The Plumber Zombie brings the tools of his trade to the fight, capable of launching his explosive plungers with amazing accuracy. He can also unclog Outhouse Zombies when needed.
In-game description
His toilet-powered Plunge Shot features extra generous splash damage.
AI Health
Easy: 75
Normal: 100
Hard: 125
CRAAAAZY: 150
Primary weapon
His primary weapon is the Plunge Shot. The facts below apply to a fully upgraded weapon.
The damage per hit at all ranges base and critical is 36.
The Sonic Grenade is a grenade that, when thrown, will stun plants in a small radius for a short time and forces BurrowingChompers out from the ground.
An alternate ability of the Sonic Grenade, the Proximity Sonic Mine is a landmine which can stun plants for about five seconds when they come close to it. It makes Chompers come out of their Burrow ability if they are using it. This can be very useful for defending a teleporter or trying to escape from plants.
The Jackhammer allows for quicker movement but at the cost at not being able to use your other abilities, though you can still fire your primary weapon, and if you bump into a plant, the plant will suffer knockback and light damage.
An alternate ability of the Jackhammer, the Turbo Jackhammer functions the same as the Jackhammer except that it travels faster, but lasts for a shorter amount of time.
The Sonic Grenade is a grenade that, when thrown, will stun plants in a small radius for a short time and forces BurrowingChompers out from the ground.
An alternate ability of the Sonic Grenade, the Proximity Sonic Mine is a landmine which can stun plants for about five seconds when they come close to it. It makes Chompers come out of their Burrow ability if they are using it. This can be very useful for defending a teleporter or trying to escape from plants.
The Jackhammer allows for quicker movement but at the cost at not being able to use your other abilities, though you can still fire your primary weapon, and if you bump into a plant, the plant will suffer knockback and light damage.
An alternate ability of the Jackhammer, the Turbo Jackhammer functions the same as the Jackhammer except that it travels faster, but lasts for a shorter amount of time.
Weapon upgrades
Less Slippery Reloader
Reload handle is less slippery resulting in faster reloads.
Improved Plunger Stacking
Zomboss figured out a better way to stack plungers resulting in an ammo capacity increase.
Enhanced De-clogging
By enhancing the de-clogging mod a side effect was that each plunger now deals more damage.
Strategies
With
This variant functions similar to Peashooter, but with more splash damage, less ammo and longer reload time. It can be effective when there are plants next to each other, or where the map is smaller to travel around such as Zomboss Estate. Stun multiple plants with Sonic Grenades/Proximity Sonic Mines to make it even more effective. Using the Jackhammer abilities can also make the Plumber effective.
Plumber can be useful in Gardens & Graveyards, Gnome Bomb, and Suburbination. For G&G, there will be plants defending the garden. If you are lucky, there will be multiple plants there, dealing splash damage to most of them. In Gnome Bomb, plants will defend their scarecrow, maxing the effectiveness of the Plumber. It can also be used to damage plants carrying the bomb and any plants near the other plant following the carrier.
The Plunge Shot even maxes out its effectiveness even more when multiple plants are defusing a bomb, but be careful as they might eventually succeed. In Suburbination, plants will defend the gardens like in Gardens & Graveyards. The same strategies apply there.
Against
This variant can be a pain in most cases, mostly in its most effectiveness scenarios listed above. Try to dodge any Sonic Grenades or avoid Proximity Sonic Mine to decrease the effectiveness of the Plunge Shot if the Plumber can see you. Bunching up with other teammates is ill-advised due to his wide radius of splash damage. The Plunge Shot does not have infinite range, unlike some zombies such as Foot Soldiers, so Sunflowers and Peashooters can use their Sunbeams, Solar Flare Beams, Pea Gatlings, and Retro Gatlings respectively to take out him out from a distance.
If you are a Cactus, the best way is to snipe him from somewhere if he does not see you. Using the drone also works, but it is possible the Plumber might destroy your drone before you make a difference. If you are a Chomper, the best way to defeat him is to use the Goop to slow him down and possibly chomping him from behind. Using Burrow to hide from the Plumber can also work, but Sonic Grenades/Proximity Sonic Mines can stun you from overground, maxing the effectiveness of the Plumber. Spikeweeds and Spiky Spikeweeds can also work if Plumber is not looking.
Chompers are actually the worst at fighting Plumbers, along with the Sunflower. If you are a Peashooter, use your Chili Bean Bomb/Sombrero Bean Bomb to try to defeat him. Use Hyper to avoid his shots, but it will still deal splash damage if he shoots near you but misses.