Zen Sensei is a boss zombie in Garden Ops in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 and Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville. He is small, quick and is able to make three clones of himself, making him a much bigger problem. He can punch plants three times in a row at close range, with the third punch slowing down the plant, making it harder to put distance between the Zen Sensei and you. At long range, he can charge up a powerful yellow and purple zen energy ball and send it flying at the player, doing impact and splash damage.
Dash Punch: Punches the player 3 times knocking them back.
Sprint-Punch: Runs quickly towards the player and does a big uppercut that does about 20 damage. Similar to the the Gargantuar's charge slam.
Energy Ball: Charges up a ball of energy, and shoots it. It does a large amount of damage. Similar to the Super Ultra Ball (in Battle for Neighborville, the Energy Ball is shot in bursts instead).
Decoy Copy: The Sensei will perform a pose, then summons 3-4 copies. They all have the same strength and attacks, but have a small amount of health.
High Jump: Jumps really high to reach higher places.
Health
Boss
Easy: 1200 HP
Normal: 1800 HP
Hard: 2400 HP
CRAAAAZY: 3000 HP
Decoys
Easy: 150 HP
Normal: 175 HP
Hard: 200 HP
CRAAAAZY: 225 HP
Super Karate Wave
When the boss slots land on three Zen Sensei icons, a Super Karate Wave will occur. During the wave, Karate Zombies replace all regular zombies. There will be one Champion Karate Zombie.
Elite Wave
Zen Sensei's Elite Wave in Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville is similar to their fight in the Fight Zentrification quest. Every time they lose a quarter of their health, they will start meditating, leaving them invincible and requiring the group to destroy the decoys. There is four the first time, five the second time, and six the third time.
Strategies
The Zen Sensei is one of the easier bosses to fight, provided you keep your distance from him. His only ranged attack is one that takes a while to charge, so you have time to avoid it. Try not to use any rooted abilities at close range, because his Dash Punch can knock you out of them. When he creates clones, it is advised to take out the clones first, since they have little health, and will cause a lot of trouble for you if you don't. Also, note that if you jump up onto a slightly higher place, you can hit him, but he can't hit and stun you with his punch combo, only fire Energy Balls at you, which can typically be avoided. This trick can help you out a lot in taking Zen Sensei out. Note that while Zen Sensei is programmed to use his high jump ability to reach enemies on rooftops, his AI usually cannot usually properly land on his intended surface, so he will just jump up in the air and land in a similar spot over and over again.
Zen Sensei defeated in the mission "Fight Zentrification"
Zen Sensei's Goatee
Zen Sensei up close
Concepts (Scrapped concept)
Concept model renders (Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville)
In other languages
Please note that only official translations are used.
Language
Name
Description
English
Zen Sensei
Simplified Chinese
禅师傅
Traditional Chinese
禪師傅
French
Sensei zen
German
Zen-Sensei
Italian
Sensei zen
Polish
Zen sensei
Brazilian Portuguese
Mestre Zen
Spanish
Sensei Zen
Trivia
He is called Sensei Explody-Boom in the starting dialogue for the Plant mission "Fireworks of the Ancients."
He is referred to as "Zen Master" in the Zombie quest "Ancient Knowledge."
Before the said quest ends, Zen Master makes various references to the Star Wars franchise.
The phrase "May Brains be with you" is a reference to the well-known line "May the Force be with you."
According to the Zombie quest from the Quest Board named "Vanquisher of Roses," the Zen Sensei does not have a good sense of smell, which makes him sad.
He might be a reference to Pat Morita's character Kesuke Miyagi in the 1984 film The Karate Kid.