Digger Zombie


 * For the similar zombie in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, see Engineer.

Digger Zombie is a zombie that digs beneath the yard using its pickaxe, eventually emerging on the left side of the lawn to attack the player's plants from behind. It wears a helmet to protect himself. It pauses for five seconds after resurfacing before proceeding to eat the player's plants. It is not present on Roof levels, as there is no soil to dig through, but does appear on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation 3's Co-op Roof level. Without advance preparation, they have the potential to do devastating damage to lanes of plants. Note that it eats the plants from left to right like Prospector Zombie and zombies carried by pterodactyls. It never makes an attempt to get into the homeowner's house, unless if its pickaxe is stolen by a Magnet-shroom, this may be because when they stand up, their eyes are rolling, so they may be confused and feel dizzy. It is the 18th zombie encountered in Adventure Mode.

Suburban Almanac entry
 DIGGER ZOMBIE 

This zombie digs to bypass your defenses.

Toughness: medium

Speed: fast, then slow

Special: tunnels underground and appears on the left side of the lawn

Weakness:  split pea and magnet-shroom

Digger Zombie spends three days a week getting his excavation permits in order.

Overview
The Digger Zombie absorbs 15 normal damage shots and its appearance changes upon absorbing 2, 4 and 5, when the hard hat is destroyed, and 10 normal damage shots before dying after 15 normal damage shots. It will dig under your defenses, and eat them from the back. If it encounters an armed Potato Mine, it will die. If its pickaxe is stolen, it will just attack the player's plants like the normal zombies.

Encounters

 * Adventure Mode: 4-6, 4-7, 4-10
 * Puzzle Mode: Can You Dig It?, Three Hit Wonder, All your brainz r belong to us, I, Zombie Endless, Last Stand: Fog, Last Stand Endless
 * Survival Mode: Survival: Fog, all Survival (Hard) and Survival (Endless) levels (except Roof)
 * Co-op Mode: Co-op Roof, all Co-op Hard levels (except Co-op Hard Roof), Co-op Endless
 * Others: Versus Mode

Strategies
You can use Magnet-shrooms to steal the zombie's pickaxe so it cannot dig any further. When a Magnet-shroom steals its pickaxe, the Digger Zombie will pause, a question mark will appear over its head, and it will surface and advance as usual. However, this is not a valid strategy against it if you are solely picking a weapon against it, especially in Survival: (Hard), as there is a possibility of it bypassing as the Magnet-shroom recharges, and it has the chance to cause it to eat your brains if it steals its pickaxe when it transverses behind your main attacking forces. Also, try using Potato Mines, as they explode if the Digger Zombie digs underneath them. However, make sure they are armed or else they will be eaten. Alternately, place Gloom-shrooms or Spikerocks at the back of the lawn or use Split Peas, Starfruits, and/or Cattails to kill it if it reaches to the left side of the lawn. You can also use Pumpkins on your back column, allowing your other plants more time to kill it. Instant kills, especially the Jalapeno, are good in emergencies. A Magnet-shroom that has just refreshed may snatch the Digger Zombie's mining pick while it is in the middle of your Plants, forcing it out of the ground in an inconvenient location. Before you have the Pumpkin, you may want to put Wall-nuts at the back. Having a Pumpkin, Ice-shroom, or Jalapeno available can counter this situation. In Survival: Endless or similar levels that include many Digger Zombies, the Gloom-shroom (you can use only two to save space for other plants) or Spikerock setups are the best to take care of them, because your Magnet-shrooms, Split Peas, Cattails, and/or Starfruits will not be able to keep up, making them almost useless and creating a necessity to remove them, and saving space. Note that explosive Instants can kill Digger Zombies while they are mining, so Doom-shrooms make very short work of them due to the large area, although other instant kills like the Squash, do not work while they are underground. However, the easiest (but slowest) way to take care of them is to use Potato Mines, due to them exploding as soon as a Digger Zombie goes beneath an armed one, and how they can be set up in advance. Also, if a Chomper is planted on the square one emerges from, it can eat it.

I, Zombie
In I, Zombie, you can use this zombie to destroy lanes that have no offensive plants that attack other lanes or backwards (Threepeater, Starfruit, Split Pea), although inconvenient, they can still be used in these rows. Rows with Squashes, Magnet-shrooms, or Potato Mines are effectively impervious. They can survive a Starfruit in column two from the left or a Split Pea in the first column from the left.

A player can send a Digger Zombie to distract a Magnet-shroom. Then, after a few seconds, they can send another Digger Zombie and make sure that the pickaxe will be absorbed by the Magnet-shroom. That is a good way to make a Digger Zombie to dig under the obstacle and eat the brain.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies

 * Digger Zombie can lose either its left or right arm, depending on which way it is going. Also, when Digger Zombie is not facing the lawn, its left leg is twisted and has a shoe.
 * While digging, Digger Zombie is the fastest zombie in the game, with the exception of a Dolphin Rider Zombie that still has its dolphin. But, after finishing the digging, it is the second-slowest zombie in the game behind the Trash Can Zombie.
 * Digger Zombie's health is on the low end of the zombies with medium toughness, with Catapult Zombie's health being at the high end.
 * There is a similar zombie called Prospector Zombie in Plants vs. Zombies 2. Both can go to the left side of the lawn then walk to the right side.
 * The same applies to zombies dragged by pterodactyls in Jurassic Marsh.
 * In the Nintendo DS version of Plants vs. Zombies, Digger Zombie has an unusual hitbox, as when it stands on a Spikeweed it does not receive damage until near the edge when eating a plant.
 * Digger Zombie, Zomboni, Zombie Yeti, Catapult Zombie, Bungee Zombie, Balloon Zombie (with its balloon intact), Gargantuar, Giga-gargantuar, and Imp are the only zombies that have their body shape when they get blown up.
 * Even after Digger Zombie surfaces, a Magnet-shroom can still steal its pickaxe, which is bad as the Magnet-shroom has to refresh because it has stole a metallic item (although it is good in I, Zombie).
 * Digger Zombie (if it reaches the left side of the lawn by digging), Zombie Yeti, Bungee Zombie, Catapult Baseball Zombie, Target Zombie, and Dr. Zomboss are the only zombies that do not target the player's house.
 * Digger Zombie is the only zombie in Plants vs. Zombies that will not change directions when in contact with a Hypno-shroom, as it will simply continue going forward when hypnotized, unless the player steals its pickaxe while it is digging.
 * The same applies to Prospector Zombie and zombies carried by pterodactyls in Plants vs. Zombies 2.
 * Digger Zombie does not make a zombie's disgusted face when biting a Garlic; instead, a zombie's disgusted sound is heard while the Digger Zombie changes lanes.
 * Digger Zombie's hard hat is available in the Xbox Live Marketplace as a hat for one's avatar. It costs 160 Microsoft Points.
 * Digger Zombie can eat defensive plants with ladders on them, as the ladders are on the opposite side from it.
 * It and Newspaper Zombie are the two zombies that can have a question mark over their head, but in the mini-game Zombie Trap, if a zombie attracted to a brain gets too far away from the brain, the zombie will have a question mark on the zombie's head and walk towards the house.
 * Digger Zombie, Snorkel Zombie, and Balloon Zombie are the only zombies that lack a shoe. This, however, excludes Zombie Yeti, Jack-in-the-Box Zombie, and Imp (which do not wear shoes). This is also assuming Dr. Zomboss wears both shoes, as its feet are not visible.
 * When Digger Zombie dies while leaving the house, its head will fall off facing the opposite direction. This also happens to Zombie Yeti when it is running away.
 * Digger Zombie has blue overalls and a red shirt, similar to Nintendo's mascot, Mario.
 * Digger Zombie's hard hat has a light on it until it absorbs four normal damage shots, after which the light will be destroyed.
 * However, the light does not work on level 4-10, as the level itself is supposed to be dark.
 * Even while underground, Digger Zombie will still scare Scaredy-shroom.
 * This is the only Almanac zombie that does not appear in any mini-game nor canceled mini-games.
 * In I, Zombie, Digger Zombie first appears in Can You Dig It?.
 * Digger Zombie, Zomboni, Bungee Zombie, Dolphin Rider Zombie, Balloon Zombie, Jack-in-the-Box Zombie, and Pogo Zombie are the only zombies in Plants vs. Zombies that make noises before entering.
 * A bug in the Nintendo DS version of Plants vs. Zombies is that if a plant is on the left-most block on the lawn and a Digger Zombie (facing the right) eats the plant, the Digger Zombie will walk towards the right but still eat the plant and make the eating noise. This is the only way to let a zombie walk and eat a plant at the same time.
 * Digger Zombie does not appear on the roof, because it is impossible to dig through the panels. The other zombies that do not appear on the roof are Dancing Zombie, Backup Dancer, Ducky Tube Zombie and its variants, Dolphin Rider Zombie, Snorkel Zombie, and Zombie Bobsled Team. Despite this, the Digger Zombie, Dancing Zombie and Backup Dancer appear in Co-op Roof for an unknown reason.
 * Digger Zombie, Zombie Yeti, Dancing Zombie, and Backup Dancer are the only zombies that can face to the right without eating a Hypno-shroom. However, in Zombie Trap, the player can make zombies face to the right if the player drags the brain behind them.
 * If timed correctly, the player can make a Digger Zombie eat a Potato Mine while both of them are underground.
 * Catapult Zombie's head looks quite similar to Digger Zombie's head, however Catapult Zombie has an oil stain around its mouth.
 * The Digger Zombie likes pink tricycles, as seen in the Zombies on Your Lawn video.
 * According to the game's composer Laura Shigihara regarding the cover art for the Plants vs. Zombies Original Soundtrack, Digger Zombie may actually have a softer side to it, considering its like for pink tricycles, implying it actually has no direct hate for the plants.
 * Like the in-game Football Zombie, the Digger Zombie's eyes are colored red instead of yellow.

Specific to Plants vs. Zombies 2

 * Unlike the first game (in which it will start digging before entering the lawn), it will only go underground once it reaches the first column from the right.
 * This is possibly because Prospector Zombie exist.
 * Similar to Chicken Wrangler Zombie's glitch in international version, in the seed selection screen it appears in its default look, then changes to its digging animation, then reverts back to its default look.
 * It is the first zombie from the original game to appear on the Chinese version but not the international version of Plants vs. Zombies 2.
 * Like All-Star Zombie, its helmet no longer protects it in this game, instead, it is now purely cosmetic.