Zombie

Zombies are common surface enemies that appear at night, and are a primary reason newer players will want to build a shelter before night arrives. Along with Demon Eyes, they are generally among the first enemies a player will encounter, as they appear nightly in areas a player first spawns. Multiple NPCs living in the area will reduce or prevent local enemy spawns, including Zombies and other nightly enemies.

Zombies walk towards the player in order to make contact and deal damage. They can jump and navigate Platforms. Zombies will kick closed Doors in their path repeatedly, and can successfully open them during a Blood Moon event.

In Expert mode, some Zombies carry disembodied arms. These deal more damage on contact than other zombies and will stop to perform a 'slashing' animation when near the player, extending the range at which they can damage the player. These arm-wielding zombies are unable to open or interact with doors.

Ordinary variants

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Biome/Event variants

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Achievements

Archaeologist • “Kill Doctor Bones.”

Defeat Doctor Bones for the first time.

File:Achievement Til Death.png

Til Death... • “Kill The Groom.”

Defeat The Groom for the first time.

Notes

• Zombies sometimes spawn as either larger or smaller than normal; larger zombies have more health, damage, defense, and knockback resistance, while smaller zombies are faster.
• Zombies attempt to leave the screen at dawn, but may still end up attacking the player, especially if their path off-screen is blocked. They will despawn immediately once off-screen.
• A Zombie will leave if it can't find a clear path to the player. They will not consider Doors to be blocking their path, even if it is not a Blood Moon.
• Blood Zombies will move faster the closer they are to you.

Tips

• While they may move slowly, they are surprisingly good jumpers. They also have a fair amount of health and cause significant damage to newer players. It is advisable that new players remain indoors at night until they gain better Weapons and Defenses.
• The Swamp Zombie is the fastest zombie as well as having very high knockback resistance towards newer players.
• A simple Wooden Sword swung repeatedly is enough to keep one or two zombies at bay. Three or more Zombies will likely be able to get past the sword and cause damage. Weapons that can hit multiple enemies work best. To kill zombies easily, build the Lava traps. The Spear or Vilethorn are ideal for this job. Ranged weapons also work well, like the Bow; Shuriken and Throwing Knives are ranged weapons that also pierce through multiple enemies, making them good candidates as well.
• To increase the chance of Doctor Bones spawning, you can place a Water Candle, or you can hold a Water Candle and use a Battle Potion on the Jungle Surface during the Night. It will greatly increase the chance of him spawning. For better results, it is suggested that you do this during a Blood Moon. Doctor Bones has a higher spawn rate if the world has not entered Hardmode yet. This is because the new enemies spawning in larger amounts during Hardmode will decrease Doctor Bones' spawn chance, just like any other rare creatures.
  • Doctor Bones can spawn at any depth on Jungle Grass blocks, only during the night.

Blood Moon

• If one wishes to avoid Zombies entirely during a Blood Moon, blockading doorways with any Block type will stop Zombies from entering your home. Placing a Wood Platform, Wooden Beam, or a piece of Furniture next to the door on the inside will prevent doors from swinging inward, which is the only way Zombies can enter.
• Placing doors above ground level or digging a trench two blocks wide and deep forces Zombies to jump at the doors, during which they can't open these doors.
• Another strategy is to place two doors parallel to each other, allowing NPC movement to be uninhibited by blockades. Doors won't open for Zombies during a Blood Moon, any Skeletons underground, or hard mode enemies that can open up single doors by bashing on them, as the other door will block them from opening them inward. If the outer door is already open, though, this will not work.

Trivia

• Doctor Bones is a parody of Indiana Jones, also known as Doctor Jones, who is an archaeologist known to always retrieve his hat.
• The Nurse Halloween variant is a possible reference to the Joker in The Dark Knight.
• The achievement Til Death Is a reference to the phrase "Till death do us part" from the marriage liturgy.
• An internal constant name, that corresponds to expert variant of female zombie, is called "ArmedZombieCenx", a reference to Cenx.
• Occasionally, when a Pincushion Zombie takes damage, broken Wooden Arrow shafts will fall from their body which cannot be retrieved.

History

 PC version

• Desktop 1.3.5: Sprites updated for the following variants:
  • Doctor Bones, The Groom
  • Regular, Pincushion, Swamp, Twiggy Zombies
  • Eskimo and Raincoat Zombies
  • Expert mode Variants
  • Halloween and Christmas Variants

• Desktop 1.3.2: Slimed Zombie and Bald Zombie sprites updated.

• Desktop 1.3.0.8: Zombie names now display their types instead of just saying "Zombie".

• Desktop 1.3.0.1:
  • Added The Bride and Blood Zombie to the Blood Moon.
  • Some zombies now appear to carry Zombie Arms in Expert mode.

• Desktop 1.2.2: Added Santa and Sweater Zombie variants, which only spawn during the Christmas season.

• Desktop 1.2.1.2: Costumed Zombies will not open doors when there is no Blood Moon.

• Desktop 1.2.1: Added Nurse, Superhero, and Pixie Zombie variants, which only spawn during the Halloween season.

 Mobile version

• Mobile 1.2.6508: The Groom now has a chance to drop Brain.

 Console version

• Console 1.02: The Groom now has a chance to drop Brain.

 PC version

• Desktop 1.2.0.3: Can now drop its own respective banner.

• Desktop 1.2: New variants introduced: Pincushion Zombie, Slimed Zombie, Swamp Zombie, Twiggy Zombie, Rain Coat Zombie, Female Zombie, Zombie Eskimo, Spore Zombie, and Mushroom Zombie.

• Desktop 1.1: Bald Zombie variation added.

• Desktop 1.0.5:
  • The Groom fixed so that he actually spawns.
  • Doctor Bones can now only spawn in the Jungle and Underground Jungle.

• Desktop 1.0.4: New variants introduced: The Groom, Doctor Bones.

• Desktop-Release: Introduced.

 Console version

• Console-Release: Introduced.

 Mobile version

• Mobile-Release: Introduced.

Nintendo 3DS version

• 3DS-Release: Introduced.