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.

Template:Mob spawn table

Spider jockeys

Template:Exclusive Template: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

Template:DropTable

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. Template:IN, wither skeletons flee from wolves 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.

Picking up items

Template:Main Some wither skeletons spawn with the ability to pick up dropped Minecraft:items from the ground. Unlike Minecraft:zombies, however, they pick up only weapons, Minecraft:shields, and armor. Template:IN, wither skeletons pick up items that they happen to walk near. Template:IN, they actively search for and walk towards dropped items.

If the picked up item is a Minecraft:weapon (other than a bow), the wither skeleton uses the item as a melee weapon. Wither skeletons do not pick up Minecraft:bows Template:Only or Minecraft:spears under any circumstances. When picking up weapons, wither skeletons prefer ones that deal more damage without considering enchantments. They also prefer weapons with NBT data over those without, and weapons that are less damaged.

If the picked up item is a shield, the wither skeleton equips the shield into their offhand. It cannot use the shield to block incoming attacks, however.

If the picked up item is Minecraft:armor, a Minecraft:carved pumpkin or a Minecraft:head, the wither skeleton equips itself with the item. Wither skeletons prefer armor that give more armor points, and will replace their current armor with it. Wither skeletons pick up cosmetic wearables (heads and carved pumpkins) as long as they aren't wearing a Minecraft:helmet, and will replace the cosmetic wearable if they find a helmet.

If a wither skeleton has equipment and picks up something they prefer more, the wither skeleton drops the old equipment, with the same chance as if killed with Looting ITemplate:Verify, in favor of the new one.

A wither skeleton equipped with a picked-up Minecraft:item becomes persistent and does not Minecraft:despawn, similar to being named.