- For the version in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, see Surfer Zombie (PvZH).
Surfer Zombie is a zombie encountered in Big Wave Beach.
He uses a surfboard to surf in water, ignoring all plants. Once he reaches land, he will carry his surfboard and use it as a shield against lobber plants, until he encounters a plant to crush with his surfboard. When he does, the surfboard will instantly destroy the first plant in where it is placed, and it stays there until it is destroyed while blocking plant placement. This ability makes him an environment modifier.
After the surfboard is placed, the Surfer Zombie will behave like a normal zombie. His surfboard can place itself when this zombie dies on land. However, it is also possible to destroy the surfboard before it deploys by attacking the zombie from above, or killing him before he reaches land. Additionally, if he is defeated by electrocution or an explosion (with the burnt animation), the surfboard will simply vanish.
Description[]
Surfer Zombie is a fast zombie in water, but once he reaches the shore, he will carry his surfboard and crash it into any plant he encounters.
His hair is blonde and is combed backwards. He wears orange swimming trunks with a white line at the left side of it. His surfboard is colored light yellow and has cracks on the front portion of it, as well having blue lines on both the left and right sides and an orange line on the middle portion of the surfboard.
Almanac entry[]
Surfer Zombie
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Surfer Zombie |
Surfs past plants on the water, then carries board on land. Damage: can crush a plant with his board |
Overview[]
Surfer Zombie absorbs 350 damage and degrade upon absorbing 175 damage (Where his hand drops). His surfboard absorbs 700 damage from lobbed shots only and does not block other shots. It has 4 degrades.
Encounters[]
Big Wave Beach: Days 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, Tiki Torch-er, and Piñata Party
Modern Day: Days 2, 18, 19, 21, 23, 33, 44 and Highway to the Danger Room (portal only)
Arena: Caulipower's Escalating Tournament, Blastberry Vine's Big Boom Season
Strategies[]
Although the Surfer Zombie has health on the lower end of the Protected spectrum, he is very fast when on water. When he reaches land, he will place his surfboard on your plants, which you cannot plant on unless you destroy the surfboard. Make sure you kill the zombie before he reaches land, as if he reaches land, killing him after that will result in him dropping his surfboard on the tile. If combined with multiple Octo Zombies, Fisherman Zombies, and Deep Sea Gargantuars, they will break flightly onto your defenses.
Magnifying Grass and Winter Melon are among the best plants to defeat Surfers before they reach shore. The Magnifying Grass can quickly kill a Surfer in one shot for 50 sun. It also has a fast recharge time, allowing many to be planted in a hurry, and if a lot of sun stored, the player can shoot through other zombies in the way if waiting for the Surfer to pull ahead is not an option. The Winter Melon's damage power and slowing effect can bring down Surfers and their allies together in the water (such as Snorkel Zombie). However, he has the advantage over Magnifying Grass in levels with limited sun or planting options, and zombies near the front lines can possibly distract Winter Melons long enough for Surfers to slip through.
Among the plants introduced in Big Wave Beach, Guacodile, Chomper, and Tangle Kelp are the best choices for defeating Surfers. Chomper can eat both the Surfer and his surfboard whole, even if he reaches shore, as well as destroy a surfboard on the ground quickly if one is in front of him, and this attribute is shared with Toadstool. When placed out in the water, a Guacodile will be triggered when the Surfer Zombie passes over it, usually dealing enough damage to finish the surfer off. If the Surfer attempts to crush it, he will just trigger Guacodile's charging attack.
If a Surfer Zombie does make it to shore, plants that destroy the Surfer Zombie and surfboard together (without letting the surfboard drop during the death animation) or those that can just destroy the Surf Board itself before the zombie are extremely useful, such as Chomper, Lightning Reed, Cherry Bomb, Squash, Jalapeno, and Jack O' Lantern. Cherry Bombs are helpful for destroying a group of Surfer Zombies in the water or on land. However, they require a Lily Pad planted first before they can be detonated above water. It is highly recommended to use instant kill or high damage-rate plants to take out Surfer Zombie as the zombie himself is tough enough to kill, but its surfboard has the same amount of health as a tombstone. Destroy the Surfer Zombie and his surfboard as quick as you can or your lawn will be swarmed with surfboards.
Shrinking Violet and Enforce-mint can also be useful, since shrunken surfboards can't do anything to plants. Hurrikale and literally any plant that knocks zombies away are also useful, as the Surfboard cannot be placed in water and is instantly destroyed as a result. Boingsetta's anti-grid object ability, however, sees limited use, as Surfer Zombies don't get far enough if you manage your defenses well. On the other hand, Bamboo Spartan does make it work, as his low range often results in surfboards conveniently in reach for him to destroy.
A Split Pea is best used when on water if a Surfer Zombie passes your defenses, so that it can deal damage to both the surfboard and the Surfer Zombie, but this makes it vulnerable to other zombies. Large amounts of AOE plants that perform well against weaker zombies will also diminish their threat, such as Laser Bean, Snapdragon, Dusk Lobber and Fume-shroom, picking them off before they could get close and personal. While Citron isn't helpful, he can be used instead to take out the stronger zombies said plants usually struggle against, and his Plant Food ability can wipe the whole lane better.
Do note however, that when a Surfer Zombie manages to reach the shores, be ready as you will lose one of your plants in exchange for killing him unless you succeed in destroying the surfboard before he deploys it, as his surfboard prioritizes tiles with plants in them over ones that don't.
Laser Beans and Bowling Bulbs can also assist you in weakening the Surfer Zombie if you are in trouble of handling him, allowing you to save much time but you can also assist with Lightning Reed because when defeated by a Lightning Reed, he will not leave his surfboard on a plant or tile, so you can plant two columns of Lightning Reeds, if you do not want to lose a plant when you defeat him, remember to choose Winter Melon because he can slow zombies at range, giving your other plants much more time to kill them off.
There are also several exotic counters to Surfer Zombies. The Surf Board cannot be used to crush allied zombies, so Zoybean Pod, Turkey-pult and zombies affected by the Hypno-shroom (or other sources of hypnosis) will render him just a slightly stronger zombie, and likely destroy the Surf Board on their way. Caulipower/Enchant-Mint can take this further, allowing a hypnotized Surfer Zombie to instantly kill others with its board. To a lesser extent, Gumnut and Infi-Nut can also be used, as the Gum and the Force Field can't be destroyed but still pin the zombie (although in Infi-nut's case, the force field will be destroyed if he is on the same lane as the plant as he will crush the plant with his surfboard). Ice Bloom can work if the zombie is sufficiently weakened, as her iceblocking effect will prevent the Surf Board from dropping, and while it will still destroy a plant when zombies get through it, the Surf Board still has to be eaten by other zombies before they could pass.
Balance changes[]
Update 6.3.1[]
- ▼ Health decreased from 490 health to 350 health
Gallery[]
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In other languages[]
Please note that only official translations are used.
Language | Name | Description |
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Surfer Zombie | ||
冲浪僵尸 | lit. "Surfing Zombie" | |
Zombie surfeur | ||
Surfer-Zombie | ||
Zombi surfista | ||
Zumbi Surfista | ||
Zombi surfista |
Trivia[]
- When he reaches the shore, he will trip over then suddenly appear with his surfboard.
- When he enters the player's house with the surfboard, it will disappear.
- If he is attacked by a lobbed-shot plant on land, the projectiles will damage the surfboard instead.
- As of a recent update, when a lobbed-shot plant destroys his surfboard, another surfboard would land in the tile ahead of him. The surfboard appears to be intact.
- In the Almanac, his surfboard has more cracks than in the seed selection screen. Also, after he places his surfboard, the surfboard appears to have no cracks at all.
- Strangely, when he tries to destroy Squash, Potato Mine or Primal Potato Mine, the surfboard will sometimes land on the tile behind them, this leaving the plant unaffected. This happens whether or not Potato Mine is armed.
- The death animation when he is riding on waves makes him fly up into the air and fall straight down into the water.
- Him, Snorkel Zombie, Octo Zombie, Deep Sea Gargantuar, Barrel Zombie, Gladiator Gargantuar, Roman Caesar Zombie, Firebreather Zombie, and Imp Pear Imp are the only zombies without shirts, excluding the animal zombies. However, it can be debated whether the Ancient Egypt zombies' (apart from Explorer Zombie) bandages count as shirts.
- He sometimes makes a grunting sound a few seconds after disembodied on land.
- If he tries to slam a Spring Bean that is about to bounce away a zombie with his surfboard, the surfboard breaks and will not crush the plant.
- This also can happen if two surfboards are placed on the same tile (this can only happen if a second Surfer Zombie dies on land and auto-places his board, as they never attempt to place their boards on top of each other while alive). Both will be destroyed, making this a helpful glitch to get rid of surfboards on the lawn.

Surfer Zombie with two heads
- If a lawn mower kills him while he is surfing, two zombie heads will briefly appear. The correct head falling off and another head staying on the body, missing hair and a lower jaw.
- When he gets hit by a lawn mower while surfing, his surfboard will land into the water.
- Hypnotized Surfer Zombies will ignore other Surfer Zombies provided if they haven't reached land yet. This can be achieved by using Enchant-Mint/Caulipower.
- He is one of the few zombies which can damage Ghost Pepper in certain ways. He can crush the plant directly provided if he is in front of the plant.
- In Tiki Torch-er, specifically in higher levels, Surfer Zombies may sometimes come in walking instead of surfing when the huge waves of zombies approach. This is because they spawn so far away from the lawn that the water does not exist.
- In the 3.8 and 3.9 updates, his surfboard absorbed 20 damage (or just one shot from any catapult plant) before being destroyed.
- His surfboard is almost identical to the Cavalry Zombie's lance.

The easter egg
- He makes a cameo in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 in Moon Base Z, where the player spawns when they need to capture the Lunar Motel, they can see a picture of him riding on his surfboard with his hair on fire with a big "SUN" on the front of the picture.
- He is voiced by Chris Sampson according to the credits.
- If he places his surfboard and is killed while still in his surfboard placing animation, he will use his death animation when surfing, even if this happens on land.
- His wig will fall off when the player defeats him while surfing.
- In the 6.1.1 update, there was a glitch that Surfer Zombie can spawn 2 surfboards, one upon making contact with a plant, and one upon being killed. This is similar to that of Excavator zombie as he will hold a shovel and drop another when defeated.
- When his surfboard lands, there's a small pile of sand in front of it, even if the world is not Big Wave Beach.
See also[]
V · E | Zombies (Tower defense) | L · G |
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Plants vs. Zombies 2 (Chinese version) | |||||||||||||||||||
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Ancient Egypt | Mummy Zombie · Conehead Mummy · Buckethead Mummy · Flag Mummy Zombie · Ra Zombie · Camel Zombies · Explorer Zombie · Tomb Raiser Zombie · Pharaoh Zombie · Mummified Gargantuar · Zombot Sphinx-inator · Imp Mummy | ||||||||||||||||||
Pirate Seas | Pirate Zombie · Conehead Pirate · Buckethead Pirate · Flag Pirate Zombie · Swashbuckler Zombie · Seagull Zombie · Barrel Roller Zombie · Imp Pirate Zombie · Imp Cannon · Pirate Captain Zombie · Zombie Parrot · Gargantuar Pirate · Zombot Plank Walker | ||||||||||||||||||
Wild West | Cowboy Zombie · Conehead Cowboy · Buckethead Cowboy · Flag Cowboy Zombie · Prospector Zombie · Pianist Zombie · Poncho Zombie · Chicken Wrangler Zombie · Zombie Chicken · Zombie Bull · Zombie Bull Rider · Wild West Gargantuar · Zombot War Wagon | ||||||||||||||||||
Kongfu World | Kongfu Zombie · Conehead Kongfu Zombie · Buckethead Kongfu Zombie · Hammer Zombie · Flag Kongfu Zombie · Torch Kongfu Zombie · Gong Zombie · Exploding Zombie · Qigong Zombie · Drinking Zombie · Conehead Monk Zombie · Buckethead Monk Zombie · Monk Zombie · Flag Monk Zombie · Drinking Monk Zombie · Swordsman Zombie · Imp Monk · Torch Monk Zombie · Nunchaku Zombie · Han Bronze · Knight Bronze · Qigong Bronze · Gunpowder Devil · Blade-Wielding Hero · Admiral Helmet Zombie · Admiral Helmet Monk Zombie · Rocket Imp | ||||||||||||||||||
Far Future | Future Zombie · Future Conehead Zombie · Future Buckethead Zombie · Future Flag Zombie · Jetpack Zombie · Disco Jetpack Zombie · Mecha-Football Zombie · Disco-tron 3000 · Robo-Cone Zombie · Shield Zombie · Bug Bot Imp · Gargantuar Prime · Zombot Tomorrow-tron | ||||||||||||||||||
Dark Ages | Peasant Zombie · Conehead Peasant · Buckethead Peasant · Peasant Flag Zombie · Knight Zombie · Jester Zombie · Dark Ages Gargantuar · Imp Monk Zombie · Wizard Zombie · Zombie King · Announcer Imp · Imp Dragon Zombie · Zombot Dark Dragon · Archmage Zombie · Cavalry Zombie · Bandit Zombie · Wolf Zombie | ||||||||||||||||||
Big Wave Beach | Pompadour Zombie · Pompadour Conehead · Pompadour Buckethead · Beach Flag Zombie · Bikini Zombie · Bikini Conehead · Bikini Buckethead · Snorkel Zombie · Surfer Zombie · Fisherman Zombie · Octo Zombie · Shell Zombie · Imp Mermaid Zombie · Deep Sea Gargantuar · Zombot Sharktronic Sub | ||||||||||||||||||
Frostbite Caves | Cave Zombie · Cave Conehead Zombie · Cave Buckethead Zombie · Blockhead Zombie · Cave Flag Zombie · Hunter Zombie · Yeti Imp · Dodo Rider Zombie · Troglobite · Weasel Hoarder · Ice Weasel · Sloth Gargantuar · Zombot Tuskmaster 10,000 BC · Walrus Zombie · Ski Zombie · Chief Ice Wind Zombie | ||||||||||||||||||
Sky City | Pilot Zombie · Conehead Pilot Zombie · Buckethead Pilot Zombie · Flag Pilot Zombie · Flying Imp Zombie · Zombie Fighter · Double-Cabin Aircraft Zombie · Lightning Gun Zombie · Arbiter-X · Missile Zombie · Transport Boat · Flying Gargantuar · Zombot Vulture Fighter | ||||||||||||||||||
Lost City | Adventurer Zombie · Conehead Adventurer Zombie · Buckethead Adventurer Zombie · Flag Adventurer Zombie · Lost Pilot Zombie · Excavator Zombie · Parasol Zombie · Lost City Imp Zombie · Bug Zombie · Porter Gargantuar · Imp Porter · Relic Hunter Zombie · Turquoise Skull Zombie · Zombot Aerostatic Gondola · Lost Doctor Zombie · Lost Guide Zombie | ||||||||||||||||||
Neon Mixtape Tour | Neon Zombie · Neon Conehead · Neon Buckethead · Impunk · Punk Zombie · MC Zom-B · Breakdancer Zombie · Glitter Zombie · Boombox Zombie · Arcade Zombie · Bass Zombie · Hair Metal Gargantuar · Neon Flag Zombie · 8-Bit Zombie · Zombot Multi-stage Masher | ||||||||||||||||||
Jurassic Marsh | Jurassic Zombie · Jurassic Conehead · Jurassic Buckethead · Jurassic Fossilhead · Jurassic Flag Zombie · Jurassic Imp · Jurassic Gargantuar · Jurassic Bully · Egg Pusher Imp · Egg Stealer Imp · Eggshell Imp · Zombot Dinotronic Mechasaur | ||||||||||||||||||
Modern Day | Basic Zombie · Conehead Zombie · Buckethead Zombie · Flag Zombie · Gargantuar · Imp · Balloon Zombie · All-Star Zombie · Super-Fan Imp · Newspaper Zombie · Sunday Edition Zombie · Digger Zombie · Riot Police Zombie · Solar Car Zombie | ||||||||||||||||||
Steam Age | Labor Zombie · Conehead Labor Zombie · Buckethead Labor Zombie · Flag Labor Zombie · Coal Miner Zombie · Gentleman Zombie · Furnace Zombie · Industrial Imp Zombie · Foreman Gargantuar · Steam Zombot | ||||||||||||||||||
Renaissance Age | Sculptor Imp Zombie · Aristocrat Gargantuar · Aristocrat Zombie · Conehead Aristocrat Zombie · Buckethead Aristocrat Zombie · Flag Aristocrat Zombie · Perfume Zombie · Ballerina Zombie · Glider Zombie · Zombot Troupe Manipulator | ||||||||||||||||||
Heian Age | Shogun Gargantuar · Samurai Zombie · Conehead Samurai Zombie · Buckethead Samurai Zombie · Flag Samurai Zombie · Firework Zombie · Ninjimp · Onmyoji Zombie · Sushi Chef Zombie · Mino Zombie | ||||||||||||||||||
Secret Realms |
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Penny's Pursuit |
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Memory Lane |
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Others | Dr. Zomboss · Lion Dancer Zombie · God of Wealth · Zombie Commander · Ingot Thief Zombie · Vase Gargantuar · Imp Pear Imp |
Plants vs. Zombies Online | |
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Player's House | Basic Zombie · Conehead Zombie · Buckethead Zombie · Flag Zombie |
Ancient Egypt | Mummy Zombie · Conehead Mummy · Buckethead Mummy · Flag Mummy Zombie · Ra Zombie · Explorer Zombie · Tomb Raiser Zombie · Pharaoh Zombie · Desert Death Zombie · Sphinx |
Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum |
Sergeant Zombie · Bowl Sergeant · Iron Helmet Sergeant · Token Sergeant Zombie · Cavalry Zombie · Archer Zombie · Shield Guardian Zombie · Cart Hawker · Zombie Piggy · Drunk Zombie · Emperor Qin Shi Huang |
Pirate Seas | Pirate Zombie · Conehead Pirate · Buckethead Pirate · Flag Pirate Zombie · Swashbuckler Zombie · Pirate Captain Zombie · Zombie Parrot · Imp Pirate Zombie · Gargantuar Pirate · Pistol Zombie · Torch Juggler Zombie · Peddler Zombie · Zombot Plank Walker |
Far Future | Future Zombie · Future Conehead Zombie · Future Buckethead Zombie · Future Flag Zombie · Jetpack Zombie · Shield Zombie · Bug Bot Imp · Robo-Cone Zombie · Disco-tron 3000 · Disco Jetpack Zombie · Mecha-Football Zombie · Gargantuar Prime · Zombot Tomorrow-tron · Astro-Goop Zombie · Mechanical Wolf Zombie · Harvester Zombie |
East Sea Dragon Palace | Underwater Soldier Zombie · Shrimp Soldier Zombie · Shell Soldier Zombie · Seahorse Zombie · Jellyfish Zombie · Clamshell God Zombie |
Event exclusive | Zombot Sphinx-inator · Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum Zombot · Rabbit Zombie · Money Bag Zombie |
Plants vs. Zombies 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dave's House | Browncoat Zombie · Conehead Zombie · Buckethead Zombie · Flag Zombie · Imp · Gargantuar · Bowling Zombie | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Campground | Ducky Tube Zombie · Pigeon Feeder · Disco Zombie · Landscaper · Screen Door Zombie | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Begonia Boulevard | Stealth Imp · Rock-N-Rollin' Imp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pre-2021 |
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