Drowned

"We're sorry. We're so so sorry. Our upcoming Update Aquatic ... was meant to be a pleasant experience for our players. A joyous dip into a wet and wonderful new ocean, overflowing with joy, smiles and laughter! Nothing could be further from the truth. Because something is down in those murky depths with you. Lurking beneath the surface, below the delightful dolphins, the colourful coral, the terrific tropical fish, awaits a new danger.  Reader, I sincerely hope you never Meet the Drowned."

- Tom Stone

Drowned are common underwater zombie variants that spawn in bodies of water or when a zombie drowns. They are also currently the only source of tridents.

Natural generation
Drowned will naturally spawn at light level of 7 or less in ocean biomes (all variants except warm ocean but including deep warm ocean), river (and frozen river), and swamp biomes. They spawn throughout a body of water. In ocean biomes, drowned will only spawn at a height less than 5 blocks below sea level; this restriction does not apply to rivers. Drowned will also spawn at higher rates in rivers than in other biomes.

Drowned have a chance to spawn with either a trident or a fishing rod, and occasionally with a nautilus shell. They also have a small chance of spawning while riding a chicken, even after drowning as a zombie, creating a drowned chicken jockey. This is the only zombie counterpart within the game that cannot spawn naturally with any armor.

Conversion
If a zombie is not in a boat, and its head is submerged in water continuously for 30 seconds, it begins the process of converting to a drowned. Once this happens, it will start shaking, similar to the effect seen while a zombie villager is being cured. At this point the process cannot be stopped, and 15 seconds later the zombie will turn into a drowned.

If a zombie is holding or wearing an item when it becomes a drowned, it will drop the item it is holding or wearing, 100% of the time if it had picked the item up, or the normal 8.5% +1% per looting level if it spawned with the item naturally. Zombie villagers do not transform, and husks will not transform instantly; instead, they transform into a regular zombie as a midway point.

Drops
Drowned drop when they die:
 * 5 s if killed by the player or a tamed wolf (12 if it is a baby drowned).
 * 0–2.
 * 0–1 if killed by the player (small chance).
 * 0–1 if killed by the player (3.7% chance each, 4% chance with Looting I, 4.3% chance with Looting II and 4.7% chance with Looting III). In Java Edition, only naturally-spawned drowned can drop a trident.
 * 0–1 if held in the off-hand.
 * Any picked-up equipment has 100% chance of dropping and will drop with the same damage level it had when picked up.

Naturally-spawned equipment

 * Java Edition and Legacy Console Editions
 * For naturally-spawned drowned only, not zombies converted to drowned:
 * 6.25% of drowned will spawn with a.
 * 3.75% of drowned will spawn with a.
 * 3% of drowned will spawn with a in their offhand.
 * Drowned have an 8.5% chance of dropping their naturally-spawned equipment, and will drop it with a random durability. Each level of Looting will increase the chance 1 percentage point (11.5 % with Looting III).
 * Converted drowned are never equipped with tridents or nautilus shells in Java Edition.
 * Drowned will always drop equipment in their offhand.

Both naturally-spawned and converted drowned spawn with the same equipment:
 * Bedrock and PS4 editions
 * 15% of drowned will spawn with a.
 * 0.85% of drowned will spawn with a.
 * 8% of drowned will spawn with a in their offhand.
 * The trident and fishing rod are mutually exclusive, but drowned can spawn with both a nautilus shell and a trident or fishing rod.
 * Drowned have an 8.5% chance of dropping their equipment in their main hand, and will drop it with a random durability. Each level of Looting will increase the chance 1 percentage point (11.5 % with Looting III).
 * Drowned will always drop equipment in their offhand.
 * It is possible for a drowned to drop both its naturally-spawned trident and a second trident as one of its standard drops (0.3145% chance, 0.38% chance with Looting I, 0.4515% chance with Looting II, and 0.5405% chance with Looting III).

Farming
In all editions, farms that convert zombies to drowned will produce the usual zombie drops. In Bedrock Edition, such a farm also produces tridents and nautilus shells. In Java Edition, a drowned farm must be designed to harvest naturally-spawned drowned to produce tridents and nautilus shells.

Behavior
Drowned have a melee attack, and if they spawn with a trident, they will use it as a ranged weapon. The trident is thrown every 1.5 seconds at up to 40 blocks away and will not be enchanted. It is not consumed, even when it is not enchanted with Loyalty. In the Legacy Console Edition and Bedrock Edition, drowned with tridents will use a melee attack if the target is 3 blocks away or less. They will stomp on turtle eggs, attack baby turtles, and like zombies will chase and attack villagers, wandering traders and iron golems. If on land, drowned will seek out nearby water. They will sometimes step onto land, but will quickly return to the water. If a drowned is in any way removed by force from the water, and all nearby water sources have been blocked from it, it becomes passive in daytime. However, it will head to the nearest water source when provided access once again and becomes hostile upon making contact.

During the day, drowned only swim to attack players that are swimming in the water with them; otherwise, they stay on the floor of the water body they are in, ignoring players that are on land or in a boat. However, at night, drowned swim to the surface and will chase players as well as baby turtles, even outside the water, like regular zombies. The speed of their swimming is equal to that of the player.

If a drowned kills a villager with a thrown trident, the villager has a chance of turning into a zombie villager.

Drowned in Legacy Console, PS4 and Bedrock Editions use a swimming animation similar to the player. They use this animation whenever they try to pathfind to a player that is either below or above them, if the player is on the same ground level, the drowned will simply walk towards them. Drowned will also use this animation if they are tracking a player while they are not standing on a solid block. Their hitbox does not change when doing this animation. Also, if they hold a nautilus shell or anything else in their offhand, their arms will be in the posture the same as a player’s. When attacking, it uses the player’s attacking animation. Still, it uses the same swimming animation when tracking a player underwater.

Drowned, furthermore, do not break down doors in hard mode.

Data values
Drowned have entity data associated with them that contain various properties of the mob.

Trivia

 * Drowned are the only aquatic mobs that are considered undead.
 * A drowned chicken jockey will float to the surface because the chicken it is riding floats, causing the drowned riding it to burn in sunlight during the day, resulting in a chicken in the middle of the ocean or river where the drowned jockey spawned in.
 * Drowned are immune to damage from the lasers and thorns of Guardians and Elder Guardians.
 * In Bedrock Edition, drowned have a 3D outer layer. This causes their heads and arms to look larger than on the Java Edition.
 * Like spiders and endermen, they also have eyes that appear to emit a light blue glow.
 * They are found anytime in oceans and rivers, but only at night in swamps.