Mob conversion

Mob conversion is a game mechanic where under specific circumstances certain mobs can convert to mobs of a different type, or to a different variant of the same mob.

In these instances, a mob converts to a different mob, with a different identifier. In Java Edition, data is transferred according to § Data transfer.

From	To	Method
Husk	Zombie	Drowning in water
Zombie	Drowned
Mooshroom	Cow	Shearing
Zombie Villager	Villager	Fed golden apple while afflicted by Weakness
Old Villager‌[Bedrock Edition only]		Automatically converted when the world is updated
Old Zombie Villager‌[Bedrock Edition only]	Zombie Villager
Villager		Killed by either zombies, zombie villagers, husks, drowned, or zombified piglins‌[JE only][note 1]
	Witch	Lightning strike
Pig	Zombified Piglin
Piglin		Being outside the Nether for 300 game ticks (15 seconds)
Piglin Brute
Hoglin	Zoglin
Skeleton	Stray	Freezing in powder snow
Tadpole	Frog	Aging naturally (20 minutes)

This section is a work in progress.

 

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In these instances, a mob converts to a different variant of the same type of mob. Only one top-level data field is modified.

Mob type	Converts to	Method	Notes
Ageable babies (32)	An adult	Aging naturally
Bogged	A sheared bogged	Shearing
Copper golem	A more oxidized variant	Oxidation
	A less oxidized variant	Scraping with an axe
Creeper	A charged creeper	Lightning strike
Goat	A goat with one fewer horn	Ramming certain blocks (#snaps_goat_horn). See Goat § Goat horns
Iron golem	A more cracked variant	Taking damage
	A less cracked variant	Being healed, including being repaired by a player using iron ingots
Mooshroom	The other variant (red or brown)	Lightning strike
NPC	One of their skins	Changing their skins in their menu
Rabbit	A toast rabbit, or a regular rabbit	Naming the rabbit "Toast", or renaming from "Toast" to something else, respectively
Snow golem	The sheared variant	Shearing	Although canonically a simple change of equipment, this "conversion" is included here because sheared and unsheared snow golems are considered different variants by the game.[note 2]
Sheep	A different color of sheep	Dyeing or an evoker's conversion spell
	A rainbow sheep, or a fixed-color sheep	Naming the sheep "jeb_", or renaming "jeb_" to something else, respectively
	A sheared sheep	Shearing
	A woolly sheep	Eating grass
Shulker	A different-colored shulker	Dyeing‌[Bedrock Edition only]	They can only be dyed in Creative mode.
Villager	A villager with a different profession	See Villager § Professions	Not relevant to zombie villagers, as they cannot change professions without first converting to a villager.

This feature is exclusive to Java Edition.

 

A mob which converts to another mob retains the following entity data, provided that the new mob is able to make use of said data:^{[note 1]}

• AbsorptionAmount
• active_effects
• Age
• angry_at
• anger_end_time
• Brain.memories.minecraft:angry_at.ttl^{[needs testing]}
• Brain.memories.minecraft:angry_at.value^{[needs testing]}
• CanBreakDoors
• CanPickUpLoot
• CustomName
• CustomNameVisible
• drop_chances
• fall_distance
• FallFlying
• Fire
• ForcedAge
• HurtTime
• Invulnerable
• IsBaby
• leash
• LeftHanded
• Motion
• NoAI
• NoGravity
• OnGround
• Passengers
• PersistenceRequired
• PortalCooldown
• Position
• RootVehicle
• Rotation
• Silent
• sleeping_pos
• Tags
• Team

Notably, the following fields are not retained:

• attributes
• Brain, except for the sub-fields mentioned above^{[needs testing]}
• Gossips
• Health^{[note 2]}
• Loot tables
• UUID
• VillagerData
• Xp

Additionally, equipment.saddle is not retained when a saddled pig converts to a zombified piglin.^[1]

Mobs that split into several upon death (slimes and magma cubes) are treated as a conversion in game. The following fields are not transferred:

• drop_chances
• equipment
• fall_distance
• FallFlying
• HurtTime
• leash
• Motion
• OnGround
• Passengers
• Position
• Rotation
• sleeping_pos

• Mob type
• Mob variant
• Block conversion