Zombie Infection

Zombie Infection is a mechanic added by The Hordes. Zombies, husks, drowned, zombie horses, zombified piglins and zoglins can infect players and a set of mobs with the Infected effect. The effect advances through four stages and then kills the infected entity. A player who dies while infected rises again as a zombie player that carries the player's name and skin. Infection is the main danger of the undead that gather at night, so it is most often met in the horror biomes and structures that the pack spawns more densely. It is separate from the timed undead waves described in Horde Nights, and it applies at any time, not only during a horde.

The rules below are those of the Fear Nightfall pack, which changes several of the mod's defaults.

Infection chance

Each hit from an infection-capable attacker rolls once for infection. The chance is:

: attacker's infectivity × (1 − victim's infection resistance)

Infectivity is fixed per attacker type:

• Husk: 80%
• Zombie, zombie villager and zombie player: 75%
• Drowned, zombie horse and zombified piglin: 70%
• Zoglin: 50%

Only players and the following mobs can be infected: villager, horse, piglin, piglin brute, hoglin, wandering trader, pillager, vindicator, evoker, illusioner and witch. Zombies, husks, drowned, zombie horses and zoglins cause infection but cannot be infected. An infected villager or horse is converted into an undead form when it dies (see Death and conversion below).

For example, a zombie hitting an unarmoured player has a 0.75 × 0.75 = 56% chance to infect. Against a villager, whose resistance is 0.15, the chance is 64%.

Infection resistance

Every entity has an infection resistance value between 0 and 1. Players start at 0.25. Each armour piece adds a modifier:

• Leather and chainmail pieces: 0.05 each
• Iron and gold pieces: 0.1 each
• Diamond pieces: 0.15 each
• Netherite pieces and the turtle shell: 0.2 each

Horse armour also adds resistance: leather 0.3, iron and gold 0.4, diamond 0.5.

Infectable mobs have a fixed base value. Hoglins have the highest at 0.85, followed by witches at 0.7, piglin brutes and vindicators at 0.65, illusioners at 0.6 and evokers at 0.5. Horses have 0.35, and villagers, piglins, wandering traders and pillagers have 0.15.

Stages

An infected entity gains the Infected effect. The effect has four stages, numbered 0 to 3. Each stage lasts 6000 ticks multiplied by 0.95 raised to the entity's infection count (see Cures below). The count starts at 1, so a stage lasts 5700 ticks, or 4 minutes 45 seconds, and the full sequence lasts 22,800 ticks (19 minutes).

Each stage adds a cumulative effect:

• Stage 1 to 3: movement speed is reduced by 10% per stage, so stage 3 gives a 30% reduction.
• All stages: hunger is drained every tick by 0.03 × (stage + 1) exhaustion.
• After stage 3 ends: the entity takes lethal damage and dies, with the infection damage type.

The Infected effect cannot be removed by effect-cure items such as milk.

Cures

There are two ways to cure an infection, and one way to prevent it:

• Golden apple: eating a golden apple while infected removes the effect and raises the entity's infection count by one. Golden apples cure players and mobs alike.
• Right-clicking a mob: holding a golden apple or enchanted golden apple and right-clicking a non-player living entity within 5 blocks removes its infection, if any, and raises its infection count. The interaction is cancelled, so the apple is not used to feed, breed or tame the mob. This applies even to mobs that are not infected.
• Immunity: see the Immunity section below.

The infection count is stored on each entity and starts at 1. Each cure adds one, which shortens later infection stages on that entity by a factor of 0.95. The count is lost when the entity dies.

Piglins treat golden apples as loved items. When piglinsCureThemself is enabled, an infected piglin with no target moves a cure item from its inventory into its offhand and eats it.

Immunity

An enchanted golden apple grants the Immunity effect for 150 seconds and removes any active infection. While Immunity is active, infection cannot be applied. Eating an enchanted golden apple does not raise the infection count.

Death and conversion

When an infected mob dies, it is converted instead of being killed. Its conversion depends on its type:

• Villager, wandering trader, pillager, vindicator, evoker, illusioner and witch become a zombie villager. Wandering traders, pillagers, vindicators, evokers, illusioners and witches also get custom textures and names.
• Horse becomes a zombie horse.
• Piglin becomes a zombified piglin. A piglin brute becomes a zombified piglin with 50 maximum health and its own texture.
• Hoglin becomes a zoglin.

An infected player who dies spawns a zombie player at the place of death, unless the difficulty is Peaceful. The zombie is one of three types, chosen by where the player died: a drowned player if the player died underwater, a husk player in desert biomes, and a zombie player otherwise.

In this pack, zombie players do not store the player's items. The player's drops fall to the ground as normal, and the zombie spawns without them.

Pack changes

Several settings differ from the mod defaults in the Fear Nightfall pack:

• Sun burn is on. Zombies and drowned burn in daylight, and skeletons, strays and bogged also burn. Zombie horses, skeleton horses and zombie players do not burn.
• Zombie villagers can be cured with vanilla curing. The mod's default blocks this.
• Piglins and hoglins do not convert to zombified piglins or zoglins in the Overworld by themselves. Infection still converts them.
• Zombie horses and zombified piglins are aggressive. They attack players, villagers, iron golems and baby turtles, and move through villages.
• Illagers hunt undead. Vindicators, evokers, pillagers, ravagers, vexes and witches target infection-capable mobs within 10 blocks. Piglins with crossbows target them too.
• Zoglins ignore undead but attack other non-undead monsters.

Tips

• Armour is the main protection. A full set of iron, gold or diamond armour raises a player's resistance well above the base 0.25 and reduces infection chances.
• Carry golden apples on night trips. A single cure ends an infection at any stage, and each cure shortens the stages of any later infection on that entity.
• Enchanted golden apples give 150 seconds of immunity, which is useful before you enter a dense undead area.
• Dying while infected leaves a zombie player at the place of death, and your drops stay on the ground in this pack.