Newspaper Zombie is a zombie encountered in Plants vs. Zombies 2 as the first new zombie encountered in Modern Day. He holds a newspaper that blocks damage until it is destroyed, in which he will then get a speed boost, enraged at his destroyed newspaper. He also has a veteran counterpart, the Sunday Edition Zombie, which has a much higher toughness.
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. 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. 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.
Watch out for this zombie since he is a much bigger threat. Do not destroy his newspaper unless you think you have a good strategy to deal with him while he is enraged. Also, unlike the first game, lobbed-shot plants and area of effect plants will still destroy the newspaper first so you need to be careful when using them. 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 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. The most effective plants are Shadow-shroom, Chomper, Toadstool, and Chili Bean, as they can kill him ignoring the newspaper. Jack O' Lanterns are also useful as their flame trail can destroy Newspaper Zombie in one shot. It is a good idea to combine this plant with Sweet Potato so that it can destroy groups of these zombies. Explode-O-Nut and Hot Date are also good choices as they can destroy him instantly once eaten. On large groups instant kills are a must. Up to three attacks from Magnifying Grass can also kill one of them without him being enraged.
Without the use of Plant Food, Hypno-shrooms are surprisingly effective against the Newspaper Zombie. When Newspaper Zombie loses his newspaper whilst hypnotized, he will get angry and kill any zombie on the lane very quickly from his increased DPS (800 DPS, as he eats as fast as a regular zombie when not enraged, and four times as fast when he is angry). 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. But when given the chance he becomes unstoppable, capable of shredding even gargantuars in seconds.
Certain other insta-kills can also be effective. Grimrose can also be used to take out 1 or 3 (Moonflower present) of them as she immobilizes the zombie she targets. If using Hypno-Shroom and the player's taking out a lane of zombies, it's also advised to use Iceberg Lettuce and Plant Food to freeze the zombies once the Hypnotized Newspaper Zombie loses his newspaper. Not even the Robo-Cone Zombie will stand up against this. The Goo Peashooter's plant food destroys all newspaper zombies in front of him in a single lane.
Note: Using catapult plants like Cabbage-pults, Blooming Hearts, A.K.E.E.s and Spore-shrooms (unless fed with Plant Food) are a very bad idea against Newspaper Zombies when they are enraged as they can easily destroy the catapults due to their slow attack speed. This is because they do not have stalling or slowing abilities that can allow the Newspaper Zombie to take more damage. In addition, their firing speed is 3x slower than a Peashooter and the Newspaper Zombie's speed is fast which will cause the projectiles to miss the zombie. Bloomerangs, Bowling Bulbs and Nightshades (unless fed with Plant Food) are also useless as they have a very slow firing rate as well and the Newspaper Zombie eats plants up very quickly. Electric Blueberry and Homing Thistle are also bad choices as it is unpredictable of which zombie they will target, especially if there are many enraged Newspaper Zombies charging towards the player's house. Also, avoid using Citrons as the Newspaper Zombie will kill it before they can fire another plasma ball because it takes 10 seconds to recharge. Intensive Carrot and Witch Hazel are not a good choice as he will quickly destroy the recovered plants and Puff-shrooms that were spawned (Unless, of course, a Hypno-Shroom was spawned). Spring Beans are also ineffective as they only bounce him back one tile and requires time to recharge. Aloe is also ineffective against Newspaper Zombie as they can destroy the plant easily.
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".
