Undead

Undead mobs are a group of mobs in Minecraft that share a number of characteristics. Thematically, these mobs are dead creatures that are still animate.

Common properties[edit | edit source]

All undead mobs share the following properties:

They are damaged by Instant Health and healed by Instant Damage.
They are not affected by Regeneration and Poison.
They take extra damage from Smite.
They do not take drowning damage. (Husks and zombies instead turn into zombies and drowned, respectively.)
They are not targeted by the wither.
They are part of the #undead entity tag.
They scare armadillos and make them hide in their shell.

Several undead mobs catch fire under sunlight, a property not found in any other mobs, and are also able to transfer the fire to the player after inflicting melee damage.

List of mobs[edit | edit source]


Bogged	Drowned	Husk	Old Zombie Villager ‌^{[BE & edu only]}	Phantom	Skeleton	Skeleton Horse	Stray


Wither	Wither Skeleton	Zoglin	Zombie	Zombie Horse	Zombie Villager	Zombified Piglin

History[edit | edit source]

Java Edition Classic
0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST							Added zombies and skeletons.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.2.0							Added zombie pigmen, which are undead.
Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3				Added the Smite enchantment, which increases damage against undead mobs.
1.4.2			12w32a				Added zombie villagers, which are considered undead.
			12w34a				Added the wither, which is considered undead.
			12w36a				Added wither skeletons, which are considered undead.
1.9			15w38b				Skeleton horses and zombie horses are now considered undead.
1.10			16w20a				Added husks and strays, which are considered undead.
1.13			18w10c				Phantoms are now considered undead.
1.13			18w11a				Added drowned, which are considered undead.
1.16			20w15a				Zoglins are now considered undead.^[1]
1.19			Deep Dark Experimental Snapshot 1				Added wardens, which are considered undead.
1.19			22w12a				Wardens are no longer considered undead.
1.20.5 Experiment Update 1.21			24w07a				Added the bogged, which is considered undead.
Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU1	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added zombies, skeletons and zombie pigmen.
TU7		1.00					Added the Smite enchantment, which increases damage against undead mobs.
TU14		1.04					Added zombie villagers, which are considered undead.
TU19	CU7	1.12	1.12	1.12			Added withers and wither skeletons, which are considered undead.
TU46	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15		Added strays and husks, which are considered undead.
TU46	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15		Skeleton horses and zombie horses are now considered undead.^{[is this the correct version?]}
TU69		1.76	1.76	1.76	Patch 38		Added drowned and phantoms, which are considered undead.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added zombies, zombie villagers, husks, zombie pigmen, skeletons, wither skeletons, strays, zombie horses and skeleton horses.
1.3.12							Added withers.

Issues[edit | edit source]

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

Trivia[edit | edit source]

Despite the giant being an oversized variant of the zombie, it's not considered an undead mob.
Despite the ghast's ghost-like appearance, it is not considered an undead mob.^[2]
The warden was classified as an undead mob in experimental snapshots. This property did not carry over to its official addition in snapshot 22w12a.
In Java Edition, all the undead mobs except for the horses are classified as monsters in the code, however, in Bedrock Edition, they are part of the monster category as well.
Although undead mobs share the #undead entity tag, the tag is not responsible for their shared properties.