Pharaoh Zombie

Pharaoh Zombie is a zombie encountered in Plants vs. Zombies 2 and Plants vs. Zombies Online. It is the last zombie introduced in Ancient Egypt. Its appearance is based both on an Egyptian Sarcophagus and a Pharaoh, the ruler of Ancient Egyptian civilizations. It speeds up after its sarcophagus breaks.

Description
It stays inside the Sarcophagus, which has the face of Crazy Dave on it. When it is broken, the player can see the appearance of the zombie. It appears as a Mummy Zombie wearing an Egyptian Crown and a golden necklace and belt.

Almanac entry
TOUGHNESS: Hardened

SPEED: Basic

His sarcophagus greatly protects him but slows down a rather fast zombie.

Speed Details: moves like a hungry zombie once free

The second cousin once removed of King Rot, he rose to power with his disappearing sarcophagus act, but met his untimely end in an unfortunate goat accident. His tale is told in great detail on the back of his sarcophagus, which no one will ever see.

Overview
Pharaoh Zombie absorbs 75 normal damage shots, and its appearance changes at 20 and 40 normal damage shots before the sarcophagus breaks at 60 normal damage shots. Pharaoh Zombie loses its arm at 67.5 normal damage shots before it dies at 75 normal damage shots.

Appearances
Player's House: Piñata Party

Ancient Egypt: Days 12, 14, 15, 22, 24, 25, Pyramid of Doom, and Block and Spike.

Strategies
This zombie cannot be fully destroyed by instant kills in one hit, until the sarcophagus has been destroyed, since any instant kills will only destroy the sarcophagus and leave the zombie unharmed. Use an instant kill before the sarcophagus breaks to remove the sarcophagus, or after so that you don't need to deal with its speed. A Bonk Choy behind a Wall-nut can deal with the sarcophagus quite easily, although it might need assistance from other offensive plants. When they come in swarms, Plant Food might be necessary to deal with all of them quickly. If using Plant Food, Snapdragon can be very effective, as it will kill the Pharaoh Zombie, even if it still has its sarcophagus.

Pharaoh Zombies are resistant to a lot of attacks and this much be dealt with. It is also unique in the fact that, when in its sarcophagus, it can eat a Chili Bean and will not faint, unlike other zombies which either faint upon eating it or crush it. Using Cabbage-pults and Potato Mines against Pharaoh Zombies are valid alternatives to Kernel-pult and Chili Bean. Using Snow Peas against it is a very good idea, as it will prevent the Pharaoh from using its speed. Instant-kill plants, being only able to shatter the sarcophagus, are limited in power against the Pharaoh Zombie, and use of them is recommended to be limited, and only used when there is a large amount of weaker non-Pharaoh Zombies nearby.

In Pyramid of Doom, these zombies will become very annoying, since they absorb a lot of damage and are sometimes found in large hordes. Planting one Winter Melon to deal with a single Pharaoh Zombie will just barely defeat it, assuming that there are no other zombies in that lane, so be sure to use many heavy-offense plants against Pharaoh Zombies.

Magnifying Grass is also useful, since it kills the Pharaoh Zombie in four shots. Sun Bean with Plant Food will destroy the zombie and give you large amounts of sun. Chomper can eat it even if it is still in the sarcophagus without Plant Food's help, although you will need to be careful as Chomper may eat the wrong zombie and Chomper cannot deal with other zombies alone while chewing.

Trivia

 * Pharaoh Zombie without its casket resembles Egyptian king Ramses the Great. Also, its crown resembles the crown of lower Egypt.
 * Pharaoh Zombie is similar to Newspaper Zombie from Plants vs. Zombies and Barrel Zombie from Plants vs. Zombies Adventures, as all three of them will increase their speed once they lose their armor or newspaper.
 * It growls first to know it is going to enter the player's lawn. The growl sounds like a coyote howling.
 * Pharaoh Zombie, Poncho Zombie, the Zombie Bull, Pirate Captain Zombie, Imp Cannon, Shield Zombie, Robo-Cone Zombie, Mecha-Football Zombie, Dodo Rider Zombie, Gargantuar and its Mechanized Variant, and the Imps are the only zombies that makes noise before entering the lawn.
 * He is the only zombie that is able to move faster than a Basic Zombie without a status alignments even when slowed down or doubly slowed down. When its sarcophagus is broken, it'll still move relatively fast under the slowing effects of ice and sap.
 * Oddly, Pharaoh Zombies can eat the plants while still in their sarcophagus, even though it doesn't appear to be able to eat them.
 * If its sarcophagus is still on, it will not die when it eats a Chili Bean. On the contrary to this, it can be hypnotized by a Hypno-shroom or inflected with Sun Bean's effect despite not eating them.
 * Pharaoh Zombie, Gargantuar, Robo-Cone Zombie, Disco-tron 3000, and Mecha-Football Zombie are the only zombies in Plants vs. Zombies 2 that can survive an instant kill.
 * Its sarcophagus is also used by Mummified Gargantuar to crush the player's plants, but it appears to be longer. Additionally, when the Mummified Gargantuar crushes a plant with it, players can see a normal Mummy Zombie inside it for a split second.
 * It can be slowed down or frozen, even when it is inside its sarcophagus.
 * It is possible that Pharaoh Zombie's sarcophagus and body have individual health bars, as a hit from an instant kill will not kill the zombie but remove the sarcophagus, and while an instant kill normally does 90 damage, the Pharaoh Zombie's sarcophagus only absorbs 60 damage which is lower than the damage from an instant kill.
 * This is further proven by the fact that the Squash, when fed Plant Food, might strike the same Pharaoh Zombie twice, even further proving that the Pharaoh Zombie's sarcophagus and the zombie itself are indeed counted as individual zombies.
 * It also takes two hits for a hypnotized Gargantuar to kill Pharaoh Zombie, supporting the theory that the Pharaoh Zombie and the sarcophagus are separated zombies. But on the other hand, Snapdragons can kill Pharaoh Zombie even if its sarcophagus is still with it instantly when fed by a Plant Food. This is probably, because when it uses its Plant Food ability, the fire removes the sarcophagus, and the Pharaoh Zombie immediately makes contact with the fire, thus killing it.
 * The Pharaoh Zombie is the only zombie in Plants vs. Zombies 2 that can only be defeated after its armor has been removed. This is because all other armor zombies either die when their armor is destroyed, such as Robo-Cone Zombie, or can be killed with instants when their armor is still on, such as Conehead Zombie.
 * The only exceptions are Snapdragon's and Sun Bean's Plant Food effects, which will kill Pharaoh Zombie, even if it is still in it its sarcophagus. Snapdragon can kill a Pharaoh Zombie due to the effect lasting long enough to destroy the sarcophagus and kill the zombie, unlike other instant kills. Sun Bean can makes the Pharaoh Zombie explode and burst out a huge amount of sun, even with its sarcophagus on.
 * After the sarcophagus has been destroyed, Pharaoh Zombies will stop for a moment, a trait it shares with Camel Zombies.
 * Its sarcophagus has the face of Crazy Dave, marking the paradoxal idolatrization of him, along with the Sphinx-like monument from which zombies emerge in Ancient Egypt.
 * Although the Almanac says its speed is hungry, it's speedy compared to other zombies, but it really has a speed that is between Flighty and Speedy as it moves one tile per second. It has the speed of a Dolphin.
 * The candles from its birthday costume will remain lit even if it is frozen.
 * When Dark Ages update was released, its toughness was increased from Dense to Hardened.
 * Despite being immune to Chili Bean, it can be hypnotized by a Hypno-shroom and gain the effects of eating a Sun Bean. ​This trait is shared with the robot zombies in Plants vs. Zombies 2.
 * As of the 2.7.1 update, Pharaoh Zombie can be buttered by Kernel-pult's butter while still in its sarcophagus.
 * It is the only zombie with less than 100 health that can survive an insta-kill.