Zombified Piglin

A Zombie Pigman is a mob that spawns naturally in the Nether and appears in the Overworld near nether portals. One can also be created when lightning strikes within 3-4 blocks of a pig, which is a very rare occurrence. Like wild wolves, Zombie Pigmen are not initially hostile, but all Zombie Pigmen in the area will converge on the player if a single Zombie Pigman is attacked. This only applies to the player; mobs that provoke Zombie Pigmen will only be attacked by that specific Zombie Pigman. In the Pocket Edition, they are automatically hostile. Their texture is also slightly different.

Behavior
Zombie Pigmen always spawn in groups of 4. However, groups can merge and form an even bigger group.They spawn twice as much as Ghasts in The Nether. When idle, Zombie Pigmen move relatively slowly, but when attacked their speed will significantly increase. Also be very wary of attacking one since all other zombie pigmen in a 32 block radius will be alarmed and also turn hostile towards you. They will be hostile towards you for a total 400 ticks + a value between 0 and 399 ticks. If you just simply observe them from 16 blocks away and wait they will become neutral again after 20 - 40 seconds. If provoked they will make an aggressive noise every 0 to 39 ticks. Zombie Pigmen sometimes catch fire during the day, but it is immediately extinguished. It is because a Zombie Pigman is actually a modified zombie, and zombies catch fire during daylight and die, while Zombie Pigmen are immune to fire. For some reason, this code did not get adjusted. Unlike zombies, Zombie Pigmen do not bang on or break doors (even when hostile), nor do they attack villagers.

Player Interaction

 * Pushing a Zombie Pigman off a cliff or otherwise causing environmental damage to them will not cause response.
 * If provoked, Zombie Pigmen will crowd around and try to get at the player.
 * An aggravated group of Pigmen is a force to be reckoned with, as each member will deal of damage to the player per sword hit (on Normal difficulty) and a player cannot outrun Zombie Pigmen without sprinting, using a Potion of Swiftness, or accessing a location which they cannot jump up to or strike the player with their Sword.
 * If a player finds him/herself trapped, it is possible to kill them with a Bow and Arrows or a Sword from this location without being hurt.
 * While in pursuit of the player, they act like pigs being led by carrots. They will not try to go around objects or traps to get to the player.
 * If the player enters a portal and returns, Zombie Pigmen he/she provoked will NOT eventually become neutral towards them and sometimes they can enter the portal and chase the player down.
 * Switching the difficulty to Peaceful will cause them to de-spawn completely and resets their neutrality in other difficulties.
 * Attacking a Zombie Pigman that spawns in the overworld will provoke Zombie Pigmen in the Nether. This can also happen the other way around if there is a Zombie Pigman already spawned in the overworld.
 * A player's death does not cause Zombie Pigmen to become neutral towards them, whether caused by the pigmen or not.
 * The range for enraging Zombie Pigmen vastly exceeds the range at which they will see and pursue you.
 * If the player is riding a pig when lightning hits it a Zombie Pigman will appear on top of the player.
 * Zombie Pigmen are capable of spawning adjacent to the bottom row of obsidian in the portal frame.
 * Zombie Pigmen are capable of drowning.
 * Zombie Pigmen CAN ride in minecarts, so if you decide to create a rail, it is likely that you'll see one riding in it.
 * Most Zombie Pigmen will gladly trade you their gold sword for a better one. However, in doing so the Zombie Pigman's attack will increase. It is highly advised that players DON'T drop their sword, for the Zombie Pigman will use it against the player.
 * After giving a Zombie Pigman a sword that's better than their own, you can "customize" the Pigman by giving it armor, enchanted or not. In the event you do customize your Zombie Pigman, it is advised that you change into creative mode, or keep them in a pen.

Appearance
Zombie Pigmen are humanoids covered with a mixture of pink flesh (like a pig's), and green, rotting flesh, with some bones visible. They wield a golden sword in their right hand, and wear a loincloth. Occasionally, the golden sword will have an enchantment on it, visible as a shimmering purple sheen.

On Halloween (October 31st), Zombie Pigmen have a chance of spawning with a Pumpkin (22.5%) or Jack 'o' Lantern (2.5%) equipped as headgear. If you want to see this on days other than Halloween, simply change your computer's clock to October 31st; the year or time is irrelevant.

In the Pocket Edition, Zombie Pigmen are missing their face (hat layer) and appear to have merely a dry skull for a head (see gallery). It is unknown whether it is a bug or if it's meant to happen.

Combat
To an unprepared or careless player, a charging group of Zombie Pigmen can mean a swift death. However, fighting Zombie Pigmen becomes feasible when you can manage which of them become hostile and which remain neutral. Zombie Pigmen attack on the basis of 'seeing is believing', meaning that they only become hostile when they see one of their own being attacked by the player. Once this happens, all Zombie Pigmen within a certain radius (32 blocks) become hostile, and will charge the player if they are within range. However, zombie pigmen close but outside of the 32 block range will become hostile to you when you approach them. This forces you to defend yourself against those Zombie Pigmen, therefore angering more zombie pigmen nearby. Since these mobs are quite common, a player may find themselves constantly in battles with zombie pigmen. Zombie Pigmen will also notice attacks through walls. The hostility radius is centered around the Zombie Pigman that was attacked, not the player, meaning that you can attack a far-away Zombie Pigman with a bow without nearby Zombie Pigmen becoming hostile (although this is not advisable).

By keeping these rules in mind, it is possible to safely pick off groups of Zombie Pigmen with a bow, or to kill isolated Zombie Pigmen, provided that the other members of the group are outside their aggressive range. This can be used to collect Gold Nuggets (50%) and Rotten Flesh (50%). The fact they drop gold nuggets is very useful if gold is not readily available and/or hard to find in your overworld, for 9 gold nuggets can be crafted into a Gold Ingot.

A way to kill them without great difficulty is to create a "booth" - a structure with four walls each three blocks tall, two of them (that must meet at a corner) having gaps at the second block up. A player can mine one block out of the bottom of one of the partial walls and attack a Zombie Pigman, then quickly go back inside and close the way in, then use strike-and-run tactics, running up to the walls with the gaps in them, hitting a Zombie Pigman, then running to the closed corner before it can retaliate, continuing until they are all dead. A bow or stone/iron/diamond sword speeds this process up significantly, the first by allowing the player just to sit in the closed corner and shoot, and the second by reducing the number of hits required. If possible, the booth should be made out of Cobblestone as this will make it invulnerable to Ghasts.

An easier tactic is to build a column three blocks high. From here, you can either hit Zombie Pigmen or shoot arrows. They will swarm you, as well as push you around, but you will not receive any damage as long as you remain on the column. A disadvantage is that Ghasts can shoot at you and set you on fire (made more dangerous in the Nether since water can't be placed there). It can possibly destroy your tower unless it is made of a type of stone, and ghast fireballs can also push you off.

Soul Sand slows down Zombie Pigmen considerably, allowing the player to escape or fight a crowd of them more easily. It can also be used to make a one way door by placing the Soul Sand in front of the side of the door you want to block (see below).

Zombie Pigmen, Skeletons and Zombies can be damaged by Splash Potions of Healing, and will be healed by Splash Potions of Harming. In addition, a sword enchanted with Smite will do extra damage to Zombie Pigmen. However, due to their fire resistance, swords enchanted with Fire Aspect will only do normal damage.

Another great way to deal with a pack of charging Zombie Pigmen is to either have a sword enchanted with Knockback, or to backpedal while attacking them, as they can outrun you if you don't sprint. This is not advisable since the Nether is full of sudden drops and lavafalls that can cause you harm.

An entertaining tactic is to build a bunker with walls composed of diagonally adjacent cacti, throw a snowball from inside, and watch as your target and all their nearby friends beat themselves to death against the cacti. However, this tactic will only yield gold nuggets unless you add in a few attacks of your own, and it's imperative that you take precautions against a pigman climbing over any 1-high cacti in the wall. You can also simply seed an area commonly traveled by zombie pigmen with a few cacti, which (slowly) thins the numbers and creates the odd nugget.

If Zombie Pigmen often spawn near a cliff, you can dig a three-block-deep tunnel into the cliff, with a Soul Sand one-way gate, and a tunnel with a door for you to use. The Pigmen will swarm the entrance but be unable to enter, and you can stand just outside their attack range and kill them with a sword or bow. Beware: sometimes, when you hit a Pigman, he will bounce oddly and penetrate the gate, especially if others are crowding behind him. This same type of fortress can be made with a 5x5 floating roof surrounded by the sand barrier, but this leaves you exposed to Ghasts and also allows the Pigmen to "ping-pong" you if you get dislodged from the center square.

Farming


Since Zombie Pigmen spawn in the Nether and in Nether Portals in the Overworld, you can build a Zombie Pigman farm in either dimension which provides a steady stream of Gold Nuggets. Additionally, you can obtain Gold Ingots and Gold Swords as rare drops.

To construct a farm in the Nether, build platforms for Zombie Pigmen to spawn on, with trapdoors on the edge, and place Slabs on the floors of all surrounding areas (or just fill them in) so Pigmen only spawn on your platforms. You can then use Lava flows to collect the Zombie Pigmen into a central area.

To build a farm in the Overworld, construct a rectangular prism of interlocking Nether Portals (to save Obsidian) and put open Trapdoors on the edges of the two bottom Obsidian blocks so that the Zombie Pigmen walk off. From here, you can use Water to collect the Zombie Pigmen into a fall or suffocation trap.

Using a fall trap has the benefit of automation, but with a suffocation trap, you are able to use pistons to control the amount of damage to the Pigmen. This way, you can obtain rare drops by killing the Pigmen yourself, perhaps with a Looting III enchantment.

History
The green liquid in the Zombie Pigman skin was originally blood red, but this was changed because players expressed a preference for the lack of conventional blood and gore in Minecraft. The skin file has "thx xaphobia" written on it as a credit by Notch to the skin's original creator, XaPhobia, also known as X__x.

Zombie Pigmen were originally presented as unarmed passive creatures in a preview before the Halloween Update.

Bugs
(possibly not a bug, as this may be to increase realism)
 * In multiplayer, if the server has monsters disabled and a pig is struck by lightning, it may result in a glitched Zombie Pigman object that behaves similar to the client-side TNT glitch; it can be passed through, does not move or obey physics, and cannot be hit.
 * As of 12w36a, if a lightning bolt hits a pig and turns it into a Zombie Pigman, it will spawn without a sword.
 * If a Zombie Pigman is found in lava, the sword it holds will appear enchanted; however, the glow will disappear upon the Zombie Pigman entering land.
 * In the 13w17a snapshot, hitting a zombie pigman may spawn a zombie like with zombie. This is again caused by the fact that they both share code.

Trivia

 * Zombie Pigmen are mostly immune to lava and fire, but they can take damage from lava because it does not prevent fall damage like water does. Therefore, if they float in place long enough, they can accumulate enough fall damage that they simply die the moment they touch any surface, including land and the bottom of the lava lake or stream.
 * It is possible to use Zombie Pigmen as a shield to block Ghast fireballs, just as you could use neutral or passive mobs to block skeleton arrows in the Overworld. This method can also be used to easily obtain a Gold Nugget without ever turning Zombie Pigmen hostile to you.
 * Oddly enough, Zombie Pigmen do not swing their arms when they hit a target, unlike Zombies and Wither Skeletons.
 * If you drop a pumpkin you've been wearing after being killed by or near a Zombie Pigman, it can occasionally be seen wearing the pumpkin on its head. This also occurs with other items including armor and weapons.
 * A direct hit by a Ghast's fireball will cause a Zombie Pigman to run directly towards the Ghast and attempt to attack it, should it survive the explosion. This behavior has only been observed if the Ghast is touching the ground, usually occurring when the Ghast spawns under a low ceiling. This is likely because Zombie Pigmen cannot find a path to an airborne Ghast. However, only the Zombie Pigman which was hit by the fireball will attack the Ghast, nearby Zombie Pigmen will not change their behavior.
 * Since Ghast noises travel exceedingly far, it is a common misconception that Zombie Pigmen make the high-pitched whines that actually belong to Ghasts.
 * You can hear their sound effects of them being angry far away and even all the way down to the bedrock layer, like thunder.
 * Like all mobs, Zombie Pigmen can climb up ladders and attack the player while doing so; however, they will not use this to their advantage, and only use a ladder if it is right in front of them.
 * The Zombie Pigman's armor has no durability (i.e. cannot be damaged). Two points of armor gives 8% damage reduction from most sources. This means that you need to deal  physical damage to kill a Zombie Pigman.
 * Zombie Pigmen will turn hostile towards the player even when hit by "non-harmful" projectiles such as eggs, ender pearls and snowballs.
 * 50% of Zombie Pigmen will drop a Gold Nugget.
 * If shot by a skeleton, only the Zombie Pigman shot will attack it.
 * On Halloween Zombie Pigmen sometimes spawn with pumpkins or Jack 'o' Lanterns on their heads.
 * Zombie pigman spawners cannot be disabled with torches or any light. They will spawn in any light level.
 * You can teleport a Zombie Pigman by pushing it into the Nether Portal, just like any other mob.
 * 1.4.6 Pigs turned into zombie pigmen via lightning in the overworld will not wield golden swords, but if spawned with a spawn egg they will wield their gold swords in the overworld.
 * In Minecraft Pocket Edition Zombie pigmen will die in Sunlight like any other Zombie.
 * Zombie pigmen that remained from the Nether Reactor will despawn when the player leaves them.
 * When a sword is dropped near a Zombie Pigman they will occasionally drop their sword (but only if their sword is enchanted) and replace it with the one dropped.
 * If a Pigman Wears a mob Head, it will only show on the "zombie" side of his face.
 * Zombie Pigmen are one of the three mobs that carry a weapon by default, the other two being the Skeleton and the Wither Skeleton.
 * Despite having a similar mess-with-one-mess-with-all mechanic, hitting a Zombie in the presence of zombie pigmen will not anger them.
 * If you leave the Nether (including by dying), enraged Zombie Pigmen will stay angry forever, even after you return. Do not let this happen if the pigmen can reach your portal, as this will result in them effectively spawn-camping you.
 * Zombie Pigman are immune against lightning.
 * Villagers will be scared of Zombie Pigmen. If a Zombie Pigman is close to a Villager, the Villager will run away from the Zombie Pigman. However, Zombie Pigmen won't chase them.
 * When riding a minecart, a hostile Zombie Pigman can slowly move the minecart by itself along the rail while trying to chase the player.
 * The pigmen in the pocket edition and the baby pigmen hacked in with third-party software are missing the face layer, which is the pig part, and just have a skull. These are likely bugs.
 * Zombie Pigmen DO burn in sunlight, however they are immune to fire which means that they don't take damage from it.