Zombie pigman

==Behavior== A zombie pigman (plural: zombie pigmen) are mobs (wont attack unless attacked) found in The Nether. These mobs when attacked, will respond by snorting, while saying "piggy!" a single time. The zombie pigman often attacks in groups/packs and holds a golden sword. When killed, the Zombie Pigman drops leather, and a gold nugget, both ranging from a drop of 0-1. Zombie Pigmen are a advancement from the pigman, suggested for NPC villages. He is also found mostly aprox.45 blocks away from a lavafall. Zombie Pigmen avoid cliffs and Ghasts, more things found in The Nether. Zombie Pigman rare drops are his gold sword, a gold helmet and a gold ignot. When attacking one zombie pigman in a group/pack, the entire group/pack will attack back, aswell as the Zombie Pigman himself who got the damage. As of the Beta 1.5 update, pigs struck by lightning in The Overworld would transfrom itself automatically into Zombie Pigmen.

History
contains links to the minecraft wiki.

Zombie Pigmen, the first completely neutral, non-passive mob, was introduced in Alpha as a part of the Nether update along with ghasts. The green liquid in the Zombie Pigman skin was originally blood red, but this was changed because players expressed a preference for the lack of conventional blood and gore in Minecraft. The skin file has "thx xaphobia" written on it as a credit by Notch to the skin's original creator, XaPhobia, also known as X__x.

Zombie Pigmen were originally presented as unarmed passive creatures in a preview before the Halloween update. After Alpha 1.2, their temperament was changed to neutral and they wielded gold swords. Pigmen would never forgive the player for attacking them, but after the Nov. 10, 2010 update, they would revert to a neutral state after a certain amount of time [about two minecraft days (if left alone.)]

After the Beta 1.5 update, pigs struck by lightning in the Overworld would transform into Zombie Pigmen.

How to kill
The obvious way to kill a Zombie Pigman is to slaughter it and its pack. But for a simple way, the "booth" is required. To make the booth, a structure with four walls each three blocks tall, two of them (that must meet at a corner) having gaps at the second block up. A player can mine one block out of the bottom of one of the partial walls and attack a Zombie Pigman, then quickly go back inside and close the way in, then use strike-and-run tactics, running up to the walls with the gaps in them, hitting a Zombie Pigman, then running to the closed corner before it can retaliate, continuing until they are all dead. A bow or stone/iron/diamond sword speeds this process up significantly, the first by allowing the player just to sit in the closed corner and shoot, and the second by reducing the number of hits required. If possible, the booth should be made out of Cobblestone as this will make it invulnerable to Ghasts.

An easier tactic is to build a column three blocks high. From here, you can either hit the Zombie Pigmen or shoot arrows. They will swarm you, as well as push you around, but you will not receive any damage as long as you remain on the column. A disadvantage is that Ghasts can shoot at you and set you on fire(made more dangerous in the Nether since water can't be placed there). It can possibly destroy your tower unless it is made of a type of stone.

Soul Sand slows down Zombie Pigmen considerably, allowing the player to escape or fight a crowd of them more easily. It can also be used to make a one way door by placing the Soul Sand in front of the side of the door you want to block. You can then shoot them safely with a bow.

As of Beta 1.9 Pre-release 5 Zombie Pigmen, Skeletons and Zombies can be damaged by Splash Potions of Healing, and will be healed by Splash Potions of Harming. In addition, a sword enchanted with Smite will do extra damage to Zombie Pigmen.

Another great way to deal with a pack of charging Zombie Pigmen is to either have a sword enchanted with the knock-back ability, or to backpedal while attacking them, as they can outrun you if you don't sprint. this is not advisable since the Nether is full of sudden drops and lavafalls that can cause you harm.