How to Make a Zombie Villager in Minecraft: A Comprehensive Guide
The question of how to create a zombie villager in Minecraft is often asked by players looking to expand their village, utilize unique trading mechanics, or simply experience the game in new ways. The answer involves a few key components: villagers, zombies, and a bit of luck. Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of how to make a zombie villager, along with important nuances and considerations.
The Primary Method: Zombie Attacks
The most common and direct way to create a zombie villager is by allowing a zombie (or drowned) to attack and kill a regular villager. This transformation isn’t guaranteed and depends on the game’s difficulty setting:
- Easy Difficulty: There is a 0% chance that a villager will become a zombie villager when killed by a zombie or drowned. The villager is lost permanently.
- Normal Difficulty: There is a 50% chance that a villager will become a zombie villager when killed by a zombie or drowned.
- Hard Difficulty: There is a 100% chance that a villager will become a zombie villager when killed by a zombie or drowned.
Hardcore mode, which is automatically set to hard difficulty, also ensures a 100% conversion rate.
Steps for Creating a Zombie Villager via Attack:
- Locate or Create a Village: Villagers are essential for this process. You can find existing villages in the game or create your own.
- Prepare the Environment: It’s often helpful to enclose a villager in a small space to make it easier for the zombie to target them and prevent the villager from escaping.
- Introduce a Zombie: Lure a zombie or drowned into the same area as the villager. You can do this by building a small tunnel or pushing the zombie into the enclosure.
- Monitor the Outcome: Allow the zombie to kill the villager. If you are playing on normal difficulty, it will be a 50/50 chance. On hard mode, the villager will certainly become a zombie villager. On easy, the villager will just die.
It’s critical to note that if you are not playing on hard, there’s a chance you will lose your villager and it will not turn into a zombie villager.
Why Your Villager Might Not Become a Zombie
If your villager isn’t turning into a zombie, you should check a few things:
- Difficulty: Ensure you’re playing on Normal or Hard mode. If you are playing on Easy, a villager can’t turn into a zombie villager.
- Zombie Targeting Issues: Sometimes, zombies might fail to attack a villager, especially right after the villager was cured from being a zombie villager. Ensure there is nothing interfering between the villager and the zombie.
- Health Issues: Villagers can die due to damage from a zombie attack prior to transformation. In normal and easy difficulties, zombies are not guaranteed to turn a villager into a zombie villager, they only have a chance to do so. If the villager’s health is too low, they may die without turning.
Alternative Method: Creative Mode Spawning
In Creative mode, you can directly spawn a zombie villager using a spawn egg. This method is simple and instant, but it’s only available in creative mode.
Steps for Spawning a Zombie Villager in Creative:
- Switch to Creative Mode: Enter creative mode through the game’s settings.
- Access the Creative Inventory: Open your inventory, and select the creative inventory menu.
- Locate the Zombie Villager Spawn Egg: Find the Zombie Villager spawn egg within the mobs section.
- Place the Spawn Egg: Select the egg, and click on the desired location within your world. This instantly spawns a zombie villager.
Using Commands for Spawning a Zombie Villager
In Bedrock Edition and Education Edition, you can use the command /summon zombie_villager to spawn a zombie villager. This method is especially useful for automated testing or rapid mob generation for a specific purpose.
Additional Information
Curing Zombie Villagers
Once you have a zombie villager, you can cure them back into a normal villager using the following steps:
- Throw a Splash Potion of Weakness: Hit the zombie villager with a splash potion of weakness.
- Feed a Golden Apple: Immediately after hitting them with the potion, feed them a golden apple.
- Wait: After a short 3 to 5 minutes the zombie villager will convert into a regular villager.
Benefits of Curing Zombie Villagers
- Discounted Trades: A cured villager will often offer better trading options with lower prices. You can potentially cure a villager more than once to reduce prices further.
- Achievement: Curing a zombie villager earns you the “Zombie Doctor” achievement.
- Recover Lost Villagers: If a valued villager becomes a zombie, curing them is an effective way to get them back.
- Changing Nitwits: Curing a nitwit after turning them into a zombie villager will result in a regular villager.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Can a baby villager turn into a baby zombie villager?
Yes, if a baby villager is killed by a zombie (or drowned), it has a chance to turn into a baby zombie villager, similar to adult villagers. These baby zombie villagers are faster and will not age.
2. Will a Wandering Trader turn into a zombie villager?
No, Wandering Traders are an exception. They do not transform into zombie villagers when killed by zombies or drowned.
3. Why are my villagers dying before turning into zombies?
Villagers can die from damage taken from zombies prior to conversion, particularly on lower difficulties where the transformation is not guaranteed.
4. Can a drowned turn a villager into a zombie villager?
Yes, a drowned can turn a villager into a zombie villager. The conversion rates align with zombies, with 0% on Easy, 50% on Normal, and 100% on Hard.
5. Can you trap a wandering trader?
Yes, you can trap a wandering trader, but they will despawn after approximately 40 minutes. Trapping them does not prevent their despawning.
6. How long does it take for a zombie villager to convert back to a villager?
It typically takes 3 to 5 minutes for a cured zombie villager to convert back into a normal villager.
7. Can you cure a villager more than once?
Yes, you can cure a villager multiple times. Each cure can lower trading prices, although many servers might have limitations on how many times this can be done.
8. Will villagers automatically spawn in a man made village?
No, you will need to either use villagers from an existing village or use a method such as curing zombie villagers to add villagers to your village.
9. Does a zombie villager mean a village is nearby?
It could, but not always. Zombie villagers near a village likely indicate that some villagers were killed by zombies there.
10. Can nitwits become zombie villagers?
Yes, nitwits can become zombie villagers. However, upon being cured, they become a regular villager, rather than returning to being a nitwit.
11. How do I find a zombie villager in creative mode?
In creative mode, the Zombie Villager spawn egg can be found in the mob section of the creative inventory.
12. Why are my zombies not attacking my villagers?
Zombies might not attack villagers immediately after they’ve been cured, or if there’s an obstruction between them and the villager.
13. Can you use commands to summon zombie villagers?
Yes, in Bedrock Edition and Education Edition, you can use /summon zombie_villager to spawn a zombie villager.
14. Why can’t I spawn a zombie in survival mode?
You can’t spawn zombies with spawn eggs in survival mode. You have to find them naturally. However, you can only spawn zombies using spawn eggs in creative mode.
15. How rare is the wandering trader?
Wandering traders have a low chance of spawning. It typically takes an average of 14.325 Minecraft days (about 3.5 hours of real time) for one to spawn.
By using these methods and understanding the nuances, you can effectively create zombie villagers and use them for a multitude of in-game purposes. Happy Minecrafting!