Witch Zombie

Zombie file · Mysterious Swamp

Witch Zombie

A swamp witch with a serious potion habit.

Durabilityabout 17 peas
Speedslow

Lore

Witch Zombie is a local swamp witch obsessed with brewing potions. When she encounters plants, she throws freezing potions to stop them, then damage potions to attack. When her health gets low, she throws recovery potions. She throws speed potions too, because apparently one potion type would be too modest.

Every potion used means one glass bottle lost. How luxurious. Wall-nut says the freezing potion tastes like a cold drink, but it may be wiser not to personally confirm what the other three potions taste like.

Mechanics

Role

Ranged potion · Control and support

  • Durability: about 17 peas; slow speed.
  • Throws freezing and damage potions when plants are ahead.
  • Throws recovery potions when health is low.
  • Also throws speed potions to enhance zombies.
  • Has a large throwing range, so keeping her away from your defense is best.

Advanced mechanics

Witch Zombie's advanced mechanics are a ranged event loop driven by a visible held-bottle state. Front plants override support timing, the target's cold state decides control or damage, and her health line can insert recovery into the next cycle. The danger comes from repeated bottle re-queuing from the back line.

Body durability, held bottle, and throw window

For advanced durability reading, Witch Zombie is about a 500 HP maximum body. Roughly one third is the critical reserve, so the main-entry shorthand durability corresponds to the common work needed before the body enters its critical window, about 334 HP, not the full health pool.

The bottle color she holds is a state variable. Once the throw animation starts, that throw resolves from the current bottle color; a new plant entering range, a target state change, or a health change does not rewrite an already committed bottle into another potion. After the throw, the wait timer resets and the next bottle is queued from the current board state.

Hbody,max≈500 HP,Hto critical≈500−5003≈334 HPH_{\text{body,max}}\approx500\text{ HP},\quad H_{\text{to critical}}\approx500-\frac{500}{3}\approx334\text{ HP}
Bottle color is the visible next-throw state; front plants pull the cycle away from support and into control or damage.

Front-plant priority: freeze first, damage second

During the ordinary walking state, a valid plant inside the forward search area takes priority over the support path. If the target has no cold timer, Witch tends to throw the blue bottle first and writes control onto the plant. If the target is already inside a cold window, the plant path changes to the purple bottle and adds direct damage.

This order lets one front plant become the recipient for a sequence rather than a single hit. The first impact reduces output and response space; the second converts the earlier control into HP loss. Merely absorbing the first bottle without answering Witch often leaves the line exposed to the worse second bottle.

Potion⁡(p)={freeze,p∈Pfront∧Cp=0damage,p∈Pfront∧Cp>0\operatorname{Potion}(p)=\begin{cases}\text{freeze},&p\in\mathcal{P}_{\text{front}}\land C_p=0\\\text{damage},&p\in\mathcal{P}_{\text{front}}\land C_p>0\end{cases}
The plant path reads target state first: no cold timer means control, while an existing cold timer means damage.

Four payloads and area resolution

All four potions share the thrown shell and impact point; what changes is the payload written by bottle color. White is zombie-side speed support, red is zombie-side recovery, purple is plant-side damage, and blue is plant-side cold or freeze control. On impact, the potion reads a local area of about 200 px, so dense formations greatly increase the value of support bottles and control bottles.

Under the current numeric reading, the red bottle heals about 300 HP, while the purple bottle deals about 400 HP. Blue and white are tempo effects more than raw numbers: blue pauses plant output and response, while white makes zombie pressure arrive faster. Their value usually comes from connecting later potions to front-line pressure rather than from one isolated impact.

Rimpact≈200 px,ΔHred≈+300 HP,Dpurple≈400 HPR_{\text{impact}}\approx200\text{ px},\quad \Delta H_{\text{red}}\approx+300\text{ HP},\quad D_{\text{purple}}\approx400\text{ HP}
The bottles share one thrown shell; the impact payload decides side, number, and tempo effect.

Health line, support bottles, and tactical reading

When no front plant overrides the cycle, Witch releases support potions through her wait timer. Below roughly two thirds of her health line, recovery is reliably queued into the following rhythm; while healthy, the support path leans toward speed or ordinary support rolling. A low-health Witch is therefore not merely close to dying: she may be about to hand a recovery bottle to herself or nearby zombies.

The answer is to reduce the number of throws. Pushing the body into its critical window early, clearing front recipients, and moving high-value plants out of repeated bottle positions are more stable than repairing every impact afterward. A bait plant can spend one control or damage bottle, but it is only worthwhile if the follow-up can restore output, remove Witch, or accept losing that plant.

  • Pressure the body: about 500 HP maximum is not extreme, and early critical pressure can stop later throws.
  • Already cold plants: do not let the same target keep receiving purple bottles; reposition, recover, or remove Witch.
  • Dense zombie groups: recovery and speed become more valuable as recipient density rises, so reduce the front cluster first.
  • Bait plants: only treat baiting as safe if the freeze, damage, or later recovery cost is acceptable.
The key is preventing another Witch throw, not repairing every potion after it lands.

Interactions & counters

  • ApplayerEighth notes heal and cleanse plants; legato notes remove zombie buffs.