Drowned

Drowned are common underwater zombie variants that spawn in oceans, rivers and dripstone caves, or when zombies drown. They usually attack through melee attacks, but may also come armed with tridents that they throw. They are the only source of tridents, and the only renewable source of copper.

Natural generation
Drowned spawn naturally at light level of 0 in all ocean biomes, aquifiers in the dripstone caves biome, and river biomes. They spawn at higher rates in rivers and dripstone caves than in ocean biomes.

$$, drowned spawn individually inside flowing water or source water that is 2 blocks or taller (this can include waterlogged blocks). In ocean biomes, drowned spawn at Y < 58, or at least 6 blocks below sea level; this restriction does not apply to rivers.

$$, drowned spawn in groups of 2–4 inside flowing water or source water of any depth, but they spawn at higher rates in water that is 2 blocks or taller. They spawn only on the surface that is on the highest spawnable block at any given X, Z coordinate. They count toward the monster population control cap and also have their own density caps of 5 in oceans and 2 in rivers.

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, creating a drowned chicken jockey. They are the only zombie variant within the game that cannot spawn naturally with any armor. The only way drowned can spawn with armor is if they used to be a zombie with armor. Their eyes give off a glow effect, but not any light levels.

Ocean ruins
Drowned spawn during the generation of certain ocean ruin structures. These drowned do not naturally despawn unless the world is set to Peaceful difficulty.

Conversion
If a zombie's head (not the legs) is submerged in water continuously for 30 seconds, it begins the process of converting to a drowned. It starts 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 becomes drowned. The drowned appears with full health even if the previous zombie did not.

$$ only, 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 transform, while zombie villagers and zombified piglin can not. For husks, they first transform into a regular zombie, and subsequently convert to a drowned in the usual fashion. The zombie that converted from a husk also always has full health even if converted from a damaged husk.

Drops
Drowned drop 0–2 after dying. The maximum drop is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 with Looting III.

Adult drowned drop 5 and an additional 1–3 per naturally-spawned equipment if killed by a player or tamed wolf. Baby drowned drop 12 and an additional 1–3 per naturally-spawned equipment if killed by a player or tamed wolf.

They can also drop:


 * 1 (11% chance, increased by 2% per Looting level) if killed by a player or tamed wolf.
 * 1, , , and/or.

Any picked-up equipment has a 100% chance of dropping, and drops without changing the damage that has accumulated on it.

If a drowned is able to pick up equipment and is wielding a trident, it can trade it's trident for a nautilus shell if it is not currently attacking anything.[Bedrock Edition only]

Naturally-spawned equipment
For naturally-spawned drowned:
 * Java Edition
 * Main hand (mutually exclusive):
 * 6.25% spawn with a . May be enchanted.
 * 3.75% spawn with a . May be enchanted.
 * Offhand:
 * 3% spawn with a in their offhand.

Only 6.25% (or 1 in 16) drowned spawn with tridents. Of these, they have an 8.5% chance to drop their trident when killed by a player. The chance is increased by 1% for each level of looting up to a max of 11.5% with Looting III. This means the overall chance of obtaining a trident from any given drowned is 0.53125% (about 1 in 188) or 0.71875% with looting III.

Nautilus shells always drop.

Converted drowned are never equipped with any items.

For naturally-spawned drowned:
 * Bedrock Edition
 * Main hand (mutually exclusive):
 * 15% spawn with a.
 * 0.85% spawn with a.
 * Offhand:
 * 8% spawn with a in the offhand.

Only 15% (or 3 in 20) drowned spawn with tridents. Of these, they have a 25% chance to drop their trident when killed by a player. This chance is increased by 4% for each level of looting up to a max of 37% with looting III. This means the overall chance of obtaining a trident from any given drowned is 3.75% (or 3 in 80) or 5.55% with looting III.

For converted drowned: Converted drowned are never equipped with tridents.
 * 1% spawn with a in the main hand.
 * 8% spawn with a in the offhand (same as naturally spawned drowned).

On Halloween, zombies may spawn wearing a carved pumpkin or jack o'lantern. They do not drop this, even when killed with Looting.

Farming
Farms that convert zombies into drowned produce all of naturally-spawned equipment dropped by zombies, as well as fishing rods, copper ingots, and (in Bedrock Edition) nautilus shells. A drowned farm must be designed to harvest naturally-spawned drowned to produce tridents in all game editions and nautilus shells in Java Edition.

Behavior
Drowned have a melee attack, and if they spawn with a trident, they use it as a ranged weapon. A trident is thrown every 1.5 seconds at up to 20 blocks away. Thrown tridents cannot be picked up by the player for the same reason skeleton-shot arrows cannot be picked up by the player. $$, drowned with tridents use a melee attack if the target is 3 blocks away or less.

They are always hostile toward axolotls, and like other zombie variants, they chase and attack villagers, wandering traders, snow golems, baby turtles and iron golems at night or in dark areas.

Drowned detect turtle eggs within 10 blocks in Bedrock Edition and 24 blocks in Java Edition. They stomp on turtle eggs until the eggs break. Drowned can even jump over a 1-block gap to reach a turtle egg successfully, even if the egg is raised 1 block higher than the gap.

If on land, drowned seek out nearby water. They sometimes step onto land but quickly return to the water.

During the day, drowned swim only 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 on land or in a boat. Drowned equipped with tridents continue throwing them at the player even after the player leaves the water, or gets a long distance away. At night or during thunderstorms, drowned swim to the surface and chase players as well as baby turtles, even outside the water, like regular zombies.

If a drowned kills a villager, either with a melee attack or with a trident, the villager has a chance of turning into a zombie villager (with a 0% chance on Easy, 50% on Normal, and 100% on Hard).

Drowned break down wooden doors in hard mode.

They are immune to guardians or elder guardians attacks. They also have a small chance to be immune to knockback when damaged.

Some drowned spawn with the ability to pick up loot that is on the ground. That includes armor and weapons or tools just like regular zombies. Unlike zombies however, they can also pick up tridents, which they always prefer over anything else. They also can pick it up and throw it the wrong way.

Drowned can be damaged by a fully-powered conduit within 8 blocks.

If one drowned gets attacked by another drowned's trident, the attacked drowned ignores it.

Swimming


Drowned 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 simply walk toward them. Drowned 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 using this animation. Also, if they hold a nautilus shell or anything else in their offhand, their arms are in the same posture as a player's. When attacking, they use the player's attacking animation. Still, they use the same swimming animation when tracking a player underwater.

Sounds
Drowned use the Hostile Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.



ID




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




 * See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.
 * See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Trivia

 * Drowned are not considered as aquatic mobs, instead, they are considered as undead, unaffected by Impaling enchantment.
 * A drowned chicken jockey floats 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.
 * $$, drowned have a 3D outer layer. This causes their heads and arms to look larger than $$ and causes rendering conflicts with armor, particularly helmets.
 * Like spiders and endermen, drowned have eyes that appear to glow, although they do not produce light.