Minecraft:Zombie
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Template:For Template:Infobox entity A zombie is a common Minecraft:undead type of hostile mob that deals melee damage and drops rotten flesh on death. Template:TOC limit
Spawning
Natural generation
Zombies may spawn in the Minecraft:Overworld in groups of four in Minecraft:Java Edition or in groups of 2-4 in Minecraft:Bedrock Edition above Minecraft:solid blocks in a light level of 0, except in mushroom fields and deep dark biomes. Template:IN, 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%Template:Only/70%Template:Only to be replaced by Minecraft: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,Template:Only or a 15% chance to be able to ride certain mobsTemplate:Only.
Zombies and their variants spawn with random values of knockback resistance between 0% and 5%.
Sieges
Template:Main Template:Exclusive 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 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, Minecraft:husks and drowned never spawn as a part of a siege, even in their respective Minecraft: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 Template:Frac chance to be selected as the "melee" mob for trial spawners in trial chambers.
Baby zombies have a Template:Frac chance to be selected as the "small melee" mob for trial spawners.
Husks
When a Minecraft:husk's head is submerged in Minecraft:water for over 30 seconds, the husk starts transforming into a zombie, with a new entity Minecraft:UUID. The husk's equipment remains on the zombie after conversion.Template:Only The zombie transforms into a drowned if its head remains submerged.
Zombie horsemen
Template:Main When a zombie horse spawns naturally, it will always spawn with a zombie rider holding an iron spear.
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 Minecraft:armor shrinks to fit their body size.
- They are able to fit through 1×1 Minecraft: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
Template:Main Template:IN, every baby zombie has 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 of spawning as a chicken jockey; if chickens are present, the chance increases to 0.4875%.
Template:IN, 15% of naturally spawned baby zombies can start riding a mob and become a Minecraft:jockey after it spawns. A jockey mob ridden by a baby zombie will adapt to the speed of its rider. A baby zombie can ride: Template:Columns-list
Geared zombies
Template:Main Some zombies spawn wearing Minecraft: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, the armor is never mismatched (i.e. all pieces are made of the same material). Zombies cannot naturally spawn with netherite armor.
| Easy | Normal | Hard | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Can pick up loot | 0% | 0–55%<ref group="note" name="localdifficulty"/> | 6.875–55%<ref group="note" name="localdifficulty"/> |
| Armor | 0% | 0–15%<ref group="note" name="localdifficulty">Value is based on the regional difficulty.</ref> | 1.875–15%<ref group="note" name="localdifficulty"/> |
| Armor enchantment<ref group="note" name="enchantment"/> | 0% | 0–50%<ref group="note" name="localdifficulty"/> | 6.25–50%<ref group="note" name="localdifficulty"/> |
| Weapon<ref group="note">Template:Frac chance of an iron sword, Template:Frac chance of an iron spear, Template:Frac chance of an iron shovel</ref> | 1% | 1% | 5% |
| Weapon enchantment<ref group="note" name="enchantment">Enchantment is the same as on an enchantment table at level 5–22.<ref group="note" name="localdifficulty"/></ref> | 0% | 0–25%<ref group="note" name="localdifficulty"/> | 3.125–25%<ref group="note" name="localdifficulty"/> |
If a zombie does spawn with armor, the chances of specific armor are as follows:
| Armor | Easy & Normal | Hard |
|---|---|---|
| Helmet | 100% | 100% |
| Helmet and chestplate | 75% | 90% |
| Helmet, chestplate, and leggings | 56.25% | 81% |
| Full set | 42.19% | 72.9% |
The chances of it being of a particular material are:
| Armor type | Chance |
|---|---|
| Leather | 23.60% |
| Copper | 32.23% |
| Gold | 33.29% |
| Chain | 9.73% |
| Iron | 1.10% |
| Diamond | 0.04% |
Template:IN, the armor is not damaged by any damage source; it cannot "wear out" the way player armor does. Minecraft:Helmets (not Minecraft:blocks like carved pumpkins) on zombies can break if the zombie is exposed to daylight. Template:IN, any armor piece is damaged as if the player is wearing it.Template:Verify
Zombies also have a natural armor rating of Template:Armor, 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 Template:W, zombies Template:In may spawn wearing a carved pumpkin or jack o'lantern. They are never dropped, even when the zombies are killed with Looting.
Drops
On death
Taken equipment
When a zombie dies, all of its picked-up equipment drops without changing the damage that has accumulated on it Template:In. Template:IN, 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 and drop it with a random durability. Each level of Looting increases the chance by 1 percentage point (11.5% with Looting III). They cannot drop the diamond swords that they occasionally wield during ominous trials. These items include:
- Template:ItemLink (sometimes enchanted)
- Template:ItemLink (sometimes enchanted)
- Template:ItemLink (sometimes enchanted)
- Template:ItemLink (in ominous trials)
- Template:ItemLink (sometimes enchanted, made from leather, copper, gold, chainmail, iron or diamond)
Additionally, Template:In, all naturally spawned equipment always drops at full durability when the zombie converts to a drowned.
Experience
Adult zombies drop Template:Xp and baby zombies drop Template:Xp when they are killed by a player or a tamed Minecraft:wolf. Any zombie that spawns with equipment drops another Template:Xp per item when killed.
Behavior
Attacking
Attacking the player
Zombies pursue the player on sight from 35 blocks away, raising their arms up higher Template:In. The detection range of zombies is reduced to half of their normal range (17.5 blocks) while the player wears a zombie Minecraft:head. Template:IN, 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. Template:IN, 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, Minecraft:fire, Minecraft:lava, magma blocks, and Minecraft:cactus and try to find the shortest path toward the player.<ref>Template:Ytl</ref> 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 Minecraft: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 Minecraft:villagers within a 35- to 52.5-block radius (depending on regional difficulty Template:In) or just 35-block radius Template:In, 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.Template: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.Template: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's attacked, or if either it or the target is killed or moved out of range, or if the trader is under the Minecraft: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 Template:Hp from its punch + Template:Hp from the shovel for a total of Template:Hp. (it should be noted that, Template:In, damage values shown when hovering over weapons in the inventory include the player's Template:Hp base melee damage, so an iron shovel shows up as Template:Hp; 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 1.5 * X on Hard and 0.5 * X + 1 on Easy. So for example a zombie with an iron shovel deals 1.5 * 6.5 = Template:Hp on Hard and 0.5 * 6.5 + 1 = Template:Hp 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 towards 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.
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 Minecraft: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.<ref>Template:Cite bug</ref>
Transparent blocks, such as Minecraft: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 durationTemplate:Only.
Mob type
Being an Minecraft: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 Minecraft:wither.
- Affected by the Smite enchantment.
- A threat to armadillos, causing them to hide in their shell.
Picking up items
Template:Main Some zombies are capable of automatically picking up dropped items that they come across. Mob heads and carved pumpkins are automatically worn on their heads. Zombies can equip Minecraft:armor, Minecraft:weapons or Minecraft:tools. If a zombie encounters another similar Minecraft: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 swords) without considering enchantments,
- both items are armor/swords with the same damage reduction/infliction, the new item has NBT tags while the old does notTemplate:Only or the new item is less damaged than the old item, or
- both items are Minecraft:bows and the new item has NBT tags while the old does not.
For example, a zombie can pick up a totem of undying, which cannot be retrieved by killing the zombie because that would activate the totem. However, the zombie would drop the totem in favor of a sword or armor.
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 Minecraft:hoppers.
A zombie holding a picked-up Minecraft:item does not despawn when left alone, similar to being name tagged.
Zombies have a higher chance of being able to pick up items in Hard difficulty.
Picked-up items do not cause the zombie to drop more experience when killed, unlike naturally-spawned gear.
Breaking doors
Up to 10% of zombies (depending on regional difficulty Template:In) 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 Minecraft:tool, and it is not slowed down if the zombie has Mining Fatigue.
Reinforcements
Template:Exclusive
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<ref group="n">The radius is based on the follow_range attribute: its base value is 35, ±5% random spawn bonus, then plus a zombie specific bonus of up to 150% depending on local difficulty. The zombie_random_spawn_bonus modifier is not applied at all if its value is 100% or lower.</ref> 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 "likeliness to call reinforcements" statistic ranging from 0–10%, and "leader" zombie mobs (0–5% depending on clamped regional difficulty) get a bonus of 50–75 percentage points to the stat. Unlike other zombie variants, only leader zombified piglins can spawn reinforcements.<ref>Template:Bug</ref>
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.<ref>Template:Bug</ref> 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 Minecraft:chain or Minecraft: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, Minecraft:the End, and Minecraft:the Nether<ref>Template:Bug</ref>. Both the damaged mob and the new mob has a 5 percentage point penalty to their "likeliness to call reinforcement" stat, preventing infinite zombie mobs from spawning this way.
Additionally, reinforcements do not spawn at all, even on Hard difficulty, if the game rule Template:Cd is set to false. Reinforcements spawn regardless of the hostile mob cap. Mobs spawned as reinforcements will be of the same type of zombie<ref name="MC-14800" /> (i.e. zombie villagers only call upon other zombie villagers) but they can be babies, including chicken jockeys. They also respect spawning requirements for the specific zombie type, meaning Minecraft:husk reinforcements can only spawn under the sky, drowned reinforcements may only spawn in water, and zombified piglin reinforcements cannot spawn on nether wart blocks.
Leader
Leader zombies are a special type of zombie that spawns with between Template:Hp to Template:Hp extra health, and an extra 50–75% chance to spawn reinforcements. The chance of a leader spawning increases with clamped regional difficulty. On Easy, they will not spawn. On Normal and Hard mode, they have up to a 5% chance of spawning.
Becoming drowned
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.
A newly-converted drowned always has full health even if converted from a damaged zombie.
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.Template:Only
Only normal zombies can become drowned; zombie villagers and zombified piglins cannot be converted.<ref>Template:Cite bug</ref> Minecraft:Husks, 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, husks, or drowned may ride an adult zombie to form a Minecraft:jockey.
Sounds
Data values
ID
Template:Edition: Template:ID table
Template:Edition: Template:ID table
Entity data
Zombies have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.
<section begin="entity data"/>
- Template:Nbt Entity data
- Template:Nbt inherit/entity
- Template:Nbt inherit/mob
- <section begin="zombie base data"/>Template:Nbt: 1 or 0 (true/false) - true if the zombie can break doors (default value is 0).
- Template:Nbt: The number of ticks until this zombie converts to a drowned, or husk to zombie. (default value is -1, when no conversion is under way).
- Template:Nbt: The number of ticks this zombie or husk has been under water, used to start the drowning conversion. (default value is -1, when no conversion is under way).
- Template:Nbt: 1 or 0 (true/false) - true if this zombie is a baby. May be absent.<section end="zombie base data"/>
<section end="entity data"/>
Achievements
Achievements that apply to all mobs: Template:Collapse
Advancements
Advancements that apply to all mobs: Template:Collapse
History
Java Edition
Bedrock Edition
Legacy Console Edition
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
Data history
Issues
Trivia
- The zombie is a playable DLC character in the crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an alternate costume for Steve.
- Zombie sounds were created by Daniel Rosenfeld gurgling into a microphone when he had a flu.<ref>Daniel: I remember doing the zombie sound. I had a horrible flu. My throat was shot, and I was like, “This is the perfect occasion to make zombie sounds.” So I just gurgled into a microphone [sfx: Minecraft zombie].</ref>
Notes
Gallery
Renders
Targeting
-
Zombie
-
Baby zombie
Jockeys
-
Chicken Jockey
-
Adult Zombie Jockey
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Adult Husk Jockey
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Adult Zombified Piglin Jockey
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Pig Jockey
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Cow Jockey
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Mooshroom Jockey
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Sheep Jockey
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Wolf Jockey
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Ocelot Jockey
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Stray Cat Jockey
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Horse Jockey
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Panda Jockey
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Baby Zombie Spider Jockey
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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
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Zombies with three different armor types.
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A zombie holding wool.
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A zombie emerging from a Minecraft:cave.
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Player, zombie and husk size comparison.
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Dying zombie mob Template:In.
-
Dying zombie mob Template:In.
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A zombie standing behind a wooden door.
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Zombie trying to break through a door of a village house.
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A zombie horde that spawned outside a village hammering at a door during a zombie siege.
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A zombie wielding an iron shovel doing its attack animation.
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A zombie spawned in a jungle temple.
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A large horde of zombies and an iron golem.
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Naturally armored zombies.
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An armored zombie that picked up a Minecraft:stick as a melee weapon.
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Zombies wearing pumpkins on Halloween.
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A zombie wearing a player head.
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A zombie holding a diamond hoe and full gold armor.
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Zombies attacking Template:In<ref>Template:Bug – Resolved as Incomplete.</ref>
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Noor fighting several zombies with a Minecraft:mace.
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A baby zombie riding a spider.
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Historical screenshots
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A baby zombie "wearing" a jack o'lantern on its head on Halloween. This glitch no longer happens.
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The same glitch with a baby zombie wearing a pumpkin.
Mojang screenshots
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A large amount of zombies holding and wearing blocks.
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A baby zombie riding a cow.
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A baby zombie riding a wolf.
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A baby zombie riding a zombie.
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Several Bedrock Edition-exclusive jockeys.
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A skeleton and zombie in a cave.
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A zombie breaking down a door.
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Noor fighting many zombies in a dripstone cave.
Historical Mojang screenshots
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First image of a baby zombie released by Dinnerbone.
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Baby zombie with broken armor model.
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A huge amount of zombies.
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First image of armed and Minecraft:armored zombies released by Dinnerbone.
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A zombie holding a piece of white Minecraft:wool.<ref name="zombieequip" />
Textures
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Zombie texture file.
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Baby zombie texture file.
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Programmer Art zombie texture file.
.png){kind=link}
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_JE3.png){kind=link}
In other media
Official media
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Artwork of a baby zombie used for Hour of AI
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A zombie chasing Sunny out of a cave.
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Artwork of a zombie.
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Animation of undead mobs walking on snow, including zombies.
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A Zombie in promotional artwork for the first Caves & Cliffs update.
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Zombies in promotional artwork for the second Caves & Cliffs update.
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Makena getting startled by a zombie head placed by Minecraft:Efe.
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Several zombies surrounding Efe and Ari in a stronghold library.
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A baby zombie greeting Efe on Halloween.<ref>https://x.com/Minecraft/status/1719383023081152595?s=20</ref>
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A social media rendering of a slightly retextured zombie latching onto iron bars outside of Kai’s house.<ref>https://x.com/Minecraft/status/1727714055182221545?s=20</ref>
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Zombie Base Concept art for Minecraft Earth from The World of Minecraft
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World Kindness Day artwork.
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Baby zombie in front of 3 garage doors.
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Zombie photo in a yearbook
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A Template:AMCM as seen in Template:AMCM
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A zombie walk-to-run cycle made for The Copper Age trailer
_Artwork.jpg){kind=link}
Merchandise
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City texture pack
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Zombie in a Suit, a skin featured in the Battle & Beasts pack.
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Official zombie action figure made by JINX.
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"Monster Hunter Icons," a blanket featuring a zombie.
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"Sun's Down, Zombies Around," an official T-Shirt design featuring three zombies, one in shadow.
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"Zombie Creepy Mansion," an official T-Shirt design featuring a zombie in front of a Woodland Mansion.
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Ditto, but in color.
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Zombie micromob (middle) from official LEGO Minecraft.
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LEGO Minecraft Zombie minifigure.
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Baby Zombie minifigure.
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A LEGO Minecraft set featuring both an adult and baby zombie.
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A LEGO polybag including a zombie minifigure.
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Official 8.5-inch Baby Zombie Plushie made by JINX.
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Zombie plush made by JINX.
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A baby zombie riding a bike.
Other
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Punched zombie from a Minecraft.net insider "How to Minecraft".
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Official baby zombie charity auction art.
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The zombie's official render from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
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Zombie Spirit from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
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Several zombies as they appear on the Nerf World DLC map.
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A baby zombie in Minecraft:15 Year Journey.
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Target of a zombie in a cowboy hat from the Minecraft:Universal Studios Event.
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Art of Steve fighting zombies.
See also
References
cs:Zombie de:Zombie el:Ζόμπι es:Zombi fr:Zombie hu:Zombi it:Zombi ja:ゾンビ ko:좀비 lzh:殭屍 nl:Zombie pl:Zombie pt:Zumbi ru:Зомби th:ซอมบี้ uk:Зомбі zh:僵尸