Shield Zombie

Shield Zombie is a zombie that appears in Far Future. It creates a non-damaging Force Field in front of itself, covering three lanes to protect itself and other nearby zombies from incoming attacks. However, E.M.Peach can disable it and its Force Field and Laser Bean and Fume-shroom's attacks can penetrate through the shield, while Bloomerang's boomerangs can push through it as long as there are no other zombies in front of it. Snapdragon's fire can hit the Shield Zombie directly if within range.

Appearance
Shield Zombie looks like a basic Zombie in Far Future, but it wears a white helmet with a red stripe in the middle and a pair of green visors. It pilots a machine which consists of a glass capsule with an antenna on top and a metal bottom with threads attached to it. As it gets damaged, the glass will start to shatter.

Almanac entry
TOUGHNESS:  Average

SPEED:  Basic

Protect himself and nearby zombies with a force field.

Special:  creates a shield to protect from incoming attacks

Shield Zombie developed his system using funds from a BiteStarter campaign. The push goal for pushing plants was not met.

Overview
Shield Zombie absorbs 25 normal damage shots while the force field absorbs 60 normal damage shots, and its appearance changes upon absorbing 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, and 22 damage shots before dying at 25 normal damage shots.

Appearances
Player's House: Piñata Party

Far Future: Day 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 25, and Terror from Tomorrow

Strategies
A Laser Bean can penetrate the shield, so you can attack the Shield Zombie directly. If you plant a Magnifying Grass quickly enough, one hit can kill the Shield Zombie. An E.M.Peach can disable the Shield Zombie, stopping the shield for ten seconds. A Lightning Reed's attack cannot bypass the shield on its own, but if the lightning bolt attacks another zombie, it can arc towards the Shield Zombie and cause damage, but also, there are times that it can bypass without the help of a zombie. A Bloomerang can also damage and bypass the shield. Finally, enough hits disable the shield, making a Citron viable, as it deals large damage on its own. A Spikerock or Spikeweed can attack it from below and bypass its shield, making it a good idea to use it in Terror from Tomorrow. Note that the shield can block the butter from a Kernel-pult. The shield will also stop when the zombie starts to eat a plant. Snapdragon also works because it can ignore its shield, but because of its short range, it is better to protect it with a Wall-nut, Tall-nut or Infi-nut. Be careful if you use Citron's Plant Food ability as even though Shield Zombie has less health than the plasma ball itself, it is still a machine, thus wasting Plant Food, so use Plant Food on a Laser Bean instead. If you only have a Spring Bean, plant it near it to remove the shield and place a Spikeweed or Spikerock to destroy it.

On the other hand, you can also use the shield also to slow down groups of zombies on lanes where you do not have Winter Melons, allowing you to slow them down for a short period of time. This will allow you to slowly eliminate or cripple zombies once you have enough amount of sun to produce your defenses. The greater the concentration of Shield Zombies, the more you can get more time to slow zombie hordes down.

Guacodiles can be very useful against Shield Zombies. These plants can break through the shield and the Shield Zombie to deal great deals of damage. However, you need to have at least two Guacodiles to do this. Combining this plant with a Sweet Potato is a very good idea, so that digging up the Sweet Potato to save sun and letting Guacodiles rush will almost kill every zombie.

Trivia

 * In its Almanac entry, BiteStarter is a parody of Kickstarter. Also, it states that the goal to push plants was not met, referring to the Mecha-Football Zombie.
 * Kickstarter is a business operation company established as of 2009 by Yancey Strickler, Charles Adler, and Perry Chen. It is stationed in United States whose goal is to bring life to millions of people's creative projects.
 * It uses claws that come out from the machine to eat plants, similar to the Robo-Cone Zombie.
 * Its shield was originally going to be blue, and completely surround the zombie and other zombies within a 3x3 area, but was later changed to purple and moved to only being in front of the zombie. The blue shield is only seen in one screenshot which was released by Electronic Arts the Tuesday prior to the world release.
 * The tube that goes from the Shield Zombie's head into the top of its machine is probably what lets it live, this is noticeable because when it is stunned by the E.M.Peach, it starts to move in its seat and when the machine is defeated the zombie dies.
 * Shield Zombie is the only zombie that does not use a steering wheel to control the machine. Instead, it uses a set of joysticks.
 * Shield Zombie, Zombie Yeti, Zombie Bull, and Bug Bot Imp are the only machines in Plants vs. Zombies 2 that can survive an instant kill.
 * If Shield Zombie's force field absorbs too much damage all at once, it will be deactivated for a few seconds, leaving it open to other attacks.
 * Shield Zombie and Bug Bot Imp are the weakest zombies that operate a machine, with less health than Conehead Zombies, but unlike the Bug Bot Imp, the Shield Zombie will still block a Plant Food charged Citron.
 * Its toughness is actually Protected and its speed is actually Stiff while currently its toughness is said to be Average and its speed is said to be Basic.
 * According to the game files, Shield Zombie's original name was Protector Zombie.
 * If Shield Zombie is deactivated by E.M.Peach, it will push the joysticks and try to get the machine to move.
 * Shield Zombie and Bug Bot Imp are the only machined zombies that can be devoured by Chomper.
 * The Ghost Pepper can attack its shield although there is no haunting animation around it.
 * The Sweet Potato can make Shield Zombie switch lanes with its force field activated, but the Shield Zombie will detach from its force field, since its force field cannot switch lanes and is only programmed to move whenever Shield Zombie is moving.
 * It is different in Plants vs. Zombies Online, having a different design and having a blue shield, like it was planned to do in the beta.
 * In the 3.4.4 update, Shield Zombie's Force Field is immune to splash damage caused by Coconut Cannon, Melon-pult, Pepper-pult and Winter Melon. Zombies behind the force field also become immune to splash damage.
 * Spikeweed and Spikerock cannot pop its treads.
 * Bonk Choy ignores the force field. It would just punch the zombies behind it.
 * It can utilize sandstorms, but only in Piñata Party.