Akin to Romero movies, Zombies in this game can and will infect any Villager that catches their eye. Considering Villagers are pretty important for trading and their existence makes the game feel livelier, you would want to protect them at all costs. Sometimes, though, you cannot defend them all and they end up succumbing to the infection. Thankfully, Minecraft is kind enough to let you cure a Villager that has turned into a Zombie. Well, unless they were attacked by sword-wielding Zombies, then they’ll just get rekt.
Minecraft: How Can You Cure a Villager That Has Become a Zombie?
Curing a Zombie Villager is actually pretty simple, all you need to do is apply a Weakness and then feed it a Golden Apple. There are a few ways you can apply the Weakness status effect to a Zombie:
- Throw a Splash Potion of Weakness on it.
Brew a Potion of Weakness with Gunpowder to make the Splash version. Then throw it to a Zombie Villager before you can cure them.
- Shoot it with an Arrow of Weakness.
Dip an Arrow to a Weakness Potion and you got yourself one. It’s better to not use an Enchanted Bow if you do this though, since it deals too much damage.
- Force it to get into a cloud of Lingering Potion of Weakness.
For Java Edition, the leftover cloud from a Creeper explosion also works.
Make sure to put away anything that could hurt the Zombie, such as a Thorn Enchanted Armor, Splash Healing Potions, Wolves, or Iron Golems. Afterward, apply the Weakness effect and feed it a Golden Apple by pressing the Use key. The Zombie Villager should start shaking and emitting golden smoke, indicating the cure is working.
From my experience, curing a Zombie Weaponsmith in Minecraft could take around 4 to 5 minutes. However, you can speed up the process by placing some peculiar items.
Having an Iron Bar or a Bed in 9×9×9 blocks near the Villager could decrease the healing time by one tick. One tick itself, in normal human speech, is 1/20 seconds. You can place up to 14 Iron Bars or Beds around the area and cut up 10 seconds at most.
However, do keep in mind that during the curing process, the Zombie Villager will gain the Strength effect. That means it’ll become three times stronger, making it extremely dangerous! This is especially life-threatening if you’re low on health and curing a Baby Zombie Villager, considering it’s 30% faster than the adult one. So I suggest you always have full health before attempting to cure Zombies.
Minecraft is available on PC, Android, iOS, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation platforms.
