How to Beat the Snorkel Zombie in Plants vs. Zombies
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The Snorkel Zombie is a tricky adversary in the Plants vs. Zombies universe, primarily due to its ability to submerge underwater, making it immune to direct ground attacks. Understanding its behavior and weaknesses is key to effectively neutralizing this aquatic menace. Here’s a breakdown of how to beat the Snorkel Zombie:
The most direct approach to defeating the Snorkel Zombie involves exploiting its vulnerability while it’s submerged. While it’s immune to standard pea-shooter projectiles, it’s susceptible to splash damage and certain instant-kill abilities. Here are the main strategies:
- Splash Damage: Plants that inflict splash damage are your best bet. For instance, in Plants vs. Zombies 2, the Dusk Lobber and Apple Mortar can hit Snorkel Zombies while they are underwater. These plants create areas of effect, allowing you to damage the zombie even when it’s submerged.
- Instant Kills: Specific plants and power-ups can instantly eliminate a Snorkel Zombie. These include plants like Tangle Kelp, Cherry Bomb, and Doom-shroom. Timing is crucial, as they must be placed or activated when the zombie is in range.
- Lily Pad Defense: A robust defense against Snorkel Zombies involves using defensive plants on Lily Pads. Placing a Wall-nut, Tall-nut, or Pumpkin on a Lily Pad will act as a solid barrier, forcing the Snorkel Zombie to come up to eat it. This makes them vulnerable to attacks from standard plants.
- Timing and Placement: Observe the zombie’s patterns and predict when it surfaces. Correct timing allows you to use instant kills effectively and prevent it from advancing.
- Gloom-shroom and Fume-shroom: While these aren’t splash damage in the truest sense they have area of effect and can be effective when a Snorkel zombie is nearby. Specifically, Fume-shrooms are more effective, because of their rate of fire.
Understanding the Snorkel Zombie’s Behavior
Submerging Mechanic
The Snorkel Zombie will regularly dive underwater to avoid most attacks, making it an elusive target. During this time, its movement is not halted, and it continues to approach your defenses. Its behavior is consistent, allowing you to strategically position your plants to counter its movements.
Limited Attack Options While Submerged
While the Snorkel Zombie is immune to direct projectiles from pea-shooting plants, it is still susceptible to splash attacks and instant kills while underwater. It must surface to eat your plants or advance, making the surfacing moments your prime time to attack.
Weaknesses and Exploits
The Snorkel Zombie’s primary weakness lies in its predictable pattern of submerging and resurfacing. This pattern makes it an easy target for strategies that take advantage of splash damage, instant kills, and defensive structures on Lily Pads. This predictable pattern and vulnerability are the key to efficiently defeating them.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Snorkel Zombies
1. What types of plants can hit Snorkel Zombies underwater?
Plants with splash damage such as the Dusk Lobber and Apple Mortar in Plants vs. Zombies 2 can hit Snorkel Zombies while they’re submerged. These are particularly effective against the zombie’s underwater mode. Additionally, Gloom-shrooms and Fume-shrooms can affect them with their area of effect damage.
2. Can instant kill plants eliminate Snorkel Zombies?
Yes, instant-kill plants like Tangle Kelp, Cherry Bomb, and Doom-shroom can instantly defeat a Snorkel Zombie, regardless of whether it is submerged or on the surface. Proper timing is essential for these plants.
3. Why is placing plants on Lily Pads effective against Snorkel Zombies?
Placing defensive plants such as Wall-nuts, Tall-nuts, or Pumpkins on Lily Pads forces Snorkel Zombies to emerge from the water to eat them, making the zombies vulnerable to other attacks. It also slows down their progression.
4. Are there any specific plant setups recommended for dealing with Snorkel Zombies?
Yes, combining splash damage plants like Dusk Lobber with defensive plants on Lily Pads creates an effective defense. Having instant kill plants ready as backups is also very helpful.
5. How does splash damage affect Snorkel Zombies?
Splash damage plants inflict area-of-effect damage, which allows them to damage the Snorkel Zombie even when it is submerged, making splash attacks a great way to combat them.
6. Does the Snorkel Zombie appear in all Plants vs. Zombies games?
The Snorkel Zombie is a common enemy in several Plants vs. Zombies titles. Most notably, they are featured in the sequel Plants vs. Zombies 2. The exact behavior and available plants to counter them can vary slightly from game to game.
7. What happens if you don’t use a lily pad and have a normal defense?
When a snorkel zombie is left to approach without being forced to surface they can bypass the typical frontline of defense. Because of their submerged state, they cannot be targeted with projectiles from plants such as Peashooters, Repeater Peas, Gatling Peas, Threepeaters or Split Peas.
8. Are there any plants that are ineffective against Snorkel Zombies?
Plants that rely on direct projectile attacks like Peashooters and Repeaters are not effective against submerged Snorkel Zombies. The zombies simply cannot be hit by these types of plants.
9. What other Zombies are considered “aquatic”?
While Snorkel Zombies are one of the most well-known aquatic zombies, there are others in the Plants vs. Zombies universe. This includes zombies like Fisherman Zombie and Surfer Zombie, which also have different attack patterns and vulnerabilities.
10. Can the Snorkel Zombie attack while submerged?
No, the Snorkel Zombie is not able to attack plants while submerged. They must surface to eat your plants, at which time they can be targeted with direct attacks, while remaining susceptible to splash damage at all times.
11. How does the Snorkel Zombie differ from other zombies in its attack patterns?
The unique aspect of the Snorkel Zombie is its ability to submerge, which renders them immune to standard projectile attacks. This movement pattern makes the zombie harder to predict without strategies to cause it to surface.
12. Can the Garlic plant divert a Snorkel Zombie?
No, the Garlic plant cannot divert Snorkel Zombies. Garlic only affects zombies that bite them, while Snorkel Zombies surface in an effort to eat the plant.
13. What is the most annoying zombie in Plants vs. Zombies 2?
The Octo Zombie is considered one of the most annoying zombies in Plants vs. Zombies 2 due to its ability to disable plants. However, the Snorkel Zombie is also noted as an annoying zombie due to their immunity to many attacks and requiring a specialized counter.
14. How important is timing when fighting Snorkel Zombies?
Timing is crucial when dealing with Snorkel Zombies, especially when using instant-kill plants. Positioning plants to inflict splash damage where they surface will also increase their effectiveness.
15. Can any plant eat a Snorkel Zombie?
Chompers cannot eat a submerged Snorkel Zombie, but they can eat one when they surface.