The Hordes Mod Guide: Horde Invasions, Zombie Infection & Survival Strategies
The Hordes transforms peaceful Minecraft nights into a relentless fight for survival. On configurable intervals, massive waves of hostile mobs descend on your base from midnight until dawn. Getting hit by a Zombie can infect you, and if you die while infected, a zombified version of your player spawns in your place carrying all your items.
Overview
The Hordes adds two major survival mechanics to Minecraft 1.12.2: periodic horde invasion events and a zombie infection system. Every set number of in-game days, waves of hostile mobs spawn near your position at midnight and relentlessly hunt you down until morning. The mod also introduces an infection mechanic where any hit from a Zombie can give you the Infected potion effect, eventually killing you and spawning a Zombie Player in your place that carries all your gear.
This mod requires Atlas Lib as a dependency. It does not add any new items, blocks, or crafting recipes. Instead, it layers new mechanics on top of vanilla Minecraft's existing mob system, making survival significantly more challenging. Everything about the horde events and infection behavior is highly configurable through the mod's config file, letting you tune the difficulty to your liking.
Getting Started
- 1
Install Atlas Lib
The Hordes requires Atlas Lib to function. Make sure you have it installed alongside The Hordes in your mods folder before launching. Without it, the mod will not load.
- 2
Understand the Horde Schedule
By default, horde events trigger every 10 in-game days at midnight (tick 12000). The first horde does not spawn on day 1 unless you change the config. You have 10 days to prepare your defenses before the first invasion hits.
- 3
Fortify Your Base Early
Horde mobs spawn about 50 blocks away and actively path toward your position. Build solid walls at least 3 blocks high, use Fences or Iron Doors, and light up the area around your base thoroughly. The default wave sends 25 mobs at a time, so a flimsy shelter will not hold.
- 4
Stock Up on Golden Apples
Any Zombie hit can infect you with the Infected potion effect. By default, the only cure is consuming a Golden Apple. Keep several in your hotbar during horde nights. If you die while infected, you lose everything to a Zombie Player that is immune to sunlight.
- 5
Learn the Warning Sound
When a horde wave spawns, you will hear a howling sound cue. This is your signal that a new batch of mobs is approaching. Use it to reposition, heal up, or retreat to a safer area of your base.
Horde Invasion Events
The core feature of The Hordes is the periodic horde invasion. Every 10 days by default, at midnight, waves of hostile mobs begin spawning near each player and aggressively move toward them. The event lasts for 6000 ticks (5 minutes of real time) with new waves spawning every 1000 ticks (50 seconds). When a horde begins, you receive a dark red message: "You hear the howls of a nearby horde."
Horde mobs are not ordinary spawns. They have their target AI completely replaced so that they single-mindedly pursue the nearest player. They receive a boosted follow range of 100 blocks (compared to the vanilla 32), meaning they will track you from much further away. If you try to run, they will follow. Each wave spawns mobs approximately 50 blocks away from your current position in a random direction, then they pathfind directly to you.
Wave Scaling
Hordes get progressively harder over time. Each wave spawns a base of 25 mobs, but this number is multiplied by how many horde cycles have passed and the spawn multiplier (default 1.1x). By day 50, you could be facing significantly larger waves than the initial ones. There is a hard cap of 120 horde entities alive at once, preventing the game from becoming unplayable. If the cap is reached, no more mobs spawn until existing ones are killed.
Default Spawn Table
The default horde spawn list uses a weighted system with day restrictions. Zombies (weight 20) appear from day 0 through day 20 and make up the bulk of early hordes. Zombie Villagers (weight 5) appear from day 0 through day 10 as rarer additions to early waves. Husks (weight 20) replace regular Zombies after day 30 with no upper limit, serving as the late-game horde mob. The spawn table is fully configurable, so you can add Skeletons, Spiders, or even mobs from other mods.
Horde events are tracked per player. On a multiplayer server, each player gets their own horde on the same schedule. If players are near each other, their hordes can overlap, creating truly overwhelming situations. Spread out or coordinate your defenses carefully.
Zombie Infection
The second major system is zombie infection. When a Zombie hits a Villager (and by extension players and Horses with optional settings enabled), the target receives the Infected potion effect with a duration of 10000 ticks (about 8.3 minutes). The infection progresses through amplifier levels 0 through 3. Each time the potion duration drops below 9980 ticks (roughly 20 ticks of being infected), the amplifier increases by one level, effectively creating stages of worsening infection.
When the infection reaches amplifier 3 and ticks down again, it deals lethal damage equal to twice the entity's maximum health, guaranteeing death regardless of armor or health. The infection is then removed, and the death triggers the zombification process. For Villagers, this means they convert into Zombie Villagers that retain their profession. With the optional Villager protection setting, these Zombie Villagers cannot be cured through the vanilla golden apple and weakness potion method.
The default cure for the Infected effect is a Golden Apple. Simply eat one while infected to remove the effect. The cure item is configurable, so server admins can change it to any consumable item. Keep at least 2-3 Golden Apples on you at all times during horde nights, as a single Zombie swipe can start the infection clock.
Zombie Players
When a player dies from infection (or from any cause with the optional death-spawns-zombie setting enabled), a Zombie Player entity spawns at their death location. This is a custom entity that looks like a zombified version of the dead player and carries a copy of their entire inventory. By default, Zombie Players are immune to sunlight, so they will not burn away in the morning like regular Zombies. This means your gear is locked behind a mob that will persist through daytime.
The mod also accounts for environment. If a player dies underwater, a Drowned variant spawns instead. In hot biomes, a Husk variant takes its place. Killing the Zombie Player drops the items it was carrying, making corpse recovery possible but dangerous, especially if other horde mobs are still lurking nearby.
Zombie Gibbing
The Hordes includes a visual feature called gibbing. When Zombies take melee damage from a player, body parts can be visually removed. The system tracks five body parts: Head, Right Arm, Left Arm, Right Leg, and Left Leg. When an attacker's hitbox overlaps with a Zombie's hitbox during a melee hit, the head can be knocked off. This is purely a visual and cosmetic effect that makes combat feel more impactful. It does not change the Zombie's stats or behavior.
Commands
The mod provides three server commands for testing and administration. All require operator permission level 2 or higher.
/startHordeEvent
Manually triggers a horde event for the player who runs the command. Takes one argument: the duration in ticks. For example, /startHordeEvent 6000 starts a standard-length horde. Useful for testing your defenses without waiting 10 in-game days.
/stopHordeEvent
Immediately ends the active horde event for the commanding player and clears all tracked horde entities. Use this if things get out of hand or for debugging.
/spawnHordeWave
Spawns a single wave of horde mobs with the specified count. Running /spawnHordeWave 50 will immediately spawn 50 mobs from the configured spawn table around you. This does not start a full horde event, just a one-time wave.
These commands only work for players, not from the server console. They target the player who executes them, so on multiplayer servers each admin can trigger their own horde independently.
Configuration
Nearly every aspect of The Hordes is configurable through the mod's config file (found in the config folder as hordes.cfg). Understanding these options lets you fine-tune the difficulty for your playstyle or server.
Horde Spawn Event Settings
The spawnAmount setting controls how many mobs spawn per wave (default: 25). The hordeSpawnMultiplier determines how much the spawn count increases each cycle (default: 1.1x, set to 1.0 to disable scaling). The hordeSpawnDuration sets how long the event lasts in ticks (default: 6000, which is 5 minutes). The hordeSpawnInterval controls the delay between waves in ticks (default: 1000, about 50 seconds).
The hordeStartTime determines what time of day the event begins (default: 12000, which is midnight). The hordeSpawnDays setting controls how many days pass between horde events (default: 10). The hordeSpawnMax caps the total number of horde entities that can exist simultaneously (default: 120). Finally, spawnFirstDay can be set to true if you want a horde on the very first night.
Custom Spawn Tables
The spawn list follows the format: entity_id-weight-minDay-maxDay. Weight determines how commonly that mob appears relative to others. MinDay is the first day it can appear in hordes. MaxDay is the last day (set to 0 for no upper limit). For example, "minecraft:skeleton-15-0-0" adds Skeletons with weight 15 from day 0 onwards with no end. You can add mobs from other mods as long as they extend EntityLiving, making The Hordes compatible with virtually any mob mod.
Default Configuration Values
| Mobs Per Wave | 25 |
| Spawn Multiplier | 1.1x per cycle |
| Event Duration | 6000 ticks (5 min) |
| Wave Interval | 1000 ticks (50 sec) |
| Start Time | 12000 (midnight) |
| Days Between Hordes | 10 |
| Max Entities Cap | 120 |
| Spawn First Day | false |
| Mob Follow Range | 100 blocks |
Defense Strategies
Surviving horde nights requires preparation well beyond what vanilla Minecraft demands. Since horde mobs have a 100-block follow range and actively pathfind to your position, simply hiding in a sealed room is not enough. They will pile up outside and overwhelm you the moment you need to leave.
Build a kill corridor with a narrow entrance that funnels mobs into a 1-wide hallway where you can strike them one at a time. Lava moats are effective since horde mobs path directly toward you without avoiding hazards. Cactus walls, while less dramatic, provide passive damage to approaching mobs. Arrow slits (1-block openings at head height in walls) let you snipe approaching mobs with a Bow while remaining safe behind solid blocks.
In the early game before you have strong defenses, consider spending horde nights on the move. Mobs spawn about 50 blocks away, so sprinting in one direction can buy you time. However, the waves keep coming for a full 5 minutes, so eventually you will need to stand and fight or have a prepared fallback position.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does The Hordes work with mobs from other mods?
Yes. You can add any entity that extends EntityLiving to the spawn table in the config. Simply use the mod's entity ID in the format modid:entity_name-weight-minDay-maxDay. This makes The Hordes compatible with mob mods like Lycanites Mobs, Ice and Fire, and others.
Can I disable the infection mechanic?
The infection system has configurable settings. You can disable it through the mod's config file. Check the infection section of hordes.cfg and set the relevant options to false. You can keep horde invasions active while disabling infection entirely if you prefer.
Why are Zombie Players not burning in sunlight?
By default, Zombie Players are immune to sunlight. This is an intentional design choice so that your dropped items persist after the horde night ends. You can disable this in the config if you want Zombie Players to burn normally, but be aware your items may be destroyed if the Zombie Player burns over Lava or in direct sunlight before you can reach them.
How do I change the cure item from Golden Apple to something else?
The cure item is configurable in the mod's config file. You can set it to any consumable item in the game. The item must be something the player can eat or drink. The config accepts standard Minecraft item IDs, so you could change it to a Potion, Milk Bucket, or even a modded food item.
Do hordes spawn if I am underground or in a different dimension?
Horde events trigger based on the world tick and your player's position. The mobs spawn at the nearest valid surface position about 50 blocks away from you in a random direction. If you are deep underground, the mobs may spawn on the surface above you and pathfind down. The event is tied to the Overworld's day cycle.
Can I make hordes happen more frequently for a harder experience?
Set hordeSpawnDays to a lower number in the config. Setting it to 3 means a horde every 3 days. You can also increase spawnAmount beyond 25, raise the hordeSpawnMultiplier above 1.1 for faster scaling, and enable spawnFirstDay to get attacked on night one. For an extreme challenge, add Skeletons, Creepers, and Spiders to the spawn table alongside Zombies.