Minecraft’s world is complex, and some mechanics are tucked away in gameplay, so not every player will stumble across them. One such feature is transforming mobs into different variants. Some of these conversions can happen in your world without your input, while others you can trigger directly. You probably don’t know all the possibilities yet, though a few will surely look familiar. Some are just for fun, while others are highly useful and even unlock additional features!
Transform Minecraft mobs: Creepers, Zombies and Skeletons
Turn Husks into Zombies: here’s how
By now, you can find not only regular Zombies in the game but also several undead variants, including the Husk, a kind of desert zombie. They only spawn in deserts, so you may not have seen them yet. If you bring a Husk into water and keep it there long enough, it will turn into a regular Zombie. You’re practically rehydrating the Husk!
Turn Zombies into Drowned
You can take it a step further, because regular Zombies aren’t exactly happy underwater either. If they stay submerged even longer, they’ll start shaking again and transform into a Drowned. Use this in multiplayer, for example to build a Drowned farm. Rent a Minecraft server for your Drowned farm and start building one. Drowned have a chance to drop a Trident.
Turn Skeletons into Strays with powder snow
Skeletons also have other variants, like the icy Stray. You can trap a Skeleton in powder snow and it can turn into an ice Skeleton. There’s no direct advantage, but Strays can drop Arrows of Slowness.
Turn Creepers into Charged Creepers
The Creeper is our first mob that can be transformed by being struck by lightning. After the strike, the Creeper is surrounded by a blue aura and is now charged. Its explosion is much bigger, and mobs it kills can drop their heads as trophies. You can also use a Trident with the Channeling enchantment to call down targeted lightning during a thunderstorm.
Heal Villagers and transform Zombie Villagers
Heal Zombie Villagers: regular Villagers with discounts
This is probably the transformation you’re most familiar with. Zombie Villagers can spawn among regular monsters, but only with a 5% chance. They look different from Zombies and resemble Villagers. Their appearance changes by biome. Conversely, a regular Villager can be turned into a Zombie Villager, which we’ll cover next.
Once you have a zombified Villager, you can capture it and cure it. You’ll need a Golden Apple and a Splash Potion of Weakness. Placing a bed and iron bars nearby speeds up the process. After a few minutes of shaking, the Villager sheds the zombie look and can work like a regular Villager. The big advantage is that they’ll likely offer you discounts because you cured them! They can also encourage other nearby Villagers to offer cheaper trades.
Turn Villagers into Zombie Villagers: mind the difficulty
As mentioned, zombified Villagers can also result from regular Villagers being attacked by a Zombie (or Husk, Drowned). This conversion depends on your difficulty: on Easy it’s 0%, on Normal 50%, and on Hard 100% of the time. If you have traded with the Villager at least once, the Zombie Villager won’t despawn, and you can cure it again as described above.
Turn Villagers into Witches with lightning
Less well known is the transformation of a Villager into a Witch. That’s because the odds are very low, and it generally offers no benefit beyond the Witch’s loot. This happens only if a Villager is struck by lightning (within a 4‑block radius). This applies to both natural lightning and Trident lightning. You cannot transform the Witch back, which means you could lose a good trade. Protect your Villagers from lightning strikes.
Piglins, Hoglins and Pigs: Nether transformations
Piglins to Zombified Piglins in the Overworld
Nether mobs don’t fare well in the Overworld. If you bring any Piglin variant through a portal to the Overworld, it will start shaking and turn within a couple of minutes into a Zombified Piglin. They have pink skin with green rot showing and a visible skeleton. They keep the weapon they had before.
Turn Hoglins into Zoglins
Hoglins meet a similar fate if you bring them from the Nether to the Overworld. They dislike the normal air, shake, and then turn into Zoglins. They also have distinct pink skin with a visible skeleton. They’re less useful than their Nether counterparts, as they only drop Rotten Flesh.
Turn Pigs into Zombified Piglins via lightning
Part of the pig family are, of course, regular pigs you can find in the world. They can also be transformed, but like the Creeper or Villager, lightning is required. If a pig is struck by lightning, it turns into a Zombified Piglin.
Cows and Mooshrooms: transformations
Shear Mooshrooms into regular cows
Finally, let’s look at the Mooshroom, which also has some fun transformations. You can shear both the red and the brown Mooshroom to turn it into a regular cow. You’ll receive the corresponding mushrooms (5) when you do.
Turn a Red Mooshroom into a Brown Mooshroom
You might wonder why we’re talking about Brown Mooshrooms. They can’t spawn naturally; only red cows spawn on mushroom islands. You can get the brown variant if a red Mooshroom is struck by lightning. The effect works both ways. Otherwise, you can get a brown calf with a 1 in 1024 chance when you breed two red Mooshrooms. Lightning is probably easier!
Conclusion: transform Minecraft mobs for new features and items
Transforming different mobs is an exciting Minecraft feature that not everyone knows. But knowing them can be very useful to exploit certain functions and obtain new items. Lightning strikes are often essential for these conversions, but the environment can also cause monsters to change form. We especially love curing Zombie Villagers, because it can net you great discounts. And you can repeat the process indefinitely to get the most out of trading.
