Drowned are hostile, underwater variants of the zombie that were added to Minecraft as part of 1.13 - The Update Aquatic. They can spawn naturally in bodies of water such as oceans or rivers, or when a zombie is submerged underwater for 30 seconds.
Behavior
The drowned mob, much like other zombies, uses melee attacks, but can also kill the player at range if armed with a trident. They are recognizable by their zombie-like gurgling sounds. They also destroy turtle eggs, attack baby turtles, and chase and attack villagers, wandering traders, snow golems, and iron golems.
When a drowned is in water and it is day time, they will stay in the water until a player enters. They will not leave as they will end up burning in the sunlight, and will give up killing the player. However, they will stand with their upper bodies out of the water.
When in water, they will only swim if a player or villager is within range. If a player is not within sight range of a drowned in water, it will typically prefer to wander on the seafloor. When it sights a player this way, it will swim upwards towards the surface but won't fully emerge onto land in daylight. They can spawn with a trident, nautilus shell or a fishing rod, and can drop one if equipped. They also can drop rotten flesh and gold ingots.
It is also possible to find them in caves, provided there's a flowing water source nearby.
Drowned will break wooden doors in hard mode, and will attack villagers. Baby drowned will also have jockey variants.
Tips
Drowned that are not armed with a trident or fishing rod can be dealt with at range with a trident or bow. However, drowned that are armed with a trident are best fought at close range since it will not throw its trident at an opponent that is too close, though keep in mind that it will do higher melee damage than usual.
Drops
- 0-2 Rotten flesh
- Nautilus Shell (if in hand, can also drop when not)
- Trident (if in hand)
- Sponge (in Bedrock Edition)
- Gold ingot
- Fishing rod
Trivia
- The drowned was confirmed to have a rare drop which has now been stated to be nautilus shells. These can be seen being held in a drowned's left hand.
- The drowned's face texture looks somewhat like a skeleton's.
- They are immune to the damage caused by the Elder Guardian and guardian's thorns and lasers.
- Drowned are the first mobs to equip the trident.
- Interestingly enough, if a husk or zombie villager stays underwater for a while, they will turn into a regular zombie, which will then turn into a drowned.
- A drowned can hold both a trident and a nautilus shell, as the shell itself is held from its offhand.
- Drowned can only turn villagers into its regular zombie variant.
- Zombies that are converted into drowned won't spawn with any items unless they were holding it when they were a zombie. This includes armor.
- To make the Drowned's gurgling noise, the developers at Mojang used gurgled milk.
