Wither Skeleton

Wither skeletons are tall variants of skeletons equipped with stone swords found in nether fortresses, which inflict the fatal Wither effect.

Spawning
Wither skeletons spawn in nether fortresses at a light level of 7 or less, in groups of 4. Uniquely, they can spawn on wither roses as they are not harmed.

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

Withers
The wither spawns 4 wither skeletons when below half health on normal or hard difficulties.

Jockeys
Spiders and cave spiders spawned in the Nether have a 0.8% chance of spawning a wither skeleton on their back and form a spider jockey. Spiders do not naturally spawn in this dimension.

Drops

 * 0 to 2 s. The maximum drop is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0 to 5 bones with Looting III.
 * There is a $$ 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 a player or tamed wolf. Looting increases the chance by 1% per level or 2% per level, for a maximum of 5.5% or 8.5% chance with Looting III. Their skull is always dropped if killed by a charged creeper.
 * 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.
 * experience orbs when killed by a player or tamed wolf. If it has, an additional to  is dropped per piece.
 * If a wither skeleton wearing a carved 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 carved pumpkin or jack o'lantern, a maximum of a 3% chance of a drop.

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

When an entity is attacked by a wither skeleton, it is inflicted with the wither effect for ten seconds in any difficulty, which turns the health bar black and decreases it by  every two seconds, similarly to Poison, except that it can kill.

Some wither skeletons may have the capacity to pick up dropped gear in normal or hard difficulties. 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 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 fire and the Wither effect. They still seek shade or water during daylight if they are in the Overworld. Like most undead mobs, they sink in water but do not drown, are healed by Instant Damage and harmed by Instant Health effects, are immune to Regeneration and Poison effects and are not attacked by the wither.

Strangely, the player can burn them by throwing a trident enchanted with Channeling during a thunderstorm.

ID




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

History
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Trivia

 * Wither skeletons can't fit through the gap under the staircase of the nether wart room in fortresses.
 * If a Wither Skeleton is summoned in via commands to hold a bow, it shoots fire arrows, even if the bow doesn't have flame.