Wither Skeletons are an uncommon monster found mostly in Nether Fortresses in The Nether. They were made available as part of the Pretty Scary Update (1.4.2). A Wither Skeleton will drop Coal, Bones, a Stone Sword, and their Head on death (1 in 50 chance). To spawn the Wither, you’ll need three Wither Skeleton Heads and four Soul Sand blocks. As of the 1.4 prerelease, Wither Skeletons would only spawn in Nether Fortresses; Dinnerbone may have made modifications to this. However, it is presumed that they follow the same spawning criteria as blazes, which will only spawn naturally rather than from a spawn when the pack spawn is chosen within a nether stronghold Wither Skeleton in Minecraft
Mobs can be produced around or even within the stronghold from this pack spawn. Wither skeletons, unlike conventional skeletons, use swords rather than bows. They have a dark look and are significantly taller than regular Skeletons. When a player is attacked by a Wither Skeleton, they are infected with the Wither Effect, which steadily depletes their health. It can, however, kill the player, unlike poison. In the Nether, using a Skeleton Spawn egg in Creative Mode has a 75% chance of spawning a Wither Skeleton instead of a standard Skeleton.
Appearance
The wither skeleton is somewhat taller than a standard Skeleton and slightly shorter than an Enderman, making it the game’s third tallest hostile mob. It almost appears to be burnt, probably due to fire and lava. Instead of a bow, it wields a Stone Sword.
- When the Wither Skeleton hits you on Normal or Hard difficulties, it might give you the Wither Effect.
- There is a 2% chance that a spider hatching in the underworld may spawn as a wither skeleton spider jockey.
- Although Wither Skeletons cannot spawn in the Overworld, they can access it via a Portal.
Drops
0 to 2 bones are dropped. With each level of looting, the maximum drop increases by one, up to a maximum of 0 to 5 bones with Looting III.
A single coal has a 13% probability of falling. Looting I drops 0-2 coal on average with an average of 0.75 coal per kill, Looting II drops 0-3 coal on average with an average of 1.2 coal per kill, and Looting III drops 0-4 coal on average with an average of 1.67 coal per kill.
When a player or domesticated wolf kills you, you have a 2.5 percent chance of getting a wither skeleton skull. With Looting III, the likelihood rises by 1% every level [Java Edition only] or 2% per level [Bedrock Edition alone], for a total chance of 5.5 percent [Java Edition only] or 8.5 percent [Bedrock Edition only]. If they are slain by a charging creeper, their skull is always dropped.
Their unenchanted stone blade, which has a random durability, has an 8.5 percent chance of being dropped. This likelihood rises by 1% with each level of looting, reaching a maximum of 11.5 percent with Looting III.
When a player or tamed wolf kills you, you get 5 experience orbs. If it possesses armour, it drops an extra 1 to 3 pieces each piece.
If a wither skeleton wearing a carved pumpkin or jack o’lantern is slain with a tool enchanted using Looting, the carved pumpkin or jack o’lantern has a chance to drop equal to the degree of Looting used, up to a maximum of 3%.
Behavior
When not attacking players, snow golems, iron golems, baby turtles, piglins, and piglin brutes, wither skeletons walk aimlessly. They run away from wolves, but if attacked, they counterattack.
When an entity is assaulted by a wither skeleton, the wither effect is applied for ten seconds in any difficulty, turning the health bar black (10) and decreasing it by one every two seconds, similar to Poison, other than that it can kill.
In Normal and Hard settings, certain wither skeletons may be able to pick up lost stuff. The likelihood varies depending on the difficulty of the terrain, with up to 55% of them capable of taking up swords of higher tiers and any armour. Even if their bows are unenchanted, wither skeletons discharge flaming arrows if they carry a bow (which can be done with /summon wither skeleton id:bow,Count:1b) in Java Edition. They are unable to utilise crossbows.
Fire and the Wither effect have no impact on Wither skeletons. Even though they do not burn in sunlight, they nevertheless seek cover or water during the day if they are in the Overworld. They sink but do not drown in water, are healed by Instant Damage and injured by Instant Health effects, are resistant to Regeneration and Poison effects, and are not affected by the wither, as do most undead mobs.
During a thunderstorm in Bedrock Edition, the player can burn them by tossing a trident enchanted with Channeling.
Trivia
Wither skeletons may be summoned with bows like skeletons with the /summon command. If they shoot you, unlike skeletons, you will catch fire.
A spider egg has a 1% chance of generating a spider jockey with a wither skeleton in creative mode.
The skeleton of a wither seems to be larger than that of a regular skeleton.
Bugs
Because the Wither Skeleton’s entity ID is shared with Skeletons, they have a problem where they run away from sunlight despite the fact that they cannot burn.
They can spawn in a two-block high area despite being three blocks tall due to the same problem, and will suffocate.
When summoning a wither skeleton, it will catch fire for a split second every 10-15 seconds.
