Wizard Zombie

Not to be confused with Wizard Gargantuar from Plants vs. Zombies Heroes.

Wizard Zombie is the ninth zombie encountered in Dark Ages in Plants vs. Zombies 2. He can transform any plant into sheep, excluding instant-use plants and Ghost Pepper. (Although he can lower the survival time of ghost pepper) The plant will stay as a sheep until the Wizard Zombie that transformed it dies, which makes it an environment modifier. He is similar to Octo Zombie and Hunter Zombie, as they can all render plants useless from a safe distance. However, Wizard Zombie is the only zombie whose attacks cannot be undone unless the zombie himself is killed. Wizard Zombie also does not eat plants (except for Infi-nut's barrier and hypnotized zombies). If there are no plants left to transform, he will then proceed to the player's house.

Description
Wizard Zombie wears a blue robe and a blue wizard hat, with the top of the hat being bent like a spiral. He has gray thick eyebrows and a beard that is so long that the bottom of it is tied with a brown hair tie. In his right hand, he wields a wooden staff with a purple colored crystal orb on the top. Wizard Zombie lifts his staff to release a magical beam to transform plants into sheep. Instead of wearing footwear, like all the other zombies in Dark Ages, the Wizard Zombie wears bandages on his feet.

Overview
Wizard Zombie absorbs 40.25 normal damage shots and his appearance changes upon absorbing 19.25 normal damage shots before dying at 40.25 normal damage shots.

Plants vs. Zombies 2
Player's House: Piñata Party

Dark Ages: Nights 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, Arthur's Challenge, and Piñata Party

Frostbite Caves: "Rescue the Gold Bloom" Epic Quest - Step 3

Neon Mixtape Tour: "Electrical Boogaloo" Epic Quest - Step 3

Modern Day: Days 6, 28, 33, 36, 44, and Highway to the Danger Room (portal only)

General
This is a very dangerous zombie, especially if he comes in large groups. He also uses his disadvantage, which is his speed, as an advantage in order to keep on bombarding your plants with black magic. Therefore, an instant-kill plant is the only way to stop them from transforming plants. Magnifying Grass and Coconut Cannon are also useful to kill this zombie quickly. Kill him quickly, as he can transform an unlimited number of plants. This could result in all plants being transformed into sheep and lead to you wasting a lot of coins to remove them. Plants that can attack behind themselves will be useful as the Wizard Zombie cannot transform plants behind himself. It is a good idea to have it boosted for Arthur's Challenge levels. Be careful, though as the Wizard Zombies can be spawned during Necromancy surprise attacks if you did not break all the remaining tombstones. If possible, try to stall him with a cheap plant in front of him, such as Puff-shroom.

Guacodiles are also good against Wizard Zombies, due to the reasonably cheap cost and fast recharge. Place the Guacodile right where a Wizard Zombie is so he immediately triggers the rush attack which is sufficient to kill a Wizard Zombie without a chance of the Guacodile being turned into sheep. However, two Guacodiles are needed for Wizard Zombies if they are triggered from further back. The Wizard Zombie always targets the plant furthest from your house in any lane. So it is a good idea to leave your long-range offensive plants close to your house so they are less likely to be turned into sheep. You can also place literal "bait" with a fast recharge such as Puff-shrooms or even extra Sun-shrooms and Sunflowers in front of the Wizard Zombie when he is about to use his ability, causing him to transform them instead. Another good strategy for killing it is using multi-target plants such as Laser Bean and Bowling Bulb, though projectiles from Bowling Bulb can be reflected by Jester Zombie. Two Laser Beans can assure that Wizard Zombies get only one or two long-range casts, with the second one being reversed quickly. Also, using Stallia and Puff-shroom to slow and absorb casts respectively can minimize, or even completely prevent, major damage due to sheep-ified plants.

As the Ghost Pepper cannot be transformed by this zombie, use this plant to deal with large amounts of Wizard Zombies. Remember that as the Ghost Pepper's range is close, they will need to be planted near the Wizard Zombies to do damage. You can use Infi-nut or Moonflower's Plant Food effects as these are the only things the Wizard Zombie actually eats. If you place them near the front, they can stall them early and prevent them from turning more plants into sheep.

Witch Hazel is another option against Wizard Zombies, since it not only kills them instantly, but also prefers to target them. They will also get transformed into Puff-shrooms, which can be used as an extra wall, as well as a target for other Wizard Zombie's magic. Caulipower is a good idea against this zombie as they can hypnotize any zombie, regardless of their abilities. When the Wizard Zombie gets hypnotized, all sheep will be reverted back into plants.

Remember: The Wizard Zombie never eats plants, meaning Hypno-shrooms, Chili Beans, or any instant plant that requires the Wizard Zombie to eat it are totally useless if used directly on him. Boosted Iceberg Lettuce will help you halt a horde of Wizard Zombies. Use it instead.

You could use Hypno-shroom on a high-health zombie such as Knight Zombie so that it can easily destroy the Wizard Zombie.

Wizard Zombies are surprisingly useful in Save our Seeds. Not only will transforming endangered plants not count as losing it but they will also protect the plant from harm from any other zombie. However, the player still needs to eliminate the other zombies close to the endangered plants before the Wizard Zombie dies or they'll easily destroy the plant.

Arthur's Challenge
Wizard Zombies and Dark Ages Gargantuars are very dangerous and troublesome to your plants, especially when working together. While the Dark Ages Gargantuar crushes your plants and absorbs a lot of damage, the Wizard Zombie turns all your plants into sheep from a safe distance, rendering them useless against both of them. However, unlike Pirate Captain Zombies, Chicken Wrangler Zombies, Weasel Hoarders or All-Star Zombies, Wizard Zombies cannot use their abilities off the game's screen, making this zombie easier to deal with. You must have powerful plants, such as Cherry Bomb, boosted Iceberg Lettuce, and boosted Kernel-pult, for your disposal to prevent this from happening. Otherwise, you will risk spending coins on Plant Food or Power Ups. Combining these with Jester Zombies can cause you a lot of trouble. If Wizard Zombies are also combined with Knight Zombies, Zombie Kings, and surprise attacks, they can easily destroy your lawn defense. One is already deadly, five is an obstacle, and twenty of these can be extremely troublesome because then each Wizard Zombie only needs to transform one plant to empty a typical Dark Ages lawn. Boosted Coconut Cannons and Cherry Bombs can also be of great help.

Ghost Peppers are at your disposal. Once you have purchased it, use it. Do not hesitate in doing so as it will greatly aid you in the future levels, saving you much time from using Cherry Bombs or Jalapenos. Still, boosting it makes it more usable as it will bombard tons of Wizard Zombies. Also, timing is of the essence if you are planning to drag all Wizard Zombies close to it. If you have not bought the Ghost Pepper, Banana Launchers are also the best in defeating groups of this type of zombie, as Banana Launchers can defeat them wherever they are and when defeated, the plants transformed into sheep will be normal again. However, it is recommended to plant the Banana Launchers on the first column to prevent turning them into sheep.

In addition, boosted Bowling Bulbs are also great aids to neutralize large amounts of Wizard Zombie especially on levels with three to four flags. First, remove the second and fourth rows of the first column empty. They will be used for the Bowling Bulbs. Then harvest enough sun for the rest of the level for you to be able to use it repetitively. Once the large hordes of Wizard Zombies attack, it is time for you to use it. After the Plant Food effect wears off, immediately shovel it before the Wizard Zombies away from the screen can easily transform it to sheep. With it, you get either half or 75% of its original sun cost so you can repeat this technique provided that you have sufficient amount of sun to do so. It is best if you can have 1200 sun and above to use it repetitively. This is far helpful than using boosted Kernel-pult or boosted Iceberg Lettuce as it also eliminates the other zombies from advancing through. However, some may still slip by and if they do, have either a boosted Kernel-pult or a Ghost Pepper to counter. Have great caution while using Bowling Bulb however as a normal bulb will be reflected by a Jester Zombie, wrecking your defenses quickly.


 * For the strategy on the Not Baaad achievement, see Not Baaad.

Trivia

 * Witch Hazel can be considered as the plant counterpart to this zombie. While Witch Hazel transforms zombies into Puff-shrooms, Wizard Zombie transforms plants into sheep.
 * Additionally, Witch Hazel prefers to target it.
 * He and Archmage Zombie are the only zombies that use magic to bypass the player's defenses.
 * It is the only one in the international version to do it.
 * As long there are plants in front of him, him will transform all of them into sheep one by one.
 * He plays a sound as he is about to transform a plant into sheep. The sound resembles the sound when feeding Plant Food on a Snapdragon or Cold Snapdragon.
 * If a plant is right in front of him, he will just turn it into sheep instead of eating it.
 * He has the legs of a Mummy Zombie. This is because in medieval times, people would put bandages on their limbs to protect themselves from the bubonic plague. However, it is unusual that none of the other zombies in Dark Ages have bandaged up limbs.
 * Transformed plants do not count as lost plants, as the plants can still transform back after the Wizard Zombie dies.
 * His magic may sometimes save the player's endangered plant. Transforming plants into sheep makes the plant become invulnerable as it cannot be eaten by other zombies. However, this only lasts until the Wizard Zombie dies.
 * The only things he eats are Infi-nutl/Moonflower's Plant Food barrier, the player's brains and hypnotized zombies. The rest are transformed into sheep.
 * When a Magnet-shroom attracts a bucket or knight helmet and is then transformed into sheep, the sheep will drop the bucket or helmet.
 * Sheep will not be tossed by tombstones, meaning it will still be inside them. It will not turn back into a plant, but it will just disappear.
 * He resembles Gandalf the Grey from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit as both are wizards and have similar appearances and scepters.
 * When he was about to turn a Power Lily into a sheep, it gave the player Plant Food before being turned into sheep. When that Wizard Zombie was killed, the sheep would turn back into a Power Lily and would give the player another Plant Food. This was fixed in the 2.7.1 update.
 * Plants that are given Plant Food cannot be transformed into sheep.
 * There is a glitch that if he is eating a force field or hypnotized zombie, and is missing an arm, its hand from the missing arm will still be visible while eating, resulting in a floating hand. This is shared with Parasol Zombie, as a floating glove will still hold her parasol, and appears when she is going to eat plants too.
 * Sheep cannot be burned by Zombot Dark Dragon. However, it disappears when turning back.
 * This is also the same case when Troglobite or Arcade Zombie pushes an ice block or an arcade machine into a sheep and the Wizard Zombie dies.
 * When a scorched tile fades, the said two objects mentioned above passes the tile where the sheep is or a Zombie King crushes the sheep, the player is allowed to plant on that tile (with the exception of the said zombie in which it needs to be killed first before they can plant there), which hints that the plant inside it is killed. They can also see the parts of a plant on a sheep.
 * When a Zombie King lands on a tile with a sheep and this zombie is defeated, the above case will also happen.
 * For some reason, when a transformed Grave Buster turns back into its original form, it always disappears along with the tombstone it was busting.
 * When one looks closely, the transformed plant will disappear first, then a sheep will replace it.
 * Ghost Pepper is currently the only plant that is not an instant use plant that cannot be transformed by this zombie.
 * In the Springening Piñata Parties, the sheep is replaced with an egg. The egg will still make sheep noises though, which hints that is a retextured sheep.
 * As of the 4.7.1 update, he can no longer transform plants when outside the lawn.
 * He is voiced by Max De Vrie according to the credits.
 * The ability Goatify, from Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, is similar to its ability to transform plants into sheep.
 * In the Dark Ages Part 2 trailer, he is seen creating and transforming a Dragon Imp, Imp Monks, Announcer Imp, Zombie King, and a Gargantuar along with transforming itself into a Zombie Chicken. However it can only transform plants into sheep in-game.