Drowned
hostileOurs, not the jar's: 1 drop that its loot table does not roll, how a drowned behaves. Bedrock v1.26.30.5 differs: groups of 1 on Java against 2 to 4 on Bedrock. Checked 2026-08-08, and how
Health
Damage
XP Drop
Added InOverview
The Drowned is a hostile mob in Minecraft, which means it will attack players on sight whenever it is able to reach them.
You will normally come across drowneds in the Overworld, where they appear in Ocean, River, and Dripstone Caves.
What sets it apart is its behaviour: swims and attacks players in water.
Stat-wise it sits at 20 health (10 hearts), dropping 5 experience on death.
Players have been encountering the Drowned since the 1.13 update.
A useful detail many players miss: Primary renewable source of tridents and copper.
Knowing how the Drowned behaves is mostly about survival: recognising it early and reacting correctly is what keeps a night-time excursion from ending in a respawn.
Damage by Difficulty
Spawning
In the wild, the Drowned is generated in Ocean, River, and Dripstone Caves.
Because it appears across 12 different biomes, it is one of the easier mobs to track down, and heading to any of them should turn one up before long.
Spawns in ocean and river biomes underwater. Zombies submerged in water for 30 seconds convert to Drowned.
Naturally spawned drowneds will despawn over time when no player is nearby; naming one with a name tag or leading it away on a lead keeps it permanent.
A Drowned farm is built around its own spawn rule rather than around the light level, so start from what makes them appear at all.
Where the Drowned spawns
River is where it stands strongest: weight 100 on the monster list and 16.3% of it, arriving 1 to 4 at a time. There it shares the list with Creeper at 100, Skeleton at 100, Slime at 100, Spider at 100 and Zombie at 95 and 3 more, 615 weight together, of which 100 is drowned. The other 11 biomes on its list run from 15.6% down to 0.2%.
| Biome | Weight | Share | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| River | 100 | 16.3% | 1 |
| Dripstone Caves | 95 | 15.6% | 4 |
| Cold Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Deep Cold Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Deep Frozen Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Deep Lukewarm Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Deep Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Frozen Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Lukewarm Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Warm Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Frozen River | 1 | 0.2% | 1 |
Drops
Here is what you can expect to collect from a Drowned:
Nothing here is guaranteed: a kill can give you 0 to 2 Rotten Flesh, 1 Copper Ingot (occasionally, 11% chance), and 1 Trident (rarely, 0.53% chance), but only drowned that spawn holding a trident can drop one: 6.25% of them spawn with one, and that trident drops 8.5% of the time.
You also collect 5 experience for every Drowned you defeat.
These are well worth keeping. Primary renewable source of tridents and copper.
The Looting enchantment on your sword raises the quantity and, for many of these items, the drop chance of the rarer rolls, so it is well worth using when you grind this mob.
With nothing guaranteed, output is swingy: over many kills the averages hold, but any single Drowned may give you little, so farm in volume rather than expecting a jackpot each time.
| Item | Count | Chance | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rotten Flesh | 0 to 2 | not every kill | Looting |
| Copper Ingot | 1 | 11% | player kill |
| Trident | 1 | 0.53% | only drowned that spawn holding a trident can drop one, equipment |
Rotten Flesh
Copper IngotIt is not the only source of Rotten Flesh: the zombified piglin drops 0 to 1, the zombie 0 to 2, the husk the same and the zoglin 1 to 3.
Drowned attributes
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Armour | 2 points |
| Follow range | 35 blocks |
| Experience | 5 |
| Health | 20 points |
| Movement speed | 0.23 |
| Attack damage attribute | 3 |
The Drowned shares this stretch of the scale: the blaze on the same 0.23 movement speed.
Drowned: 0.62% of its category, rank 39 of 47
On 12 of the 66 biome lists (12 spawn entries in total), and 0.62% of every spawn the jar puts in its monster group is a drowned.
A drowned averages 1 Rotten Flesh a kill in its Java 26.2 loot table, before Looting, which puts a full stack of 64 Rotten Flesh at 64 kills. Next down is Copper Ingot at 0.11 a kill, which is 582 drowned kills to 64. 1 of those 2 rows (Copper Ingot) only roll when a player lands the killing blow, so a drowned killed by a fall or another mob averages 1 item instead of 1.11.
| Item | Average per kill |
|---|---|
| Rotten Flesh | 1 |
1 situational row left out. How this average is worked out
| Weapon | Attack damage | Full swings | Swings per 64 Rotten Flesh |
|---|---|---|---|
| golden sword, wooden sword | 4 | 6 | 384 |
| stone sword | 5 | 5 | 320 |
| iron sword | 6 | 4 | 256 |
| diamond sword, golden axe, wooden axe | 7 | 4 | 256 |
| netherite sword | 8 | 3 | 192 |
| diamond axe, iron axe, stone axe | 9 | 3 | 192 |
| netherite axe | 10 | 3 | 192 |
The 2 armour points on a drowned are already in that column: they cut a 4 damage swing to 3.68, worth 1 extra swing at the cheap end, and 3 rather than 2 at the expensive one. Coming the other way, a drowned hit is 15% of a player's 20 health, 7 of them a full bar, all out of the drowned's 3 damage on Normal. On Easy the same drowned hit is 10%, on Hard 20%, so 10 hits against 5.
Behavior & Combat
Behaviourally, swims and attacks players in water. Some spawn with tridents (ranged attack). Burns in sunlight on land but safe underwater.
It is one of the few mobs that wears armour: 2 points, which takes about 8% off every hit it receives.
Its combat profile is 20 health (10 hearts) with attacks dealing 2 on Easy, 3 on Normal and 4 on Hard.
To deal with one efficiently, exploit its weaknesses: it is vulnerable to Sunlight (on land), Smite enchantment, and Healing splash potions.
A sword enchanted with Smite shortens the fight considerably against this mob.
As an undead mob it catches fire in direct daylight, so during the day it will either burn up or scramble for shade and water, one reason these are mostly a night-time and cave threat.
The Healing splash potions in its own weakness list are there because it is undead: Healing takes health off it while a Potion of Harming would put all 20 points back, and since potions ignore armour its 2 points are no help to it underwater either.
The practical takeaway is to respect its strengths, exploit the weaknesses listed above, and you will rarely lose a fight you choose to take.
Drowned: common questions
How much health does a Drowned have?
A Drowned has 20 health points, which is 10 hearts on its health bar. It is one of the few mobs that wears armour: 2 points, which takes about 8% off every hit it receives.
What does a Drowned drop?
When killed, a Drowned drops 0 to 2 Rotten Flesh, 1 Copper Ingot (11% chance), and 1 Trident (0.53% chance), along with 5 experience.
Where do Drowneds spawn in Minecraft?
Drowneds spawn in Ocean, River, and Dripstone Caves. Spawns in ocean and river biomes underwater. Zombies submerged in water for 30 seconds convert to Drowned.
How do you defeat a Drowned?
To defeat a Drowned, target its weaknesses, it is vulnerable to Sunlight (on land), Smite enchantment, and Healing splash potions, while dealing with its 20 health (10 hearts).
How much damage does a Drowned deal?
A Drowned deals 2 damage on Easy, 3 on Normal and 4 on Hard difficulty.
How much XP does a Drowned drop?
A Drowned drops 5 experience points when killed.