuars are very dangerous and troublesome to your plants, especially when working together. While the Dark Ages Gargantuar crushes your plants and absorbs a lot of damage, the Wizard Zombie turns all your plants into sheep from a safe distance, rendering them useless against both of them. However, unlike Pirate Captain Zombies, Chicken Wrangler Zombies, Weasel Hoarders or All-Star Zombies, Wizard Zombies cannot use their abilities off the game's screen, making this zombie easier to deal with. You must have powerful plants, such as Cherry Bomb/Grapeshot, boosted Iceberg Lettuce, boosted Kernel-pult, or Contain-mint at your disposal to prevent this from happening, otherwise, you will risk spending coins on Plant Food or Power Ups, or losing the level entirely. Combining these with Jester Zombies can cause a lot of damage to your plants. If Wizard Zombies are also combined with Knight Zombies, Zombie Kings, and surprise attacks, they can easily transform a large portion of your defense while attempting to deal with the other high-health zombies. One is already annoying, five are an obstacle, and twenty of these can be deadly because then each Wizard Zombie only needs to transform one plant to empty a typical Dark Ages lawn. Explosive instants are a great help in the event of these occurrences, .
If you've obtained Ghost Pepper, she can be used as an easy way to defeat Wizard Zombies without risk of being turned into sheep. If you have not bought Ghost Pepper, Banana Launchers and Missile Toes are also good as Tombstones would never get in the way. It is recommended to plant the them on the first column to prevent turning them into sheep. However, these plants are expensive, so bringing plants that support with sun such as Sun Bean, Gold Bloom, or Enlighten-mint can help immensely.
In addition, boosted Bowling Bulbs are also great aids to neutralize large amounts of Wizard Zombie especially on levels with three to four flags. First, remove the second and fourth rows of the first column and leave them empty. They will be used for the Bowling Bulbs. Then harvest enough sun for the rest of the level for you to be able plant Bowling Bulbs repetitively. Once large hordes of Wizard Zombies come, you can become to start planting Bowling Bulbs. After the Plant Food effect wears off, immediately shovel it before the Wizard Zombies away from the screen can transform it to sheep. With it, you get either half or 75% of its original sun cost back so you can repeat this technique provided that you have a sufficient amount of sun to do so. It is best if you can have 1200 sun and above to use it repetitively. This can be more helpful than using boosted Kernel-pult or boosted Iceberg Lettuce, as it also eliminates the other zombies from advancing through. However, some may still slip by and if they do, have an instant plant ready to counter. Take great caution while using Bowling Bulb in levels with Jester Zombies, as a normal bulb will be reflected by a Jester Zombie, which wreck your defenses quickly.
Please note that only official translations are used.
Language
Name
Description
English
Wizard Zombie
Simplified Chinese
魔法师僵尸
From mófǎshī and jiāngshī
French
Zombie sorcier
German
Zombie-Zauberer
Italian
Zombi mago
Brazilian Portuguese
Zumbi Bruxo
Spanish
Zombi mago
Trivia
Witch Hazel can be considered as the plant counterpart to this zombie. While Witch Hazel transforms zombies into Puff-shrooms, Wizard Zombie transforms plants into sheep. Additionally, Witch Hazel prefers to target him.
He plays a sound as he is about to transform a plant into sheep. The sound resembles the sound when feeding Plant Food on a Snapdragon or Cold Snapdragon.
As he will usually attempt to transform plants too close to him, unless it's an instant that is about to attack anyway, he will not eat them.
In the Chinese version, however, he’ll eat a plant if it’s directly placed on his tile.
He has the legs of a Mummy Zombie. This is because in medieval times, people would put bandages on their limbs to protect themselves from the Bubonic plague. Other zombies in the same world, however, don't feature any.
His arms are also bandaged.
Transformed plants do not count as lost plants, as the plants can still transform back after the Wizard Zombie dies.
When a Magnet-shroom attracts a bucket or knight helmet and is then transformed into sheep, the item is dropped.
Sheep will not be tossed by tombstones or zombie kings, meaning it will still be inside them. If the Wizard is killed before the tombstone or zombie king is gone, the plant is destroyed.
If the transformed plant had a tombstone spawn on it, when the wizard dies that tile where the plant is supposed to be moved to will be unplantable for the rest of the game.
The said unplantable tile still treats as if there's a plant on it and will move it with subsequent tombstone spawns
He resembles Gandalf the Grey from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit as both are wizards and have similar appearances and scepters.
When he was about to turn a Power Lily into a sheep, the Power Lily would still give the player Plant Food before being turned into sheep. When that Wizard Zombie was defeated, the sheep would turn back into a Power Lily and would give the player another Plant Food. This was fixed in the 2.7.1 update.
Plants that are given Plant Food are immune to his ability.
There is a glitch that if he is eating a force field or hypnotized zombie, and is missing an arm, its hand from the missing arm will still be visible while eating, resulting in a floating hand. This is shared with Parasol Zombie, as a floating glove will still hold her parasol, and appears when she is going to eat plants too.
Sheep cannot be burned by Zombot Dark Dragon, however, the scorched tiles usually prevent them from surviving should the effect expire.
This is also the same case when Troglobite or Arcade Zombie pushes an ice block or an arcade machine into a sheep and the Wizard Zombie dies, causing the plant to also be destroyed.
For some reason, when a transformed Grave Buster turns back into its original form, it always disappears along with the tombstone it was busting.
When one looks closely, the transformed plant will disappear for a split second, then a sheep will replace it.
Ghost Pepper is currently the only non-instant immune to the Wizard Zombie.
In the Springening Piñata Parties, the sheep is replaced with an egg. The egg will still make sheep noises as it was a mere reskin.
As of the 4.7.1 update, he can no longer transform plants when outside the lawn.
He is voiced by Max De Vrie according to the credits.
The ability Goatify, from Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, is similar to its ability to transform plants into sheep.
In the Dark Ages Part 2 trailer, he is seen creating and transforming a Dragon Imp, Imp Monk Zombies, Announcer Imp, Zombie King, and a Gargantuar along with transforming itself into a Zombie Chicken, which are merely for promotional purposes. This also matches with his description which implies he is indeed rather capable in-universe, explaining why zombies never bring it up to him.
In the Golden Autumn 2024 trailer of the Chinese version of Plants vs. Zombies 2, he is transformed back to his normal form from his Zombie Chicken form by the scepter of Zombie King. Coincidentally, this marks about exactly 10 years since his transformation into a Zombie Chicken.
He shares the same idle animation as the Mummy Zombie.
Like Octo Zombies, plants that are transformed cannot be dug up until the effect has been reversed.
5
40
English
Simplified Chinese
French
German
Italian
Brazilian Portuguese
Spanish