Zombies are common undead hostile mobs that deal melee damage and attack in groups. Show
Spawning[]Natural generation[]In the Overworld, zombies can spawn in groups of 4 on any solid block at a light level of 0, except in mushroom fields and deep dark biomes. In deserts, all zombies exposed to the sky have an 80%[JE only]/70%[BE only] chance to be replaced by husks. Zombies that are not husks or drowned have a 5% chance to spawn as zombie villagers. Zombie variants have a 5% chance to spawn as babies. In Java Edition, the baby zombies also have a 5% chance of spawning as a chicken jockey. All zombie variants (including babies) require a 2-block tall space to spawn. A zombie can also spawn from a husk that drowns in water, but converts to a drowned if its head remains submerged. Zombies spawn with up to 5% of knockback resistance. When a zombie spawn egg is used on a zombie, it spawns a baby zombie. Sieges[]If a player is near a village at midnight, up to 20 zombies may be spawned in the village in accordance with mob spawning rules. The spawning can even happen in Mushroom Fields biome, if the triggering player is in an adjacent biome. Zombies spawned as a part of a siege are always normal zombies; zombie villagers, husks and drowned never spawn as a part of a siege. Spawners[]Zombies spawn from spawners inside 50% of dungeons. Variants[]Baby zombies[]Baby zombie riding a chicken. Behavior[]Baby zombies make up 5% of zombie spawns. They behave similarly to regular zombies, with the following differences:
A baby zombie riding a chicken is known as a chicken jockey. There is a chance it could also be wearing armor, have a sword, or have both armor and a sword while riding a chicken jockey. It can even be a baby zombie villager riding a chicken jockey. In Bedrock Edition, a baby zombie can ride:
The jockey mobs ridden by the baby zombie adapt the speed of its rider. Zombie villagers[]Zombie villagers have a 5% chance of spawning in place of zombies, and may also spawn from a villager killed by a zombie. The chance of a villager turning into a zombie villager when killed by a zombie or zombie variant depends on the difficulty level. Zombies spawned from a spawner are never zombie villagers in Java Edition, although zombie spawners in Bedrock Edition are able to produce them. Any villagers that got killed by a zombie has a chance to turn into a zombie villager with armor on harder difficulties. They can be cured back into villagers using a weakness potion and a golden apple. Husks[]Main article: Husk Husks often spawn in desert biomes in place of zombies. They attack like regular zombies, but inflict hunger for several seconds and do not burn in sunlight. Drowned[]Drowned spawn in rivers, most parts of oceans or when a normal zombie drowns. They are able to swim and breathe underwater as well as walk on land. Most drowned use melee attacks, but some spawn with tridents and throw them when attacking instead. Zombies that are wearing armor and go underwater continue wearing the armor when converted to a drowned, although tools and weapons are lost.[JE only] Zombies that convert to drowned drop all worn or held equipment with full durability and preserving existing enchantments.[BE only] Geared zombies[]Some zombies spawn wearing armor or holding tools, both of which may be enchanted. In addition, zombies may also spawn with the ability to pick up loot that is on the ground. The chances of each of these events occurring are listed below. Zombie villagers can also spawn naturally with armor, weapons or tools. If a zombie spawns wearing multiple pieces of armor, the armor is never mismatched (i.e. all pieces are made of the same material). Zombies cannot naturally spawn with netherite armor.
Chances of zombies wearing or picking up armor, per difficulty
If a zombie does spawn with armor, the chances of specific armor are as follows: Java Edition: Chances of different armor pieces, per difficulty
Bedrock Edition: Chances of different armor pieces, per difficulty
The chances of it being of a particular material are: Chances of different armor types
Armor worn by zombies is not damaged from most damage sources, which means it cannot "wear out" the way player armor does. Helmets (not blocks like pumpkins) on zombies can eventually wear away and break if the zombie is exposed to daylight or has an anvil or other falling block dropped on its head. Zombies also have a natural armor rating of 2 (), giving 1.6 - 8%[JE only]/8%[BE only] damage reduction from most sources. Zombies can also wear mob heads, although they need to be dropped by the player before the zombie can pick one up and put it on. Any zombie that spawns with equipment gives 1–3 extra experience points per item when killed. On Halloween, zombies may spawn wearing a carved pumpkin or jack o'lantern. They do not drop this, even when killed with Looting. Drops[]Zombies drop 0–2 rotten flesh after dying. The maximum drop is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 with Looting III. They can also drop one of the following when killed by a player or tamed wolf:
This drop has a 2.5% chance of occurring, increasing by 1% per level of looting. Individual items have the following chances of dropping:
A zombie also drops azombie head when killed by a charged creeper. Any picked-up equipment has a 100% chance of dropping and drops without changing the damage that has accumulated on it. Naturally-spawned equipment[]
Zombies have an 8.5% chance of dropping their naturally-spawned equipment and drop it with a random durability. Each level of Looting increases the chance by 1 percentage point (11.5% with Looting III). Experience[]Adult zombies drop 5 and an additional 1–3 per naturally-spawned equipment if killed by player or tamed wolf. Baby zombies drop 12 and an additional 1–3 per naturally-spawned equipment if killed by player or tamed wolf. Behavior[]Attacking the player[]Zombies and other hostile mobs can inflict damage through closed doors. Zombies spawn in groups of 4 and pursue the player on sight from 35 blocks away, raising their arms up[JE only], as opposed to 16 blocks for other hostile mobs. The detection range of zombies is reduced to half of their normal range (17.5 blocks) when the player is wearing a zombie mob head. Zombies periodically make groaning sounds, which can be heard up to 16 blocks away. Zombies attempt to avoid obstacles, including fall damage, fire, lava, magma blocks, cactus and try to find the shortest path toward the player.[1] Unlike skeletons, zombies do not try to avoid being hit and continue to pursue the player even when being attacked. Zombies can sometimes deal damage through a closed wooden or iron door. If a zombie sees a player and a villager together, the zombie prefers to attack the player first. A zombie already chasing a villager continues to do so even if the player is near, until the player attacks it. Zombies sink in water, facilitating their transformation into drowned. Burning under daylight[]At dawn, generally when the sun is 15 degrees or more above the ground (when the moon can no longer be seen), zombie variants except for husks and zombified piglins burn once exposed to direct sunlight. Burning is suppressed when the zombie is:
Transparent and translucent blocks, including glass and ice, do not prevent them from burning.[JE only]. Zombies attempt to seek out shade during the day or enter water sources to protect themselves from burning up, but they leave protective areas to chase an enemy. If they attack an entity while burning, they may set it on fire, with a (30×regional difficulty)% chance, and with a 2×floor (regional difficulty) second duration. If wearing armor enchanted with Thorns while burning they may set players attacking them on fire with thorns damage alone. Undead[]Zombies are undead mobs, harmed by the status effect Healing, healed by the status effect Instant Damage and are unaffected by Regeneration and Poison. The wither does not attack zombies. Zombies are affected by the Smite enchantment. Picking up items[]Some zombies are capable of automatically picking up dropped items that they come across. Mob heads and carved pumpkins are automatically worn on their heads. Zombies can use armor, weapons or tools. If a zombie encounters another similar item, it may drop the previous item in favor of the new one, if:
Items dropped by mobs in exchange for another cannot be picked up by players or mobs for 10 game ticks (0.5 seconds, barring lag), but can be picked up by hoppers. A zombie holding a picked-up item does not despawn when left alone. Zombies have a higher chance of being able to pick up items in hard mode. Picked-up items do not cause the zombie to drop more experience when killed, unlike naturally-spawned gear. Attacking villagers[]Zombies target villagers within 42 blocks, and they can always see villagers through walls.
Any zombie variant can transform a villager into a zombie villager. The probability depends on the difficulty:
Attacking wandering traders[]Zombies target wandering traders within 35 blocks and can see traders through walls. The zombie focuses solely on the trader unless it's attacked, or if either it or the target is killed or moved out of range, or if the trader is under the invisibility status effect. A zombie breaking down a wooden oak door. The zombie can break only the top half of the door, not the bottom half. Breaking doors[]A zombie choosing to break the door down instead of taking an alternative path. Up to 10% of zombies (depending on regional difficulty) in pursuit of a target bang on closed wooden doors and on Hard (and Hardcore) difficulty can succeed in breaking them down. Otherwise, the door cracks but does not break. The zombie also breaks down the door if the door is blocking its way. Zombies can break only the top half of a door, meaning they cannot break a door if the zombie is facing the bottom half of the door.[more information needed] Attacking utility mobs[]Zombies pursue and attack utility mobs (golems) within 42 blocks. Iron golems and snow golems attack zombies without provocation, although snow golems deal only knockback to zombies with their snowballs. Reinforcements[]On all difficulty levels, damaged zombie mobs (including husks, drowned and even zombified piglins[3]) call all other zombies within a 67×21×67 to 111×21×111 area[n 1] centered on the attacked zombie to target the attacker. In Java Edition, on Hard difficulty, zombies can spawn additional zombies to "help" when damaged. Each zombie has a "likeliness to call reinforcements" statistic ranging from 0–10%, and "leader" zombies (0–5% depending on regional difficulty) get a bonus of 50–75 percentage points to the stat. When the zombie is damaged by an entity or is damaged while targeting an entity, up to 50 attempts are made to randomly choose a spawn location (0 or ±7–40 blocks away in all three axes) that is above a block with a solid top surface, has light level 0, has no players within 7 blocks, and has no colliding entities or blocks at which to spawn the reinforcement. Both the damaged zombie and the new zombie has a 5 percentage point penalty to their "likeliness to call reinforcement" stat, preventing infinite zombies from spawning this way. Zombie reinforcements can spawn even in locations where naturally spawned zombies can't spawn, like mushroom biomes, The End, and Nether biomes.[4], although they still cannot spawn on blocks where other items like redstone dust or pressure plates are placed. These effects can be negated by killing the zombie in as few hits as possible, by using environmental damage such as cactus or lava, or by avoiding them completely. That is, if the zombified mob drops experience, it has a chance to spawn reinforcements. Additionally, reinforcements do not spawn at all, even on Hard difficulty, if Leader zombies are a special type of zombie that spawn with an added 50-75% chance to spawn reinforcements. The chance of a leader zombie spawning increases with clamped regional difficulty, up to a 5% chance of spawning. Reinforcements zombies spawn regardless of the hostile mob cap. They also spawn on the north-west corner of the designated block, instead of the center of the block like natural mob spawning does.[5] Attacking turtles[]Zombies attack baby turtles and actively seek out and destroy turtle eggs within 24 blocks horizontally and 3 blocks vertically, by jumping on them until they crack and break. Becoming drowned[]A husk that suffocates in water converts to a zombie. A zombie that suffocates in water converts into a drowned. If a zombie's head (the legs don't work) is submerged in water for 30 seconds, it begins converting into a drowned. The zombie shakes, similar to a zombie villager being cured and, after 15 seconds, the zombie becomes drowned. Once this process starts, it cannot be stopped. This time is not affected by the Respiration enchantment. A newly-converted drowned always has full health even if converted from a damaged zombie. An item being held or worn by a zombie when it becomes drowned, whether it was picked up or naturally spawned, has a 100% drop rate, which includes any naturally spawned equipment dropping with full durability[BE only]. Only normal zombies can become drowned; zombie villagers and zombified piglins cannot be converted.[6] Husks, however, convert into zombies if they drown, and then this zombie converts into a drowned as does a normal zombie. Same as above, any husks that convert into zombies also has full health, even when the drowned husk was damaged. Sounds[]Java Edition:
Bedrock Edition:
Data values[]ID[]Java Edition:
Bedrock Edition:
Entity data[]Zombie have entity data associated with them that contains various properties. Java Edition:
Bedrock Edition: See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.Achievements[]
Advancements[]
History[]
Trivia[]
Issues[]Issues relating to "Zombie" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there. Notes[]
See also[]
Gallery[]
In other media[]
References[]
|