Pianist Zombie


 * For the form in Plants vs. Zombies: All Stars, see Pianist Zombie (PvZ: AS)

Pianist Zombie is the 6th zombie found in Wild West. It rolls over plants, killing most instantly (with a few exceptions such as Spikerock and Wall-nut) and causes all Cowboy Zombies, Conehead Cowboys, and Buckethead Cowboys on the screen to dance and change lanes every few seconds. It instantly dies if it encounters a Spikeweed, Spikerock, Cactus (when in the ground) or Bamboo Shoot.

Almanac entry
TOUGHNESS: Hardened SPEED: Creeper

His rolling piano crushes plants while his music causes dancing zombies to switch lanes.

Damage: crushes plants with piano Special: causes cowboy zombies to switch lanes

Pianist Zombie only knows two songs, and they're both groaners.

Overview
Pianist Zombie absorbs 40 normal damage shots and its appearance changes upon absorbing 20 normal damage shots before dying at 40 normal damage shots. When it enters the lawn, it starts playing music, causing every Cowboy Zombie except the Flag Cowboy Zombie to dance until it dies.

The music is played as follows:

Encounters
Player's House: Piñata Party

Wild West: Days 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 15, 22, 23, 25, Big Bad Butte, "Electrical Boogaloo" Epic Quest - Step 7

Frostbite Caves: Piñata Party

Modern Day: Days 3, 11, 24, 26, 32, and Highway to the Danger Room (portal only)

Strategies
Despite its slow movement, its ability to instantly destroy plants in its way and allow other Cowboy Zombies to swap lanes with its music can cause a lot of problems to the player's defense. Try to destroy the Pianist Zombie as fast as possible or eliminate as many Cowboy Zombies as you can before they swap lanes on the screen. Otherwise, you will have a hard time if the other zombies shift to eat your plants you have placed (Lightning Reed, Pea Pod, and others). A Pea Pod with five heads will quickly kill it. Wall-nuts, Tall-nuts, Sweet Potato, or Endurian do not stop it, as its piano crushes your plants. You can delay a Pianist Zombie with an Iceberg Lettuce, Stunion, or a butter from Kernel-pult to force the zombies to stop dancing. A good choice to deal with it is to use any instant kill or the Coconut Cannon which can easily defeat it. Planting a Spikeweed or Spikerock on the tile its piano is on will also instantly kill it, since it is a rolling zombie. Do not use Cabbage-pults, Spore-shrooms, or Blooming Hearts, as if you do not kill the Pianist Zombie, lobbed-shot plants will have hard time shooting at the zombie as the other Cowboy Zombies continue shifting because of their low fire rate. Bonk Choys and Phat Beets should also be avoided as their minimal range can cause shifting zombies to eat them up quickly without support from other long-ranged offensive plants. Homing Thistles are also useless as they always target the zombie closest to the Player's house first, allowing groups of them (especially Buckethead Cowboys) to easily destroy your Homing Thistles. Citrons (unless fed with Plant food) are worse than lobbed-shot plants, Bonk Choys, Phat Beets, and Homing Thistles in targeting Pianist Zombies as they fire slower than any other plant.

Trivia

 * In the 2.4.1 update, a phrase in its entry was changed from "summons cowboy zombies who switch lanes" to "causes cowboy zombies to switch lanes".
 * This was likely done because it does not spawn zombies on its own, and to prevent confusion.
 * Even though the projectiles hit the piano, the zombie will still lose its arm and head.
 * Before the 1.7 update, there was a glitch that when it appeared, it would not play music and the normal Wild West background music would be gone. When defeated, the Wild West background music came back.
 * Whenever at least one is alive and onscreen, its piano song will replace the stage's current music.
 * This trait is shared with Disco-tron 3000, but it always plays music until it is defeated while Disco-tron 3000 only plays music when it is first encountered in a level for a while.
 * It moves fast first then slow from the 1.0 update to the 1.6 update (similar to Gargantuars), while in the 1.7 update onwards, its animation and speed changes to that of a regular zombie before entering the lawn and then proceeds to its original speed once it plays its music.
 * It still rushes into the yard in the Chinese version.
 * When it is slowed by either Snow Pea, Winter Melon, or Sap-fling, its animation will slow down, but the music will continue at normal speed. This also happens with other zombies that play music.
 * If it comes into contact with any defensive plant, it will take slightly longer to kill them. This trait is shared with Barrel Roller Zombie.
 * As shown in Piñata Parties and Modern Day, it only causes Cowboy Zombies variants to dance. Other zombies from different time periods are unaffected by its ability.
 * During its first degrade, the player can see the tip jar slide off the piano. It then disappears when it dies.
 * Before the 2.1 update, it would squash a Chili Bean, die, and release gas.
 * When killed by Lightning Reed, it dies by electrocution just as a normal zombie does, but the piano disappears.
 * This also occurs when killed by either Cherry Bomb or Jalapeno. In the 1.9 update onwards, the piano crumbles while the zombie gets burned.
 * It is one of the six zombies to get a new Christmas look for the 5 Days of Feastivus, along with Swashbuckler Zombie, Camel Zombies, Poncho Zombie, Gargantuar, and Imp.
 * Its costume for Feastivus resembles a green Santa Claus.
 * It also plays Christmas music when he appeared in the Feastivus event.
 * Its music was written and performed by Korby Sears, as seen in the game credits.
 * Also, it is referred to as "Piano Zombie" in the credits and in the Travel Log.
 * It, Dancing Zombie, Disco-tron 3000, Announcer Imp, Jack-in-the-Box Zombie, and Boombox Zombie are the only zombies that play music.
 * While the Almanac states its toughness is Hardened, its toughness is actually Dense because it only absorbs 40 damage shots while Zombie King absorbs 50 normal damage shots.
 * It, Camel Zombies, Wizard Zombie, Octo Zombie, and Hunter Zombie are the slowest zombies in the game so far.
 * When it is just about to crush a Spring Bean or Chard Guard, not only its piano is bounced but both it and its chair is bounced too, despite the fact the piano and the chair are separated.
 * When it crushes an Infi-nut, it will disappear but the projector stays and the zombie will just pass by. This also happens with Barrel Roller Zombie.
 * Technically, it and Barrel Roller Zombie deal a lot of damage to the plants to "crush" them, unlike how Gargantuars or All-Star Zombies do.
 * According to the code, they deal 40 bites each time, which is enough to make any plant except most defensive plants instantly killed.
 * It is the first zombie to play music while using its special ability.
 * The second is Disco-tron 3000 and the third is Boombox Zombie.
 * If a Primal Peashooter knocks it back, its music will reset.
 * As of the 4.4 update, it plays music off-screen and when immobilized. This is likely a glitch.
 * After an update, starting any level with Pianist Zombies after choosing plants will result in the sound of its piano being destroyed can be heard once the level starts.
 * When shrunken by Shrinking Violet, the music played by it changes to a higher pitched, faster version.
 * It, Barrel Roller Zombie, and Gargantuar are the only known zombies capable of destroying Potions.
 * Pianist Zombie's Almanac Entry states that it only knows two songs, and they're both a bore. This may be referring to the regular and Feastivus music it plays (two songs) as they are 10 seconds of music looped over and over (a bore).

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