Possession
A portal, once opened, may be entered from both sides. Beware the unseen enemy!
Possession, also known as "Nothing to Worry About" is what happens to living animals and villagers, but not the player, when exposed to the spirits of The Nether after a short time: infected souls start to come out of the Nether and leak into your world. These spirits are invisible, and will seep out a short distance (16 blocks) from any Nether Portal, and will also infect potential hosts that enter the Nether entirely, warping their behaviour to generally undesirable results.
Contents
Sources of Possession
- Proximity to Nether Portals, within 16 blocks.
- Being inside The Nether.
- Processing Ground Netherrack in a Hopper with a Soul Sand filter, without a proper recipient for the souls unleashed.
- Possessed Wolves will release spirits even while alive, acting as a super-spreader of infection.
- If a possessed creature dies by any means, it will release a spirit which can infect any nearby creatures.
Corruption Symptoms
When a creature is possessed, it will make a sound similar to a Ghast, and after that will make much lower-pitched and demonic sounds. Possession affects different creatures very differently;
| Creature | Symptoms | Additional Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken | After a random duration, fatally explodes. | No environmental damage, but will possess nearby creatures as it dies. |
| Cow | When giving birth, has a chance to produce stillborn calves, Squid, Cave Spiders, or 4-5 Silverfish. | Squid will die from suffocation on land. Cave Spiders and Silverfish are aggressive. |
| Pig | After a random duration, transforms into a Zombie Pigman. | Zombie Pigmen are neutral unless provoked, and will defend other attacked Zombie Pigmen. |
| Sheep | When un-shorn, becomes lighter than air and floats upwards. Returns to normal density when shorn. | Without a ceiling, sheep can be lost into the sky forever. |
| Squid | After a random duration, transforms into a Ghast. | Ghasts are aggressive. |
| Villager | Can no longer breed. After a random duration, transforms into a Witch. | Witches are aggressive. |
| Wolf | Releases spirits into the vicinity, possessing nearby creatures. | Head occasionally spins, red eyes, makes Nether Portal sounds. |
Preventing Possession
Always build Nether Portals away from water and animals where possible, or they can destroy farms and bases. It is advised to build them deep underground or in isolated areas. The range of possession is 16 blocks from the source.
Increasing Possession
In order to create Ghasts farms, players might want to actually increase the sources of possession.
- Each portal block will increase the rate of possession (the actual portal block, not the entire portal frame - so a classic 3x2 Nether portal has 6 portal blocks, and 6 sources of possession).
- Each possessed Wolf will have the same rate of possession as a 3x2 portal frame.
So to get the fastest rate of possession, it is best to add extra portals and possessed wolves.
