Health

The health gauge and monitor in Minecraft is usually based on a single row of 10 heart icons. Each full heart contains two halves, one hit point each (the player has normally 20 maximum hit points).

Hearts
Hearts make up the health meter for the player in the Survival, Hardcore (different texture), and Adventure modes, also for mobs. Each heart represents two hit points. Hit points are lost as a percentage of those hearts. As it appears on the health bar, the player loses at least at a time.

Hit points can be lost by: If the health meter shows or less, it will begin to shake violently, warning that the player is low on health.
 * Starving
 * Fall damage (including from using Ender Pearls)
 * Being attacked by a hostile mob or another player
 * Being shot with an arrow
 * Being hit with trident
 * Being on fire
 * Touching lava
 * Touching fire, a magma block or a cactus
 * Drowning underwater
 * Suffocating inside a block
 * Falling into The Void
 * Taking poison damage or withering or damage from instant damage
 * Getting caught in an explosion
 * Being struck by lightning
 * Hitting a player wearing armor enchanted with the Thorns enchantment
 * Being hit by a falling anvil
 * Crashing into the ground or a wall at high speeds with an Elytra.
 * Typing in the chat bar if commands are enabled.
 * Walking in Sweet Berry Bush past 'sapling' stage

Health can be recovered through several means, both "naturally" and through status effects such as potions provide.
 * The "Instant Health" potion effect will restore health immediately, the amount depending on the source and effect level.
 * On Peaceful difficulty, the health meter will continuously refill over time.
 * On other difficulties, health regenerates slowly when the player's hunger is at or above.
 * The "Regeneration" effect makes health regenerate fairly quickly. Aside from potions of Regeneration, this is also provided by beacons and golden apples. The "basic" golden apple provides it (level II) only for 5 seconds, restoring a total of .  The "enchanted" golden apple provides it for longer (20 seconds) and in total restoring about . Visually the hearts will bounce, although this is in more of a structured wave than the erratic shaking of near-death empty hearts.
 * The "Health Boost" effect adds 4 per effect level to the players total health, which is removed when the effect expires.  After the effect expires, the player's health may remain above the normal maximum, but the extra health will not be recovered once lost to damage.  This effect can only be gained through "cheat" commands, prepared command blocks, or mods. At the maximum level of 255, the player has 522 hearts.
 * The "Absorption" effect likewise adds for each effect level.   This special health cannot be healed or regenerated by normal means. Naturally, it will be removed when the effect expires. The "basic" golden apple provides it (level I) for 2 minutes, providing a total of . The "enchanted" golden apple provides it at higher level (level IV), providing a total of.

Damage is split between the health and armor bars. Each full armor point takes 8% of damage, to a maximum of 80%, rounded up.

On Hardcore mode, hearts have a different texture.

The Poison and Wither effects will turn live hearts a sickly green color and  black, respectively. On Hardcore, they will turn if poisoned and  if withered.

In Creative mode the player still has health, but it is hidden from the HUD, and the player is immune to everything except falling into the void or. The player is completely invincible in Spectator mode. The same could be said in creative mode.

Death


Death can occur when all of a player or mob's hit points are depleted.

The command will also instantly bring about death, and a parrot can be instantly killed by feeding it a cookie.

Mobs and players fall to their left side to the ground when killed, dropping any drops at the location they were when they took the fatal damage. Once their fallen body disappears, it will turn to dust, and drop experience at the location they disappeared. It is possible for the drops and the experience to appear in different places, if the dying body is in motion.

Being animals, corals are also capable of dying, however this is handled as a transition from one block type to another and not on a health value as with entities.

Player effects


For players, a "You died!" screen (or "Game over!" in Hardcore mode) appears that displays the player's score, and a death message (see below). The view of the world will be tinted red, and the camera-view will tilt as if falling over, shudder, and zoom in somewhat. In Bedrock Edition, it will zoom in indefinitely. On that screen there are two options:
 * Respawn: either in the last bed the player slept in, or at their default spawn point (their first spawn point in the game), or at the spawn point set by commands.
 * In Hardcore mode, the player can only respawn in Spectator mode, and cannot continue because cheats are disabled.
 * Return to the title screen.
 * If the player is holding a totem of undying in the main hand or off hand, the player will resurrect upon death without the death screen appearing (won’t resurrect if the player fell into the void).

Any items and/or blocks that were in the player's inventory are dropped from their head, and scattered around the spot where the player died (unless is typed in if commands are enabled). Like any dropped item, these drops will decay once five minutes pass while that chunk is loaded.

The player will also lose any experience accumulated, reverting the level back to 0 (unless is typed in if commands are enabled) and will drop experience orbs with a total value of level * 7 (with a maximum of 100) to the ground.

Despite the fact that dead players disappear like all other mobs, it is still possible for the player to see their own hand while in first-person mode.

Death messages
Death messages are broadcast to everyone upon the death of a player, and to the pet's owner on the death of a pet wolf, cat, horse, donkey, llama or parrot. These messages communicate how the entity died, and some are intended to be humorous.


 * Arrows
 * [player] was shot by arrow
 * This message is caused by arrows shot from a dispenser or
 * [player] was shot by [player/mob]
 * Caused by mobs with projectile attacks or kills using a bow.
 * [player] was shot by [player/mob] using [bow name]
 * Caused by mobs or players with a renamed bow


 * Cactus
 * [player] was pricked to death
 * [player] walked into a cactus whilst trying to escape [player/mob]
 * [player] was stabbed to death


 * Dragon breath
 * [player] was roasted in dragon breath
 * [player] was roasted in dragon breath by [player/mob]
 * Drowning and suffocation
 * [player] drowned
 * [player] drowned whilst trying to escape [player/mob]
 * Note: The player can also type to disable drowning damage.
 * [player] suffocated in a wall
 * Happens if the player took suffocation damage from their head being in a block.
 * [player] suffocated in a wall whilst fighting [player/mob]
 * [player] was squished too much
 * Happens if the player took suffocation damage from the  gamerule.
 * [player] was squashed by [player/mob]


 * Elytra
 * [player] experienced kinetic energy
 * Happens when the player crashes into a wall at high speeds and die from the amount of damage taken.
 * [player] experienced kinetic energy whilst trying to escape [player/mob]
 * [player] removed an elytra while flying
 * [player] removed an elytra while flying whilst trying to escape [player/mob]
 * Explosions
 * [player] blew up
 * Shows up if TNT is activated by redstone mechanisms, fire, dispensed out from a dispenser or if an end crystal killing the player
 * [player] was blown up by [player/mob]
 * [player] was blown up by [player/mob] using [weapon]
 * This message shows up only when TNT is activated by a creeper, skeleton (only if it shoot flaming arrows), a creeper killing the player or by a player using flint and steel, fire charges or an arrow shot from a bow enchanted with Flame
 * [player] was killed by [Intentional Game Design]
 * Shown when killed by the explosion from beds used in the Nether or the End
 * Includes a click-event link to


 * Falling
 * [player] hit the ground too hard
 * Only caused if the player is killed by a short fall, ender pearl damage, or riding an entity that died due to fall damage. Always show up if the player dies by fall damage in Legacy Console Edition.
 * [player] hit the ground too hard whilst trying to escape [player/mob]
 * [player] fell from a high place
 * Caused by a fall greater than 5 blocks.
 * [player] fell off a ladder
 * [player] fell off some vines
 * [player] fell out of the water
 * [player] fell into a patch of fire
 * [player] fell into a patch of cacti
 * [player] was doomed to fall
 * [player] was doomed to fall by [mob/player]
 * [player] was doomed to fall by [mob/player] using [weapon]
 * [player] fell too far and was finished by [mob/player]
 * [player] fell too far and was finished by [mob/player] using [weapon]
 * [player] was shot off some vines by [mob/player]
 * [player] was shot off a ladder by [mob/player]
 * [player] was blown from a high place by [mob/player]
 * Only caused if knockback from a creeper explosion, a ghast fireball, or player-lit TNT causes the player to fall to their death.
 * Type to disable fall damage.


 * Falling blocks
 * [player] was squashed by a falling anvil
 * [player] was squashed by a falling anvil whilst fighting [player/mob]
 * [player] was squashed by a falling block
 * This message appears if the player is killed by a custom falling block other than an anvil that is modified to inflict damage
 * [player] was squashed by a falling block whilst fighting [player/mob]


 * Fatal poison effect
 * [player] was killed by magic


 * Fire
 * [player] went up in flames
 * This message appears if the player died while in the source of the fire (unless the game rule  has been set to  ).
 * [player] burned to death
 * This message appears if the player died while on fire, but not in the source (unless the game rule  has been set to  ).
 * [player] was burnt to a crisp whilst fighting [player/mob]
 * [player] walked into fire whilst fighting [player/mob]


 * Firework rockets
 * [player] went off with a bang
 * [player] went off with a bang whilst fighting [player/mob]


 * Lava
 * [player] tried to swim in lava
 * [player] tried to swim in lava to escape [player/mob]


 * Lightning
 * [player] was struck by lightning
 * [player] was struck by lightning whilst fighting [player/mob]


 * Magma Block
 * [player] discovered floor was lava
 * [player] walked into danger zone due to [player/mob]


 * Players and mobs
 * [player] was slain by [player/mob]
 * [player] was slain by [player/mob] using [weapon]
 * Caused by kills using a renamed weapon.
 * [player] got finished off by [player/mob]
 * [player] got finished off by [player/mob] using [weapon]
 * Caused by kills using a renamed weapon.
 * [player] was fireballed by [player/mob]
 * [player] was fireballed by [player/mob] using [weapon]


 * Potions of Harming
 * [player] was killed by magic
 * Happens when the potion is shot from a dispenser, by drinking it, or with
 * [player] was killed by even more magic
 * [player] was killed by [player/mob] using magic
 * [player] was killed by [player/mob] using [weapon]
 * Caused by witches, guardians, evokers, ranged attacks by the Ender Dragon and kills using a splash potion


 * Starving
 * [player] starved to death
 * Caused if hunger bar is at 0 and the resulting hunger damage leads to death; this can only happen in hard or hardcore


 * Sweet Berry Bushes
 * [player] was poked to death by a sweet berry bush
 * [player] was poked to death by a sweet berry bush whilst trying to escape [player/mob]
 * Caused if a player moves around in a sweet berry bush.


 * Thorns enchantment
 * [player] was killed while trying to hurt [player/mob]
 * Can be caused by a mob if it is able to wear armor, and can also occur while fighting guardians
 * [player] was killed by [player/mob] trying to hurt [player/mob]


 * Trident
 * [player] was impaled by [player/mob]
 * [player] was impaled by [player/mob] with [weapon]
 * [player] was speared by [player/mob]
 * [player] was speared by [player/mob] with [weapon]


 * Void
 * [player] fell out of the world
 * Also shown if the player is killed by the command
 * [player] fell from a high place and fell out of the world
 * [player] didn't want to live in the same world as [player/mob]
 * Appears when a mob/player pushes someone into the void or when a player uses after being attacked by a mob or player.


 * Wither effect
 * [player] withered away
 * [player] withered away whilst fighting [player/mob]

Other
 * [player] was pummeled by [player/mob]
 * This message would appear when killed by a snowball, an egg, a wither skull or an ender pearl
 * This message is not possible to see in the case of snowballs, chicken eggs, and ender pearls, because they do not cause damage to players hit by them.
 * This message is only shown when the wither kills a player with a wither skull's impact.
 * [player] was pummeled by [player/mob] using [weapon]
 * [player] died
 * [player] died because of [player/mob]
 * Actually, message was too long to deliver fully. Sorry! Here’s stripped version: [message]