Octo Zombie


 * For the version in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, see Octo Zombie (PvZH).

Octo Zombie is the 12th zombie encountered in Big Wave Beach in Plants vs. Zombies 2. He can throw octopi at plants in his lane to disable them. The octopus will occupy the tile until it is destroyed by other plants. If there are no plants, he will then proceed to the player's house.

Description
Octo Zombie has five octopi strapped on to his different body parts. The first one is a large, blue octopus that serves as his head, next on his shoulder is an orange one. The orange octopus is attached to his shoulder and it covers his chest with its two tentacles, with the third tentacle wrapping up the arm of Octo Zombie, and its remaining tentacles on its back. The third one is a pink-colored octopus, found on his left wrist, entangled, while the fourth one is a violet-colored octopus strapped on to his right wrist. Finally, the fifth octopus flashes a fuchsia like color that entangles the left leg of Octo Zombie. The blue-colored octopus on Octo Zombie's head has eight white circles above it. Both of its eyes move in different directions as seen in its in-game renders. Octo Zombie also is a muscular type of zombie as he has slight muscles and abs showing on his body. He simply wears an orange brief-shaped swimming trunks with black colors for design.

Almanac entry
TOUGHNESS: Hardened SPEED: Creeper

Throws octopi at your plants to bind them up.

Special: bound plants are passive until their octopus is destroyed

It started innocently enough. One day, Octo Zombie decided to get a pet octopus. But he loved that octopus so much, he got another and another... and another. Next thing you know, he was volunteering at an octopus rescue shelter. And now, well, no one wants to tell him, but he's pretty much the undersea equivalent of a cat lady. You should see how many are living at his house. It's quite startling.

Overview
Octo Zombie absorbs 43.5 normal damage shots before his head falls off and stops attacking. He degrades upon absorbing 22 normal damage shots before dying at 43.5 normal damage shots. An octopus absorbs 21 normal damage shots and does not degrade.

Encounters
Player's House: Piñata Party

Big Wave Beach: Day 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and Tiki Torch-er

Jurassic Marsh: "Rescue the Gold Bloom" Epic Quest - Step 10

Modern Day: Days 2, 7, 19, 21, 23, 33 and Highway to the Danger Room (portal only)

General
Octo Zombie is a very dangerous zombie, especially if many come in groups. He also uses his disadvantage, which is his speed, to his advantage in order to keep on bombarding your plants with octopi, ensuring that faster zombies, such as Surfer Zombies or Deep Sea Gargantuars, absorb all of your offensive plants' projectiles, like Wizard Zombie. Therefore, instant-kill plants such as Cherry Bombs or Tangle Kelp are vital to stopping them from binding plants. Using a Kernel-pult may also help. Kill him quickly, as he can bind up an unlimited number of plants. This could result in all plants being bound up and lead to you using tons of coins for Power Ups and Plant Food to kill the Octo Zombie and remove the octopi. If possible, keep all your instant kill plants at your disposal. This zombie can be a major pain when you are trying to kill the Fisherman Zombies that are present on the lawn. This zombie should be killed with as few octopuses thrown as possible; without plants that can shoot anywhere on the lawn or backwards, you are going to have a very difficult time clearing the octopi and defending your house. If none of the above techniques work correctly, resort to the Power Ups.

Of all the types of plants, Magnifying Grass can kill him the fastest with two shots, costing 100 sun, and is useful for freeing other plants. However, sun can be in short supply in the levels this zombie appears in, especially if other zombies get in the way. If this happens, use an instant kill on him quickly before he ensnares too many plants. Split Pea and Bonk Choy are useful for both attacking the Octo Zombie from behind (he cannot bind plants behind him) as well as clearing out octopi. A group of Snapdragons or Cold Snapdragons can destroy bound octopi around themselves quickly, and more can be planted to flank Octo Zombies from their sides.

Of the plants introduced in Big Wave Beach, Tangle Kelp and Banana Launcher are most effective. Banana Launcher can kill an Octo Zombie in one blast no matter where he is, making it especially useful if he appears in ambushes, as well as destroy bound octopi and zombies trying to pass through at the same time.

Starfruit and Rotobaga are also useful against Octo Zombies: a lawn full of Starfruits, Rotobagas, or both can easily get rid of octopi thrown due to their rapid, multi-directional attack.

Since Octo Zombie always targets the plant in the lead position first, you can stall him by planting sacrificial plants in the front when he appears, such as Puff-shrooms or even extra Sunflowers or Sun-shrooms. You can also dig up a plant that is about to get hit with an octopus, causing Octo Zombie to miss and waste an attack; this can be looped using plants with fast recharge times like Puff-shrooms. Like Wizard Zombie, he will retaliate against plants it encounters within biting range with an immediate octopus binding, but he will otherwise stop to eat anything he cannot bind, such as Lily Pads in his way, or Infi-nut's Plant Food effect. Iceberg Lettuce cannot be bound by octopi and simply freezes the zombie upon contact.

Toadstool or Chomper can eat Octopi without chewing, making them an ideal counter, though they should be dug up or fed with Plant Food if it eats a zombie.

Tiki Torch-er
Octo Zombies, along with Deep Sea Gargantuars and Fisherman Zombies, are very dangerous when in large numbers. However, unlike Wizard Zombies and Pirate Captain Zombies, Octo Zombies cannot use their abilities off the game's screen, making this zombie easier to deal with. This zombie is especially deadly when paired with Fisherman Zombies and Surfer Zombies. You will need to have powerful plants, like Cherry Bomb, Iceberg Lettuce, and Ghost Pepper at your disposal to prevent these zombies from invading your house.

Trivia

 * So far, he is the only zombie without visible eyes, as the blue octopus covers them.
 * It is also the only octopus that has moving pupils.
 * He is similar to Wizard Zombie as both can immobilize the player's plants but unlike sheep the Wizard Zombies use, the octopi can be destroyed. Additionally, the octopi will not revert into plants when the Octo Zombie dies.
 * Octopi can bind up Tall-nuts, despite them being bigger than the octopus.
 * The dying animation of the octopi is very similar to the sheep, as they both seem to "poof" when they disappear.
 * After an octopus is destroyed, it will turn into what appears to be an octopus sushi.
 * This is similar to Zombie Chickens because Zombie Chickens have a death animation which involves the Zombie Chicken turning to a bucket of fried chicken.
 * The sushi may also be calamari.
 * Despite having different colored octopi strapped to its body, this zombie will always throw the orange ones.
 * Also, despite his animation showing only one orange octopus on his shoulder, he can throw an unlimited amount of octopi, binding an unlimited amount of plants.
 * It shares its animations with Troglobite, Arcade Zombie, Jurassic Bully, and All-Star Zombie.
 * Additionally, each of them have the longest dying animation.
 * Additionally, Octo Zombie, Troglobite, Arcade Zombie and Jurassic Bully use the same zombie model. However, Octo Zombie and Troglobite are encountered on Day 17 in their respective worlds. Meanwhile, Arcade Zombie is encountered on Day 21 in Neon Mixtape Tour while the Jurassic Bully is encountered on Day 21 in Jurassic Marsh. In fact, Octo Zombie's connection with Troglobite is referenced in the latter's Almanac entry. It is unknown whether there is a connection of Octo Zombie and Troglobite with Arcade Zombie and Jurassic Bully.
 * Octo Zombie only eats Lily Pads, the Infi-nut's and Moonflower's barrier, the players brains, and hypnotized zombies.
 * Similar to Pianist Zombie, his toughness is listed as Hardened, but it is actually Dense.
 * If the player dig ups a plant before an octopus covers it, the octopus will just disappear.
 * Octopi will not survive underwater when being indirectly moved by Fisherman Zombie, despite being aquatic animals.
 * However, the octopi will survive in water if it is binding an aquatic plant, like Guacodile or Tangle Kelp.
 * When his octopus is on a Lily Pad that is eaten by the zombies, the octopus will disappear and that bound plant will disappear too.
 * If there is an octopus behind an Infi-nut's force field, when a Surfer Zombie uses its surfboard to crush, both the octopus and the bound plant will be killed.
 * In the soft release of the 3.0.1 update, Octo Zombie absorbed 24 normal damage shots, and the octopi absorbed 16 normal damage shots. After the soft release, the Octo Zombie absorbs 44 normal damage shots and the octopi absorb 21 normal damage shots.
 * Octo Zombie represented the 3.0 update's icon.
 * As of the 4.1.1 update, Octo Zombie (along with Troglobite and Arcade Zombie) has a unique burnt and zapped animation.
 * As of the 3.8.1 update, he can no longer throw octopi when outside the lawn.
 * He can still throw octopi off screen in the current version of the Chinese version.
 * An Octo Zombie shrunken by Shrinking Violet will still throw normal-sized octopi.