Pole Vaulting Zombie

Pole Vaulting Zombie is a blonde-haired, jersey-wearing zombie track star with a pole appearing in Plants vs. Zombies. It vaults over the first plant it encounters, with the exception of Tall-nuts, Spikeweeds, and Spikerocks. It is the fourth zombie the player will encounter in Adventure Mode. It resembles an athlete of an Olympic event of the same name.

Suburban Almanac entry
 POLE VAULTING ZOMBIE 

Pole Vaulting Zombie vaults with a pole.

Toughness: medium

Speed: fast, then normal (after jump)

Special: jumps the first plant he runs into

Some zombies take it further, aspire more, push themselves beyond the normal into greatness. That's Pole Vaulting Zombie right there. That is so him.

Overview
The Pole Vaulting Zombie absorbs 17 normal damage shots before dying. Its appearance changes upon absorption of 9 normal damage shots. When it approaches most plants, the Pole Vaulting Zombie will vault over the plant and abruptly lose its pole; its speed decreases upon losing the pole.

Appearances

 * Adventure Mode: 1-6, 1-7, 1-9, 1-10, 2-4, 3-4, 3-5 (Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSiWare version), 3-9, 5-2, 5-10
 * Mini-games: Wall-nut Bowling, Zombie Nimble Zombie Quick, Last Stand, Wall-nut Bowling 2, Dr. Zomboss's Revenge, Buttered Popcorn, Heavy Weapon, Heat Wave, Sunny Day
 * Puzzle Mode: Scary Potter, Me Smash!, ZomBoogie, All your brainz r belong to us, I, Zombie Endless, all Last Stand (Puzzle Mode) levels except Last Stand: Fog
 * Survival Mode: all levels
 * Co-op Mode: all levels
 * Others: Versus Mode

Strategies
Use Tall-nuts to block the Pole Vaulting Zombie or cheap plants (such as a Puff-shroom) to make it lose its pole. The Squash also works great as it can kill a Pole Vaulting Zombie that vaulted over it, but its slow recharge time won't let you kill every Pole Vaulting Zombie. Magnet-shrooms, unfortunately, do not affect its pole, so it really reduces the chance of trying to prevent the jump without a Tall-nut.

If there are two Peashooters in a row or a Repeater when a Pole Vaulting Zombie has just entered, they will be able to take it down before it gets to the end of the row (Snow Peas are effectively the same). Chompers try to eat the zombie after it jumps, and end up missing the zombie and biting the air. The left-facing head of the Split Pea can easily shoot down a Pole Vaulting Zombie after it vaults.

I, Zombie
Pole Vaulting Zombies are cheap, durable, and non-metallic. Deploy these zombies to overcome obstacles, like Wall-nuts or Garlic or for cases where a fellow zombie will not survive Potato Mines. Pole Vaulting Zombies are useful in many situations and they are interchangeable with Conehead Zombies, due to their superior speed. Never vault over a Split Pea or a Starfruit, as they can fire backwards. Using a Pole Vaulting Zombie against the Tall-nut in All your brainz r belong to us is also out of the question, since the Tall-nut cannot be vaulted over. A Ladder Zombie is more effective against a Tall-nut and a Football Zombie can steamroll through Split Peas and Starfruits.

Trivia

 * When a hypnotized zombie meets a Pole Vaulting Zombie, the Pole Vaulting Zombie will not eat the zombie, but they just run past the zombie while the zombie eats them.
 * In Wall-nut Bowling 2, the Giant Wall-nut is the only Wall-nut Pole Vaulting Zombies cannot jump over.
 * When a Pole Vaulting Zombie tries to jump over a Cherry Bomb, a Doom-shroom, or a Jalapeno when they explode, the Pole Vaulting Zombie will vaporize in midair without any ashes appearing.
 * The same happens when an Imp is in the air.
 * As seen in the concept design for the Pole Vaulting Zombie posted on the Plants vs. Zombies Facebook page, the Pole Vaulting Zombie was originally going to use a bone to vault over plants.
 * In I, Zombie, instead of vaulting over a brain, the Pole Vaulting Zombie loses its pole (if it still has it) once it reaches the brain.
 * If a Pole Vaulting Zombie dies before it vaults over a plant, its pole will disappear.
 * The Pole Vaulting Zombie and the old Backup Dancer are the only zombies with headbands.
 * When a Pole Vaulting Zombie vaults over a plant, there is a "Sproing!" sound like the Jack-in-the-Box Zombie.
 * Although the Pole Vaulting Zombie can jump over Chompers, if the zombie is slowed down, the Chomper will be able to eat it before it can do so.
 * Chompers in the Online Version can eat it before it jumps, even if it is going at maximum speed.
 * The Pole Vaulting Zombie and the Snorkel Zombie are the only zombies that wear singlets and shorts.
 * When a Pole Vaulting Zombie tries to jump over a Tall-nut, stars appear around their head. The same thing happens with the Dolphin Rider Zombie and the Pogo Zombie.
 * In Wall-nut Bowling, when a Wall-nut is placed under the Pole Vaulting Zombie with its pole, the zombie will die with its pole.
 * There is a glitch that might occur if a Pole Vaulting Zombie vaults over a Torchwood into any type of peashooting plant; the peas shot by that peashooter while it is getting eaten will go through the Pole Vaulting Zombie into the Torchwood without freezing or damaging the Pole Vaulting Zombie.
 * In the online version, the Pole Vaulting Zombie loses an arm, but no bone can be seen. However, when it falls down it can be seen.
 * This is the first Vaulting Zombie that appears in the game.
 * The Pole Vaulting Zombie has two glitches:
 * First, its right arm does not stick to the body.
 * Proof: Go to the reanim folder, replace the file Zombie_jaw with a blank file. Then open the game.
 * Second, the Pole does not stick together.
 * Proof: Go to the reanim folder, replace file Zombie_polevaulter_innerhand with a blank file. Then open the game.
 * If a Pole Vaulting Zombie jumps over a Chomper in the DS version, the Chomper appears to have took a bite, but a few seconds later, the Pole Vaulting Zombie jumps over it and does not get eaten.
 * When faced with a Cob Cannon, Pole Vaulting Zombies can jump over both spaces, but Dolphin Rider Zombies cannot.
 * Though Pole Vaulting Zombie seems to step past half the Cob Cannon before vaulting over the other half, while Dolphin Rider Zombies cannot jump over two Lily Pads.
 * The online almanac entry has this zombie's name as "Polevault Zombie" instead of Pole Vaulting Zombie.
 * The Pole Vaulting Zombie is the only Day-encountered zombie that does not reappear in Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time.
 * When the Pole Vaulting Zombie is killed by a Wall-nut in Wall-nut Bowling levels, its arm will disappear, unlike a Zombie which will keep its arm when it dies.