Guardian

This article is about the normal guardian. For its larger, more powerful variant, see Elder Guardian. For other uses, see Guardian (disambiguation). For the joke mob, see Toxifin Slab.

Guardian

Health points	30HP × 15
Behavior	Hostile
Mob type	Monster Aquatic
Attack strength	Laser: Easy: 4HP Normal: 6HP Hard: 9HP Spikes: Easy and Normal: 2HP Hard: 3HP
Hitbox size	Height: 0.85 blocks Width: 0.85 blocks
Spawn	Ocean Monument

Guardians are aquatic hostile mobs that spawn in ocean monuments. They attack with a slow-charging laser beam, and inflict retaliatory damage when damaged by a melee attack.

Spawning

Guardians spawn naturally in ocean monuments. They require water, flowing or stationary, to spawn.

Java Edition

In Java Edition guardians spawn less often in ocean open to the sky than they do in covered areas (such as inside or underneath the monument). Specifically, spawning fails 95% of the time if the spawning water block is below sea level (Y=63 by default), all blocks between the spawning water block and sea level are liquid or fully transparent, and the block at sea level has a view of the sky. They can spawn only if the spawning block and the block below the spawning block are both water. The block above the spawning block also cannot be solid and has to be transparent, air, or water.

Bedrock Edition

In Bedrock Edition, guardians are structure spawns, spawning in water source blocks in 25 pre-determined spawning columns. Guardians usually do not (or possibly never) spawn near a player, and their continued spawning is not affected by removal of the monument, except through the creation of extra space in which to spawn.

Y Coordinates

For a given column, the spawn will initially be attempted at Y=61, but if this is not a spawnable block, the game will traverse down the column until it finds the first water source block. Once found, if the block below is a valid spawn location, a guardian will spawn there. If it's not a valid spawn location, the column will not spawn a guardian, meaning that columns can be disabled by a block at Y=61 and a block at Y=59 only. If no water source blocks are found by Y=40, the column will not spawn a guardian. Guardians will therefore not spawn inside the monument unless the entire column above is blocked either with solid blocks or air.

X and Z Coordinates

To find the X and Z coordinates of the columns, start counting from the northwest corner of the monument. That is, standing on the furthest corner prismarine block with the smallest X and Z coordinates, let's say (X, 41, Z). The coordinates of each spawning spot are in a grid at X+2, X+13, X+29, X+45, and X+55, combined with Z+2, Z+13, Z+29, Z+45, and Z+55. For example, the bottom of the most northwest column is at (X+2, 39, Z+2) and the top block belonging to the southeast corner column is at (X+55, 61, Z+55). The guardians spawn at the northwest corner of a spawning column block, which can be helpful for some guardian farming mechanics such as causing them to spawn inside of a portal where they are immediately sent to the nether.

Drops

In Java Edition, in addition to salmon, it has a 2.5% chance (+1% per looting level) of dropping a random fish when killed by the player. This drop uses the fishing fish loot table. Therefore, a maximum one random fish (which could be another salmon) is dropped. Furthermore, salmon (not from the fishing loot) share the prismarine crystal pool, preventing simultaneous drops.

In Bedrock Edition, due to MCPE-57215, guardians don't drop random fish.

Java Edition:

Item		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Prismarine Shard	0–2	66.67%	1.00	0–3	83.33%	1.50	0–4	91.67%	2.00	0–5	94.44%	2.50
	Prismarine Crystals	0–1	40.00%	0.40	0–2	40.00%	0.60	0–3	40.00%	0.80	0–4	40.00%	1.00
	Raw Cod[A][B]	0–1	40.00%	0.40	0–2	40.00%	0.60	0–3	40.00%	0.80	0–4	40.00%	1.00
	Raw Cod[C][B]	0–2	40.90%	0.41	0–3	41.26%	0.62	0–4	41.62%	0.83	0–5	41.98%	1.03
	Cooked Cod[A][D]	0–1	40.00%	0.40	0–2	40.00%	0.60	0–3	40.00%	0.80	0–4	40.00%	1.00
	Cooked Cod[C][D]	0–2	40.90%	0.41	0–3	41.26%	0.62	0–4	41.62%	0.83	0–5	41.98%	1.03
	Raw Salmon[C][B]	0–1	0.62%	0.01	0–1	0.88%	0.01	0–1	1.12%	0.01	0–1	1.38%	0.01
	Cooked Salmon[C][D]	0–1	0.62%	0.01	0–1	0.88%	0.01	0–1	1.12%	0.01	0–1	1.38%	0.01
	Pufferfish[C]	0–1	0.33%	0.00	0–1	0.46%	0.00	0–1	0.58%	0.01	0–1	0.71%	0.01
	Tropical Fish[C]	0–1	0.05%	0.00	0–1	0.07%	0.00	0–1	0.09%	0.00	0–1	0.11%	0.00

Item		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Prismarine Shard	0–2	2⁄3	1	0–3	5⁄6	3⁄2	0–4	11⁄12	2	0–5	17⁄18	5⁄2
	Prismarine Crystals	0–1	2⁄5	2⁄5	0–2	2⁄5	3⁄5	0–3	2⁄5	4⁄5	0–4	2⁄5	1
	Raw Cod[A][B]	0–1	2⁄5	2⁄5	0–2	2⁄5	3⁄5	0–3	2⁄5	4⁄5	0–4	2⁄5	1
	Raw Cod[C][B]	0–2	409⁄1000	83⁄200	0–3	2063⁄5000	621⁄1000	0–4	2081⁄5000	827⁄1000	0–5	2099⁄5000	1033⁄1000
	Cooked Cod[A][D]	0–1	2⁄5	2⁄5	0–2	2⁄5	3⁄5	0–3	2⁄5	4⁄5	0–4	2⁄5	1
	Cooked Cod[C][D]	0–2	409⁄1000	83⁄200	0–3	2063⁄5000	621⁄1000	0–4	2081⁄5000	827⁄1000	0–5	2099⁄5000	1033⁄1000
	Raw Salmon[C][B]	0–1	1⁄160	1⁄160	0–1	7⁄800	7⁄800	0–1	9⁄800	9⁄800	0–1	11⁄800	11⁄800
	Cooked Salmon[C][D]	0–1	1⁄160	1⁄160	0–1	7⁄800	7⁄800	0–1	9⁄800	9⁄800	0–1	11⁄800	11⁄800
	Pufferfish[C]	0–1	13⁄4000	13⁄4000	0–1	91⁄20000	91⁄20000	0–1	117⁄20000	117⁄20000	0–1	143⁄20000	143⁄20000
	Tropical Fish[C]	0–1	1⁄2000	1⁄2000	0–1	7⁄10000	7⁄10000	0–1	9⁄10000	9⁄10000	0–1	11⁄10000	11⁄10000

Item		Amount	Probability
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Prismarine Shard	0	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄6 (16.67%)	1⁄12 (8.33%)	1⁄18 (5.56%)
		1	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄4 (25.00%)	1⁄6 (16.67%)
		2	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄3 (33.33%)	5⁄18 (27.78%)
		3	0	1⁄6 (16.67%)	1⁄4 (25.00%)	5⁄18 (27.78%)
		4	0	0	1⁄12 (8.33%)	1⁄6 (16.67%)
		5	0	0	0	1⁄18 (5.56%)
		Average	1 (1.00)	3⁄2 (1.50)	2 (2.00)	5⁄2 (2.50)
	Prismarine Crystals	0	3⁄5 (60.00%)	3⁄5 (60.00%)	3⁄5 (60.00%)	3⁄5 (60.00%)
		1	2⁄5 (40.00%)	1⁄5 (20.00%)	1⁄10 (10.00%)	1⁄15 (6.67%)
		2	0	1⁄5 (20.00%)	1⁄5 (20.00%)	2⁄15 (13.33%)
		3	0	0	1⁄10 (10.00%)	2⁄15 (13.33%)
		4	0	0	0	1⁄15 (6.67%)
		Average	2⁄5 (0.40)	3⁄5 (0.60)	4⁄5 (0.80)	1 (1.00)
	Raw Cod[A][B]	0	3⁄5 (60.00%)	3⁄5 (60.00%)	3⁄5 (60.00%)	3⁄5 (60.00%)
		1	2⁄5 (40.00%)	1⁄5 (20.00%)	1⁄10 (10.00%)	1⁄15 (6.67%)
		2	0	1⁄5 (20.00%)	1⁄5 (20.00%)	2⁄15 (13.33%)
		3	0	0	1⁄10 (10.00%)	2⁄15 (13.33%)
		4	0	0	0	1⁄15 (6.67%)
		Average	2⁄5 (0.40)	3⁄5 (0.60)	4⁄5 (0.80)	1 (1.00)
	Raw Cod[C][B]	0	591⁄1000 (59.10%)	2937⁄5000 (58.74%)	2919⁄5000 (58.38%)	2901⁄5000 (58.02%)
		1	403⁄1000 (40.30%)	521⁄2500 (20.84%)	227⁄2000 (11.35%)	158⁄1875 (8.43%)
		2	3⁄500 (0.60%)	1⁄5 (20.00%)	1973⁄10000 (19.73%)	1967⁄15000 (13.11%)
		3	0	21⁄5000 (0.42%)	1027⁄10000 (10.27%)	2⁄15 (13.33%)
		4	0	0	27⁄10000 (0.27%)	1033⁄15000 (6.89%)
		5	0	0	0	11⁄5000 (0.22%)
		Average	83⁄200 (0.41)	621⁄1000 (0.62)	827⁄1000 (0.83)	1033⁄1000 (1.03)
	Cooked Cod[A][D]	0	3⁄5 (60.00%)	3⁄5 (60.00%)	3⁄5 (60.00%)	3⁄5 (60.00%)
		1	2⁄5 (40.00%)	1⁄5 (20.00%)	1⁄10 (10.00%)	1⁄15 (6.67%)
		2	0	1⁄5 (20.00%)	1⁄5 (20.00%)	2⁄15 (13.33%)
		3	0	0	1⁄10 (10.00%)	2⁄15 (13.33%)
		4	0	0	0	1⁄15 (6.67%)
		Average	2⁄5 (0.40)	3⁄5 (0.60)	4⁄5 (0.80)	1 (1.00)
	Cooked Cod[C][D]	0	591⁄1000 (59.10%)	2937⁄5000 (58.74%)	2919⁄5000 (58.38%)	2901⁄5000 (58.02%)
		1	403⁄1000 (40.30%)	521⁄2500 (20.84%)	227⁄2000 (11.35%)	158⁄1875 (8.43%)
		2	3⁄500 (0.60%)	1⁄5 (20.00%)	1973⁄10000 (19.73%)	1967⁄15000 (13.11%)
		3	0	21⁄5000 (0.42%)	1027⁄10000 (10.27%)	2⁄15 (13.33%)
		4	0	0	27⁄10000 (0.27%)	1033⁄15000 (6.89%)
		5	0	0	0	11⁄5000 (0.22%)
		Average	83⁄200 (0.41)	621⁄1000 (0.62)	827⁄1000 (0.83)	1033⁄1000 (1.03)
	Raw Salmon[C][B]	0	159⁄160 (99.38%)	793⁄800 (99.12%)	791⁄800 (98.88%)	789⁄800 (98.62%)
		1	1⁄160 (0.62%)	7⁄800 (0.88%)	9⁄800 (1.12%)	11⁄800 (1.38%)
		Average	1⁄160 (0.01)	7⁄800 (0.01)	9⁄800 (0.01)	11⁄800 (0.01)
	Cooked Salmon[C][D]	0	159⁄160 (99.38%)	793⁄800 (99.12%)	791⁄800 (98.88%)	789⁄800 (98.62%)
		1	1⁄160 (0.62%)	7⁄800 (0.88%)	9⁄800 (1.12%)	11⁄800 (1.38%)
		Average	1⁄160 (0.01)	7⁄800 (0.01)	9⁄800 (0.01)	11⁄800 (0.01)
	Pufferfish[C]	0	3987⁄4000 (99.67%)	19909⁄20000 (99.54%)	19883⁄20000 (99.41%)	19857⁄20000 (99.28%)
		1	13⁄4000 (0.33%)	91⁄20000 (0.46%)	117⁄20000 (0.58%)	143⁄20000 (0.71%)
		Average	13⁄4000 (0.00)	91⁄20000 (0.00)	117⁄20000 (0.01)	143⁄20000 (0.01)
	Tropical Fish[C]	0	1999⁄2000 (99.95%)	9993⁄10000 (99.93%)	9991⁄10000 (99.91%)	9989⁄10000 (99.89%)
		1	1⁄2000 (0.05%)	7⁄10000 (0.07%)	9⁄10000 (0.09%)	11⁄10000 (0.11%)
		Average	1⁄2000 (0.00)	7⁄10000 (0.00)	9⁄10000 (0.00)	11⁄10000 (0.00)

Killed		1
Item		Expected Drops
		Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Prismarine Shard	1.00	1.50	2.00	2.50
	Prismarine Crystals	0.40	0.60	0.80	1.00
	Raw Cod[A][B]	0.40	0.60	0.80	1.00
	Raw Cod[C][B]	0.41	0.62	0.83	1.03
	Cooked Cod[A][D]	0.40	0.60	0.80	1.00
	Cooked Cod[C][D]	0.41	0.62	0.83	1.03
	Raw Salmon[C][B]	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01
	Cooked Salmon[C][D]	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01
	Pufferfish[C]	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.01
	Tropical Fish[C]	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Bedrock Edition:

Item		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Prismarine Shard	0–2	66.67%	1.00	0–3	66.67%	1.33	0–4	66.67%	1.67	0–5	66.67%	2.00
	Prismarine Crystals	0–1	40.00%	0.40	0–2	40.00%	0.60	0–3	40.00%	0.80	0–4	40.00%	1.00
	Raw Cod[A]	0–1	40.00%	0.40	0–2	40.00%	0.60	0–3	40.00%	0.80	0–4	40.00%	1.00

Item		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Prismarine Shard	0–2	2⁄3	1	0–3	2⁄3	4⁄3	0–4	2⁄3	5⁄3	0–5	2⁄3	2
	Prismarine Crystals	0–1	2⁄5	2⁄5	0–2	2⁄5	3⁄5	0–3	2⁄5	4⁄5	0–4	2⁄5	1
	Raw Cod[A]	0–1	2⁄5	2⁄5	0–2	2⁄5	3⁄5	0–3	2⁄5	4⁄5	0–4	2⁄5	1

Item		Amount	Probability
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Prismarine Shard	0	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄3 (33.33%)
		1	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄6 (16.67%)	1⁄12 (8.33%)	1⁄18 (5.56%)
		2	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄4 (25.00%)	1⁄6 (16.67%)
		3	0	1⁄6 (16.67%)	1⁄4 (25.00%)	2⁄9 (22.22%)
		4	0	0	1⁄12 (8.33%)	1⁄6 (16.67%)
		5	0	0	0	1⁄18 (5.56%)
		Average	1 (1.00)	4⁄3 (1.33)	5⁄3 (1.67)	2 (2.00)
	Prismarine Crystals	0	3⁄5 (60.00%)	3⁄5 (60.00%)	3⁄5 (60.00%)	3⁄5 (60.00%)
		1	2⁄5 (40.00%)	1⁄5 (20.00%)	1⁄10 (10.00%)	1⁄15 (6.67%)
		2	0	1⁄5 (20.00%)	1⁄5 (20.00%)	2⁄15 (13.33%)
		3	0	0	1⁄10 (10.00%)	2⁄15 (13.33%)
		4	0	0	0	1⁄15 (6.67%)
		Average	2⁄5 (0.40)	3⁄5 (0.60)	4⁄5 (0.80)	1 (1.00)
	Raw Cod[A]	0	3⁄5 (60.00%)	3⁄5 (60.00%)	3⁄5 (60.00%)	3⁄5 (60.00%)
		1	2⁄5 (40.00%)	1⁄5 (20.00%)	1⁄10 (10.00%)	1⁄15 (6.67%)
		2	0	1⁄5 (20.00%)	1⁄5 (20.00%)	2⁄15 (13.33%)
		3	0	0	1⁄10 (10.00%)	2⁄15 (13.33%)
		4	0	0	0	1⁄15 (6.67%)
		Average	2⁄5 (0.40)	3⁄5 (0.60)	4⁄5 (0.80)	1 (1.00)

Killed		1
Item		Expected Drops
		Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Prismarine Shard	1.00	1.33	1.67	2.00
	Prismarine Crystals	0.40	0.60	0.80	1.00
	Raw Cod[A]	0.40	0.60	0.80	1.00

Guardians also drop 10XP when killed by a player or tamed wolf.

Behavior

Guardians swim around in water, attacking any players, squid, glow squid, or axolotls that come into range of its laser. They swim in abrupt charges, moving their tail rapidly when doing so. When swimming, their spikes retract. When not swimming, they sink slowly and their spikes extend and quiver.

During idle swimming, a guardian chooses a water or waterlogged block within a 9×9×9 area centered on itself as the destination to pathfind toward. If unreachable, they still swim directly toward the target despite any blocks in the way. They attempt to cross air blocks and do not try to prevent fall damage.

In Bedrock Edition, guardians always return to their spawn point, whether they spawned naturally or from a spawn egg.

Stationary guardians are pushed much faster horizontally by flowing water than other mobs, but when swimming they are completely unimpeded; however, they are affected by bubble columns.

When swimming, guardians have a slight bias toward selecting destination blocks with a higher light level. If undisturbed, guardians can be seen loosely congregating around the sea lantern blocks of their ocean structure.

When out of water, they abandon any previous pathfinding target; they squeak loudly and hop erratically, uninfluenced by nearby water or players. They still use their laser and have their spikes extended. Guardians do not suffocate and survive indefinitely without water unlike other aquatic mobs.

The guardian's eye follows and stares at any nearby players, and always looks directly at its target. In Java Edition, the eye does not follow unarmored players under the effects of a potion of Invisibility and the guardians cannot attack them. A player can wear one piece of armor while under the effects of Invisibility and not be attacked.

Guardians, as aquatic mobs, are affected by the Impaling enchantment.‌^{[JE only]}

Combat

Guardians have two methods of attack: a laser and a defensive attack analogous to the Thorns enchantment. Unlike most other hostile mobs, a guardian does not follow a player who moves out of sight. Instead, it simply continues swimming until the player becomes visible again to start charging its laser.

Guardians attack players, axolotls, and squid. Otherwise, a guardian does not retaliate against mobs (such as iron golems) that attack it, other than damaging the attacking mob with its natural thorns defense.

Laser

The laser takes 4 seconds to charge, causing no damage in the meantime. It starts out purple and fades to yellow. Once charged, the laser flashes green before disappearing and deals 6HP damage plus another 2HP magic damage on Normal difficulty. The magic damage is increased by another 2HP on Hard difficulty, after adding the usual difficulty scaling factor of 1.5x, meaning a guardian can deal up to 5HP magic damage through this attack on Hard difficulty. Guardians swim around for 3 seconds before firing again. If the target approaches while the guardian is loading its laser, it stops firing and swims away until it is at a comfortable range, at which point it continues attacking. The laser has a maximum range of 15 blocks and cannot be dodged. However, a shield reduces its damage by 50%.

Once the target is out of range, or if the laser is obstructed by solid blocks (including transparent blocks like glass), the guardian's laser disengages and the shooting sound stops.

Spikes defense

A guardian deals damage each time it is hit with a melee attack while its spikes are extended, similar to the Thorns armor enchantment. If cornered, a guardian usually extends its spikes and fires at the player, even at point-blank range.

Sounds

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Entity tags	Translation key
Guardian	guardian	aquatic axolotl_always_hostiles can_breathe_under_water not_scary_for_pufferfish sensitive_to_impaling	entity.minecraft.guardian

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Family	Translation key
Guardian	guardian	49	aquatic guardian mob monster	entity.guardian.name

Entity data

Guardians have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Monster Hunter	Attack and destroy a monster.	Kill one of these 41 monsters: Blaze Bogged Breeze Camel Husk Cave Spider Creaking (by destroying its creaking heart) Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Parched Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Horse Zombie Nautilus Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this achievement.	15	Bronze
		It Spreads	Kill a mob next to a catalyst	Kill any mob that drops experience near a sculk catalyst, with the sole exception of the ender dragon. Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this achievement.	10	Bronze

Achievements that apply to all mobs:

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Overkill	Deal nine hearts of damage in a single hit.	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have nine hearts of health overall.	30	Bronze
		Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have 50 hearts of health overall.	20	Silver
		Mob Kabob	Hit five mobs in the same Charge attack using the Spear	Armor stands and players also count for this achievement as they are technically mobs.	10	Bronze

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Kill one of these 41​[until: Fourth Drop 2026]/42​[upcoming] monsters: Blaze Bogged Breeze Camel Husk Cave Spider Creaking (by destroying its creaking heart) Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Frostbite​[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026] Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Parched Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Horse Zombie Nautilus Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.
	It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Kill any mob that drops experience near a sculk catalyst, with the sole exception of the ender dragon. Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this advancement.
	Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Kill each of these 41​[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026]/42​[upcoming] monsters: Blaze Bogged Breeze Camel Husk Cave Spider Creaking (by destroying its creaking heart) Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Frostbite​[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026] Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Parched Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Horse Zombie Nautilus Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.

Advancements that apply to all mobs:

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Adventure	Adventure, exploration and combat	Kill any mob, or be killed by any living entity.
	A Throwaway Joke	Throw a Trident at something. Note: Throwing away your only weapon is not a good idea.	Hit a mob with a thrown trident.
	Take Aim	Shoot something with an Arrow	Using a bow or a crossbow, shoot a mob with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.
	Mob Kabob	Hit five mobs in the same Charge attack using the Spear	Armor Stand and Mannequin also count for this advancement.
	Arbalistic	Kill five unique mobs with one crossbow shot	Armor Stand and Mannequin also count for this advancement. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.
	Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have 50 hearts of health overall.

Videos

History

Development

Java Edition

Java Edition
1.8			14w25a				Added guardians.
1.9			15w43a				The drop chances of guardians for raw fish and prismarine crystals have been changed. Instead of a 33% chance of fish and a 33% chance of crystals (only if the fish drop failed with both percentages adjusted by Looting), the percentages have been changed to 40% fish, 40% crystals, and 20% neither, with the amount increased by Looting.
			15w47b				Sounds for guardians' defensive Thorns attack have now been added.
1.11			16w38a				The common drop of guardians, raw fish, now drops as cooked fish, if killed while on fire.
1.14			18w43a				The texture of guardians has been changed.
1.15			19w34a				Guardians now take damage on magma blocks.
1.17			21w11a				The texture of the guardian has been tweaked, so that a floating pixel present in the tailfin no longer exists.
			21w13a				Now drop cooked cod or salmon instead of raw cod or salmon if on fire when killed or killed by a fire source.
1.21.9			25w33a				Guardians are no longer able to board boats.
			25w34a				Guardians are once again able to board boats.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.16.0			build 1				Added guardians.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0			?				Guardians no longer play flopping sounds when on land.
1.4.0			beta 1.2.20.2				Guardians now attack fish.
1.6.0			beta 1.6.0.5				Guardians no longer attack fish.
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The texture of guardians has been changed.
1.17.0			beta 1.17.0.50				The texture of the guardian has been tweaked, so that a floating pixel present in the tailfin no longer exists.
1.20.40			Preview 1.20.40.20				Guardians once again play flopping sounds when on land.
1.21.80			Preview 1.21.80.20				Guardians are now imitated by parrots.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU31	CU19	1.22	1.22	1.22	Patch 3		Added guardians.
TU46	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15	1.0.1	Sounds for guardians' defensive Thorns attack have now been added.
TU54	CU44	1.52	1.52	1.52	Patch 24	1.0.4	The common drop of guardians, raw fish, now drops as cooked fish, if killed while on fire.
TU56	CU48	1.55	1.55	1.55	Patch 26	1.0.6	The common drop of guardians, raw fish, no longer drops as cooked fish, if killed while on fire.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
1.3.12							Added guardians.

Data history

Issues

Issues relating to "Guardian" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• A guardian's eye is actually the "head" part of the mob's model. This gives the illusion of a dynamic eye.
• Guardians' laser-beam attacks are affected by the potion of Strength, which normally affects only melee attacks.
• When placed or spawned on a slime block, guardians start bouncing and continue and each bounce higher than the last, until each bounce brings the guardian to 17 blocks height.
• Despite being classified as only a monster, the guardian was referred to as an animal in a Minecraft video about the elder guardians.^[1]
• Jens Bergensten stated that guardians were inspired by "floating eye orb monsters" like Beholders from Dungeons and Dragons and Cacodemons from Doom.^[2]
• If the /tick freeze command is used to freeze the game, guardian pupils and laser beams will still move.

Gallery

Render

• 
  Guardian's spikes retracted

Screenshots

• 
  Jeb's Instagram mob reveal
• 
  Jeb's Instagram mob reveal
• 
  The inside of a guardian (with their spikes extended)
• 
  The old inside of a guardian
• 
  A guardian's "eye" follows players at any position
• 
  A guardian attacking a squid
• 
  A group of guardians defending their monument
• 
  Size comparison between a guardian and its elder variant
• 
  A guardian in a boat
• 
  Axolotls attacking a group of guardians

Textures

• 
  Guardian texture file, with "jeb" written in the corner

In other media

• 
  The guardian face texture as revealed by Jeb on reddit
• 
  Guardians in promotional artwork for the Boss Update
• 
  Lego Minecraft Guardian
• 
  Guardian artwork
• 
  Ditto but cut-out
• 
  A statue of a guardian from A Minecraft Movie Live Event
• 
  Nerf guardian

References

External links

• Meet the Guardian – Minecraft.net on September 25, 2017