Combat profile
Current Minecraft 26.3 / NeoForge defaults, before wave scaling and additional equipment. Existing server configurations may differ. Configure the relevant registry entry under base stats and abilities.
Item collection and fleeing
The Gift Zombie never attacks living creatures, including after taking damage or in Versus. It has baby-Zombie-like movement and high-pitched Zombie sounds, but is a separate registered mob, not a normal Zombie baby variant.
It searches for reachable ground items within a 32-block search area and prefers the nearest reachable drop. Once close enough, it consumes the entire stack and removes the item entity. The counter counts individual items: a stack of 64 adds 64, not one. Items still under a pickup delay are ignored until that delay ends. Collected items are destroyed, not stored in its hands or chest, and there is no fixed collection cap.
Fleeing takes priority over collection. It seeks escape routes from Survival/Adventure players and eligible invasion targets, including opposing Versus mobs, within 12 blocks. Creative/Spectator players, allies and protected teammates are ignored. It does not flee indiscriminately from every passive creature.
Random rewards on death
The lifetime collection counter survives saves and chunk reloads. On death it produces one independently selected default item stack for every ten collected items: floor(collected items / 10). Each choice comes from the complete registered item list except Air, including vanilla items, block items and installed mod items. Outcomes are not restricted to what it ate, and repeats are possible.
| Items collected | Random reward selections |
|---|---|
| 0–9 | 0 |
| 10–19 | 1 |
| 64 | 6 |
| 100 | 10 |
There is no ordinary Zombie loot or Small Remnants roll. Remainders below ten yield nothing, and the original consumed stacks cannot be recovered. A death reward needs the normal mob-death loot path; removing an army, despawning or using administrative removal is not a guaranteed reward claim.
Counterplay and troubleshooting
Collect valuable drops promptly and protect item storage from loose-item spills. To experiment, use expendable items and leave room for a reachable path; approaching in Survival can make it flee instead. Its reward is random, so feeding a rare item does not guarantee equivalent value.
If collection stops, check that Mob Griefing is enabled, the mob has AI, pickup delay has expired, items are reachable and no nearby threat forces escape. The mob does not equip the items it consumes, and its default weapons, armor, mining and construction abilities are disabled.
Minecraft 1.21.1 users: if creating the first Gift Zombie crashes, check the source-verified initialization correction and test procedure. The separate 1.20.1 spawn/world-generation correction concerns shared mob data, too.
Spawning and configuration
Active, non-boss wave option, selected according to phase theme, budget and server settings. It is not guaranteed at a fixed wave. Default spawn location: above ground. This selects the mob’s own wave environment. The global spawn-layer override takes precedence; see per-mob locations to change it.
With command permission: /give @s invmod:gift_zombie_spawn_egg. The egg has its own ID and uses original Minecraft family artwork; it is not a crafting recipe. See Nexus association and equipment for egg spawns. Its specialist entry is distinct from ordinary vanilla-family invasion replacement.
Default themes: FAST, MIXED, RANDOMHELL, RANDOM, UNDEAD, ZOMBIES. Edit them in Custom Themes. Wave cost is a budget value; RANDOM and RANDOMHELL can use different pricing rules. See wave purchases and scaling.
Related: Shroom Bandit transports supplies; Fat Zombie consumes mobs instead of items.