What is a zoglin?
A zoglin is a hostile undead mob that comes from a hoglin. Hoglins live in the crimson forests of the Nether, where they hunt players and get farmed for meat. The moment a hoglin is somewhere other than the Nether, a timer starts, and after about 15 seconds it rots into a zoglin.
The change is one-way. Once a hoglin becomes a zoglin, it never turns back, even if you send it into the Nether again. A zoglin keeps the same 40 health (20 hearts) as a hoglin, but its behavior flips completely. Where a hoglin can be bred, fed, and scared off with warped fungus, a zoglin ignores all of that and just attacks.
Zoglins do not spawn on their own. You will never find one wandering a biome or waiting inside a structure. Every zoglin in the game started as a hoglin that ended up in the wrong dimension, which makes it one of the few mobs you can create by accident just by moving another mob around.
How to make a zoglin
To get a zoglin, you need a live hoglin and a way to move it out of the Nether. The reliable method is a lead and a nether portal.
- Find a hoglin in a crimson forest and attach a lead to it.
- Walk it back to a nether portal and pull it through into the Overworld.
- Stand back. After roughly 15 seconds (300 game ticks) outside the Nether, the hoglin shakes and becomes a zoglin.
You can also let a hoglin wander through an open portal on its own, but a lead gives you control over where it ends up. Hoglins actively avoid nether portals, so leading one is usually faster than waiting for it to stumble through.
The End counts too. A hoglin taken to the End converts the same way. The Nether is the only dimension where a hoglin stays a hoglin, so anywhere else is fair game.
Where to find a hoglin first
You cannot make a zoglin without a hoglin, so the first job is tracking one down in the Nether. Hoglins live in crimson forest biomes, the dark red mushroom areas full of crimson fungus and weeping vines. They travel in small herds, so once you find one you usually find several.
They also spawn at bastion remnants, specifically the hoglin stable type, where they sit penned in the structure. A bastion is a good spot to grab one because the walls make it easier to corner a hoglin and get a lead on it.
Two things push hoglins away, and both matter when you are trying to catch one. Hoglins avoid warped fungus, the blue mushroom, and they avoid nether portals. If your capture route runs past either, expect the hoglin to fight the direction you want it to go. Clear warped fungus out of the path if you can, and keep the hoglin on a lead so a stray portal does not send it running.
Bring extra leads. Leads snap if a mob pulls too hard against a fence corner, and a panicking hoglin pulls hard. Having a spare saves a long walk back for another one.
How zoglins behave
A zoglin is always hostile. It does not need line of sight or provocation. It attacks the player and almost every other mob near it, including villagers, iron golems, farm animals, and other Nether creatures. The only mobs a zoglin leaves alone are other zoglins and creepers.
Its attack is a lunging headbutt that deals damage and throws the target into the air, the same toss a hoglin uses. Against an unarmored player this hurts, and the knockback can launch you off ledges or into lava, which is often more dangerous than the hit itself. The damage scales up on harder difficulties.
Because a zoglin attacks iron golems and villagers, one loose in a village is a serious threat. It will pick fights it can win and wear down a village’s defenses if you leave it running around. If you convert a hoglin near your base, deal with the zoglin before it finds your villagers.
Undead traits
A zoglin counts as an undead mob, which changes how it reacts to several things:
- The Smite enchantment deals bonus damage to it, the same way it does to zombies and skeletons.
- A splash potion of Healing hurts a zoglin, while a potion of Harming heals it.
- It is immune to poison and to the wither effect.
- It does not burn in sunlight, so daylight will not kill it the way it kills a zombie.
The undead tag is easy to forget, because a zoglin does not look like a classic skeleton or zombie. A Smite weapon is still the fastest way to bring one down.
What a zoglin drops
Kill an adult zoglin and it drops 1 to 3 raw porkchops. Cook those in a furnace or on a campfire for a decent food source. A player kill also gives 5 experience.
Zoglins do not drop leather, even though the hoglin they came from can. If you want leather out of the Nether, you have to farm hoglins before they convert. A zoglin gives you meat and nothing else, so it is a poor trade if you were after hides.
The drop amount is the same whether you kill the zoglin with a sword, an axe, or fall damage, though only a player or a tamed wolf kill grants the experience. A zoglin killed by another mob or by the environment still drops its porkchops but hands you no experience.
Baby zoglins
If a baby hoglin leaves the Nether, it turns into a baby zoglin. Baby zoglins are smaller and much weaker. They still attack, but they deal far less damage and do not throw their targets into the air the way adults do.
Baby zoglins do not grow up. A baby zoglin stays a baby permanently, which sets it apart from most young mobs in the game. That makes a baby zoglin closer to harmless than to a real threat.
Zoglin vs hoglin
The two mobs share a model and a health pool, but they play very differently. This is the quick comparison:
| Trait | Hoglin | Zoglin |
|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | Nether (crimson forest) | Anywhere except the Nether |
| Behavior | Hostile in the Nether, can be avoided | Always hostile to nearly everything |
| Breeding | Breeds with crimson fungus | Cannot breed |
| Afraid of warped fungus | Yes | No |
| Undead | No | Yes |
| Drops | Raw porkchop and leather | Raw porkchop only |
The short version: a hoglin is a farmable food mob that stays put in the Nether, and a zoglin is what you get when that food mob loses its home and turns on everything around it.
Tips and common mistakes
A zoglin is easy to create by accident. If you push or lead hoglins through a portal for a meat farm and forget about them, you come back to a pack of zoglins instead of tame livestock. Keep hoglin farms inside the Nether.
If you want a zoglin on purpose, maybe as an odd guard mob or a display piece, fence it in first. A free-roaming zoglin will damage anything nearby, so build the pen before you convert the hoglin.
Fight one with a Smite weapon. Smite V on an axe or sword cuts the kill time sharply because zoglins take extra damage from it. Keep your back away from cliffs and lava so the knockback toss does not drop you somewhere worse than the fight itself.
Leads still work on zoglins, so you can move one wherever you need it. Fences, walls, and fence gates hold a zoglin the same as they hold other large mobs.
Frequently asked questions
Can you turn a zoglin back into a hoglin?
No. The change from hoglin to zoglin is permanent. Sending a zoglin back into the Nether does nothing to reverse it.
Do zoglins burn in sunlight?
No. Even though a zoglin is undead, it does not catch fire in daylight. You cannot wait one out the way you can wait out a zombie or skeleton.
What do zoglins attack?
Almost everything. Players, villagers, iron golems, animals, and most other mobs are all targets. A zoglin ignores only other zoglins and creepers.
Do zoglins drop leather?
No. A zoglin drops 1 to 3 raw porkchops and no leather. Only hoglins drop leather, so farm them before they convert.
How long does a hoglin take to become a zoglin?
About 15 seconds. A hoglin that stays outside the Nether for roughly 300 game ticks transforms into a zoglin.
Are zoglins good for a farm?
Not really. They give raw porkchops, but hoglins give more meat plus leather and are far easier to farm in bulk in the Nether. A zoglin is more of a curiosity than a resource.
Getting the most out of a zoglin
The simplest way to think about a zoglin is a hoglin that lost its mind on the way out of the Nether. If you never want one, keep your hoglins home and watch your leads near portals. If you do want one, bring a fence and a Smite weapon, and you can build, tame the space around it, and put it down whenever you are ready.