HordeZ is a zombie apocalypse overhaul that replaces vanilla zombie spawns with Horde Zombies, a new zombie entity focused on improved AI, behaviors, and survival mechanics rather than simply increasing stats.

Performance and optimization are a major focus, allowing large zombie encounters while keeping the impact on performance low.

🧟 Horde Zombie

Horde Zombie is the main zombie type added by HordeZ. It replaces vanilla zombie spawns and introduces new behaviors, difficulty-based variations, and survival mechanics.

🧠 Improved AI & Behaviors

Horde Zombies feature improved AI designed for a more dangerous and immersive experience:

Move toward the last known location of their target
Slowly stroll around when they have no target
Baby zombies can leap toward targets
Removed turtle egg searching and breaking behavior

🎯 Target Changes

Horde Zombies have updated targeting behavior:

Removed:

Iron Golems

Added (including modded variants):

Villagers, Illagers, Piglins
Optional animal targeting (configurable with gamerules)

⚙️ Gameplay & Survival Mechanics

Horde Zombies introduce many changes compared to vanilla zombies:

Immune to sunlight
No longer convert into Drowned underwater
No longer spawn as leaders or create reinforcements
Natural armored zombie spawning removed (can be configured with mods such as InControl)
Item pickup ability removed
Removed the ability to trap Horde Zombies using boats and minecarts
Cannot be pushed back by fluids
Reduced hitbox height (1.95 → 1.92) to fix carpet movement issues
30% reduced slowdown from blocks such as cobwebs and sweet berry bushes

🧬 Difficulty-Based Variations

Horde Zombies adapt to the world's difficulty:

Randomized movement speed, armor, toughness, and knockback resistance

Sprinter variant:

Increased movement speed
Double XP drop
Spawn chance based on world difficulty

☣️ Infection & Conversions

Horde Zombies can spread the infection to other creatures:

Convert into zombified variants after killing targets
Can infect: Villagers, Horses, Piglins, Hoglins

Conversion is disabled on Easy difficulty and can be completely disabled using a gamerule.

👶 Baby Horde Zombies

Baby Horde Zombies have been redesigned:

Removed natural spawning of Baby Horde Zombies and their jockey variants
Reduced movement speed
No XP drop
No Rotten Flesh drop
Do not despawn

🎃 Spawn & Drop Changes

Various vanilla zombie mechanics have been adjusted:

Removed pumpkin head spawning during Halloween
Daytime despawn disabled
Reduced despawn chance when far from players
XP drops reduced compared to vanilla zombies
Replaced iron ingot drops with chances to drop string and bones

🔊 Visual & Sound Improvements

Increased visibility distance compared to vanilla zombies
Improved ambient sounds for large zombie groups
Increased random delay between ambient sounds when zombies have no target

☣️ Spitter Zombie

A ranged zombie variant currently under development.Spawn egg available for testing.

More features will be added in future updates.

⚙️ Configuration

Many HordeZ features can be adjusted through gamerules, allowing you to customize the zombie apocalypse experience to your preference.

🔧 Customizing Zombie Spawns

By default, HordeZ converts vanilla zombie spawns into Horde Zombies. Any equipment and armor from the original zombie spawn can be carried over to the Horde Zombie.

To fully replace vanilla zombie spawning:

Add Horde Zombies to biome spawns using a datapack
Remove vanilla Zombie spawns from biome spawns

You can also disable vanilla zombie conversion using a gamerule.

🧩 Mob Behavior Changes

HordeZ changes the behavior of some vanilla mobs:

Illagers can now attack Horde Zombies
Supports all Illagers, including modded ones
Allows disabling Piglin and Hoglin zombification outside their safe dimensions using a gamerule

🔗 Compatibility

Horde Zombies use the vanilla zombie model and textures, making them compatible with zombie resource packs such as Fresh Animations and Tissou's Zombie Pack.

To use HordeZ with mods such as Zombie Awareness and The Hordes, simply add hordez:horde_zombie to their mob configuration files.

🔮 Planned Features

Features planned for future updates:

Crawling behavior to reach targets in certain situations
Ability to break through glass
Zombies climbing over each other