Zombie

Zombies are common undead hostile mobs that attack players, villagers, wandering traders, iron golems, snow golems, and baby turtles. They also stomp on turtle eggs. They burn in sunlight, similar to most other undead mobs.

Naturally
In the Overworld, zombies can spawn in groups of 4 on any solid block at a light level of 7 or less.

In deserts, all zombies exposed to the sky have an 80% / 70% chance to be replaced by husks, a zombie variant. Zombies that are not husks or drowned have a 5% chance to spawn as a zombie villager, while all zombie variants also have a 5% chance to spawn as a baby zombie type.

Despite being shorter than 1-block tall, baby zombies require a 2-block tall space to spawn.

Baby zombies have an additional 5% chance of spawning as a chicken jockey. When spawning, a baby zombie may spawn on top of a nearby chicken.

Baby zombies have a 15% chance to want to be a jockey, and if they do, then upon nearing the player and before attacking, they check for one of the following and mount it: adult zombies, chickens, sheep, cows, pigs, llamas, ocelots, foxes, pandas, mooshrooms, untamed cats, untamed wolves, horses and variants, spiders and cave spiders.

A zombie can also spawn from a husk that drowns in water but converts to a drowned if its head remains submerged.

Sieges
If a player is in a village with at least 10 beds and 20 villagers at midnight, up to 20 zombies may be spawned near the edge of the village in accordance with mob spawning rules. If a player is in a village with at least 20 beds and 40 villagers at midnight, up to 40 zombies may be spawned near the edge of the village. If a player is in a village with at least 30 beds and 60 villagers at midnight, up to 60 zombies may be spawned near the edge of the village, and so on. It can happen in any biome except the Mushroom Fields biome and its variants. 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 may spawn from spawners inside dungeons. 50% of dungeon spawners generate as Zombie spawners.

Baby zombies


Baby zombies make up 5% of zombie spawns. They behave similarly to regular zombies, with the following differences:
 * They are 50% faster than the normal zombies, yet they have the same HP as normal zombies. This makes baby zombies more dangerous than their adult counterparts.
 * The noises they make are higher-pitched than adult zombie sound effects.
 * If a baby zombie is riding a mob that is also rideable by a player, that mob becomes un-rideable by any player.
 * Baby zombie villagers turn into baby villagers if cured.
 * Worn armor shrinks to fit their body size.
 * They are able to fit through 1×1 block gaps.
 * They give 12 experience points when killed by the player or a tamed wolf instead of 5.
 * Unlike most other baby mobs, they remain babies indefinitely, and never become adult zombies.
 * They have a decreased hitbox size.
 * A baby zombie has a 15% chance to become a jockey when it tries attacking.

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.

$$, a baby zombie can also ride:

• Cows

• Ocelots and untamed cats

• Untamed wolves

• Mooshrooms

• Adult chickens (the only jockey that is in use $$)

• Pigs

• Pandas

• Sheep

• Horses

• Donkeys

• Mules

• Zombie horses (unused jockey variant)

• Skeleton horses

• Adult zombies

• Adult zombie villagers

• Adult husk

• Adult zombified piglins (unused)

• Spiders

• Cave spiders

The jockey mobs ridden by the baby zombie adapt the speed of its rider. For example, chickens ridden by baby zombies move much faster and more aggressively toward the player.

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 chances that a villager will turn into a zombie villager when killed by a zombie or zombie variant depends on the difficulty level. $$, zombies spawned from a Spawner are never zombie villagers, although zombie spawners are able to produce them $$.

They can be cured back into villagers using a weakness potion and a golden apple.

Husks
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.

$$, zombies that convert to drowned drop all worn or held equipment with full durability.

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.

If a zombie does spawn with armor, the chances of specific armor are as follows:

The chances of it being of a particular material are:

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, giving 1.6 - 8% / 8% 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.

Geared zombies that drown (including variants like husks, which first transform into zombies before suffocating) drop the gear they were holding or wearing at full durability with enchantments intact, when they transform into drowned.

Any zombie that spawns with equipment gives extra experience points per item when killed.

Drops
When they die, zombies drop 0–2. 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:
 * $$ (about 0.83%)
 * $$ (about 1.17%) with Looting I
 * $1/3$ (1.5%) with Looting II
 * $2/3$ (about 1.83%) with Looting III

A zombie also drops a 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).
 * (sometimes enchanted)
 * (sometimes enchanted)
 * (sometimes enchanted)
 * (sometimes enchanted)
 * (sometimes enchanted)

Experience
Adult zombies drop and an additional  per naturally-spawned equipment if killed by player or tamed wolf. Baby zombies drop and an additional  per naturally-spawned equipment if killed by player or tamed Wolf.

Halloween


If a zombie wearing a pumpkin or jack o'lantern is killed using a weapon enchanted with Looting, there is a chance equivalent to the level of Looting used to drop the pumpkin or jack o'lantern, up to a maximum of a 3% chance of a drop.

Attacking the player


Zombies spawn in groups of 4 (in easy 1). They pursue the player on sight from roughly 40 blocks away, as opposed to 16 blocks for other hostile mobs. The detection range of zombies is reduced to half of their normal range (20 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 sheer cliffs and lava, and try to find the shortest path toward the player. 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 door, as shown in the picture to the right. 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 (that is, 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:
 * in a sufficiently shaded area: a sunlight level of 11 or less (a 1 block roof overhang provides sufficient protection even if it would have a sunlight level of 14);
 * in water;
 * wearing head armor (the helmet absorbs the damage from light but may take several day cycles to wear out completely).
 * under the status effect of Fire Resistance.

Glass does not prevent them from burning. You can check light levels using F3 in Java Edition.

Zombies may make some attempt to seek out shade during the day, or enter bodies of water to protect themselves from burning up, but they leave protective areas to chase a nearby player or villager.

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, which deals double the damage of Sharpness on undead mobs.

Picking up items
Similar to skeletons, some zombies are capable of automatically picking up dropped items that they come across. Jack o'lanterns, mob heads, and 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:
 * the new item is armor or a sword and the old item was not (for example, zombies prefer swords to pickaxes, and helmets to pumpkins),
 * both items are armor/swords and the new item is better damage-wise (reduces higher damage for armor, or inflicts more damage for swords),
 * both items are armor/swords with the same damage reduction/infliction, the new item has NBT tags while the old does not or the new item is more damaged than the old item, or
 * both items are bows and the new item has NBT tags while the old does not.

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. Once a zombie has targeted a villager, the zombie ignores any other villagers and the player, until its target is dead or the zombie is attacked.

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 under the invisibility status effect.

Breaking doors
Up to 10% of zombies (depending on regional difficulty) in pursuit of a target can 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.

Attacking iron golems
Zombies target iron golems within 42 blocks. Iron golems and snow golems attack zombies without provocation.

Reinforcements
On all difficulty levels, damaged zombie mobs (including husks, drowned and zombified piglins) also call all other zombies within a 67×67×21 to 111×111×21 area centered on the attacked zombie to target the attacking player, like zombified piglins.

$1/120$, 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 9 or lower, 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.

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  is set to.

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
If a zombie's head 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.

The converted drowned keeps any items worn or held when it was a zombie. $7/600$, an empty-handed zombie converted to drowned has a small chance of holding a nautilus shell after conversion. Also in Bedrock Edition, 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.

Only normal zombies can become drowned; zombie villagers and zombified piglins cannot be converted. Husks, however, convert into zombies if they drown, and then this zombie converts into a drowned as does a normal zombie.

ID




Entity data
Zombie have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.

Trivia

 * Zombies, along with skeletons and creepers, are the oldest hostile mobs in the game that have not been removed. The oldest ever in the game is the human, which has been removed from the game entirely.
 * The Zombie is a playable DLC character in the crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an alternate costume for Steve.