Wither Skeleton

Wither skeletons are hostile mobs with stone swords found in fortresses.

Spawning
Wither skeletons spawn in fortresses in the Nether at a light level of 7 or less, in groups of 4. They can also spawn on wither roses in fortresses. Wither skeletons are also the only mob that can spawn on a wither rose.

Halloween
On Halloween, wither skeletons have a 22.5% chance of spawning wearing a and a 2.5% chance of spawning wearing a.

Withers
On normal or hard difficulties, the wither spawns 4 wither skeletons when below half health.

Jockeys
Spiders and cave spiders spawned in the Nether have a 0.8% chance of spawning as a wither jockey.

Drops

 * 0 to 2 s. The maximum drop is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 bones with Looting III.
 * $1/3$ chance to drop a single . Each level of Looting increases the maximum drop by 1, so that Looting I drops 0-2 coal with an average of 0.67 coal per kill, Looting II drops 0-3 coal with an average of 1.11 coal per kill, and Looting III drops 0-4 coal with an average of 1.58 coal per kill.
 * 2.5% chance to drop a when killed by the player or tamed wolf. Looting increases the chance by 1% per level, for a maximum of 5.5% chance with Looting III. Their skull is always dropped if killed by a charged creeper.
 * 8.5% chance of dropping their stone sword, which has a random durability and is unenchanted. This chance increases by 1% per level of Looting, for a maximum of 11.5% chance with Looting III.
 * They drop when killed by a player or tamed wolf. If it has, an additional 1 to 3 experience is dropped per piece.

If a wither skeleton wearing a pumpkin or jack o'lantern is killed using a tool enchanted with Looting, there is a chance equivalent to the level of Looting used to drop the pumpkin or jack o'lantern, a maximum of a 3% chance of a drop.

Behavior
Wither skeletons behave as ordinary skeletons, wither skeletons wander when idle, but sprint to attack players, snow golems, iron golems, baby turtles, piglins, and piglin brutes. They also run from wolves.

When an entity is attacked, it is inflicted with the wither effect for 10 seconds in any difficulty, which turns the health bar black and decreases it by  every 2 seconds, similarly to poison.

In normal or hard difficulties, some wither skeletons may have the capacity to pick up dropped gear. The chance depends on regional difficulty, with up to 55% of them equipping dropped iron, diamond or netherite s and any armor.

Although they may hold them, wither skeletons never take s; if they hold a bow (which can be done with ) they shoot flaming arrows even if their bows are unenchanted. They cannot use crossbows.

Wither skeletons are immune to regeneration, poison, fire, and the wither effect. They still seek shade and water during daylight; they sink in water, do not swim and do not drown like other Undead Mobs.

ID




Entity data
Wither skeleton have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.