Newspaper Zombie is a zombie encountered in Plants vs. Zombies 2 as the first new zombie encountered in Modern Day. His newspaper absorbs damage for him until its destruction, after which he gains a damage and speed 4x boost.
The enraged sounds Newspaper Zombie makes after discovering his newspaper is destroyed
Mumbling/reading newspaper
Almanac entry[]
Newspaper Zombie
TOUGHNESS
Hardened
SPEED
Hungry
Newspaper protects zombie, who is then enraged when it is destroyed.
Special: becomes a flighty zombie once the newspaper is destroyed
You can't really blame him for getting so upset; he was THIS close to finishing the crossword (23 down was "Brains").
Newspaper Zombie
TOUGHNESS
Hardened
SPEED
Hungry
Newspaper protects zombie, who is then enraged when it is destroyed.
Special: becomes a flighty zombie once the newspaper is destroyed
You can't really blame him for getting so upset; he was THIS close to finishing the crossword (23 down was "Brains").
Overview[]
Newspaper Zombie is a zombie initially from Plants vs. Zombies. Here his abilities remain the same, but now he and his newspaper have significantly higher toughness and speed than in the first game, and when enraged he can run and eat much faster, even to the point where he can one-hit-kill plants with low defense. Lobbed-shot plants and Fume-shrooms will not ignore his newspaper, however, poisonous plants like Shadow-shroom and Goo Peashooter can.
The Newspaper Zombie absorbs 1260 damage per shot and his appearance changes upon absorbing 270, 540, 800 (when the newspaper is destroyed), and 1030 (when his arm is lost) before dying at 1260 damage per shot. He deals 200 damage per second normally. His attacks and running speed are four times as high when enraged compared to while the newspaper is still present.
Chinese version (China only)[]
Unlike the International Version, the Newspaper Zombie was very different. Before the 2.2.1 update, no matter when his newspaper is destroyed, his speed is similar. The same formerly applied to the Sunday Edition Zombie. Both of them also don't have increased dps when enraged unlike the International Version.
Newspaper Zombie is much more dangerous than he usually is, as both the zombie himself and his newspaper are tougher. In addition to this, the newspaper absorbs most forms of attacks and when destroyed, he gains a dramatic boost. This means that most lobbed shot plants and area-of-effect plants are generally ineffective as they cannot defeat this zombie without destroying his newspaper first. However, Snow Pea, Winter Melon, Cold Snapdragon and Missile Toe are good choices as they can now slow him down and allow more damage to be dealt against this zombie since the Newspaper no longer negates various effects. Kernel-pult's butter, Primal Peashooter and Apple Mortar can also be helpful as they can stun or knock back the Newspaper Zombie so that this zombie is slightly easier to deal with. Chard Guard and Hurrikale can also give you more time to destroy him. Plants that can ignore his newspaper, such as instant kills with very high damage or those that poison him, can also be useful, as they can typically defeat Newspaper Zombie immediately, hence negating his ability.
Without the use of Plant Food, Hypno-shrooms are surprisingly effective against the Newspaper Zombie, since they ignore his newspaper and completely remove him as a threat. This works because Newspaper Zombie's very high 800 DPS can destroy many zombies in seconds. However, it should be noted that this strategy is only effective on lanes with large amounts of zombies, and many zombies at once can overwhelm it without the use of Stunion, Ice Bloom, or any similar plant to completely immobilize them.
Please note that only official translations are used.
Language
Name
Description
English
Newspaper Zombie
Simplified Chinese
ๆฅ็บธๅตๅฐธ
From bร ozhว and jiฤngshฤซ
French
Zombie journal
German
Zeitung-Zombie
Italian
Zombi informato
Brazilian Portuguese
Zumbi Informado
Spanish
Zombi lector
Reader Zombie
Trivia[]
When the newspaper is rotated 180 degrees, the newspaper's front cover is really the back cover, and thus, the title is at the end.
In all Chinese regions, he is named "่ฏปๆฅๅตๅฐธ" (Newspaper-reading Zombie) instead of "ๆฅ็บธๅตๅฐธ".
Before being added into Plants vs. Zombies 2, Pharaoh Zombie could be seen as an Ancient Egypt counterpart. The two are nearly identical in movement characteristics in the sense both move faster after their shield object is destroyed, except Pharaoh Zombie runs because he is lighter, and Newspaper Zombie runs out of rage.
Newspaper Zombie's newspaper now takes significantly more hits than it did in the first game. When he is enraged, he eats plants extremely fast, and also runs as fast as a Zombie Chicken or Ice Weasel.
The increase in health may have been from the fact that the area where he resides is the final world, as opposed for being extremely weak and a very unnoticeable enemy like in the first game.
If he was unchanged, he would have been a weaker Pharaoh Zombie.
Newspaper Zombie's newspaper lights on fire when hit by a fire-based plant such as Snapdragon. However, this appears to be purely cosmetic, and Newspaper Zombie does not become enraged due to the fire.
The newspaper also does not take a shorter time to destroy.
Grumbling noises can be heard from Newspaper Zombie when he is reading his newspaper.
If one listens closely, Newspaper Zombie actually speaks and says things like "23 down is brains."
According to the credits of the game, the Newspaper Zombie is voiced by Chris Sampson.
His almanac entry description is a nod to the first game, as both mention the reason why he gets enraged when his newspaper gets destroyed; he was finishing a puzzle included in the newspaper.
However, in the first game, the almanac entry says that he nearly finished a sudoku puzzle, while in the second game, the almanac entry states that he nearly finished a crossword puzzle.
When his newspaper is gone, he makes the same grunt sound from the first game.
Unlike the first game, his eyes do not turn red when he is angry.
If he is killed when he holds the newspaper, his enrage sound and the destroyed newspaper's sound can still be heard.
In the Chinese version, he and Sunday Edition Zombie used to be slower after they lost their newspapers. They were buffed to normal on the 2.2.1 update.
The newspaper is different in this game, reading "Daily Brains" for the title.
The name "Daily Brains" may be a reference to the fact that several news services have the word "daily" in the title.
If one looks carefully, they can see what looks like Crazy Dave in the image in the newspaper.
The news on the main page is: "Garden gnomes spotted."