Parched

This article is about the desert skeleton variant. For other mobs, see Skeleton (disambiguation) and Husk (disambiguation).

Parched

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Health points	16HP × 8
Armor points	0 ()
Behavior	Hostile
Mob type	Undead Monster
Attack strength	Ranged: Bow: In Java Edition: Easy: 2HP - 4HP Normal: 3HP - 5HP Hard: 4HP - 8HP In Bedrock Edition: 3HP - 5HP Arrow of Weakness: Weakness for 30 seconds Melee: Easy: 2HP Normal: 2HP Hard: 3HP
Hitbox size	Java: Height: 1.99 blocks Width: 0.6 blocks Bedrock: Height: 1.9 blocks Width: 0.6 blocks
Speed	0.25
Spawn	Desert surface at night or during thunderstorms. When a camel husk jockey spawns, as a passenger. Rarely when a spider or cave spider spawns in a desert, as a spider jockey.‌[Bedrock Edition only]

A parched is a skeleton variant that spawns in deserts. Parched behave similar to skeletons, but have less health, do not burn in sunlight, fire their bows more slowly, take freeze damage instead of converting to strays, and shoot tipped arrows of Weakness.

Spawning

Parched can spawn in deserts at night, replacing some skeletons.

In Java Edition, parched spawn directly under the sky in groups of 4 in place of 50% of all skeletons spawned in desert biomes.

In Bedrock Edition, parched spawn on the surface in groups of 2-4 in place of ¹⁄₃ (~33%) of all skeletons spawned in desert biomes.

Parched spawns in:

Category: Monster	Java Edition			Bedrock Edition
Spawn area	Spawn weight	Spawn chance	Group size	Spawn weight	Group size
Desert	50⁄515	9.71%	4	40	1–2

Camel husk jockeys

When a husk spawns naturally and spawns in a space that does not block the collision box required for a camel husk, it has a 10% chance to spawn as a camel husk jockey, i.e. riding a camel husk, and spawning a parched as the second passenger.

Spider jockeys

This feature is exclusive to Bedrock Edition.

Spiders and cave spiders spawned in deserts have a 1% chance to spawn as a spider jockey, with an 80% chance of the rider being a parched.

Drops

On death

Java Edition:

Item		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Bone	0–2	66.67%	1.00	0–3	83.33%	1.50	0–4	91.67%	2.00	0–5	94.44%	2.50
	Arrow	0–2	66.67%	1.00	0–3	83.33%	1.50	0–4	91.67%	2.00	0–5	94.44%	2.50
	Arrow of Weakness[A]	0–1	50.00%	0.50	0–1	75.00%	0.75	0–1	87.50%	0.88	0–1	91.67%	0.92

Item		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Bone	0–2	2⁄3	1	0–3	5⁄6	3⁄2	0–4	11⁄12	2	0–5	17⁄18	5⁄2
	Arrow	0–2	2⁄3	1	0–3	5⁄6	3⁄2	0–4	11⁄12	2	0–5	17⁄18	5⁄2
	Arrow of Weakness[A]	0–1	1⁄2	1⁄2	0–1	3⁄4	3⁄4	0–1	7⁄8	7⁄8	0–1	11⁄12	11⁄12

Item		Amount	Probability
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Bone	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)
	Arrow	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)
	Arrow of Weakness[A]	0	1⁄2 (50.00%)	1⁄4 (25.00%)	1⁄8 (12.50%)	1⁄12 (8.33%)
		1	1⁄2 (50.00%)	3⁄4 (75.00%)	7⁄8 (87.50%)	11⁄12 (91.67%)
		Average	1⁄2 (0.50)	3⁄4 (0.75)	7⁄8 (0.88)	11⁄12 (0.92)

Killed		1
Item		Expected Drops
		Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Bone	1.00	1.50	2.00	2.50
	Arrow	1.00	1.50	2.00	2.50
	Arrow of Weakness[A]	0.50	0.75	0.88	0.92

Bedrock Edition:

Item		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Bone	0–2	66.67%	1.00	0–3	66.67%	1.33	0–4	66.67%	1.67	0–5	66.67%	2.00
	Arrow	0–2	66.67%	1.00	0–3	66.67%	1.33	0–4	66.67%	1.67	0–5	66.67%	2.00
	Arrow of Weakness[A]	0–1	50.00%	0.50	0–2	50.00%	0.75	0–3	50.00%	1.00	0–4	50.00%	1.25

Item		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Bone	0–2	2⁄3	1	0–3	2⁄3	4⁄3	0–4	2⁄3	5⁄3	0–5	2⁄3	2
	Arrow	0–2	2⁄3	1	0–3	2⁄3	4⁄3	0–4	2⁄3	5⁄3	0–5	2⁄3	2
	Arrow of Weakness[A]	0–1	1⁄2	1⁄2	0–2	1⁄2	3⁄4	0–3	1⁄2	1	0–4	1⁄2	5⁄4

Item		Amount	Probability
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Bone	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)
	Arrow	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)
	Arrow of Weakness[A]	0	1⁄2 (50.00%)	1⁄2 (50.00%)	1⁄2 (50.00%)	1⁄2 (50.00%)
		1	1⁄2 (50.00%)	1⁄4 (25.00%)	1⁄8 (12.50%)	1⁄12 (8.33%)
		2	0	1⁄4 (25.00%)	1⁄4 (25.00%)	1⁄6 (16.67%)
		3	0	0	1⁄8 (12.50%)	1⁄6 (16.67%)
		4	0	0	0	1⁄12 (8.33%)
		Average	1⁄2 (0.50)	3⁄4 (0.75)	1 (1.00)	5⁄4 (1.25)

Killed		1
Item		Expected Drops
		Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Bone	1.00	1.33	1.67	2.00
	Arrow	1.00	1.33	1.67	2.00
	Arrow of Weakness[A]	0.50	0.75	1.00	1.25

• Any picked-up equipment has a 100% chance of dropping and drops with the same damage level it had when picked up.
• Any naturally spawned equipment, including the bow, has an 8.5% chance of dropping (9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II and 11.5% with Looting III). It is damaged and may be enchanted.
• 5XP experience orbs when killed by a player or tamed wolf and an extra 1–3XP if the parched has armor.

Behavior

Parched mostly behave like normal skeletons except that they shoot extended arrows of Weakness instead of normal arrows, have their cooldown between each bow shot longer than normal skeletons at every 4.5‌^{[JE only]}/3.5‌^{[BE only]} seconds on Easy and Normal and every 3.5‌^{[JE only]}/2.5‌^{[BE only]} seconds on Hard, and they do not burn in sunlight. Parched are also immune to the Weakness effect, although this typically makes no effective difference since parched attack using projectiles, which are themselves not affected by Weakness.

In Bedrock Edition, like normal skeletons, strays and bogged, parched also do not retaliate against attacks from breezes, despite them not spawning at the trial chambers. Breezes also don't retaliate against attacks from parched.

In Bedrock Edition, the eyes of parched are emissive when Vibrant Visuals is enabled.

Being an undead mob, they are:

• Damaged by the status effect Instant Health and healed by the status effect Instant Damage.
• Unaffected by the status effects Regeneration and Poison.
• Ignored by the wither.
• Affected by the Smite enchantment.
• Unable to swim in water, but do not drown.
• A threat to armadillos, causing them to hide in their shell.

Because they are under the "skeletons" entity type tag‌^{[Java Edition only]}, if a parched kills a creeper, the creeper drops a music disc, randomly selected from 13, cat, blocks, chirp, far, mall, mellohi, stal, strad, ward, 11, and wait. They also run away from wild and tamed wolves similar to other skeleton variants.

Similar to bogged, parched take freezing damage and do not convert into strays.^[1] Unlike husks converting into zombies, parched do not turn into skeletons when submerged in water for too long.

Picking up items

Some parched spawn with the ability to pick up dropped items from the ground. Unlike zombies, however, they pick up only weapons, shields, and armor. In Java Edition, parched pick up items that they happen to walk near. In Bedrock Edition, they actively search for and walk toward dropped items.

If the picked up item is a weapon (other than a bow), the parched uses the item as a melee weapon. Parched do not pick up spears under any circumstances. In Java Edition, parched prefer bows over other weapons, and do not pick up other weapons while wielding a bow. In Bedrock Edition, the only weapon a parched will swap its held bow for is a sword. When picking up weapons, parched 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 parched equips the shield into their offhand. It cannot use the shield to block incoming attacks, however.

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

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

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

Sounds

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Entity tags	Translation key
Parched	parched	can_breathe_under_water ignores_poison_and_regen inverted_healing_and_harm sensitive_to_smite skeletons undead wither_friends	entity.minecraft.parched

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Family	Translation key
Parched	parched	151	mob monster parched skeleton undead	entity.parched.name

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
		Sniper Duel	Kill a Skeleton with a Bow and Arrows from more than 50 meters.	Use a launched arrow to kill a skeleton, wither skeleton, stray, bogged, or parched from 50 or more blocks away, horizontally.	30	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)
	Not Today, Thank You	Deflect a projectile with a Shield	Block any projectile with a shield.
	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.

History

Java Edition

Java Edition
1.21.11			25w44a				Added parched.
			25w46a				Parched are now immune to the Weakness effect.
							Updated the parched leg UV by moving it by 1 pixel.
			pre1				Parched can no longer pick up spears.

Bedrock Edition

Bedrock Edition
1.21.130			Preview 1.21.130.24				Added parched.
							When a parched detects a camel husk within 16 blocks, it waits 16 game ticks (0.8 seconds) before running toward it to ride it. This behavior takes priority over all other actions, including attacking players.
			Preview 1.21.130.26				Parched no longer look for camel husks to mount. However, they can still mount one when pushed into one.
			Preview 1.21.130.27				Updated the parched leg UV by moving it by 1 pixel.
							Parched can now spawn as riders of spider jockeys when spawned in desert biomes.[2]
							Parched now deal a base damage amount of 2HP instead of 3HP, matching Java Edition.
							Parched now have the same vertical offsets in vehicles as other skeleton variants.
							Parched can no longer be forced onto a camel husk.
26.0			Preview 26.0.23				Parched can no longer pick up spears.
26.30			Preview 26.30.20				Parched now shoot arrows at a rate of 2.5 seconds on Hard difficulty or Hardcore mode.[3]
26.40			Preview 26.40.27				Arrow damage from parched now depends on its velocity and difficulty, rather than being randomized between a range.

Gallery

Renders

• 
  A parched‌^{[JE only]}
• 
  A parched‌^{[BE only]}
• 
  A parched aiming‌^{[JE only]}
• 
  A parched aiming‌^{[BE only]}
• 
  A parched spider jockey‌^{[BE only]}
• 
  A parched without its second layer (this state cannot be seen in vanilla gameplay)

Development renders

• 
  A parched (model used in Bedrock Edition from preview 1.21.130.24 to 1.21.130.27)
• 
  A parched aiming (model used in Bedrock Edition from preview 1.21.130.24 to 1.21.130.27)

Screenshots

• 
  A parched being compared to the other skeletons in Java Edition
• 
  A parched
• 
  A parched in a desert

Mojang images

• 
  A camel husk jockey and two standalone parched
• 
  A camel husk jockey attacking
• 
  A camel husk jockey
• 
  A parched shooting
• 
  A parched aiming
• 
  Two parched
• 
  Parched in THE HORROR OF MINECRAFT
• 
  Several parched fighting Zuri and Noor

Textures

• 
  Parched texture in Java Edition
• 
  Parched texture in Bedrock Edition

References