Minecraft:Java Edition guides/Pretty Scary Update

Template:Infobox guide This guide is a simplified overview of all the changes in the Minecraft:Pretty Scary Update (Template:JE 1.4.x releases), which assumes at least some knowledge of the Java Edition 1.3.x releases.

Mobs

New

Minecraft:Wither	File:Wither JE1 BE1.png	Can only be spawned by placing 4 blocks of Minecraft:soul sand in a T shape, and putting 3 Minecraft:wither skeleton skulls on top of the three upper blocks (see image below).	Template:Drop Template:Xp (when killed by a Minecraft:player or tamed Minecraft:wolf)	Three-headed flying player-created Minecraft:boss mob shooting Minecraft:projectiles at any Minecraft:mob (that isn't Minecraft:undead) and Minecraft:players. After spawning, it flashes blue, builds up Minecraft:health, grows slightly and is invincible for a few seconds - then it Minecraft:explodes and starts attacking players and mobs. Each head can fire projectiles, so-called wither skulls, at different targets. Shoots two kinds of projectiles - a blue one from the little heads, targeting mobs and a dark one from the big head targeting players. When hit by projectiles, players get the Wither II effect, which acts like a slower Minecraft:Poison effect that can kill and turns affected players' Minecraft:health bars' hearts black. Constantly Minecraft:regenerates health. Gains 'wither armor' when taken down to half health, making it immune to Minecraft:arrows. Darkens the Minecraft:sky when spawned in the Minecraft:Overworld.
Minecraft:Wither skeleton	File:Wither Skeleton JE1 BE1.png	Minecraft:Nether fortress	Template:Drop Template:Drop Template:Xp, plus Template:Xp per equipment piece (when killed by a Minecraft:player or tamed Minecraft:wolf) Rare drops Template:Drop Spawned equipment Template:Drop	Give players Wither effect when hitting them. Rarely, depending on Minecraft:difficulty, spawn with the ability to pick up Minecraft:armor, head wear, Minecraft:items, Minecraft:blocks, Minecraft:weapons and Minecraft:tools. Items that are picked up have a 100% chance of Minecraft:dropping after dying. More advanced gear is more likely to spawn with Minecraft:mobs when playing on harder difficulties and rarely drops when the mob is killed by players.
Minecraft:Zombie villager	File:Zombie Villager.png	Anywhere in the Overworld where the light level is 7 or less.	Template:ItemLink (100% chance) Template:ItemLink (2.5% chance) Template:ItemLink (2.5% chance) Template:ItemLink (2.5% chance) Template:Xp, plus Template:Xp per equipment piece (when killed by a Minecraft:player or tamed Minecraft:wolf)	Have a 5% chance of spawning instead of a normal Minecraft:zombie. Have a chance of spawning when a Minecraft:villager is killed by a zombie (0% chance in easy, 50% chance in normal, 100% chance in hard). Can be cured into a villager using a Minecraft:golden apple and a Minecraft:splash potion of Weakness. Have the same bodies as normal zombies, only the head is different.
Minecraft:Baby zombie and Minecraft:baby zombie villager	Template:Animate	Anywhere in the Overworld where the light level is 7 or less.	Template:ItemLink (100% chance) Template:ItemLink (2.5% chance) Template:ItemLink (2.5% chance) Template:ItemLink (2.5% chance) Template:Xp, plus Template:Xp per equipment piece (when killed by a Minecraft:player or tamed Minecraft:wolf)	Smaller and faster than normal zombies.
Minecraft:Witch	File:Witch Revision 2.png	Minecraft:Swamp Minecraft:Witch hut	Template:ItemLink (12.5% chance) Template:ItemLink (12.5% chance) Template:ItemLink (12.5% chance) Template:ItemLink (12.5% chance) Template:ItemLink (12.5% chance) Template:ItemLink (12.5% chance) Template:ItemLink (25% chance) Template:Xp (when killed by a Minecraft:player or tamed Minecraft:wolf) They make 1–3 drops of 0–2 items each, for a maximum of 6 items total.	Throws Minecraft:splash potions of Minecraft:Poison, Minecraft:Slowness, Minecraft:Weakness, and Minecraft:Instant Damage at Minecraft:players.
Minecraft:Bat	File:Bat JE1 BE1.png	Spawn in groups of two in the Minecraft:Overworld at a light level of 3 or less on Minecraft:opaque blocks below layer 63. Between October 20 and November 3, they only require a light level of 6 or less to spawn. On Minecraft:Superflat worlds, bats spawn below the top non-air layer, ignoring the usual layer-63 limitation.	None	Hang on the ceiling when idle, starts flying when Minecraft:players come near. Sleep during the Minecraft:day. Don't trigger Minecraft:pressure plates or Minecraft:tripwire.

Changed

All hostile Minecraft:mobs		Now jump down to players as long as they can survive the fall. Depending on difficulty, they are willing to take more damage.
Tamed Minecraft:wolves	File:Tamed Wolf with Red Collar JE1 BE1.png	Collars can now be dyed by Template:Control dye on the wolf
Minecraft:Iron golem	File:Iron Golem JE1 BE1.png	Now attack Minecraft:creepers, Minecraft:slimes and Minecraft:magma cubes Can become aggressive towards players depending on whether the player is liked or disliked by the villagers of a village
Minecraft:Villager	Template:Animate	Improved Minecraft:villagers to make them more self-aware. The inhabitants of a village can now like and dislike specific players. Trading makes the villagers like the player. Hurting villagers or their iron golems makes the villagers dislike a player. When players are highly disliked, iron golems of that village can become aggressive towards those players. After a villager dies to natural causes (mobs excluded) while a player is within 16 blocks or if a mob kills a villager, no baby villagers are produced in the next few minutes. Changed and added some trades to counteract emerald farming and improve gameplay. Show particle effects indicating a change in player reputation.
Minecraft:Pig	File:Saddled Pig JE2.png	Can now accelerate to up to 5 m/s. Now drop their Minecraft:saddle when killed.
Minecraft:Slime	File:Slime JE2 BE1.png	Now spawn in swamps at night.
Minecraft:Sheep	Template:Animate	Sheep from Minecraft:spawn eggs can now spawn natural colored sheep (white, pink, etc.)
Minecraft:Creeper	File:Creeper JE3 BE1.png	Start exploding when they hit the ground, with explosions being more imminent with higher falls. Can now have custom explosion radius and fuse timer using edited mob spawners and NBT data.
Minecraft:Zombie	Template:Animate	Now rarely spawn with armor of all kinds, sometimes enchanted. Now rarely, depending on difficulty, spawn with the ability to pick up armor, headwear, items, blocks, weapons, and tools. All equipped gear is functional - swords and tools do more damage on attacks, armor protects the mob. Rare tool drops are now damaged. More advanced gear is more likely to spawn with mobs when playing on harder difficulties and drops rarely when the mob is killed by players. When wearing helmets, they don't burn up - instead, all damage is applied to the helmet. Using modified mob spawners they can have a custom drop rate of items and hold and wear all kinds of items and blocks. Now have a chance, depending on difficulty, to infect villagers after killing them - the villager then gets replaced with a zombie villager on death. Infected baby villagers turn into baby zombie villagers. Right-clicking a zombie villager under the influence of a Weakness potion with a golden apple inverts their potion effect, make them wiggle slightly, and eventually turn back into a villager. Rarely spawn holding iron swords or shovels. When holding something in their hands, their arms move upwards when attacking. Added baby zombie, which is only spawnable using mods or third-party tools. Now rarely drop carrots and potatoes when killed by players. Have a 25% chance of spawning with a pumpkin on their head during Halloween.
Minecraft:Skeleton	Template:Animate	Now rarely spawn with armor of all kinds, sometimes enchanted. Now rarely, depending on difficulty, spawn with the ability to pick up armor, headwear, items, blocks, weapons, and tools. All equipped gear is functional - swords and tools do more damage on attacks, armor protects the mob. Rare tool drops are now damaged. More advanced gear is more likely to spawn with mobs when playing on harder difficulties and rarely drops when the mob is killed by players. When wearing helmets, they don't burn up - instead all damage is applied to the helmet. Using modified mob spawners they can have a custom drop rate of items and hold and wear all kinds of items and blocks. Rarely spawn with enchanted bows which can be dropped when killed by players. Have a 25% chance of spawning with a pumpkin on their head during Halloween.
Minecraft:Zombie pigmen	File:Zombified Piglin JE3 BE2 (with Carved Pumpkin).png	Now rarely, depending on difficulty, spawn with the ability to pick up armor, headwear, items, blocks, weapons, and tools. All equipped gear is functional - swords and tools do more damage on attacks, armor protects the mob. Rare tool drops are now damaged. More advanced gear is more likely to spawn with mobs when playing on harder difficulties and rarely drops when the mob is killed by players. Using modified mob spawners they can have a custom drop rate of items and hold and wear all kinds of items and blocks. Rarely carry enchanted golden swords. Dropped golden swords now sometimes are damaged. Added baby zombie pigman, which is only spawnable using mods or third-party tools.

Blocks

New

Minecraft:Command block	File:Impulse Command Block JE1.png	Only obtainable using Template:Cmd.	Cannot be broken in Minecraft:Survival mode nor without Minecraft:operator permissions.	Runs editable commands when triggered by Minecraft:redstone signal. Intended for Minecraft:adventure maps. Can only be edited by operators in Minecraft:Creative mode, as long as enable-command-block in Minecraft:server.properties is enabled.
Minecraft:Beacon	File:Beacon JE4 BE1.png		Any It always takes exactly 4.5 seconds to break, regardless of tool used.	Continuously glows and gives a selected Minecraft:status effect to Minecraft:players within a set amount of Minecraft:blocks while beaming a beacon of light directly upwards. Activated by building a solid pyramid of iron/gold/emerald/diamond blocks underneath (can be used interchangeably) and selecting an effect. The cheapest configuration requires 9 blocks (one layer), while the best configuration requires 164 blocks (four layers). Unlockable effects, with increasing amounts of required layers of blocks. When all 4 layers of blocks underneath are built correctly, a second status effect can be chosen.
Minecraft:Anvil	Template:Animate		Pickaxe	Used for Minecraft:repairing and combining Minecraft:enchanted items as well as for renaming any Minecraft:block or Minecraft:item at the cost of Minecraft:experience levels. Minecraft:Tools can also be repaired using one piece of their material. Minecraft:Enchantments that are the same are upgraded by one level as long as they are both the same level and the higher level exists. Conflicting enchantments are removed and only the first one is kept. Becomes damaged from using and dropping it. Damage persists in the Minecraft:inventory and splits up into 3 categories: anvil, slightly damaged anvil & very damaged anvil.
Minecraft:Flower pot	File:Flower Pot JE1.png		Any	Lets players plant all kinds of Minecraft:saplings, Minecraft:mushrooms, Minecraft:flowers, Minecraft:cacti, Minecraft:dead shrubs and Minecraft:ferns. Right-click it with something to plant it, hit it to get both back.
Minecraft:Wall	Template:Animate		Pickaxe	Available in Minecraft:cobblestone and Minecraft:mossy cobblestone variants. Behave like Minecraft:fences - connect to each other, to other Minecraft:blocks and to Minecraft:fence gates & have a 1.5 blocks high collision box. Have a different, higher shape in corners and when blocks are placed on them.
Minecraft:Mob head	Template:Animate	Minecraft:Wither skeletons have a 2.5% chance of dropping a Minecraft:wither skeleton skull when killed by a Minecraft:player or Minecraft:tamed wolf. All other heads are only obtainable from the Minecraft:creative inventory.	Any If a player head has a custom Minecraft:skin, the skin is preserved when broken.	Can be put on the ground in 16 orientations and hung on walls. Can be worn.
Minecraft:Wooden button	File:Oak Button (S) JE1 BE1.png		Axe	Unlike Minecraft:stone buttons, can be activated by Minecraft:arrows. When pressed, stays activated longer than stone buttons.
Minecraft:Carrot and Minecraft:potato crops	Template:Animate	Created by planting carrots and potatoes on farmland.	Any	Drop multiple carrots or potatoes when fully grown.
Minecraft:Nether brick slab	File:Nether Brick Slab JE1 BE1.png		Pickaxe	Can be used as a building block. Added in 1.4.6.

Changed

Minecraft:Chest / Minecraft:ender chest	File:Xmas Chest.png File:Xmas Large Chest.png	When the computer's clock is set to a date between December 24 and 26, chests and ender chestsTemplate:Verify become retextured to look like presents. Added in 1.4.6.
Wood	Template:AnimateTemplate:Animate Template:AnimateTemplate:Animate	Placement now depends on the surface it is placed on, rather than the direction of the player. Placed on the side of a block, the log is horizontal. Placed on the top or bottom of a block, the log is vertical.
Minecraft:Monster spawner	File:Spawner JE2.png	Added tags to change a few key spawning rules. Spawning range can now be changed. Maximum amount of spawned entities within spawning range can now be changed. Horizontal spawning radius can now be changed. Spawned mobs can wear and carry any items and blocks as well as have a custom drop rate of held items. Added a tag for mobs to decide whether they can despawn. Added a tag for mobs to decide whether they are invincible.
Minecraft:Redstone repeater	File:Redstone Repeater (S) JE3.png	Can now be locked by powering their sides with another repeater. When locked, they show a little bedrock barrier in place of the delay indicator torch and won't change their output signal.
Minecraft:Trapdoor	File:Oak Trapdoor (D) JE2.png	Can now be placed on the top half of blocks. Placement works similar to that of slabs and stairs.
Minecraft:Button	Template:Animate	Now stays active for 0.2 seconds longer. New crafting recipe – only 1 Minecraft:stone block required.
Minecraft:Fire	File:Fire JE1.png	Now spreads more aggressively depending on the difficulty.
Minecraft:Sapling	Template:Animate	Decreased hitbox size.
Minecraft:TNT	File:TNT JE2 BE1.png	Is now triggered by flaming arrows shot by Flame bows.

Items

New

Minecraft:Potato, Minecraft:poisonous potato, and Minecraft:baked potato	Template:Animate	Minecraft:Potatoes can be obtained by Minecraft:farming, as Minecraft:drops (from Minecraft:zombies and Minecraft:zombie villagers), or from Minecraft:chest loot.Template:Verify Minecraft:Poisonous potatoes rarely drop when Minecraft:farming potatoes.	Minecraft:Potatoes can be planted on Minecraft:hydrated soil and drop 1-4 potatoes when fully grown. Can be grown instantly using Minecraft:bone meal. Poisonous potatoes have a 60% chance to Minecraft:poison the Minecraft:player when eaten. Potatoes restore Template:Hunger Minecraft:hunger and 0.6 saturation. Poisonous potatoes restore Template:Hunger hunger and 1.2 saturation. Baked potatoes restore Template:Hunger hunger and 6 saturation.
Minecraft:Carrot and Minecraft:golden carrot	Template:Animate	Minecraft:Carrots can be obtained by Minecraft:farming, as Minecraft:drops (from Minecraft:zombies, Minecraft:husks, and Minecraft:zombie villagers), or from Minecraft:chest loot.	Carrots can be planted on Minecraft:hydrated soil and drop 2-4 carrots when fully grown. Can be grown instantly using Minecraft:bone meal. Carrots restore Template:Hunger Minecraft:hunger and 3.6 saturation. Golden carrots restore Template:Hunger hunger and 14.4 saturation.
Minecraft:Carrot on a stick	File:Carrot on a Stick JE1 BE1.png		Used to control Minecraft:pigs. When held, it dictates the direction pigs Minecraft:players are riding head in. Nearby pigs flock towards players holding it. Pigs start slow but end up going about 5 Minecraft:blocks per second. Slowly loses Minecraft:durability when riding pigs. The pigs 'eat' the Minecraft:carrot eventually, leaving the player a Minecraft:fishing rod, and require another carrot to continue riding. Can be Template:Control to give the pig a short speed boost. This takes up a chunk of the durability.
Minecraft:Pumpkin pie	File:Pumpkin Pie JE1 BE1.png		Restores Template:Hunger Minecraft:hunger and 4.8 saturation.
Minecraft:Nether star	File:Nether Star JE2 BE1.png	Drops from the new Minecraft:wither.	Used to craft the new Minecraft:beacon. Glows like an enchanted item. When dropped, it cannot be destroyed by Minecraft:explosions and take more than twice as long to despawn than other Minecraft:items. However, it can still be destroyed by Minecraft:fire, Minecraft:lava, and Minecraft:cacti.
Music disc Minecraft:wait	File:Music Disc Wait JE1 BE1.png	Has a chance to drop when a skeleton kills a creeper.	Plays the song "Wait" by Minecraft:C418. Added in 1.4.4.
Minecraft:Enchanted book	File:Enchanted Book.gif	Created by enchanting a Minecraft:book using an Minecraft:enchanting table.	Used to apply enchantments to items using an anvil. Added in 1.4.6.
Minecraft:Firework rocket	File:Firework Rocket JE1 BE1.png		Projectiles which can be launched into the air and explode. Added in 1.4.6.
Minecraft:Firework star	File:Firework Star JE1 BE1.png		Used to determine the color and shape of firework explosions. Added in 1.4.6.
Minecraft:Spawn eggs for the Minecraft:bat and Minecraft:witch.	Template:Animate	Available in the creative inventory.	Can be used to spawn the respective mob.

Changed

Music disc Minecraft:11	File:Music Disc 11 JE1 BE1.png	Can now drop from creepers killed by skeletons like other music discs.
Minecraft:Map	Template:Animate	Are now crafted as an Minecraft:empty map and become a real map by right-clicking. Start out at their closest zoom level and can be extended by adding more paper. Players see other players moving around on the same map. Craft an existing map with an empty map to receive an extra copy of the map. Removed text overlay. Are labeled 'Map #0' and so on. Now align to a grid and can be stacked to 64. When outside a map's range, the player is displayed as a small circle at the edge.
Minecraft:Bow	File:Bow JE2 BE1.png	A high pitched sound is now played when a player hits another player from far away with a bow.

Potions

New

Template:ItemLink		Minecraft:Night Vision
Template:ItemLink		Minecraft:Invisibility

Non-mob entities

New

Minecraft:Item frame

File:Item Frame Revision 1.png

Template:Drop

All Minecraft:items and Minecraft:blocks can be framed. Minecraft:Clocks, Minecraft:compasses and Minecraft:maps function. Maps show only one marker, the frame itself. Mounted maps are marked on copies of the map.

Changed

Minecraft:Painting

File:Wither (painting texture) JE1 BE1.png

Added a new painting depicting the creation of the Minecraft:wither. This is the only painting made by Minecraft:Jeb.

Structures

New

Minecraft:Witch hut

File:Swamp hut JE1 BE1.png

Minecraft:Swamp

None

Minecraft:Witch

The witch hut is a structure that consists mainly of Minecraft:spruce planks and Minecraft:oak logs, and has a Minecraft:cauldron and a Minecraft:crafting table inside it.

Enchantments

New

Minecraft:Enchantment	Max level	Applicable items	Notes
Minecraft:Thorns	III	Template:ItemSpriteTemplate:ItemSpriteTemplate:ItemSpriteTemplate:ItemSprite	Damages attackers.

Effects

New

Wither

File:Wither (effect) JE1 BE1.png

Withers and wither skeletons

Inflicts damage over time. Unlike Poison, it has the potential to be fatal on its own.

Gameplay

Changed

Minecraft:Inventory	Items can now be dragged and dropped. Long pressing halves the stack before dragging.
Minecraft:Hotbar	Items now show their name when switching in the hotbar. Can be disabled by changing heldItemTooltips to false in Minecraft:options.txt. Dropping items while holding Template:Key now drops the whole stack.
Minecraft:Enchantments	Minecraft:Fire Protection now extinguishes Minecraft:fire more quickly. Minecraft:Blast Protection now reduces Minecraft:explosion recoil. Minecraft:Protection is not as protective as it used to be in order to make specific enchantments more worthwhile.
Sneaking	Pressing Template:Ctrl while sneaking now uses the held item instead of the currently selected block.
Minecraft:Death messages	Now appear in server log files.

Sounds

New

Name	Trigger
Minecraft:Zombie, Minecraft:skeleton, Minecraft:cow, Minecraft:pig, Minecraft:spider, Minecraft:enderman, Minecraft:ghast, Minecraft:silverfish, Minecraft:magma cube, Minecraft:Wolf, Minecraft:ender dragon, Minecraft:bat, and Minecraft:anvil	Added sounds.
Wood, Minecraft:stone, Minecraft:sand, Minecraft:gravel, Minecraft:plants	Added sounds for placing blocks.
Minecraft:Sand, Minecraft:gravel, Minecraft:soul sand, Minecraft:grass block, and Minecraft:stone	Added sounds for walking on the block.
Minecraft:Zombie villager	Added sounds for curing, infecting, and a remedy sound.
Minecraft:Fire	Added sounds for setting things on fire.
Minecraft:Sheep	Added sounds for Minecraft:shearing sheep.
Minecraft:Ladder	Added sounds for climbing ladders.
Minecraft:Minecart	Added sounds for riding minecarts.
Minecraft:Experience	Added a sound for leveling up, which is played every five levels.
Minecraft:Fluids	Added constant noise to fluids.