Zombie King is a premiumlegendaryzombiecard in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes and a member of the Hearty class. He costs 4 to play and has 3/5. He does not have any traits, and his ability transforms a random zombie, excluding him and other Knights of the Living Dead, into a Knight of the Living Dead at the end of every turn, starting from the turn he is played.
His ability is a reference to his ability in said game.
His description is a reference to the quotation "It's Good To Be (The) King" from the 1981 movie History of the World, Part 1.
Statistics
Class: Hearty
Tribes: Mustache History Zombie
Traits: None
Ability: End of Turn: Transform another random Zombie into a 5/5 with Armored 2.
Set - Rarity: Premium - Legendary
Card description
Contrary to popular opinion, it's just OK to be king.
Update history
Update 1.16.10
Rarity change: Super-Rare → Legendary
▲ Strength change: 0 → 2
Update 1.22.12
Animation change: Legendary shine has been added.
Update 1.24.6
Ability change: No longer affects Knights of the Living Dead.
Update 1.26.3
▲ Strength change: 2 → 3
Strategies
With
Zombie King is a force to be reckoned with and can easily turn the tide of the battle almost instantly. While his stats are only average, his health stat of 5 allows him to sustain a few attacks, and combined with the Hearty class' specialty in health-boosting, Zombie King will be able to survive many turns. And not only that, his ability certainly is a huge help; Knight of the Living Dead is a very powerful zombie whose only downside is his high cost, which is negated by using Zombie King.
Since his ability is turn-based, getting Zombie King as early as possible will be of your best interest. While Zombie King will normally start to cause trouble starting from turn 5, you can either use Flag Zombie, or ramp brains as Rustbolt to play him earlier.
However, Zombie King is not a zombie you can get out on the field and except to win you the game on his own, and you will need other zombies on the field to transform into Knights of the Living Dead. While any zombie suffices, remember that the zombie in question must survive a turn of combat (and any possible damaging tricks beforehand) to actually transform. Therefore, bring zombies with good survivability like Buckethead, Planetary Gladiator, and Trash Can Zombie, as well as health-boosting and shielding tricks. Zombies with the Amphibious trait are also good options, as a Knight of the Living Dead on the aquatic lane will be too much for most Amphibious plants to handle, although you must be aware of the fact that they are bad at surviving if your opponent has a way to damage them.
As for the Knights of the Living Dead resulting from him, you can try out a few things. You can boost them, preferably with mass-boosting tricks, the best example being Going Viral, or shield them all with Zombie Coach. Another thing you can do is to transform some with Transformation Stations, where Knight of the Living Dead will fall into a loop of transforming into either Octo Zombie or Zombot Plank Walker, then back into Knight of the Living Dead; since both are more powerful than Knight of the Living Dead, doing so can bring you closer to victory (but note that Zombot Plank Walker's ability goes better with a single Knight of the Living Dead).
Zombie King's drawback is that you essentially have to rely on Knights of the Living Dead as your main offense and defense since it transforms any zombie whether you want it or not, and thus, limiting your choices on what to bring; anything that is stronger than a Knight of the Living Dead or has a turn-based ability is better off in a deck without Zombie King. Still, it isn't a completely bad idea to pack a few just in case Zombie King falls.
Against
While Zombie King does not have any remarkable aspects in terms of stats, he will be a serious threat to you due to his ability; an army of 5/5 zombies with Armored 2 is not something you would want mid-game, so it may be of your best interest to prevent Zombie King from transforming any zombies. Bouncing or destroying Zombie King would be your best bet, as he will be unable to activate his ability at all. However, he may reappear if you choose the former strategy. Another strategy is to destroy all the other zombies so that there are no zombies for him to transform, but doing so will exhaust many of your cards, whether they be plants or tricks. But if you have no choice, focus on the zombies with lower health. Plants that do damage to multiple zombies like Sour Grapes and Strawberrian are also recommended.
If you failed to remove the zombies early on and are confronted by a swarm of Knights of the Living Dead, use instant-kill cards as simply damaging the Knights of the Living Dead is ineffective. Bouncing them is also good option since they are quite expensive to replay, discouraging your opponent from doing that from the start. If those are not available, you have no option but to play defensively.
Gallery
Zombie King's statistics
Zombie King's card image
Zombie King's textures
Zombie King on the advertisement for the Royal Court Pack
As Neptuna, if the player gets a Super-Block and plays Octo-Pult immediately after getting it with a Zombie King on the field, the Octo-Pet will instantly transform into a Knight of the Living Dead when it is played.
Since the Thanksgiving update, it still works, but rarely unless it is the only other zombie on the field.
Hearty class. He costs 4
to play and has 3
/5
. He does not have any traits, and his ability transforms a random zombie, excluding him and other Knights of the Living Dead, into a Knight of the Living Dead at the end of every turn, starting from the turn he is played.
/5
Armored 2 is not something you would want mid-game, so it may be of your best interest to prevent Zombie King from transforming any zombies. Bouncing or destroying Zombie King would be your best bet, as he will be unable to activate his ability at all. However, he may reappear if you choose the former strategy. Another strategy is to destroy all the other zombies so that there are no zombies for him to transform, but doing so will exhaust many of your cards, whether they be plants or tricks. But if you have no choice, focus on the zombies with lower health. Plants that do damage to multiple zombies like Sour Grapes and Strawberrian are also recommended.
Frenzy trait
Brainy
Crazy
Hearty
Sneaky
