Drowned

Drowned are common underwater zombie variants that spawn in oceans and rivers, or when zombies drown. They are the lone source of tridents.

Natural generation
Drowned spawn naturally at light level of 7 or less in all ocean biomes (except for warm ocean), aquifiers in the dripstone caves biome, and river biomes. They spawn at higher rates in rivers than in other 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, even after drowning as a zombie, 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.

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.

If a zombie is holding or wearing a picked-up item when it becomes drowned, it drops the item it is holding or wearing. Items spawned with the zombie drop with the normal 8.5% +1% per Looting level. $$ 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 zombie can transform, 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 husk also always has full health even if converted from 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.
 * 1 if held.
 * Any picked-up equipment if held/worn. Drops with the same damage level it had when picked up.
 * 1
 * 1 if killed by a player or tamed wolf.
 * Java Edition: 8.5% chance (up to 11.5% chance with Looting III), only for drowned that spawn with a trident. This means that the player has a 0.53% chance to receive a trident without Looting, and a 0.71% chance to receive a trident with Looting III. The trident has random durability.
 * Bedrock Edition: 25% chance (up to 37% chance with Looting III), only for drowned that spawn with a trident. This means that the player has a 3.75% chance to receive a trident without Looting, and a 5.55% chance to receive a trident with Looting III. The trident has random durability.

Naturally-spawned equipment
For naturally-spawned drowned: $$, converted drowned are never equipped with tridents or nautilus shells, although they can have fishing rods. The only way converted drowned can be equipped with tridents or nautilus shells is if the zombie they used to be was equipped with either.
 * Java Edition
 * Main hand (mutually exclusive):
 * 6.25% spawn with a.
 * 3.75% spawn with a.
 * Offhand: 3% of spawn with a in their offhand.

0.53125% (about 1 out of 188) naturally-spawned drowned drop a trident when killed without Looting, because only 6.25% (1 of 16) drowned spawn with tridents and from these, 8.5% drop the trident.

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.

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).

$$, 3.75% (3 out of 80) naturally-spawned drowned drop a trident when killed without Looting, because 15% (3 of 20) drowned spawn with tridents and from these, 25% drop the trident.

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 stomp on turtle eggs, attack baby turtles, and like zombies, they chase and attack villagers, wandering traders, snow golems and iron golems within 16 blocks.

If on land, drowned seek out nearby water. They sometimes step onto land but 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 the daytime, but becomes hostile again at night or during thunderstorms. However, it heads to the nearest water source when provided access once again and becomes hostile upon making contact.

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 leaving the water. 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. The speed of their swimming is equal to that of the player.

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 will ignore 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.

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.