Wither Skeleton

For the enemy mob in Minecraft Dungeons, see MCD:Wither Skeleton.

Wither Skeleton

Health points	20HP × 10
Behavior	Hostile
Mob type	Undead Monster
Attack strength	Armed: Stone Sword: In Java Edition: Easy: 5HP Normal: 8HP Hard: 12HP × 6 In Bedrock Edition: Easy: 5.5HP × 2.75 Normal: 9HP Hard: 13.5HP × 6.75 Unarmed: Easy: 3HP Normal: 4HP Hard: 6HP Wither: 1HP per 2 sec Wither for 10 sec (HP)
Hitbox size	In Java Edition: Height: 2.4 blocks Width: 0.7 blocks In Bedrock Edition: Height: 2.412 blocks Width: 0.864 blocks
Speed	0.25 when idle and 0.3125 when attacking
Spawn	Nether Fortress When a wither reaches half health.‌[BE only]

A wither skeleton is a tall, black variant of a skeleton equipped with a stone sword. They inflict the Wither effect when attacking the player. They are found exclusively in Nether fortresses and are the only source of wither skeleton skulls, as well as the only renewable source of coal.

Spawning

Wither skeletons can spawn in Nether fortresses at a light level between 0 and 7, in groups of 5‌^{[JE only]} or 2-3‌^{[BE 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 Nether bricks

They are the only mobs that can spawn inside wither roses due to their immunity to the damaging effect.

Wither Skeleton spawns in:

Category: Monster	Java Edition			Bedrock Edition
Spawn area	Spawn weight	Spawn chance	Group size	Spawn weight	Group size
Nether Fortress	8⁄28	28.57%	5	8	2–3

Spider jockeys

This feature is exclusive to Bedrock Edition.

This section describes content that has been removed from Java Edition.

This feature was present in earlier versions of Java Edition, but has since been removed.

Spiders and cave spiders spawned in the Nether using commands or spawn eggs have a 1% chance to spawn as a spider jockey, with an 80% chance of that spider being ridden by a wither skeleton.

Halloween

This feature is exclusive to Java Edition.

On Halloween, wither skeletons have a 22.5% chance of spawning wearing a carved pumpkin and a 2.5% chance of spawning wearing a Jack o'lantern. They are never dropped.

Withers

This feature is exclusive to Bedrock Edition.

The wither spawns 3-4 wither skeletons when below half health on Normal and Hard difficulties.

Drops

Java Edition:

Item		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Coal	0–1	33.33%	0.33	0–2	66.67%	0.83	0–3	83.33%	1.33	0–4	88.89%	1.83
	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
	Wither Skeleton Skull[A]	0–1	2.50%	0.03	0–1	3.50%	0.04	0–1	4.50%	0.04	0–1	5.50%	0.06
	Wither Skeleton Skull[B]	1	100.00%	1.00	1	100.00%	1.00	1	100.00%	1.00	1	100.00%	1.00

Item		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Coal	0–1	1⁄3	1⁄3	0–2	2⁄3	5⁄6	0–3	5⁄6	4⁄3	0–4	8⁄9	11⁄6
	Bone	0–2	2⁄3	1	0–3	5⁄6	3⁄2	0–4	11⁄12	2	0–5	17⁄18	5⁄2
	Wither Skeleton Skull[A]	0–1	1⁄40	1⁄40	0–1	7⁄200	7⁄200	0–1	9⁄200	9⁄200	0–1	11⁄200	11⁄200
	Wither Skeleton Skull[B]	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Item		Amount	Probability
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Coal	0	2⁄3 (66.67%)	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄6 (16.67%)	1⁄9 (11.11%)
		1	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄2 (50.00%)	5⁄12 (41.67%)	5⁄18 (27.78%)
		2	0	1⁄6 (16.67%)	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄3 (33.33%)
		3	0	0	1⁄12 (8.33%)	2⁄9 (22.22%)
		4	0	0	0	1⁄18 (5.56%)
		Average	1⁄3 (0.33)	5⁄6 (0.83)	4⁄3 (1.33)	11⁄6 (1.83)
	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)
	Wither Skeleton Skull[A]	0	39⁄40 (97.50%)	193⁄200 (96.50%)	191⁄200 (95.50%)	189⁄200 (94.50%)
		1	1⁄40 (2.50%)	7⁄200 (3.50%)	9⁄200 (4.50%)	11⁄200 (5.50%)
		Average	1⁄40 (0.03)	7⁄200 (0.04)	9⁄200 (0.04)	11⁄200 (0.06)
	Wither Skeleton Skull[B]	1	1 (100.00%)	1 (100.00%)	1 (100.00%)	1 (100.00%)
		Average	1 (1.00)	1 (1.00)	1 (1.00)	1 (1.00)

Killed		1
Item		Expected Drops
		Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Coal	0.33	0.83	1.33	1.83
	Bone	1.00	1.50	2.00	2.50
	Wither Skeleton Skull[A]	0.03	0.04	0.04	0.06
	Wither Skeleton Skull[B]	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00

Bedrock Edition:

Item		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Coal	0–1	50.00%	0.50	0–2	50.00%	0.75	0–3	50.00%	1.00	0–4	50.00%	1.25
	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
	Wither Skeleton Skull[A]	0–1	2.50%	0.03	0–1	4.50%	0.04	0–1	6.50%	0.07	0–1	8.50%	0.09
	Wither Skeleton Skull[B]	1	100.00%	1.00	1	100.00%	1.00	1	100.00%	1.00	1	100.00%	1.00

Item		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Coal	0–1	1⁄2	1⁄2	0–2	1⁄2	3⁄4	0–3	1⁄2	1	0–4	1⁄2	5⁄4
	Bone	0–2	2⁄3	1	0–3	2⁄3	4⁄3	0–4	2⁄3	5⁄3	0–5	2⁄3	2
	Wither Skeleton Skull[A]	0–1	1⁄40	1⁄40	0–1	9⁄200	9⁄200	0–1	13⁄200	13⁄200	0–1	17⁄200	17⁄200
	Wither Skeleton Skull[B]	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Item		Amount	Probability
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Coal	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)
	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)
	Wither Skeleton Skull[A]	0	39⁄40 (97.50%)	191⁄200 (95.50%)	187⁄200 (93.50%)	183⁄200 (91.50%)
		1	1⁄40 (2.50%)	9⁄200 (4.50%)	13⁄200 (6.50%)	17⁄200 (8.50%)
		Average	1⁄40 (0.03)	9⁄200 (0.04)	13⁄200 (0.07)	17⁄200 (0.09)
	Wither Skeleton Skull[B]	1	1 (100.00%)	1 (100.00%)	1 (100.00%)	1 (100.00%)
		Average	1 (1.00)	1 (1.00)	1 (1.00)	1 (1.00)

Killed		1
Item		Expected Drops
		Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Coal	0.50	0.75	1.00	1.25
	Bone	1.00	1.33	1.67	2.00
	Wither Skeleton Skull[A]	0.03	0.04	0.07	0.09
	Wither Skeleton Skull[B]	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00

• 8.5% chance of dropping their unenchanted stone sword which has a random durability. This chance increases by 1% per level of Looting, for a maximum of 11.5% chance with Looting III.
• 5XP experience orbs when killed by a player or tamed wolf, and an additional 1–3XP 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 6–8XP if the sword is not dropped.
  • If the wither skeleton does drop its stone sword, it drops the default 5XP instead.
• A carved pumpkin or jack o'lantern worn by a wither skeleton spawned on Halloween is never dropped.

Behavior

Wither skeletons wander aimlessly when idle. They sprint to attack players, iron golems, baby turtles, piglins, and piglin brutes within 16 blocks.

When an entity is attacked by a wither skeleton on any difficulty, it is inflicted with the Wither effect for 10 seconds, which turns the health bar black (HP × 10) and decreases it by 1HP every two seconds. Unlike Poison, this effect can cause death.

Wolves are aggressive toward wither skeletons, which retaliate when attacked. In Java Edition, wither skeletons flee from wolves because they are part of the skeleton family and wolves attack any mob from that family.^[1] Despite being associated to iron golems, villagers and wandering traders are ignored by wither skeletons. However, a wither skeleton can retaliate if a firework rocket set by a villager hits it.

In Normal and Hard difficulties, some wither skeletons pick up dropped equipment. The chance depends on regional difficulty, with up to 55% of them capable of picking up swords higher than stone tier plus any armor. Wither skeletons never take bows; in Java Edition, if they hold a bow (which can be done with /summon wither_skeleton ~ ~ ~ {equipment:{mainhand:{id:bow, count:1}}}) they shoot flaming arrows even if their bows are not enchanted, dealing the same damage as a normal skeleton would plus an additional 4HP of fire damage. If the wither skeleton is holding a tipped arrow or spectral arrow in its off-hand, it shoots that type of arrow, and the arrow held is not consumed. They cannot use crossbows.

Wither skeletons are immune to fire and the Wither effect. They still seek shade or water during daylight if they are in the Overworld, even though they do not burn in sunlight.

As they are also under the "skeletons" entity type tag, if a wither skeleton (only possible through commands) 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.‌^{[Java Edition only]}

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.

Due to their height of 2.4 blocks, they cannot fit through openings 2 blocks tall.

Picking up items

Some wither skeletons 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, wither skeletons 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 wither skeleton uses the item as a melee weapon. Wither skeletons do not pick up bows‌^{[Java Edition only]} or 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 armor, a carved pumpkin, or a 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 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 I, in favor of the new one.

A wither skeleton 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
Wither Skeleton	wither_skeleton	burn_in_daylight can_breathe_under_water ignores_poison_and_regen inverted_healing_and_harm skeletons undead wither_friends sensitive_to_smite	entity.minecraft.wither_skeleton

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Family	Translation key
Wither Skeleton	wither_skeleton	48	mob monster skeleton undead wither	entity.wither_skeleton.name

Entity data

Wither skeleton have entity data associated with them that contains various properties. The wither skeleton is taller than the skeleton.

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
		Camouflage	Kill a mob while wearing the same type of mob head.	—	30	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.
	Spooky Scary Skeleton	Obtain a Wither Skeleton's skull	Have a wither skeleton skull in the inventory.
	How Did We Get Here?	Have every effect applied at the same time	Have all of these 34​[until: Fourth Drop 2026]/35​[upcoming] status effects applied to the player at the same time: Absorption Bad Omen Blindness Breath of the Nautilus Conduit Power Darkness Dolphin's Grace Fire Resistance Freezing Glowing Haste Hero of the Village Hunger Infested Invisibility Jump Boost Levitation Mining Fatigue Nausea Night Vision Oozing Poison Raid Omen Regeneration Resistance Slow Falling Slowness Speed Strength Trial Omen Water Breathing Weakness Weaving Wind Charged Wither The source of the effects is irrelevant for the purposes of this advancement. Other status effects may be applied to the player, but are ignored 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.
	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
1.4.2			12w36a				Added wither skeletons.
			12w38b				Wither skeletons now spawn more frequently.
1.4.4			1.4.3				Wither skeletons can now sprint toward the player.
1.8			14w11a				Wither skeletons now run away from creepers that are about to explode.
			14w25a				Wither skeletons no longer visibly catch fire when going into fire or lava.
			14w30a				Wither skeletons now drop their skull when killed by a charged creeper.
							The weapon holding position of wither skeletons has been changed.
1.8.1			pre1				Wither skeletons no longer run away from creepers that are about to explode.
1.9			15w31a				Wither skeletons now lower their arms when idle and swing their arms when damaging something.
							Wither skeletons now sometimes (5% of times) spawn with their left hand as their main hand.
							Wither skeletons now have the ability to hold items in both of their hands.
			15w39a				Wither skeletons are now slightly shorter (2.4 blocks tall rather than 2.535) and narrower (0.7 blocks instead of 0.72).
1.10			16w20a				Added separate spawn eggs for wither skeletons.
			pre2				The wither skeleton spawn egg has been removed.
1.11			16w32a				The wither skeleton spawn egg has been re-added.
							The wither skeleton's in-game name is now "Wither Skeleton" instead of "Skeleton".
							Creepers no longer drop music discs when killed by wither skeletons.[2]
							Wither skeletons can no longer spawn from normal skeleton spawn egg used in the Nether.
			16w39a				Wither skeletons now have their own sounds.
1.13			18w19a				Wither skeletons now sink underwater.
							Wither skeletons no longer drown underwater.
1.14			18w43a				The texture of wither skeletons has been changed.
							Wither skeletons are now immune to the Wither effect.
							Creepers now drop music discs when killed by wither skeletons again.[a]
			19w09a				Wither skeletons holding tipped arrows or spectral arrows in their off-hand now shoot that type of arrow.[3]
September 28, 2019							Announced piglins, which attack wither skeletons.
1.15			19w37a				Mobs that spawn wearing carved pumpkins or jack o'lanterns on Halloween no longer drop them.
1.16			20w07a				Added piglins, which attack wither skeletons.
			20w10a				Wither skeletons now attack piglins on sight.[4]
			20w21a				Wither skeletons are now the only mobs that can spawn on wither roses.
1.19			pre1				Wither skeletons now spawn from light level 0 to 11.
1.19.3			22w46a				Wither skeletons now spawn from light level 0 to 7 in the Nether.
1.21.4			24w45a				Wither skeletons now prefer to pick bows from the ground as opposed to other items.
			24w46a				Wither skeletons now no longer pick up bows.
1.21.11			pre1				Wither skeletons can no longer pick up spears.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.12.1			build 1				Added wither skeletons.
			build 9				Wither skeletons are now larger than regular skeletons.
			build 12				Added new sounds for dying wither skeletons.
v0.15.0			build 1				Wither skeletons now lower their arms when idle and swing their arms when damaging something.
							Added separate spawn eggs for wither skeletons.
v0.16.0			build 4				Wither skeletons now spawn when a wither's health reaches 50%.
Bedrock Edition
?							Wither skeletons no longer spawn with gear (or enchanted gear).
1.5.0			beta 1.5.0.0				Wither skeletons now sink in water.
							Wither skeletons no longer drown underwater.
			beta 1.5.0.4				Wither skeletons now seek and attack baby turtles.
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The texture of wither skeletons has been changed.
							Wither skeletons can now be renamed with a name tag.[5]
1.16.0			beta 1.16.0.51				Wither skeletons now have ability to pick up items.
							Added piglins, which attack wither skeletons.
1.16.20			beta 1.16.20.50				Added piglin brutes, which attack wither skeletons.
1.16.100			beta 1.16.100.54				Wither skeletons now immediately attack piglins and piglin brutes instead of attacking when provoked by them.[6]
1.18.30			beta 1.18.20.25				Wither skeletons no longer take damage from cauldrons filled with lava.[7]
1.19.60			Preview 1.19.60.22				Wither skeletons now spawn from light level 0 to 7 in the Nether.
1.20.40			Preview 1.20.40.20				Wither skeletons now have the same sounds as in Java Edition.
1.21.30			Preview 1.21.30.24				Wither skeletons now have the same "step" sounds as in Java Edition.[8]
1.21.90			Preview 1.21.90.26				Wither skeletons now spawn as riders in spider jockeys when spiders are spawned in the Nether again. They did not since Pocket Edition 1.1.0 due to an identifier change.
1.21.120			Preview 1.21.120.22				Wither skeletons can now pick up copper swords.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU19	CU7	1.12	1.12	1.12	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added wither skeletons.
TU20	CU8	1.13	1.13	1.13			Wither skeletons now rarely spawn anywhere in the Nether.
TU31	CU19	1.22	1.22	1.22	Patch 3		Wither skeletons no longer visibly catch fire when going into fire or lava.
							Wither skeletons now drop their skull when killed by a charged creeper.
TU46	CU33	1.36	1.36	1.36	Patch 13		Wither skeletons now use the old sound for dying.
	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15		Wither skeletons now lower their arms when idle and swing their arms when damaging something.
							Wither skeletons now sometimes spawn with their left hand as their main hand.
TU54	CU44	1.52	1.52	1.52	Patch 24	1.0.4	Added separate spawn eggs for wither skeletons.
							Wither skeletons can no longer spawn from normal skeleton spawn egg used in the Nether.
TU57	CU49	1.57	1.56	1.56	Patch 27	1.0.7	Wither skeletons no longer fear daylight and attack anything that lives.
TU60	CU51	1.64	1.64	1.64	Patch 30	1.0.11	Wither skeletons now spawn when a wither's health reaches 50%.
TU69		1.76	1.76	1.76	Patch 38		Wither skeletons now sink in water.
							Wither skeletons no longer drown underwater.
							Wither skeletons now have the same sounds as in Java Edition.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added wither skeletons.

Data history

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Issues

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

Gallery

Renders

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  A wither skeleton
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  A wither skeleton targeting
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  A wither skeleton with a carved pumpkin on its head
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  A wither skeleton wearing iron armor and wielding an iron sword
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  A wither skeleton targeting without a weapon
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  A wither skeleton holding a bow, ready to fire an arrow
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  A wither skeleton spider jockey‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}
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  A wither skeleton cave spider jockey‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

Screenshots

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  A wither skeleton being compared to its variants in Java Edition
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  A wither skeleton in the Overworld
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  A wither jockey
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  A wither skeleton next to the wall of a Nether fortress
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  A wither skeleton and a blaze idling in a Nether fortress
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  A wither skeleton and two blazes near a blaze monster spawner
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  Wither skeleton wearing a pumpkin on Halloween
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  Wither skeleton wearing a jack o'lantern in the Nether
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  A wither skeleton in a Nether fortress
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  A wither skeleton compared to a tall player‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

Mojang screenshots

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  A preview of two wither skeletons in the soul sand valley
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  A wither skeleton in a Nether fortress on Dev Diaries

Textures

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  Wither skeleton texture file

In other media

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  Wither Skeleton in promotional artwork for the Pretty Scary Update
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  Wither Skeletons in promotional artwork for the Nether Update
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  A Wither Skeleton, as it appears in Minecraft Dungeons
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  A Wither Skeleton Archer, as it appears in Minecraft Dungeons
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  LEGO Minecraft Wither Skeleton
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  "Acid Wither Skeleton," an officially licensed T-Shirt design
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  An officially licensed cup featuring a wither skeleton
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  A wither skeleton as it appears in Ghast in the Machine!
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  Wither skeleton action figure

See also

• Skeleton (disambiguation)
• Wither

Notes

References