Surfer Zombie

Surfer Zombie is a zombie encountered in Big Wave Beach. He uses a surfboard to surf in water. Once he reaches land, he will carry his surfboard and use it as a shield against lobbed-shot plants, until he encounters a plant to crush with his surfboard. When he does, the surfboard will instantly kill the first plant in where it is placed, then it will behave like a tombstone that cannot be destroyed by Grave Buster. This ability makes him an environment modifier. After the surfboard is placed, the Surfer Zombie will behave like a normal zombie. His surfboard can place itself when this zombie dies on land.

Description
Surfer Zombie is a fast zombie in water but once he reaches the shores, he will then carry his surfboard and crush it to any plant he encounters.

His hair is blonde and is combed backwards. He wears an orange swimming trunks with a white line at the left side of it. His surfboard is colored in light yellow and has a crack on the front portion of it and as well has blue lines on both left and right sides and an orange line on the middle portion of the surfboard.

Overview
Surfer Zombie absorbs 16.5 normal damage shots and degrade upon absorbing 8.25 normal damage shots. His surfboard absorbs 35 normal damage shots.

Encounters
Player's House: Piñata Party

Big Wave Beach: Days 11x15, 12x19, 13x10, 14x8, 15x7, 16x17, 18x5, 19x3, 20x5, 21x53, 22x4, 23x2, 24x17, 25x8, 26x11, 27x2, 28x6, 29x6, 30x13, 31x4, 32x19, Tiki Torch-er, and Piñata Party

Modern Day: Days 2, 18, 19, 21, 23, 33, 44 and Highway to the Danger Room (portal only)

Strategies
Although the Surfer Zombie has health on the lower end of the Protected spectrum, he is very fast when on water. When he reaches land, he will place his surfboard on your plants, which you cannot plant on unless you destroy the surfboard. Make sure you kill the zombie before he reaches land, as if he reaches land, killing him after that will result in him dropping his surfboard on the tile. If combined with multiple Octo Zombies, Fisherman Zombies, and Deep Sea Gargantuars, they will wreak havoc onto your defenses.

Magnifying Grass and Winter Melon are among the best plants to defeat Surfers before they reach shore. The Magnifying Grass can quickly kill a Surfer in one shot for 50 sun. It also has a fast recharge time, allowing many to be planted in a hurry, and if a lot of sun stored, the player can shoot through other zombies in the way if waiting for the Surfer to pull ahead is not an option. The Winter Melon's damage power and slowing effect can bring down Surfers and their allies together in the water (such as Snorkel Zombie). He has the advantage over Magnifying Grass in levels with limited sun or planting options, however, and zombies near the front lines can possibly distract Winter Melons long enough for Surfers to slip through.

Among the plants introduced in Big Wave Beach, Guacodile, Chomper, and Tangle Kelp are the best choices for defeating Surfers. Chomper can eat both the Surfer and his surfboard whole, even if he reaches shore, as well as destroy a surfboard on the ground quickly if one is in front of him. When placed out in the water, a Guacodile will be triggered when the Surfer Zombie passes over it, usually dealing enough damage to finish the surfer off. If the Surfer attempts to crush it, he will just trigger Guacodile's biting attack.

If a Surfer Zombie does make it to shore, plants that destroy the Surfer Zombie and surfboard together (without letting the surfboard drop during the death animation) are extremely useful, such as Chomper, Lightning Reed, Cherry Bomb, Squash, Jalapeno, and Jack O' Lantern. Cherry Bombs are helpful for destroying a group of Surfer Zombies in the water or on land. However, they require a Lily Pad planted first before they can be detonated above water. It is highly recommended to use instant kill or high damage-rate plants to take out Surfer Zombie as the zombie himself is tough enough to kill, but its surfboard has the same amount of health as a tombstone. Destroy the Surfer Zombie and his surfboard as quick as you can or your lawn will be swarmed with surfboards.

A Split Pea is best used when on water if a Surfer Zombie passes your defenses, so that it can deal damage to both the surfboard and the Surfer Zombie. In addition, a Laser Bean (when upgraded with Plant Food) will instantly destroy him when on water in one hit, so plant it in front of your lawn mowers. You can also use Tangle Kelp or Plant Food on a nearby one to keep this zombie from reaching land. Fume-shrooms are best used with Plant Food to push this zombie and prevent him from reaching land. Hurrikale will also push this zombie back and slow him down, preventing him from reaching the land.

Do note however, that when a Surfer Zombie manages to reach the shores, be ready as you will lose one of your plants in exchange for killing him unless you succeed in destroying the surfboard (the invulnerability granted by a piece of Plant Food will NOT save the targeted plant). Laser Beans and Bowling Bulbs can also assist you in weakening the Surfer Zombie if you are in trouble of handling him, allowing you to save much time but you can also assist with Lightning Reed because when defeated by a Lightning Reed, he will not leave his surfboard on a plant or tile, so you can plant two columns of Lightning Reeds, if you do not want to lose a plant when you defeat him, remember to choose Winter Melon because they make a perfect combination for defeating tons of Surfer Zombies.

Note: Avoid using Citron against this zombie (unless fed with Plant Food), as this zombie can bypass your Citron fast or even destroy it, and the charging time to shoot a plasma ball takes longer.

Trivia

 * When he reaches the shore, he will "wipe out" then suddenly appear with his surfboard.
 * Chomper can eat Surfer Zombies even if they fall into the water, despite the fact that the Chomper seems to eat nothing.
 * When he enters the player's house with the surfboard, it will disappear.
 * If he is attacked by a lobbed-shot plant on land, the projectiles will damage the surfboard instead.
 * In the Almanac, his surfboard has more cracks than in the seed selection screen. Also, after he places his surfboard, the surfboard appears to have no cracks at all.
 * The death animation when he is riding on waves makes him fly up into the air and fall straight down into the water.
 * His speed is actually Speedy while surfing.
 * Him, Snorkel Zombie, Octo Zombie, Deep Sea Gargantuar, and Barrel Zombie are the only zombies without shirts, excluding the animal zombies. However, it can be debated whether the Ancient Egypt zombies' (apart from Explorer Zombie) bandages count as shirts.
 * He sometimes makes a grunting sound a few seconds after disembodied on land.
 * The surfboard vanishes when he is zapped by a Lightning Reed, Power Zap or Electric Blueberry, or burned.
 * If he tries to slam a Spring Bean that is about to bounce away a zombie with his surfboard, the surfboard breaks but the Spring Bean survives.
 * This also can happen if two surfboards are placed on the same tile (this can only happen if a second Surfer Zombie dies on land and auto-places his board, as they never attempt to place their boards on top of each other while alive). Both will be destroyed, making this a helpful glitch to get rid of surfboards on the lawn.
 * If a lawn mower kills him while he is surfing, two zombie heads will briefly appear. The correct head falling off and another head staying on the body, missing hair and a lower jaw.
 * He can be blocked by Infi-nut's barrier while surfing.
 * When he gets hit by a lawn mower while surfing, his surfboard will land into the water.
 * He is one of the few zombies which can damage Ghost Pepper in certain ways.
 * When freezing him with Iceberg Lettuce while on water, the splash water will not be animated and will be blue.
 * He can completely kill Infi-nut and its barrier if Infi-nut is in the same column where he is. Otherwise, the barrier will take no damage.
 * He can change his direction while surfing under the effects of Sweet Potato fed with Plant Food.
 * In Tiki Torch-er, specifically in higher levels, Surfer Zombies may sometimes come in walking instead of surfing when the huge waves of zombies approach. This is because they spawn so far away from the lawn that the water does not exist.
 * Lava Guava can counter him even when planted right next to him.
 * In the 3.8 and 3.9 updates, his surfboard absorbed 1 normal damage shots before being destroyed.
 * His surfboard is almost identical to the Cavalry Zombie's lance.
 * He makes a cameo in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 in Moon Base Z, where the player spawns when they need to capture the Lunar Motel, they can see a picture of him riding on his surfboard with his hair on fire with a big "SUN" on the front of the picture.
 * He is voiced by Chris Sampson according to the credits.
 * If he places his surfboard and is killed while still in his surfboard placing animation, he will use his death animation when surfing, even if this happens on land.
 * His toughness changes when surfing and walking.
 * His wig will fall off when the player defeats him while surfing.
 * There is a glitch that Surfer Zombie can destroy 2 plants, one upon making contact, and one upon being killed.