Minecraft:Wither Skeleton

Template:For Template:Infobox entity A wither skeleton is a tall, black variant of a Minecraft:skeleton equipped with a Minecraft:stone sword. They inflict the Wither effect when attacking the Minecraft:player. They are found exclusively in Minecraft:Nether fortresses and are the only source of Minecraft:wither skeleton skulls, as well as the only Minecraft:renewable source of Minecraft:coal.

Spawning

Wither skeletons can spawn in Minecraft:Nether fortresses at a light level between 0 and 7, in groups of 5Template:Only or 2-3Template:Only:

• In the structure bounding box of any single piece of the Nether fortress they can spawn on any block
• In the larger area bounding box of the entire Nether fortress they can spawn exclusively on Minecraft:Nether bricks

They are the only mobs that can spawn inside Minecraft:wither roses due to their immunity to the damaging effect.

Spider jockeys

Template:ExclusiveTemplate:Removed feature Minecraft:Spiders and Minecraft:cave spiders spawned in the Nether using commands or Minecraft:spawn eggs have a 1% chance to spawn as a Minecraft:spider jockey, with an 80% chance of that spider being ridden by a wither skeleton.

Halloween

Template:Exclusive On Halloween, wither skeletons have a 22.5% chance of spawning wearing a Minecraft:carved pumpkin and a 2.5% chance of spawning wearing a Minecraft:Jack o'lantern. They are never dropped.

Withers

Template:Exclusive The Minecraft:wither spawns 3-4 wither skeletons when below half health on Normal and Hard Minecraft:difficulties.

Drops

• 8.5% chance of dropping their unenchanted stone Minecraft:sword which has a random Minecraft:durability. This chance increases by 1% per level of Looting, for a maximum of 11.5% chance with Looting III.
• Template:Xp experience orbs when killed by a Minecraft:player or tamed Minecraft:wolf, and an additional Template:Xp is dropped per piece of naturally-spawned equipment that does not drop upon death.
  • Because all wither skeletons spawn with a stone sword, each of them effectively drop Template:Xp if the sword is not dropped.
  • If the wither skeleton does drop its stone sword, it drops the default Template:Xp instead.
• A Minecraft:carved pumpkin or Minecraft:jack o'lantern worn by a wither skeleton spawned on Halloween is never dropped.

Behavior

Wither skeletons wander aimlessly when idle. They Minecraft:sprint to attack Minecraft:players, Minecraft:iron golems, baby turtles, Minecraft:piglins, and Minecraft:piglin brutes within 16 blocks.

When an Minecraft:entity is attacked by a wither skeleton on any Minecraft:difficulty, it is inflicted with the Wither effect for 10 seconds, which turns the Minecraft:health bar black (Template:Hp) and decreases it by Template:Hp every two seconds. Unlike Minecraft:Poison, this effect can cause Minecraft:death.

Minecraft:Wolves are aggressive toward wither skeletons, which retaliate when attacked. Wither skeletons flee from wolves Template:In, but do not Template:In because they are part of the skeleton Minecraft:family and wolves attack any mob from that family.<ref>Template:Bug</ref> Despite being associated to iron golems, Minecraft:villagers and Minecraft:wandering traders are ignored by wither skeletons. However, a wither skeleton can retaliate if a Minecraft:firework rocket set by a villager hits it.

In Normal and Hard difficulties, some wither skeletons pick up dropped equipment. The chance depends on Minecraft:regional difficulty, with up to 55% of them capable of picking up Minecraft:swords higher than stone tier plus any Minecraft:armor. Wither skeletons never take Template:ItemLinks; Template:In, if they hold a bow (which can be done with Template:Cmd) they shoot flaming Minecraft:arrows even if their bows are not enchanted, dealing the same damage as a normal skeleton would plus an additional Template:Hp of fire damage. If the wither skeleton is holding a Minecraft:tipped arrow or Minecraft:spectral arrow in its off-hand, it shoots that type of arrow, and the arrow held is not consumed. They cannot use Minecraft:crossbows.

Wither skeletons are immune to Minecraft:fire and the Wither effect. They still seek shade or Minecraft:water during daylight if they are in the Minecraft:Overworld, even though they do not burn in Minecraft:sunlight.

As they are also under the "skeletons" Minecraft:entity type tag, if a wither skeleton (only possible through commands) kills a Minecraft:creeper, the creeper drops a Minecraft:music disc, randomly selected from Minecraft:13, cat, blocks, Minecraft:chirp, Minecraft:far, Minecraft:mall, Minecraft:mellohi, Minecraft:stal, Minecraft:strad, Minecraft:ward, Minecraft:11, and Minecraft:wait.Template:Only

Being an Minecraft:undead mob, they are:

• damaged by the status effect Minecraft:Instant Health and healed by the status effect Minecraft:Instant Damage.
• unaffected by the status effects Minecraft:Regeneration and Minecraft:Poison.
• ignored by the Minecraft:wither.
• affected by the Minecraft:Smite enchantment.
• unable to swim in Minecraft:water, but do not drown.
• a threat to Minecraft:armadillos, causing them to hide in their shell.

Due to their height of 2.4 blocks, they cannot fit through openings 2 blocks tall.

Sounds

Template:JE: Template:SoundTable

Template:BE: Template:SoundTable

Data values

ID

Template:JE: Template:ID table

Template:BE: Template:ID table

Entity data

Wither skeleton have entity data associated with them that contains various properties. The wither skeleton is taller than the skeleton.

Template:JE: Template:Main

<section begin="entity data"/>

• Template:Nbt Entity data
  • Template:Nbt inherit/entity
  • Template:Nbt inherit/mob

<section end="entity data"/>

Template:BE:

See Minecraft:Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements

Achievements that apply to all mobs: Template:Collapse

Advancements

Advancements that apply to all mobs: Template:Collapse

History

Gallery

Renders

• A wither skeleton
  A wither skeleton
• A wither skeleton targeting.
  A wither skeleton targeting.
• A wither skeleton with a Minecraft:carved pumpkin on its head.
  A wither skeleton with a Minecraft:carved pumpkin on its head.
• A wither skeleton wearing iron Minecraft:armor and wielding an iron Minecraft:sword.
  A wither skeleton wearing iron Minecraft:armor and wielding an iron Minecraft:sword.
• A wither skeleton targeting without a weapon.
  A wither skeleton targeting without a weapon.
• A wither skeleton holding a Minecraft:bow, ready to fire an arrow.
  A wither skeleton holding a Minecraft:bow, ready to fire an arrow.
• A wither skeleton spider jockey.Template:Only
  A wither skeleton spider jockey.Template:Only
• A wither skeleton cave spider jockey.Template:Only
  A wither skeleton cave spider jockey.Template:Only

Screenshots

• A wither skeleton being compared to its variants Template:In.
  A wither skeleton being compared to its variants Template:In.
• A wither skeleton in the Minecraft:Overworld.
  A wither skeleton in the Minecraft:Overworld.
• A wither jockey.
  A wither jockey.
• A wither skeleton next to the wall of a Nether fortress.
  A wither skeleton next to the wall of a Nether fortress.
• A wither skeleton and a Minecraft:blaze idling in a Minecraft:Nether fortress.
  A wither skeleton and a Minecraft:blaze idling in a Minecraft:Nether fortress.
• A wither skeleton and two Minecraft:blazes near a blaze Minecraft:monster spawner.
  A wither skeleton and two Minecraft:blazes near a blaze Minecraft:monster spawner.
• Wither skeleton wearing a pumpkin on Halloween.
  Wither skeleton wearing a pumpkin on Halloween.
• Wither skeleton wearing a Minecraft:jack o'lantern in the Minecraft:Nether.
  Wither skeleton wearing a Minecraft:jack o'lantern in the Minecraft:Nether.
• A wither skeleton in a Nether fortress.
  A wither skeleton in a Nether fortress.
• A wither skeleton compared to a tall player.Template:Only
  A wither skeleton compared to a tall player.Template:Only

Mojang screenshots

• A preview of two wither skeletons in the soul sand valley.
  A preview of two wither skeletons in the soul sand valley.
• File:Dev Diaries wither skeleton jumpscare.jpeg

Textures

• Wither skeleton texture file.
  Wither skeleton texture file.

In other media

• Wither Skeleton in promotional artwork for the Minecraft:Pretty Scary Update.
  Wither Skeleton in promotional artwork for the Minecraft:Pretty Scary Update.
• Wither Skeletons in promotional artwork for the Minecraft:Nether Update.
  Wither Skeletons in promotional artwork for the Minecraft:Nether Update.
• A Wither Skeleton, as it appears in Minecraft:Minecraft Dungeons.
  A Wither Skeleton, as it appears in Minecraft:Minecraft Dungeons.
• Minecraft:LEGO Minecraft Wither Skeleton.
  Minecraft:LEGO Minecraft Wither Skeleton.
• "Acid Wither Skeleton," an officially licensed T-Shirt design.
  "Acid Wither Skeleton," an officially licensed T-Shirt design.
• An officially licensed cup featuring a wither skeleton.
  An officially licensed cup featuring a wither skeleton.
• A wither skeleton as it appears in Minecraft:Ghast in the Machine!
  A wither skeleton as it appears in Minecraft:Ghast in the Machine!
• Wither skeleton Minecraft:action figure.
  Wither skeleton Minecraft:action figure.

See also

• Minecraft:Skeleton (disambiguation)
• Minecraft:Wither