Excavator Zombie

Excavator Zombie is a zombie encountered in Lost City in Plants vs. Zombies 2. He can protect himself and all zombies behind him from incoming projectiles shot by straight-shooting plants. Additionally, he can shovel up plants when he gets close to them and throw them three spaces back. The shovel cannot be destroyed, but it will be dropped after several hits. After dropping the shovel, Excavator Zombie cannot dig or eat plants, he just walks through them.

As the almanac suggests, his weakness is lobbed-shot plants, such as A.K.E.E or Melon-pult. Additionally, he can be attacked by plants that do not shot projectiles in a straight line, such as Rotobaga, Split Pea and Starfruit. The player can also use an area of effect plant, like Laser Bean or Fume-shroom, to bypass it as it goes though the shovel. Dandelion and Coconut Cannon's projectiles can drop the shovel if their area of effect damages the zombie, making him move forward into the player's house without eating the plants.

Almanac entry
TOUGHNESS: Protected SPEED: Speedy

Digs up plants and throws them behind him.

Damage: blocks incoming projectiles, but is vulnerable to lobbed shots

Excavator Zombie once heard a song about having a hammer. He liked the idea, but decided it was too mainstream for him - so he got a shovel. Now he's confident that he's clearly the coolest zombie, the others are just too jealous to admit it.

Overview
Excavator Zombie absorbs 18 normal damage shots and degrades upon absorbing 9 normal damage shots, before dying at 18 normal damage shots.

Appearance
Lost City: Days 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16.

Strategies
Excavator Zombie is most likely Lost City's most dangerous zombie. They are very fast, and after they reach into the 6th column, it is considerably hard defeating them without the help of instant-kills like Cherry Bomb and Hurrikale. If you see this zombie on the seed selection screen, make sure to bring a plant whose attacks are not absorbed by the shovel. After seeing this zombie entering the lawn, plant a lobbed-shot plant and try to use other plants to keep him stunned for a while. Do not try to use Plant Food on straight shooting plants, since they have no effect against its shovel, and you will waste more Plant Food this way. The only exception to this is Coconut Cannon, Citron and Bowling Bulb, as their Plant Food effects can kill Excavator Zombie even though they are technically straight shot projectiles. These plants boosted useful on levels with large groups of Excavator Zombies.

With Parasol Zombie
A Parasol Zombie and Excavator Zombie pair can be very hard to defeat, because they move very fast and can stop any projectile. Instant-use plants are still your best choices to kill them, along with two plants with forward projectiles and two lobbed-shot plants in the same lane. Two Red Stingers and two A.K.E.Es can kill them. Plants that can attack through multiple zombies, such as Bloomerang, Snapdragon, Lightning Reed, Laser Bean, and Fume-shroom, can also simultaneously bypass the Excavator Zombie's shovel and damage both the Excavator and Parasol Zombie, making them another way to defeat the pair of zombies. Banana Launcher is also a good choice as it will a lot of damage to other zombies as well.

Lost City - Day 15
In this level, Excavator Zombies only come in the first and last lane, where there are endangered A.K.E.Es. They can throw them behind, making them vulnerable. Therefore, you can plant one more A.K.E.E to kill them as soon as possible, so they cannot reach your endangered plants. One A.K.E.E cannot handle this zombie if it is protected by other zombies in front of, because the target of A.K.E.E is still limited.

Trivia

 * When Excavator Zombie shovels a Potato Mine before it is armed, it will activate.
 * Even though his shovel is metal, Magnet-shroom cannot steal his shovel.
 * This is because gold is not magnetic.
 * However, this would make Gold Magnet illogical.
 * Unless it is planted right underneath him, Excavator Zombie can shovel up Chard Guard before it can hurl him backwards.
 * Similarly, Guacodile will not trigger its rush attack unless it is planted right on Excavator Zombie. If Guacodile gets shoveled up, it won't do its rush attack.
 * Excavator Zombie does not eat Infi-nut's shield. Instead, he smashes it with his shovel.
 * He also sometimes does this to delayed instant-kill plants, like Lava Guava.
 * This animation is also used if Excavator Zombie "eats" the player's brains.
 * Dandelion's bomb's explosion and Coconut Cannon's explosions can take out his shovel.
 * That could be a glitch, or because the bomb hit a zombie in front of Excavator Zombie.
 * There is a glitch that if Excavator Zombie is about to shovel up a plant, and the player uses Hurrikale, it will still shovel up that plant.
 * The phrase "a song about having a hammer" may be a reference to the song "If I Had a Hammer" by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays.
 * If the plant Excavator Zombie is digging is in the furthest 2 columns (exclude the rightmost one), it will be thrown to the rightmost column instead of being thrown out of the lawn like Mecha-Football Zombie or Fisherman Zombie (as long as there are no more plants behind).
 * However, if the plant is in the rightmost column, it will be tossed away normally.
 * Excavator Zombie can shovel up Spikeweed and Spikerock.