Cardio Zombie

Cardio Zombie
Advances to a set spot on the board, then tosses buffing brains at other zombies until he's chased away or retreats on his own.
Almanac statistics
Toughness	Hardened
Speed	Stiff
Special	Throws buffing brains that make zombies stronger
In-game statistics
In-game speed	Does not move
Absorbs	8000 damage
First seen	Arena - Electric Peashooter's Tournament.
Cardio Zombie is all about health, healthiness and healthy lifestyles. He refuses to consume carbs, downing nothing but high-protein brains for every meal. In his opinion, other zombies really need to up their game. NO EXCUSES!

Cardio Zombie is a zombie that can only be found in Arena and Penny's Pursuit in Plants vs. Zombies 2. He will advance to the 7th column when spawned and will crush any plant with his treadmill. After reaching the 7th column, he will throw brains at his fellow zombies, significantly increasing their health and speed. After a while, he will leave the lawn.

He is immune to the following effects:

• Hypnosis by Caulipower and Enchant-mint
• Gas clouds
• Freezing
• Being shrunk
• Imp Pear's Plant Food Ability
• Knockback

Almanac entry

TOUGHNESS Hardened SPEED Stiff	Cardio Zombie
Advances to a set spot on the board, then tosses buffing brains at other zombies until he's chased away or retreats on his own. Cardio Zombie is all about health, healthiness and healthy lifestyles. He refuses to consume carbs, downing nothing but high-protein brains for every meal. In his opinion, other zombies really need to up their game. NO EXCUSES!

Cardio Zombie

TOUGHNESS: Hardened
SPEED: Stiff

Advances to a set spot on the board, then tosses buffing brains at other zombies until he's chased away or retreats on his own.

Cardio Zombie is all about health, healthiness and healthy lifestyles. He refuses to consume carbs, downing nothing but high-protein brains for every meal. In his opinion, other zombies really need to up their game. NO EXCUSES!

Stages

Phase	Length	Health	Points on defeat	Attacks
1	40 seconds	8,000 dps	50,000	Throws 3-5 boosting brains at other zombies
2	40 seconds	10,000 dps	75,000	Throws 5-8 boosting brains at other zombies
3	40 seconds	15,000 dps	100,000	Throws 8-12 boosting brains at other zombies

Encounters

• Arena (certain tournaments)
• Penny's Pursuit (certain levels)

Strategies

General

Cardio Zombie is a major threat as he will boost other zombies, making them even more dangerous. Since Cardio Zombie has an extremely high amount of health, he will reward a lot of points in Arena.

He also does not eat plants as he will crush them with his treadmill, meaning plants like Chili Bean and Sun Bean are useless against him. He can also crush underground plants such as Spikeweed, Cactus, and instantly destroy the Spikerock.

Also, not only Cardio Zombie himself but the buffed zombies who have received his buffed brains are also immune to Imp Pear's Plant Food.

Defeating Cardio Zombie

Depending on your Arena league, defeating Cardio Zombie may or may not be possible regardless of your plant's levels. In lower leagues, Squash is a viable response, but in higher leagues, Cardio Zombie has too much health to be able to be defeated.

Try to use Kernel-pult to stun him and place the plants that deal continuous damage under him like Pokra, Bonk Choy to defeat him as soon as possible before he leaves.

Using Explode-O-Nut/Explode-O-Vine can be useful for defeating him, as when planted under him will instantly explode, and ~4 of these should be able to defeat him on the first rounds, when combined with plants like Celery Stalker or Pokra. Levelled up squash (3+) can also work similarly as she is invincible if she has picked a target.

Boosting Bowling Bulbs can seriously damage him, and its possible to hit it multiple times if there is a large enough crowd.

Using Power Mints such as Spear-mint w/ Pokra, Enforce-mint w/ Celery Stalker, Headbutter Lettuce or Squash, Appease-mint w/ Pea Vine & Torchwood, Reinforce-mint with Pea-nut (preferably also with torchwood), or Bombard-mint w/ Explode-O-Nut, Explode-O-Vine, Primal Potato Mine, Boom Balloon Flower or simply for its effects can also be effective.

When combining multiple of these Cardio Zombie will be taken down easily.

User contributed

Step 1: Go to an Arena Practice (preferably Goo Peashooter's Tournament Practice) that has a Cardio Zombie in it.

Step 2: Choose plants such as Moonflower (only if you aren't playing the Goo Peashooter Tournament Practice), Kernel-Pult, Squash, Celery Stalker, Bonk Choy, and/or Guacodile (if you have it, you can use Parsnip instead of Bonk Choy and/or Guacodile).

Step 3: Plant 2 or 3 Kernel-Pults on the third row, then wait for a Cardio Zombie. When he arrives, plant a Celery Stalker behind him, a Bonk Choy just in front of him, and several Guacodiles on him.

Step 4: He'll be defeated after a while. Do this with the other 2 Cardio Zombies in that Arena Practice.

Tip: Bonk Choy's, Parsnip's, Guacodile's, and Kernel-Pult's Plant Food effects are very helpful. Mastery Threepeaters combined with a napalm Torchwood along with a Tile Turnip will eliminate the threat quickly. Remember to make sure there is enough sun and no Jesters or Excavator Zombies to block the peas.

Note: This strategy is most likely to help you defeat Cardio Zombie in Goo Peashooter's Tournament Practice.

Gallery

Almanac entry

Almanac entry (part 2)

Almanac icon

Sprites and textures

Sprites and textures (brain)

Almanac texture

HD Cardio Zombie

Cardio Zombie in an ad

Three Cardio Zombies in an ad via main menu

Ability animation

Cardio Zombie leaving

Poisoned Cardio Zombie

Cardio Zombie about to throw a brain

Buttered Cardio Zombie

A brain used by Cardio Zombie to boost zombies

Cardio Zombie's arm degrade

Defeated Cardio Zombie

Cardio Zombie defeated (animated)

Primal Potato Mine defeating Cardio Zombie as a glitch (note that Cardio Zombie has no head)

Cardio Zombie in Lost City

Cardio Zombie in Neon Mixtape Tour

In other languages

Language	Name	Description
English	Cardio Zombie
French	Cardio Zombie
German	Ausdauer-Zombie
Italian	Cardiozombi
Brazilian Portuguese	Zumbi Fitness
Spanish	Zombi cardio

Trivia

• In his in-game ad, the background is stylized the same as Neon Mixtape Tour's in-game ads.
• When he leaves, the Cardio Zombie turns around, but his treadmill does not, and the treadmill's conveyor is still moving in the original direction, which would have ejected him off-screen.
• He has the second-highest health of all zombies, only losing to Dr. Zomboss' robots.
• Like Gargantuars, he can appear to be poisoned but will take little damage.
• The brain he uses to boost zombies looks different from the brain that can be seen on a game over screen.
• Despite the fact that he is only encountered in Arena, the lawn that is used in his Almanac entry is the Player's House/Modern Day lawn.
• In the 7.1.3 update, his speed listed in the Almanac was changed from 'Creeper' to 'Stiff'.
• Cardio Zombie is similar to Catapult Zombie from the first game where he will crush any plant when approaching the lawn and before going into an idle animation. Even when in the idle animation, the treadmill still has the ability to crush plants.
• Lawnmowers, E.M.Peaches, and Magnet-shrooms have no effect on him.
• If one listens closely, when Cardio Zombie enters the lawn, he makes a low wheezing noise.
• A glitch can occur that when a Primal Potato Mine explodes and defeats Cardio Zombie, his defeated animation will play, but he will have no head.
• Cardio Zombie has four different treadmills, each one looking more resistant than the other. His almanac icon has the 1st treadmill, but the animation is used from the fourth treadmill that was not used in Arena.
• He also has two different death animations. On the first two treadmills, when defeated, he trips once, then the treadmill explodes violently and he zips backwards. On the third treadmill, he trips multiple times before the treadmill explodes, except his head pops off and rolls on the ground.
• A glitch can occur if too much damage is dealt to Cardio Zombie. His head will disappear, leaving himself headless.
  • This can happen on all phases.
  • In the case of the third phase, he loses his head directly without having his head rolling on the ground.
• The fact he can be appear on different treadmills is a reference to the Gargantuar from the first game, which can appear either carrying a telephone pole, a road sign, or a zombie.

See also

• Arena
• Brain
• Dark Alchemy
• Roman Caesar Zombie
• Z-Mech