Zombie

A zombie is a common undead hostile mob that deals melee damage and is a source of rotten flesh, which it drops upon death.

Spawning

Natural generation

Zombies may spawn in the Overworld in groups of four in Java Edition or in groups of 2-4 in Bedrock Edition above solid blocks in a light level of 0, except in mushroom fields and deep dark biomes. In Bedrock Edition, zombies also do not spawn in rivers, frozen rivers, and snowy plains. All zombie variants (including babies) require a 2-block tall space to spawn.

Zombies spawned in desert biomes exposed to the sky have a likelihood of 80%‌^{[JE only]}/70%‌^{[BE only]} to be replaced by husks. Zombies that are not husks or drowned have a 5% chance to spawn as zombie villagers. Zombies have a 5% chance to spawn as babies. Baby zombies then have a 4.75% chance of spawning as chicken jockeys,‌^{[JE only]} or a 15% chance to be able to ride certain mobs‌^{[BE only]}.

Zombies and their variants spawn with random values of knockback resistance between 0% and 5%.

Sieges

If a player is near a village at midnight, up to 20 zombies may be spawned in the village in accordance with mob spawning rules. The spawning can even happen in a mushroom fields biome if the triggering player is in an adjacent biome. Zombies spawned as a part of a siege are always regular zombies; zombie villagers, husks and drowned never spawn as a part of a siege, even in their respective biomes.

Monster spawners

Inside monster rooms, zombies may have a chance to spawn from a monster spawner. Zombie monster spawners are found in 50% of monster rooms. Zombies spawned from a monster spawner never spawn as zombie villagers.

Trial spawners

Adult zombies have a ¹⁄₃ chance to be selected as the "melee" mob for trial spawners in trial chambers.

Baby zombies have a ¹⁄₄ chance to be selected as the "small melee" mob for trial spawners.

Conversion

When a husk or frostbite's​^{[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026]} head is submerged in water for over 30 seconds, the husk or frostbite starts transforming into a zombie, with a new entity UUID. The husk or frostbite's equipment remains on the zombie after conversion.‌^{[JE only]} The zombie further transforms into a drowned if its head remains submerged, or (back) into a frostbite if it then enters and remains in powdered snow for 30 seconds. A drowned will convert into a zombie if it stands in powdered snow for 30 seconds.

Zombie horsemen

When a zombie horse spawns naturally, it always spawns with a zombie rider holding an iron spear. The zombie rider can be an adult or a baby, and may also spawn wearing armor.

Variants

Baby zombies

Baby zombies make up 5% of zombie spawns. They behave similarly to regular zombies, with the following differences:

• They are much faster than normal zombies, yet they have the same health.
• The noises they make are higher-pitched than adult zombie sound effects.
• Worn armor shrinks to fit their body size.
• They are able to fit through 1×1 block gaps.
• They give 12 experience points when killed by the player or a tamed wolf instead of 5.
• Unlike most other baby mobs, they remain babies indefinitely and never become adult zombies, therefore golden dandelions do not work.
• They have a decreased hitbox size.

Jockeys

In Java Edition, most baby zombies (except ones spawned from a baby husk or frostbite​^{[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026]} converting when submerged in water or a baby husk converting when submerged in powder snow) have a chance to spawn as a chicken jockey. In a chicken-free environment, each baby has a 4.75% chance of spawning as a chicken jockey, for a total 0.2375% chance for each spawned zombie to spawn as a chicken jockey; if chickens are present, the chance increases to 0.4875%.

In Bedrock Edition, 15% of naturally spawned baby zombies can mount certain mobs and become a jockey after they spawn. A jockey mob ridden by a baby zombie adapts to the speed of its rider. A baby zombie can ride:

Drops

On death

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Taken equipment

When a zombie dies, all of its picked-up equipment drops without changing the damage that has accumulated on it in Java Edition. In Bedrock Edition, the armor's durability is still vulnerable to attacks, as if a player is wearing it.

Naturally-spawned equipment

Zombies have an 8.5% chance of dropping their naturally-spawned equipment (except Halloween carved pumpkins and jack o'lanterns)‌^{[Java Edition only]} with a random durability. Each level of Looting increases the chance by 1 percentage point (11.5% with Looting III). In Java Edition, they cannot drop the diamond swords or trimmed armor that they occasionally wield/wear during ominous trials. These items include:

• Iron Shovel (sometimes enchanted)
• Iron Sword (sometimes enchanted)
• Iron Spear (sometimes enchanted)
• Diamond Sword (in ominous trials)‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}
• Random Armor (sometimes enchanted, made from leather, copper, gold, chainmail, iron or diamond)

Additionally, in Bedrock Edition, all naturally spawned equipment always drops at full durability when the zombie converts to a drowned.

Experience

Adult zombies drop 5XP and baby zombies drop 12XP when they are killed by a player or a tamed wolf. Any zombie that spawns with equipment drops an additional 1–3XP per item.

Behavior

Attacking

Attacking the player

Zombies pursue the player on sight from 35 blocks away, raising their arms up higher in Java Edition. The detection range of zombies is reduced to half of their normal range (17.5 blocks) while the player wears a zombie head. In Java Edition, if a zombie sees a player and a villager together, the zombie prefers to attack the player, and continues chasing the player while ignoring other villagers. In Bedrock Edition, zombies prioritize the nearest player, villager, or golem.

Zombies periodically make groaning sounds, which can be heard up to 16 blocks away. Zombies attempt to avoid obstacles, including fall damage, fire, lava, magma blocks, and cactus and try to find the shortest path toward the player.^[1] Unlike skeletons, zombies do not try to avoid being hit and continue to pursue the player even when being attacked.

Attacking turtles

Zombies attack baby turtles and actively seek out and destroy turtle eggs within 24 blocks horizontally and 3 blocks vertically, by jumping on them until they crack and break.

Attacking golems

Zombies pursue and attack only iron golems within 42 blocks; zombies ignore snow golems unless attacked. Iron golems and snow golems attack zombies without provocation, although snow golems deal only knockback to zombies with their snowballs.

Attacking villagers

Zombies target villagers within a 35- to 52.5-block radius (depending on regional difficulty in Java Edition) or just 35-block radius in Bedrock Edition, and they can always see villagers through walls. If a zombie is attacking a villager and sees the player, it interrupts its attack on the villager to attack the player instead, even if the player has not attacked it.‌^{[JE only]} Once a zombie has targeted a villager, the zombie ignores any other villagers and the player, until its target is dead, the zombie is attacked or the player moves too close to the zombie.‌^{[BE only]}

Any zombie variant can transform a villager into a zombie villager. The probability depends on the difficulty:

• 0% chance in Peaceful (no zombies spawn) and Easy
• 50% chance in Normal
• 100% chance in Hard

Attacking wandering traders

Zombies target wandering traders within 35 blocks and can see traders through walls. The zombie focuses solely on the trader unless it is attacked, or if either it or the target is killed or moved out of range, or if the trader is under the Invisibility status effect.

Weapon damage

A zombie holding a weapon adds the weapon's damage to its normal melee damage. For example, a zombie holding an iron shovel on Normal difficulty deals 3HP from its punch + 3.5HP × 1.75 from the shovel for a total of 6.5HP × 3.25. (it should be noted that, in Java Edition, damage values shown when hovering over weapons in the inventory include the player's 1HP base melee damage, so an iron shovel shows up as 4.5HP × 2.25; subtracting 1 gives the actual weapon's damage.) The zombie's weapon damage is scaled by difficulty: if the zombie would deal X damage on Normal, it deals 1.5X on Hard and 0.5X + 1 on Easy. For example, a zombie with an iron shovel deals 1.5×6.5 = 9.75HP × 4.875 on Hard and 0.5×6.5 + 1 = 4.25HP × 2.125 on Easy. Enchantments add their damage as normal before difficulty scaling.

Using spears

Zombies wielding spears have different attacking behavior. When attacking, they use the spear's charge attack while moving toward their target. They hold the charge through its full duration, using all 3 stages. Once the charge attack has ended or they get too close to their target, they walk away to increase the distance between them and their target before turning around to begin another charge. If a zombie accidentally damages a neutral or hostile mob (except goats) with a spear's charge attack, the mob retaliates and attacks that zombie.

Burning under daylight

Zombies burn when exposed to direct sunlight starting 27 seconds (540 ticks) before the beginning of a new day. Burning is suppressed when the zombie is:

• under an area with a sunlight level of 14 or less
• in water
• wearing head armor (the helmet has a 50% chance to lose 1 durability for every tick the zombie would normally be set on fire)
• under the status effect of Fire Resistance
• standing in cobwebs^[2]

Transparent blocks, such as glass, do not prevent them from burning.

If they attack an entity while burning, they may set it on fire, with a (30 × regional difficulty)% chance and with a 2 × floor(regional difficulty) second duration‌^{[JE only]}.

Mob type

Being an undead mob, they are:

• Damaged by the status effect Instant Health and healed by the status effect Instant Damage.
• Unaffected by the status effects Regeneration and Poison.
• Ignored by the wither.
• Affected by the Smite enchantment.
• A threat to armadillos, causing them to hide in their shell.

As they are undead and do not grow up, golden dandelions do not work on baby zombies.

Picking up items

Some zombies spawn with the ability to pick up dropped items from the ground in Normal and Hard difficulty, with the chance being higher in the latter. In Java Edition, zombies pick up items that they happen to walk near. In Bedrock Edition, they actively search for and walk toward dropped items.

Standard zombies can pick up all items except for glow ink sacs. Chicken jockey riders also cannot pick up any variant of an egg.

If the picked up item is armor, the zombie equips the armor into its respective armor slot. Carved pumpkins and heads are worn on their heads, and elytra are worn in the their chestplate slot. If the picked up item is a shield, the zombie equips it to their offhand. It cannot use the shield to block incoming attacks, however.

If a zombie encounters another similar item, it may drop the previous item in favor of the new one if:

• both items are armor/weapons and the new item is better damage-wise (reduces higher damage for armor, or inflicts more damage for weapons) without considering enchantments,
• both items are armor/weapons with the same damage reduction/infliction, the new item has NBT tags while the old does not‌^{[JE only]} or the new item is less damaged than the old item

Items dropped by mobs in exchange for another cannot be picked up by players or mobs for 10 game ticks (0.5 seconds, barring lag), but can be picked up by hoppers.

A zombie equipped with a picked-up item becomes persistent and does not despawn, similar to being named.

Picked-up items do not cause the zombie to drop more experience when killed, unlike naturally-spawned gear.

In Bedrock Edition, due to a bug, zombies, as well as husks, zombie villagers, and drowned can also wear horse armor, nautilus armor, and wolf armor.^[3]

Geared zombies

Some zombies spawn wearing armor or holding weapons, both of which may be enchanted. In addition, zombies may also spawn with the ability to pick up loot that is on the ground. The chances of each of these events occurring are listed below. If a zombie spawns wearing multiple pieces of armor, all pieces will be made of the same material. Zombies cannot naturally spawn with netherite armor.

If a zombie does spawn with armor, the chances of specific armor are as follows:

The chances of it being of a particular material are:

In Java Edition, the armor is not damaged by any damage source; it cannot "wear out" the way player armor does. Helmets (not blocks like carved pumpkins) on zombies can break if the zombie is exposed to daylight. In Bedrock Edition, any armor piece is damaged as if the player is wearing it.

Zombies also have a natural armor rating of 2 (), giving 1.6 to 8% damage reduction from most sources. Zombies can also wear mob heads, although they need to be dropped by the player before the zombie can pick one up and put it on.

On Halloween, zombies in Java Edition may spawn wearing a carved pumpkin or jack o'lantern. They are never dropped, even when the zombies are killed with Looting.

Breaking doors

Up to 10% of zombies (depending on regional difficulty in Java Edition) in pursuit of a target can pathfind through closed wooden and copper doors, and on Hard difficulty can succeed in breaking them down. Zombies can break only the top half of a door, meaning they cannot break a door if they are facing the bottom half.

It takes approximately 10 seconds for a zombie to break a door, regardless of the door's type. The process is not sped up if the zombie has Haste or holds an appropriate tool, and it is not slowed down if the zombie has Mining Fatigue.

Reinforcements

On all difficulty levels, damaged zombie mobs (including zombie villagers, husks, drowned, and zombified piglins) call all other zombie mobs of the same type within a 67×21×67 to 111×21×111 area^{[n 1]} centered on the attacked zombie to target the attacker.

In Hard difficulty, zombie mobs can spawn additional zombie mobs of the same type to "help" when damaged while targeting a player or other entity. Each mob has a random chance ranging from 0–10% to call reinforcements, and leader zombie mobs get a bonus of 50–75 percentage points. Unlike other zombie variants, only leader zombified piglins can spawn reinforcements.^[4]

When the mob is damaged by an entity or is damaged while targeting an entity, up to 50 attempts are made to randomly choose a spawn location (0 or ±7–40 blocks away in all three axes) that is above a block with a solid top surface, has light level 0, has no players within 7 blocks, and has no colliding entities or blocks at which to spawn the reinforcement. They spawn on the north-west corner of the designated block, instead of the center of the block like natural mob spawning does.^[5] Meaning that they can spawn inside blocks which the natural spawning rules would not allow, but their hitbox may not be intersecting the block's hitbox. This allows them to spawn inside chain or bars. Additionally the designated block cannot be a non-solid block that would prevent usual mob spawning like redstone dust or pressure plates. Reinforcements can spawn even in biomes where the mob cannot spawn naturally, like mushroom fields, the End, and the Nether^[6].

When a zombie generates reinforcements, the chance of it generating another reinforcement decreases by 5%. Therefore, a normal zombie can generate directly 1 or 2 reinforcements, and a leader between 11 and 17 reinforcements. A zombie spawned by a reinforcement has a −5% bonus to generating reinforcements, therefore the initial chance of a zombie generating reinforcements is 0–5% for a normal zombie and 45‐80% for a leader zombie. The "reinforcement callee charge" bonus is not cumulative; that is, a zombie spawned by reinforcement from a zombie spawned by reinforcement receives a −5% bonus, not a −10% bonus.

Additionally, reinforcements do not spawn at all, even on Hard difficulty, if the game rule spawn_mobs is set to false. Reinforcements spawn regardless of the hostile mob cap. Mobs spawned as reinforcements are the same type of zombie^[7] (i.e. zombie villagers call upon other zombie villagers) but they can be babies, including chicken jockeys. They also respect spawning requirements for the specific zombie type, meaning husk reinforcements can spawn only under the sky, drowned reinforcements may spawn only in water, and zombified piglin reinforcements cannot spawn on Nether wart blocks.

Mobs spawned by reinforcements can spawn armor and equipment, as leader, as well as chicken jockey, but not as zombie nautilus jockey or camel husk jockey.

This behavior is controlled by the attribute spawn_reinforcements.

Leader

Leader zombies are a special type of zombie that spawns with between 20HP × 10 to 80HP × 40 extra health (on top of the base zombie health), and an extra 50–75% chance to spawn reinforcements. The chance of a leader spawning increases with clamped regional difficulty. On Easy, they do not spawn. On Normal and Hard mode, they have up to a 5% chance of spawning.

Conversion

If a zombie's head is submerged in water for 30 seconds, it begins converting into a drowned. The zombie shakes, similar to a zombie villager being cured and, after 15 seconds, the zombie becomes drowned. Once this process starts, it cannot be stopped even if the zombie leaves water. This time is not affected by the Respiration enchantment or the Water Breathing status effect.

Similarly, a zombie stuck in powder snow for 22 seconds begins converting into a frostbite​^{[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026]}.

A newly-converted drowned always has full health even if converted from a damaged zombie, which can cause a zombie to convert into a full-health drowned during its death animation.

An item being held or worn by a zombie when it is converted, whether it was picked up or naturally spawned, has a 100% drop rate, which includes any naturally spawned equipment dropping with full durability.‌^{[BE only]}

Only normal zombies can become drowned; zombie villagers and zombified piglins cannot be converted.^[8] Husks and frostbites​^{[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026]}, however, convert into zombies if they drown, and then they convert into a drowned as does a normal zombie. Any husks that convert into zombies also have full health, even if the drowned husk is damaged.

Jockey

15% of nearby baby zombies, baby husks, gurgles, or baby frostbites​^{[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026]} may ride an adult zombie to form a jockey.

Sounds

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Entity data

Zombies have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements

Achievements that apply to all mobs:

Advancements

Advancements that apply to all mobs:

History

Mention and teaser

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Legacy Console Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

Data history

Issues

Issues relating to "Zombie" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• Zombie sounds were created by Daniel Rosenfeld (aka C418) gurgling into a microphone when he had a flu.^[25]
• Although zombies bear a noticeable resemblance to Steve, there is no inherent implication. Instead it is meant for fans to interpret and speculate on.^[26]

Publicity

• The zombie is a playable DLC character in the crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an alternate costume for Steve.

Gallery

Renders

Targeting

• 
  Zombie
• 
  Baby zombie

Jockeys

• 
  Chicken Jockey
• 
  Adult Zombie Jockey
• 
  Adult Husk Jockey
• 
  Adult Zombified Piglin Jockey (pre-Tiny Takeover)
• 
  Pig Jockey
• 
  Cow Jockey
• 
  Mooshroom Jockey
• 
  Sheep Jockey
• 
  Wolf Jockey
• 
  Ocelot Jockey
• 
  Stray Cat Jockey
• 
  Horse Jockey
• 
  Panda Jockey
• 
  Baby Zombie Spider Jockey
• 
  Baby Zombie Cave Spider Jockey

Equipped

• 
  Leather Armored
• 
  Copper Armored
• 
  Gold Armored
• 
  Chainmail Armored
• 
  Iron Armored
• 
  Diamond Armored
• 
  Netherite Armored
• 
  A zombie wielding an iron sword
• 
  A zombie wielding an iron shovel
• 
  A zombie wielding an iron spear

Screenshots

• 
  Zombies with three different armor types
• 
  A zombie holding cyan wool
• 
  A zombie emerging from a cave
• 
  Player, zombie and husk size comparison
• 
  Dying zombie mob in Bedrock Edition
• 
  Dying zombie mob in Java Edition
• 
  A zombie standing behind a wooden door
• 
  Zombie trying to break through a door of a village house
• 
  A zombie horde that spawned outside a village hammering at a door during a zombie siege
• 
  A zombie wielding an iron shovel doing its attack animation
• 
  A zombie spawned in a jungle temple
• 
  A large horde of zombies and an iron golem
• 
  Naturally armored zombies
• 
  An armored zombie that picked up a stick as a melee weapon
• 
  Zombies wearing pumpkins on Halloween
• 
  A zombie wearing a player head
• 
  A zombie holding a diamond hoe and full gold armor
• 
  Zombies attacking in Bedrock Edition^[27]
• 
  Noor fighting several zombies with a mace
• 
  A baby zombie riding a spider

Historical screenshots

• 
  A baby zombie "wearing" a jack o'lantern on its head on Halloween. This glitch no longer happens
• 
  The same glitch with a baby zombie wearing a carved pumpkin

Mojang screenshots

• 
  A large amount of zombies holding and wearing blocks
• 
  A baby zombie riding a cow
• 
  A baby zombie riding a wolf
• 
  A baby zombie riding a zombie
• 
  Several Bedrock Edition-exclusive jockeys
• 
  A skeleton and zombie in a cave
• 
  A zombie breaking down a door
• 
  Noor fighting many zombies in a dripstone cave
• 
  Many zombies around a sheared pink sheep
• 
  Ditto
• 
  A meme
• 
  A zombie and a baby zombie

Historical Mojang screenshots

• 
  First image of a baby zombie released by Dinnerbone
• 
  Baby zombie with broken armor model
• 
  A huge amount of zombies
• 
  First image of armed and armored zombies released by Dinnerbone
• 
  A zombie holding a piece of white wool^[11]

Textures

• 
  Zombie texture file
• 
  Baby zombie texture file
• 
  Programmer Art zombie texture file

In other media

Official media

• 
  Artwork of a baby zombie used for Hour of AI
• 
  A zombie chasing Sunny out of a cave
• 
  Artwork of a zombie
• 
  Animation of undead mobs walking on snow, including zombies
• 
  A Zombie in promotional artwork for the first Caves & Cliffs update
• 
  Zombies in promotional artwork for the second Caves & Cliffs update
• 
  Makena getting startled by a zombie head placed by Efe
• 
  Several zombies surrounding Efe and Ari in a stronghold library
• 
  A baby zombie greeting Efe on Halloween^[28]
• 
  A social media rendering of a slightly retextured zombie latching onto iron bars outside of Kai’s house^[29]
• 
  Zombie Base Concept art for Minecraft Earth from The World of Minecraft
• 
  World Kindness Day artwork
• 
  Baby zombie in front of 3 garage doors
• 
  Zombie photo in a yearbook
• 
  Z.B. is calling
• 
  A zombie as seen in A Minecraft Movie
• A zombie walk-to-run cycle made for The Copper Age trailer

Merchandise

• 
  City Texture Pack
• 
  Greek Mythology Mash-Up Pack
• 
  Halloween Mash-Up Pack
• 
  Zombie in a Suit, a skin featured in the Battle & Beasts Skin Pack
• 
  Official zombie action figure made by JINX
• 
  "Monster Hunter Icons," a blanket featuring a zombie
• 
  "Sun's Down, Zombies Around," an official t-shirt design featuring three zombies, one in shadow
• 
  "Zombie Creepy Mansion," an official t-shirt design featuring a zombie in front of a woodland mansion
• 
  Ditto, but in color
• 
  Zombie micromob (middle) from official LEGO Minecraft
• 
  LEGO Minecraft Zombie minifigure
• 
  LEGO Baby Zombie minifigure
• 
  A LEGO Minecraft set featuring both an adult and baby zombie
• 
  A LEGO polybag including a zombie minifigure
• 
  Official 8.5-inch Baby Zombie Plushie made by JINX
• 
  Zombie plush made by JINX
• 
  Zombie Mini Craftee plush made by JINX
• 
  A baby zombie riding a bike
• 
  Hot Wheels zombie car

Other

• 
  Punched zombie from a Minecraft.net insider "How to Minecraft"
• 
  Official baby zombie charity auction art
• 
  The zombie's official render from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• 
  Zombie Spirit from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• 
  Several zombies as they appear on the Nerf World DLC map
• 
  A baby zombie in 15 Year Journey
• 
  Target of a zombie in a cowboy hat from the Universal Studios Event
• 
  Art of Steve fighting zombies by Junkboy
• 
  Two baby zombies and an iron golem near a lead
• 
  A zombie as it appears in Minecraft Dungeons
• 
  A baby zombie as it appears in Minecraft Dungeons
• 
  The Grim Guardian, an ancient zombie variant, as it appears in Minecraft Dungeons
• 
  A zombie as it appears in Minecraft Earth
• 
  Ditto, but in the inventory
• 
  A zombie as it appears in Minecraft Legends
• 
  A zombie as it appears in Minecraft: Story Mode
• 
  Some hostile mobs including zombies in MINECON 2016

See also

• Drowned
• Giant
• Husk
• Frostbite
• Zoglin
• Zombie Horse
• Zombie Nautilus
• Zombie Villager
• Zombified Piglin

Notes

References