People Make It Easy Portal in Minecraft Pocket Edition

The wither is a player-constructed undead hostile boss mob that floats and shoots explosive skulls at players and mobs. It is the only source of nether stars, which are used to craft beacons.

1 Spawning
2 Drops
3 Behavior
- 3.1 Java Edition
- 3.2 Bedrock Edition
4 Wither Skull
5 Sounds
6 Data values
- 6.1 ID
- 6.2 Entity data
7 Achievements
8 Advancements
9 History
10 Issues
11 Trivia
12 Gallery
- 12.1 In other media
13 See also
14 References

Spawning [ ]

Wither build configuration. Soul soil can be used interchangeably with soul sand.

Blue shield wither. — Wither when spawned with its blue shield.

The wither is spawned by placing 4 blocks of soul sand and/or soul soil in a T shape (see image on the right in the "Behavior" section), and putting 3 wither skeleton skulls on top of the three upper blocks. The last block placed must be one of the three skulls and can be placed by the player or a dispenser. Air blocks are required on either side of the base soul sand or soul soil under the upper blocks (non-solid blocks such as grass and flowers prevent the wither from spawning). The building pattern can have any orientation (including horizontal and upside-down) as well as the skulls; the wither always spawns at the foot of the pattern. When the wither has successfully spawned, it is angered and creates an explosion around itself.

Like all other hostile mobs, the wither despawns when the difficulty is changed to Peaceful. Building the wither spawning structure in Peaceful difficulty does not spawn anything.

Drops [ ]

The wither always drops one Nether Star upon death. In Java Edition the dropped nether star takes five minutes to despawn, though in Bedrock Edition the nether star never despawns. It cannot be destroyed by explosions, although it can be destroyed by cactus, fire or lava. The Looting enchantment does not increase this drop. It also drops 50 when killed by a player or a tamed wolf.

Behavior [ ]

The difference between the ender dragon's boss bar and the wither's boss bar.‌^{[ Java Edition only ]}

When spawned, the wither grows larger in size as its health bar fills up. While in this state, the wither is invulnerable, and neither moves nor attacks. When this state ends (after 10 seconds), the wither creates a large explosion centered on itself, destroying nearby blocks and dealing up to 99 × 49.5 damage to nearby mobs/players. This explosion has a blast power of 7, more than that of a charged creeper or an end crystal. It is accompanied by a loud gruesome sound that can be heard equally from across the map and in all dimensions‌^{[ JE only ]}. After this, the wither attacks nearby mobs and can take damage.

The wither has the greatest natural health of all mobs in Minecraft. The wither is immune to fire, lava, drowning damage and freezing. Suffocation is usually ineffective because, upon taking damage, the wither breaks any block it touches. However, it cannot break bedrock, end gateway blocks, end portal blocks, end portal frames, command blocks, structure blocks, jigsaw blocks, barriers or moving pistons. Accordingly, it can be suffocated in the exit portal or end gateway, for example. Like other undead mobs, the wither is harmed by the Instant Health effect and healed by the Instant Damage effect as well as affected by weapons with the Smite enchantment. It is immune to all other status effects, like the ender dragon.

The wither has a dash attack‌^{[ Bedrock Edition only ]} that deals damage to nearby mobs and breaks all blocks surrounding it.

The wither has the highest health in the game with 300 × 150 in Java and 600 × 300 in Bedrock.

The wither is hostile toward all mobs except:

Undead mobs
- , , , Zombies and their variants
- , , Skeletons and their variants
- Zombified piglins
- , Zombie Horse And Skeleton Horse
- Phantoms
- Zoglins
- Other withers.
Ghasts
Mobs spawned with the Invulnerable NBT tag.

If the wither is idle, it simply hovers and is unable to gain altitude. On Normal or Hard difficulty, it fires blue skulls in random directions until it finds a target.

The wither has a dark purple‌^{[ Java Edition only ]} or pink‌^{[ Bedrock Edition only ]} boss health bar that appears only when a player is looking in the wither's direction, including through walls. When looking at the wither, the world gets slightly darker. All withers display a boss bar on the screen. Renamed withers display the changed name above its boss bar. The sky darkens when the wither spawns (a kind of fog).

Java Edition [ ]

Upon noticing a mob, the wither hovers above it and rapidly shoots black wither skulls. Each head fires independently, allowing a wither to attack up to three different mobs/players at the same time. The main head controls the wither's movement and has a 0.1% chance to shoot a blue wither skull instead of the default black one.

Whenever a wither kills another mob, a wither rose is planted if the ground is grass, or otherwise dropped as an item at that mob's location; however, it may be destroyed by other wither skulls.

The wither has a passive regeneration rate of 1 every 20 ticks (1 second), and a direct killing blow on a target instantly heals 5 .

When its health drops below half (150 × 75), the wither gains a natural "wither armor" effect, which makes it immune to damage from arrows and thrown tridents and causes it to fly at the same height as the target. The armor disappears if it regenerates above half health.

Bedrock Edition [ ]

Upon noticing a player or mob, the wither flies to a random location and hovers in place. It shoots 3 black wither skulls and one blue wither skull before flying to another location. On Normal difficulty or higher, if the wither has targeted an entity but cannot find a location to path find to, it shoots random blue skulls in a random direction along with the skulls directed toward the target.

At half health, it causes a large explosion that spawns 3–4 wither skeletons (except on Easy difficulty), as well as gaining wither armor. Instead of flying to a random location, it dashes toward its target, destroying blocks and damaging mobs in its path. It also fires up to 4 skulls per burst: three black skulls followed by one blue skull.

It has different spawn and death animations, both of which involve the wither exploding. Wither roses always drop as an item when the wither kills a mob. The wither rose inflicts the Wither effect for a couple of seconds when stepped on.

The sky light level drops to 11 and dark clouds appear from the moment the wither spawns until it is dead, preventing zombies, skeletons, and drowned from burning in sunlight.

On easy difficulty, the wither does not give you the wither effect, or summon wither skeletons.

Wither Skull [ ]

Wither Skull.png Dangerous Wither Skull.png

Hitbox size	Height: 0.3125 Blocks Width: 0.3125 Blocks
Network ID	JE: 66

The wither rapidly fires explosive projectiles called wither skulls, which look like extra heads of itself, at its target. There are two types of wither skulls: a fast-moving black one, and a slower blue one. Black wither skulls explode with a blast power of 1, the same as a ghast's fireball, and cannot break blocks with a blast resistance above 4. The blue wither skull has the same explosion strength, but moves slower and treats all blocks except for a few "unbreakable" blocks as having a blast resistance of no more than 0.8, making it more destructive to the terrain. This means that blue wither skulls can break obsidian, ancient debris, and blocks of netherite. They cannot break unbreakable blocks, like bedrock or an end portal frame.

If either type of wither skull hits a player or mob, it does 8 damage on Normal difficulty. It also inflicts Wither II for 10 seconds on Normal difficulty and 40 seconds on Hard, which turns the player's hearts black ( ) and drains health, similarly to Poison. However, unlike Poison, it can kill the player.

Like other status effects, the Wither effect can be cured by drinking milk.

In Bedrock Edition and Legacy Console Edition, the blue skull can be deflected by hitting it with an empty hand, weapon, tool, or throwable projectiles such as tridents, arrows, snowballs, and throwable potions.

Sounds [ ]

Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
Wither angers^[1]	?	?	`entity.wither.ambient`	`subtitles.entity.wither.ambient`	?	?	16
Wither attacks	?	A Wither breaking blocks	`entity.wither.break_block`	`subtitles.entity.wither.shoot`	?	?	16
Wither dies	?	?	`entity.wither.death`	`subtitles.entity.wither.death`	?	?	16
Wither hurts	?	?	`entity.wither.hurt`	`subtitles.entity.wither.hurt`	?	?	16
Wither attacks	?	A Wither shooting a skull	`entity.wither.shoot`	`subtitles.entity.wither.shoot`	?	?	16
Wither released	?	Wither Spawing	`entity.wither.spawn`	`subtitles.entity.wither.spawn`	?	?	16 (technical) / ∞ (effective)
Explosion	?	Explosions created by wither skull	`entity.generic.explode`	`subtitles.entity.generic.explode`	?	(<1.0)	16

Data values [ ]

ID [ ]

Java Edition:

Name	Resource location	Entity tags (JE)	Translation key
Wither	`wither`	None	`entity.minecraft.wither`
Wither Skull	`wither_skull`	`impact_projectiles`	`entity.minecraft.wither_skull`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Resource location	Numeric ID	Translation key
Wither	`wither`	`52`	`entity.wither.name`
Wither Skull	`wither_skull`	`89`	`entity.wither_skull.name`
Blue (dangerous) Wither Skull	`wither_skull_dangerous`	`91`	`entity.wither_skull_dangerous.name`

Entity data [ ]

Java Edition:

Withers have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

Entity data
- Invul: The number of ticks of invulnerability left after being initially created. 0 once invulnerability has expired.

Wither skulls have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

Entity data

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements [ ]

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
PS4	Other platforms	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
		The Beginning?	Spawn the Wither	Be within a 100.9×100.9×103.5 cuboid centered on the Wither when it is spawned.	20G	Bronze
		The Beginning.	Kill the Wither	Be within a 100.9×100.9×203.5 cuboid centered on the Wither when it drops the nether star.	40G	Silver

Advancements [ ]

Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
Withering Heights	Summon the Wither	Spooky Scary Skeleton	—	`nether/summon_wither`
Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Adventure	Kill one of these 34 mobs: Blaze Cave Spider Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Other mobs, if any, may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement. Only the riders of the chicken jockey s and skeleton horsemen are counted in this advancement.	`adventure/kill_a_mob`
Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Monster Hunter	Kill each of these 34 mobs: Blaze Cave Spider Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Other mobs, if any, may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement. Only the riders of the chicken jockey s and skeleton horsemen are counted in this advancement.	`adventure/kill_all_mobs`

History [ ]

This page would benefit from the addition of more images.

Please remove this notice once you've added suitable images to the article.
The specific instructions are: 21w41a

Java Edition
1.4.2		12w34a			Added withers.
					Withers currently do not spawn naturally.
					Withers have been left unfinished by Jeb and hidden in the code. They were discovered through the presence of its skin in the /mobs/ folder.
					Withers can be spawned only with edited spawners, mods, or hacks, and can crash the JVM.
		12w34b			When the wither's health is taken down to half, it now gains wither armor, which makes it immune to arrows.
		12w34b			The projectile firing rate and movement speed of withers has been increased.
		?			At PAX, Dinnerbone revealed that it would be possible to spawn withers by arranging wither skeleton skulls in some way.^[2] ^[3]
		12w36a			Withers can now be spawned by arranging soul sand in a T shape and placing three wither skeleton skulls on top.
		12w36a			The wither now drops 20 experience and a nether star upon death.
		12w37a			Withers now make a massive explosion upon their creation after their health is fully charged.
		12w37a			When there are no targets, the wither sometimes shoots blue wither skulls, which move slower and can destroy any block besides bedrock.
		12w38a			Added a sound when withers break blocks.
		12w42b			The experience dropped by withers has been increased from 20 to 50 points.
		1.4			Various new sounds have been added for withers.
1.4.4		1.4.3			The oversight where withers can be created in peaceful difficulty has been fixed. Before this update, attempting to spawn the wither in peaceful resulted in a waste of soul sand and skulls.
1.4.4		1.4.3			Withers can no longer destroy end portals, which are now supposed to be unbreakable.
1.5		13w05a			Withers are no longer able to ride minecarts.
April 1, 2013					Added a pink wither to the april fools update, Minecraft 2.0. The pink wither is passive, starts with one head, and can be fed sugar to gain two more heads.
1.7.2		13w37a			Added achievements for spawning and killing the wither.
1.8		14w04a			The player can now spawn withers by dispensing the wither skulls.
		14w11b			The hitbox of the wither has been changed.
		14w20a			Withers no longer break barriers.
		14w25a			Withers now move while invulnerable due to MC-57569.
		14w25a			Withers can now be built sideways and upside-down instead of just upright.
		release			Barriers can now be broken by withers again.
1.8.1		pre3			Barriers can no longer be broken by withers.
1.9		15w46a			Withers no longer move while invulnerable.
1.9		15w49a			Withers no longer travel through portals.
?					Withers now have a uniquely colored boss bar.
1.11		16w32a			The entity ID has been changed from `WitherBoss` to `wither`.
		16w32a			The projectile entity ID has been changed from `WitherSkull` to `wither_skull`.
		16w38a			Structure blocks and structure voids can no longer be destroyed by withers.
		16w40a			The tags `xTile`, `yTile`, `zTile`, `inTile` and `inGround` have been removed from the wither skull entity data.
		16w40a			The wither `life` tag is no longer used for anything, but still saved/read.
1.12		pre3			Withers can no longer break piston extensions or end gateways.
1.14		18w43a			The texture of withers has been changed.
		18w43a			All mobs killed by withers now have one wither rose planted at their location upon death.
		18w44a			Withers now have loot tables.
1.16		20w07a			Withers can now also be summoned using soul soil as well as soul sand.
1.17		21w17a			Withers are now immune to freezing.
Upcoming Java Edition
1.18		21w37a			Fixed bug where Withers do not pursue players in survival mode unless attacked MC-29274.
1.18		21w41a			Tweaked the Wither Skull's texture to use the new Wither face from the Texture Update.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.16.0		build 4			Added withers.
					When withers are at half health, they spawn 4 wither skeletons.
					Withers attack differently and have twice the amount of health as Java's withers.
Pocket Edition
1.0.2					Wither skulls from withers can now be deflected with a sword.
1.1.0		alpha 1.1.0.0			The entity ID has been changed from `wither.boss` to `wither`.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The texture of withers has been changed.
1.13.0		beta 1.13.0.9			All mobs killed by withers now have one wither rose planted at their location upon death.
1.16.0		beta 1.16.0.51			Withers can now also be summoned using soul soil instead of soul sand.
1.16.0		beta 1.16.0.51			Added piglins, which attack withers.
1.17.0		beta 1.17.0.56			Withers are now immune to freezing.
Legacy Console Edition
TU19	CU7	1.12	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added withers.
TU60	CU51	1.64	Patch 30	1.0.11	The behavior of withers has been changed.
					Withers now blow up and spawn wither skeletons at half health. Upon death, withers stop moving and slowly grow in size while turning white until they explode. They also do the dash attack like in Bedrock Edition.
					Withers are no longer able to regenerate health.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
1.3.12					Added withers.

Issues [ ]

Issues relating to "Wither" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia [ ]

According to Jeb, the wither was inspired by Terraria, which has a summonable boss mechanic. The name itself is inspired by a poison spell in another game made by Jeb called Whispers in Akarra.^[4]
There is a painting showing the soul sand and wither skeleton skull formation needed to spawn a wither.
If the wither is damaged by the Void, it frantically attempts to fire blue skulls.
Above half health, the wither always attempts to stay a few blocks above the mob it is targeting. This means that attempting to build or climb up to hit the wither using a sword is essentially impossible.
- If the wither is after a blaze and the blaze tries to fly up to it, the wither attempts to keep rising above the blaze, thus making both of them rise higher until they hit a ceiling or until the blaze despawns or dies.
Although the wither is 3.5 blocks tall, 3 blocks wide, and 1 block thick, its hitbox is only 3.5 blocks tall, 1 block wide, and 1 block thick.
- The true dimensions of the wither are: 2.844 blocks tall (varies), 3 blocks wide, and 1.719 blocks long (also varies).
The wither appears on the four sides of chiseled red sandstone.
The wither's smaller heads shoot targets slightly slower than the main head. The interval for smaller heads is 2–3 seconds, while the main head's always 2.
An enemy called the wither storm appears in Minecraft: Story Mode. It was created by replacing the center block of soul sand with a command block.
Despite not having visible feet, withers are still capable of making footstep sounds.^[5]
In Java Edition 3D Shareware v1.34, withers drop red keys.
According to Quinn, Marketplace Partner Manager, the wither's name is "Simmons?", similar to the ender dragon's name being "Jean?"^[6]
Wither skulls spawned through /summon do 5 magic damage upon a direct hit, as opposed to the usual 8 mob attack damage.
The wither skulls can give Wither, but only if the skulls get a direct hit.
A wither skull can be deflected by shooting an arrow at it.‌^{[ Bedrock Edition only ]} If a deflected wither skull hits the wither, the wither takes damage.‌^{[ Bedrock Edition only ]}