Zombie Siege in Minecraft

Zombies. They’re a picture straight out of a horror movie—however, for Minecraft players, they’re a pretty common occurrence. Indeed, zombies are one of the most common foes you’ll likely encounter in the game, and they’re not necessarily that difficult to take on. However, while one or two zombies on their own won’t probably strike fear into your heart, a zombie siege is a whole other matter.

In line with this thought, today, we’re taking a deep dive look into what a Minecraft zombie siege is, how you can take them on, or how you can ensure there will be no zombie siege at all if you prefer. Hopefully, this will give more freedom to enjoy the game in a way you see fit, too.

What is a Zombie Siege in Minecraft?

First things first, we need to consider what a zombie siege in Minecraft actually is. Simply put, as the name would suggest, a zombie siege in Minecraft is an event where a large number of zombies spawn into your game at once, attacking villages and anyone in its wake. These events are actually relatively common, occurring around 10% of the time inside villages.

It’s worth noting that a chance for a siege rolls every tick while light conditions are appropriate. Critically, there is a chance for a zombie siege to occur while light levels are below 12. This typically occurs around dawn; however, poor weather conditions can potentially increase the duration of time that a zombie siege could spawn.

So, if you’re spending the night in a village, don’t just take solace because the sun’s coming up; there’s still a good chance zombies will spawn in poor weather conditions for a while longer! Fortunately, it is possible to mod many aspects of your game, provided you’ve started out with a stable and secure Minecraft server, of course.

How to Prevent a Zombie Siege in Minecraft

Thus far, we’ve mainly looked at what zombie sieges in Minecraft actually are. However, for many people, a zombie siege on the doorstep can feel like a major worry, especially if you’re not currently in a position to take it on (or simply don’t want to). This begs the question, then: how can you prevent a zombie siege in Minecraft from spawning in?

Of course, we should stress here that, if you’re simply looking to avoid an encounter with a zombie siege, staying away from villages is the ideal option. Furthermore, the chance of a zombie siege spawning in is only around 10%; as such, even if you spend the night in a village, there’s still a good chance the zombies won’t arrive en masse that night. Nevertheless, this isn’t a sure fire way to avoid zombie sieges, so it’s important to keep this in mind to prepare yourself for the event.

Along with staying out of the village to prevent a zombie siege from spawning, there are also several other steps you can take to prevent a siege from taking hold. Illuminating villages fully can help prevent zombies from spawning, although this won’t be 100% guaranteed unless you can ensure that every single block within the vicinity of the village is illuminated. Nonetheless, it can definitely help reduce the chances.

In addition, keeping the population of villagers lower may also help. Zombie sieges generally spawn for villages with a population of 20 or more; therefore, keeping the village’s population low, and making sure villagers are locked away at night, may also help.

Preventing a Zombie Siege from Killing Villagers

Thus far, we’ve considered some of the main things you should know about preventing a zombie siege—but what if it still happens anyway? Well, there are several simple ways that you can prevent a zombie siege from killing your villagers, keeping the village safe even if a siege should spawn.

The simplest step here is to lock your villagers up at night. This can be done with a piston system, which prevents your villagers from leaving their homes during the dark—a simple way to protect them, provided you aren’t playing in hard mode. However, in hard mode, zombie sieges can still smash down your villagers’ doors, leaving your villagers at huge risk.

So, what else can you do to protect your villagers? Well, there are plenty of simple ways to look after your villagers, including the following tips:

• Ensure your villagers are equipped with suitable armor
• Add iron golems to tackle the zombie siege automatically
• Head out with your own armor and equipment and slay as many zombies as you can
• Keep your villager population high enough to ensure at least two villagers survive the siege

Remember—even if you lose all of your villagers, you can always encourage new ones to come along to repopulate your own village. As such, this offers a handy backup option if you get caught out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

If you’ve been worried about the risk of a zombie siege in Minecraft, today’s handy guide should have covered some of the key points. But remember: whether you love zombie sieges or hate them, understanding the factors we’ve outlined today could help with your own planning efforts.