Dr. Zomboss


 * For other uses, see Zombot.

Dr. Edgar George Zomboss is the main antagonist and the leader of the zombies in the Plants vs. Zombies series. He is battled on the roof during Level 5-10, as the final boss in Plants vs. Zombies, and appears multiple times as bosses for each world in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time.

Plants vs. Zombies
The battles with Dr. Zomboss are in Air Raid and the only Roof Night level, probably so that Coffee Beans would not need to come in order to wake up the Ice-shrooms (which can be troublesome). He is the second to last zombie encountered in the game.

He sends out other zombies to attack the player, except Flag Zombies, Dancing Zombies, Backup Dancers, Digger Zombies, Balloon Zombies, aquatic zombies, and the Zombie Bobsled Team (despite ice trails from Zombonis). The Zombot also has its own attacks, most importantly fireballs and iceballs which are released from its mouth when it bends down, which is the only time when it can be damaged. The boss battle itself is a conveyor-belt level, so seed packets come on the conveyor belt at the top (or left) of the screen. The only seed packets that can appear are Flower Pot, Cabbage-pult, Kernel-pult, Melon-pult, Jalapeno, and Ice-shroom. Jalapenos and Ice-shrooms are the most effective. The Jalapeno can be used to cut-off the effect of the iceball and ice trail from Zomboni, while the Ice-shroom is effective against the fireball.

Suburban Almanac Entry
 DR. ZOMBOSS 

Dr. Zomboss rules them all.

Toughness (in Zombot shell): extreme

Edgar George Zomboss achieved his Doctorate in Thanatology in only two years. Quickly mastering thanatological technology, he built his fearsome Zombot and set about establishing absolute dominance within his local subdivision.



Overview
When playing Adventure Mode for the first time, Dr. Zomboss has an estimated absorption of 1,583 normal damage shots and his appearance changes at 317 normal damage shots and at 769 normal damage shots. An explosion occurs at 1,177 normal damage shots before surrendering at 1,583 normal damage shots.

Every other playthrough of Adventure Mode, and in Dr. Zomboss's Revenge, Dr. Zomboss absorbs 3,165 normal damage shots, and his appearance changes at 633 normal damage shots and at 1,537 normal damage shots. An explosion occurs at 2,353 normal damage shots before surrendering at 3,165 normal damage shots.

Attacks
Dr. Zomboss has the four attacks. If you're not attacking, he summons zombies at you, placing them at the far end of the flat section of the Roof.
 * When the Zombot lowers its head and opens its mouth, its eyes will glow either blue or red.
 * If its eyes glow red, it will launch a fireball. Use an Ice-shroom to put it out.
 * If its eyes glow blue, it will launch an Iceball. Use a Jalapeno to break it. Make sure the Jalapeno is in the correct lane or the Iceball won't be affected.
 * If a plant is on the flat part of the roof, the Zombot may step on it and crush it.
 * The Zombot will occasionally summon down three Bungee Zombies from its hand. The best ways to deal with them are to either freeze them with an Ice-shroom, giving you time to attack them, or to fry them with a Jalapeno.
 * The Zombot will drop a camper van, crushing all plants in a 2x3 area (two plants tall by three plants long).

Strategies

 * Always have an Ice-shroom and a Jalapeno starting for the Zombot's iceball and fireball attacks and to freeze Dr. Zomboss to defeat him quicker.
 * Don't plant Melon-pults on the first column and instead, plant Cabbage-pults there. This will prevent you from losing the Melon-pults to the Catapult Zombie's Basketballs. But try to use a Jalapeno as it's tolerating the roof in the DS version.
 * Try not to keep all your Melon-pults and Kernel-pults next to each other/put them in a square position; doing this helps keep plants from the camper dropped by the boss. You will risk losing a last line of defense if this happens. Don't panic planting Cabbage-pults next to each other, as they get killed and to appear a little too often.
 * Only when Dr. Zomboss reaches down to attack you with a Fireball you should use the Ice-shroom to freeze Dr. Zomboss and put out the Fireball, so that your Ice-shroom is not messy.
 * You should not use a Jalapeno while he is frozen. This will unfreeze him and let him get away or finish you.
 * It is also possible to keep re-freezing him with multiple Ice-shrooms before he drops providing an opening for your plants. Butter cannot paralyze the Zombot, though.
 * If you freeze Dr. Zomboss while he sends out his Iceball attack, you will have to deal with the snowball with a Jalapeno, thus unfreezing Dr. Zomboss.
 * Leave a column of empty Flower Pots on the first slanted column of the roof as a buffer endless zone and to plant Jalapenos and Ice-shrooms in and keep your plants behind them, but don't plant them farther up the roof or Dr. Zomboss may kill them.
 * Plant the Flower Pots on the flat part of the roof when you plant Jalapenos or Ice-shrooms.
 * If possible, when tough zombies such as Gargantuars, Zombonis, or Catapult Zombies appear, try to wait until they get as close to your most frontal plant before planting a Jalapeno to finish them all. This makes your use of Jalapenos in case Dr. Zomboss wants to put more zombies on the same row.
 * Dr. Zomboss has a set pattern that he follows at the beginning of the fight. He always places four regular Zombies, four or five Conehead Zombies, then lowers down to breath out a snow/fire ball, then he comes back and places four or five Buckethead Zombies (sometimes he places one Conehead Zombie), then lowers down his head again. After that, the Zombies he places are completely random, except he will not send normal zombies again. After his head lowers the 3rd time, he will then release his Bungee Zombies, then after the fourth, he will drop the RV; after that, his attacks are all completely glitched. However, they do appear to observe patterns that vary with each fight - some times may include more or less of a particular zombie or attack than usual, or placed in different lanes.
 * The first few plants you get on the conveyor belt are Cabbage-pults, followed by Melon-pults; try to save your Melon-pults for the Conehead Zombies.
 * The first four plants on the conveyor belt come out in the following order: Cabbage-pult, Jalapeno, Cabbage-pult, Ice-shroom. The order of plants coming in afterward is completely random.
 * Kernel-pults are the rarest to come by, so try not to plant them in a same 3x2 area to reduce chances of them being destroyed when Dr. Zomboss throws a camper.Zomboss.PNG
 * If you have only one roof cleaner left, he will put almost all of the zombies in the row with the last roof cleaner left.
 * Remember to spread out Melon-pults and Kernel-pults! If you have one lane of all these, the others may not get their fair share of these plants.

General

 * Dr. Zomboss is the only zombie that uses proper grammar.
 * The overall design of Dr. Zomboss as a person has only one main change: there are now veins bulging around his head.
 * His head, however, seems to be much smaller in the trailer for Boss Mode on Garden Warfare
 * It is also shown in the trailer that he is a relatively short person.

Plants vs. Zombies

 * In the online Almanac, he is just referred to as Zomboss.
 * The Zombot has a flashing green light, similar to the flashing red light on the Potato Mine when it is ready to explode.
 * In the "reanim" folder, Dr. Zomboss is referred to as Zombie Boss.
 * The name Zomboss is a portmanteau of the words "Zombie" and "Boss", meaning "Zombie Boss".
 * The Zombot is the portmanteau of the words "Zombie" and "Robot", meaning "Zombie Robot".
 * Dr. Zomboss has a degree in Thanatology, the study of death and the emotions surrounding it, further showing his intelligence as opposed to other zombies.
 * In the Zombies on Your Lawn music video, Dr. Zomboss' Zombot is seen dancing on the roof along with the other zombies.
 * Only the feet of the Zombot are visible.
 * Dr. Zomboss has his own music, that is called Braniac Maniac.
 * Dr. Zomboss is not killed when defeated, but instead raises a White Flag, indicating that he surrenders.
 * The level progress bar is changed into Dr. Zomboss' health bar for the levels he is present on.
 * In the Xbox 360, PS3, and PS Vita versions, the Utility Pole that marks where the zombies appear is removed to allow the player to see more of the roof and the Zombot's details, unlike other Roof stages where the other parts are blocked.
 * Dr. Zomboss is seen doing experiments on a single Zombie in the Nintendo DS trailer, trying to shrink it and having unlucky results. When this happens, a censored bleep can be heard hinting profanity.
 * A very serious glitch may occur when you play Dr. Zomboss's Revenge: Dr. Zomboss does not lower his head at all, and crushes all your plants with campers before sending a Gargantuar.
 * In the DS trailer, Dr. Zomboss and the Zombot's eyes are censored.
 * When a Zombie activates a Roof Cleaner while Dr. Zomboss' head ducks down, the Zombot will not be harmed, as it does not touch the ground.
 * Dr. Zomboss is the only zombie that can destroy Roof Cleaners without triggering them.
 * In the DS Mini-game Air Raid, it is shown that the Zombot is flying.
 * The Gargantuar's Almanac entry says that its health is extremely high, but Dr. Zomboss' almanac entry states his Zombot shell's health is extreme. The Gargantuar's health level is only high, since "high" is the adjective and "extremely" is an adverb.
 * Even though the battle with Dr. Zomboss takes part on the roof, its Suburban Almanac entry shows its background on the lawn.
 * Dr. Zomboss, the Zombie Yeti, the Digger Zombie (upon reaching the left), the Bungee Zombie, the Target Zombie, and the Catapult Baseball Zombie are the only zombies that don't target your house.
 * The Zombot will not be destroyed when a zombie activates a Roof Cleaner, and will not even be damaged.
 * Due to his incredible size, health, and ability to be attacked only in several stages, Dr. Zomboss is one of nine zombies that cannot be used in Versus Mode. The others include the Zombie Bobsled Team, the Imp, the Zombie Yeti, the Aquatic Zombies (the Dolphin Rider Zombie, the Ducky Tube Zombie, the Snorkel Zombie), the Backup Dancer, and the Balloon Zombie.
 * Although he is technically not dead, Dr. Zomboss is still considered as a zombie.
 * His middle name, George, is the name of Plants vs. Zombies creator, George Fan.
 * This level and the Dr. Zomboss's Revenge are the only levels during Night Roof.
 * Dr. Zomboss, the Zombie Bobsled Team, the Snorkel Zombie, the Pole Vaulting Zombie, and Dancing Zombie are the only zombies that don't have a single laceration on their clothes.
 * Dr. Zomboss, Imp, Zomboni, Gargantuar, Giga-gargantuar, and the Backup Dancer are the only zombies that do not have the word "zombie" in their names.
 * The writing and signature of Dr. Zomboss are much more intricate than the writing and signatures of the other zombies.
 * The note given by Dr. Zomboss is also the only note not signed by "The Zombies".
 * Instead, it was signed by Dr. Zomboss.
 * Dr. Zomboss is the only zombie who has attacks that can't be stopped.
 * He and the Zombie Bobsled Team are the only almanac zombies not in Survival: Endless, unless you count the Zombie Yeti (if you have not yet discovered it).
 * In the DS version, when Dr. Zomboss runs away, some projectiles can still hit him.
 * In the iPad version, Dr. Zomboss mostly targets the lanes without Roof Cleaners.
 * Strangely enough, the Roof is able to hold the Zombot, all the zombies, and all the plants.
 * If you modified the saved data from Dr. Zomboss's Revenge to Whack a Zombie, the Zombot is still attackable, and will disappear only in one hit.
 * Dr. Zomboss will also disappear.
 * Dr. Zomboss's theme will also be gone.
 * The Mallet will sometimes be a Roof Cleaner. Eventually it will become a Zombie, then a Conehead Zombie.
 * On the DS version, Dr. Zomboss is shown in the Zombot on the top screen, with the progress bar on the bottom portion, and will be pulling levers when performing attacks. The only two times he won't be there are right before the level begins and when he gets defeated (where he will fall off the edge of the screen).
 * The progress bar on the DS version will only increase when he receives a specific small percentage of damage (the progress bar is instead shown on the bottom right corner of the touch screen on Air Raid, but Zomboss will still be on the top screen).
 * Every time the Zombot unfreezes, the ice breaks on the opposite side of the Zombot.
 * Every time the fire/ice ball squishes something, there is a biting sound.
 * This is shared with whenever a plant gets crushed.
 * The Zombot seems to have a collar.
 * While battling Dr. Zomboss on a mobile device, and the mobile device has a vibration feature, there will be three occurrences when the vibration is triggered: at the start of the level when he steps on the roof (once per leg), throwing a camper, and the final explosion once Dr. Zomboss is defeated.
 * The only other times the vibration is triggered is when a Gargantuar smashes a plant, when a Gargantuar falls over and dies, and when any explosive plant detonates.
 * The vibration feature is not included in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time.

Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time

 * Dr. Zomboss is seen ten times. The first five times are before the initial playthrough of level 8 (Night 10 in Dark Ages) (the Gargantuar levels) in each world. The next five are the boss battles on Day 25 (Night 20 in Dark Ages) of each world.
 * Before the 1.7 update, he only appeared after completing Wild West - Day 10.
 * Above each level 25 (Night 20 in Dark Ages) icon is a hologram of his head.
 * His holographic head has two forms: one for before the initial playthrough, and a defeated form once the level has been completed.
 * If the player waits long enough before entering the level for the first time, the hologram will eventually show an animation of Dr. Zomboss brushing his teeth.
 * When this occurs, he starts off looking to the right of the screen. Then when he looks forward, he remembers he is on camera, the hologram then reverts to normal. In this animation, he also has a towel wrapped around his head like a turban.
 * During the start-of-level dialogues, Dr. Zomboss refers to Crazy Dave as David.
 * When Zomboss's hologram laughs, his pupils move in opposite directions, pointing to the outside of his face.
 * In the Zombot Sphinx-inator's Almanac entry, it states that his tongue is green. However, in cutscenes, it is a normal pink.
 * Dr. Zomboss is the only zombie capable of damaging other zombies, not counting zombies hypnotized by a Hypno-shroom.
 * When Dr. Zomboss is defeated, he jumps towards the middle of the lawn. If you use Plant Food on a plant and it attacks him, Dr. Zomboss will be seen dizzy for a few moments (as if he is attacked using Plant Food during his charge attack) and jump back to the original spot before jumping back to the middle again to "die". If you have boosted seed packets in a Zomboss level, if you keep on planting them so that they hit Dr. Zomboss when he is technically defeated, you can keep him "alive" and on screen.
 * There are two features to Zomboss in the original game that does not hold true to Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time:
 * Dr. Zomboss cannot destroy Lawn Mowers, despite his charge attack.
 * If a lawn mower has been activated, Dr. Zomboss will still send zombies down that lane, so long as he is in the right position(s).
 * Zomboss is only one of two characters to have a hologram. The other is the Infi-nut.
 * The Future Flag Zombie is debatable, as its flag is also a hologram.
 * Unlike in the original game, Dr. Zomboss actually has dialogue, which currently occurs 15 times.
 * Five pieces of dialogue are prior to playing Day 8 (Night 10 in Dark Ages) for the first time through for all five worlds. The other ten are set in pairs for each of the Day 25 (Night 20 in Dark Ages) levels, once prior to playing for the first time, and once after defeating him for the first time.
 * Most of the time, he tries to convince that Crazy Dave is betraying the player.