The Blaze is lacking variants and attention for the Nether Update. It would be nice to see it have new variants that would spawn in the new biomes. I have come up with one option for the Nether Update.

The Blighted

The Blighted or Blight is a Blaze variant that spawns the Crimson Forest. It is red and have a Crimson Fungi on its head. It does more more damage than a blaze and when one of its fireballs touches a block, 4-6 blocks are ignited. When killed it will drop either Blaze Powder or Blaze Rods and will always drop a Crimson Fungi. It will also rarely spawn and it will always spawn by itself, since it is stronger than its other counterpart.

Name Meaning

Blight is a plant disease that is caused by fungi. However, Crimson Fungi could be strong enough to infect creatures, a Blaze, instead of plants.

Crimson Fungi and Blazes

Whenever a Blaze goes into a Crimson Forest or is spawned in it, it will turn into a Blighted. If this is too controversial or not wanted by the developers, an alternate option is to have Blazes turn into Blighted when they are near Crimson Fungi.

Possible New Item Drop: The Crimson Rod is a new item that is dropped by the Blighted. It can be used to turn Cows into Mooshrooms and can burn enemies that are hit by it.