Shinobi Zombie

Shinobi Zombie is the fourth zombie encountered in Sakura Gardens. It will use a smoke bomb to turn itself invisible upon taking damage, and can do this three times.

Origins
It is based on a shinobi, a feudal Japanese assassin with no employer.

Almanac Entry
Shinobi Zombie smokes out upon taking damage.

Special: Cannot be hurt by most means when invisible. Can smoke out up to three times.

Shinobi Zombie used to be the go-to mercenary that rich and powerful zombies would hire to retrieve brains for. But then he took an arrow to the knee...

Overview
Shinobi Zombie absorbs 18 normal damage shots. Its left arm detaches at 9 NDS before its head pops off at 18 NDS.

Shinobi Zombie will smoke out to turn invisible whenever it takes damage. It cannot be targeted by any attacking plants, and any projectiles fired will pass through it harmlessly when it is invisible (all instant kill plants except Squash can still hurt it). It can only turn invisible three times, so after the third time, it will basically become a faster basic zombie.

Encounters
Player's House - Pinata Parties.

Sakura Gardens - Days ??, The Pure Lands.

Modern Day - Days - ??, Highway to the Danger Room (portal only).

Strategies
18 Health doesn't look like a lot, but the Shinobi Zombie is still difficult to tackle because of its ability to turn invisible when taking damage. Furthermore, the Shinobi Zombie is rendered immune to most attacks when invisible, so you cannot rely on AoE to hurt it while invisible either.

However, it takes it about three seconds to smoke out after taking damage. During this short time period, it can still be hurt by attacks, so try to deal as much damage to it as you can before it smokes out.

Alternatively, you can also use a Potato Mine or Primal Potato Mine against it, as it can still trigger and be blown up by an armed Mine even while invisible (if the Mine is not armed, it will just walk right past without attacking it). Feeding it a Chilli Bean or boosted Sun Bean will also work as they will kill it outright even while it is invisible.

You can also feed it a Hypno-Shroom to make it no longer pose a threat to your plants. However, as it takes three seconds to smoke out upon taking damage from an enemy zombie, it is still possible for a single zombie to kill it before it can do so. A Gargantuar will just kill it outright with no chance for it to smoke out.

It will also lose its invisibility when hit by the gas from Stunion or a zombie who ate a Chilli Bean. Note that the former won't trigger when Shinobi Zombie is invisible.

If none of the above options are available, use Cherry Bombs, Jalapenos, Grapeshots, Bombegranates or Escape Root against it as a last resort.

Trivia

 * Although the Shinobi Zombie cannot trigger a Stallia when invisible, it can still be stalled if the Stallia is triggered by another zombie while the Shinobi is within range.
 * If you use Plant Food on a lobbed-shot plant (Cabbage-Pult, Kernel-Pult, Melon-Pult, Dusk Lobber, etc) while an invisible Shinobi Zombie is on the lawn, the plant will fire its projectile at the Shinobi, but it won't have any effect as the projectile will just pass through it and hit the ground (or a zombie/obstacle behind it).
 * In Modern Day, the Raptor, Stegosaurus and Ankylosaur cannot interact with an invisible Shinobi Zombie. However, the T-Rex's roar can still speed it up.