Zombie Pigmen
Player Interaction
Pushing a Zombie Pigman off a cliff or otherwise causing environmental damage to them will not cause response. However,damaging Zombie Pigmen with TNT will cause response. If provoked, Zombie Pigmen will crowd around and try to get at the player by ganging up on you viciously. An aggravated group of Pigmen is a force to be reckoned with, as each member will deal of damage to the player per sword hit (on Normal difficulty), and they are faster than the player's normal speed. To outrun Zombie Pigmen, a player must sprint, get away on a Horse, or use a Potion of Swiftness. A player may also manage to find a location out of reach of the Zombie Pigmen and their swords (pillar jumping and ladders can help). Ideally, this will let the player kill them without being hurt. While in pursuit of the player, they act like pigs being led by carrots. They will not try to go around objects or traps to get to the player, which can be exploited to escape or kill them easier. If the player enters a portal and returns, any provoked Zombie Pigmen in the area will not eventually become neutral (unless they despawn or die) and sometimes they can enter the portal and chase the player down. Switching the difficulty to Peaceful will cause them to de-spawn completely and resets their neutrality in other difficulties. A player's death does not cause Zombie Pigmen to become neutral towards them, whether caused by the pigmen or not. The range for enraging Zombie Pigmen vastly exceeds the range at which they will see and pursue you. This can cause the false effect of them becoming neutral, but if you return into the range you are still in danger. If the player is riding a pig when lightning hits it a Zombie Pigman will appear on top of the player. Zombie Pigmen are capable of spawning adjacent to the bottom row of obsidian in the portal frame. Zombie Pigmen are capable of drowning. Zombie Pigmen CAN ride in minecarts, so if you decide to create a rail in the nether or by a portal to it, it is likely that you'll see one riding in it. Most Zombie Pigmen will gladly trade you their gold sword for a better one. However, in doing so the Zombie Pigman's attack will increase. It is highly advised that players avoid dropping their sword, for the Zombie Pigman will use it against the player. After giving a Zombie Pigman a sword that's better than their own, you can "customize" the Pigman by giving it armor, enchanted or not. In the event you do customize your Zombie Pigmen, it is advised that you change into creative mode, or keep them in a pen.
Farming
Since Zombie Pigmen spawn in the Nether and in Nether Portals in the Overworld, you can build a Zombie Pigman farm in either dimension which provides a steady stream of Gold Nuggets. Additionally, you can obtain Gold Ingots and Gold Swords as rare drops.
To construct a farm in the Nether, build platforms for Zombie Pigmen to spawn on, with trapdoors on the edge, and place Slabs on the floors of all surrounding areas (or just fill them in) so Pigmen only spawn on your platforms. You can then use Lava flows to collect the Zombie Pigmen into a central area.
To build a farm in the Overworld, construct a rectangular prism of interlocking Nether Portals (to save Obsidian) and put open Trapdoors on the edges of the two bottom Obsidian blocks so that the Zombie Pigmen walk off. From here, you can use Water to collect the Zombie Pigmen into a fall or suffocation trap.
Using a fall trap has the benefit of automation, but with a suffocation trap, you are able to use pistons to control the amount of damage to the Pigmen. This way, you can obtain rare drops by finishing off the Pigmen yourself, perhaps with a Looting enchantment.
