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For the mob in Minecraft Dungeons, see MCD:Phantom.

Phantoms are flying undead hostile mobs that spawn in the night sky when the player has not laid in a bed or died for three or more in-game days. They attack by diving at the player from the sky to bite them. Usually, they appear in trios.

Spawning[]

Phantom at night

Two phantoms at night.

Phantoms spawn unless the game rule doInsomnia is set to false. The spawning mechanics differ between Java and Bedrock editions. In both editions, they spawn in the Overworld above the player if the "Time Since Last Rest" statistic is at least 1 hour (72000 ticks or 3 in-game days).[verify] This statistic is reset when the player dies or enters a bed. Furthermore, the player must not have a block overhead that blocks light in any way; for example, leaves prevent phantoms from spawning as they have a light opacity of 2, but glass does not, as its light opacity is 0. Phantoms do not spawn in Spectator mode,‌[JE only] but they do spawn in Creative mode.[1]

Bedrock Edition[]

Phantom spawning is similar to other monsters spawning: the spawn location must have a light level of 7 or less, and spawns are limited by the monster population cap. Phantoms are also subject to a density cap of 5. Phantom spawn attempts are made on surface blocks throughout the same spawn radius as other monsters. However, when a phantom spawn attempt succeeds the phantom appears somewhere in a 21×15×21 cube centered 28 blocks above the player instead of at the block where the spawn attempt occurred.

Java Edition[]

Phantoms attempt to spawn every 1–2 minutes. They spawn only if it is night or a thunderstorm is happening, the player is above sea level (y=64) with sky access, and the local difficulty is greater than a randomly chosen value between 0.0 and 3.0. The chance of a successful spawn is x−72000x, where x is the number of ticks since the player last entered a bed or died. This roughly comes to a 14 (25.0%) chance on day 4, a 25 (40.0%) chance on day 5, a 36 (12) (50.0%) chance on day 6, 47 (about 57.1%) chance on day 7, and so on.

If all conditions are met, a group of phantoms attempt to spawn 20–34 blocks above the player, and off to the side by a taxicab distance of up to 10 blocks. The number of phantoms spawned is 1-2 in Easy difficulty, 1-3 in Normal, and 1-4 in Hard. Phantoms can spawn inside buildings, if the player is outside and the building is both near enough and the building has a large enough cavity for them to spawn inside.

Phantoms are counted toward the hostile mob cap, but they don't adhere to it when spawning.[2] Their spawning mechanic is based on the location of players in the world rather than by chance, unlike regular mob spawning. Phantom spawning is completely independent of the biome, meaning they can spawn in biomes that normally prevent hostile mob spawning such as mushroom fields[3] and the void[4]. Phantoms increase in number every consecutive night a player hasn't entered a bed and stop spawning when the player lies down in bed.

Drops[]

Phantoms drop when killed:

  • 0–1 phantom membranes when killed by a player or tamed wolf. Looting increases the maximum drops by 1 per level, for a maximum of 4 with Looting III.
  • 5 when killed by the player or a tamed wolf.

Behavior[]

Phantom 2

A phantom swooping at the player.

When idle, phantoms fly around in a roughly circular pattern within 15 to 25 blocks of a player horizontally and within 24 to 35 blocks of a player vertically, leaving a trail of gray smoke while doing so. Their movement speed is one of the fastest of any mob, up to 20 blocks per second. They have a large search radius, targeting and following players from 64 blocks away‌[BE only][more information needed]. Once every 10-20 seconds‌[BE only][more information needed] they swoop down or up quickly to attack. If stopped or hurt during this action, the phantom retreats back to its original elevation. When a path to its original elevation is obstructed by a block, the phantom continues attempting to return to its original elevation until it either attacks or moves out from under the block. Phantoms do not attack an exposed player sleeping in a bed.

Phantoms can move through water at their normal speed. In Bedrock Edition, a phantom underwater attempts to fly to the surface, and dies from drowning after 20 seconds if trapped underwater. Phantoms do not drown in Java Edition.

A phantom's body disappears when under the Invisibility effect, but its eyes and smoke particles are still visible.

Cats hiss at phantoms that are currently attacking players, and phantoms try to stay at least 64 blocks away from them. In Bedrock Edition, phantoms also avoid ocelots in the same manner.

Undead[]

Like other undead mobs, phantoms are harmed by the Instant Health effect, healed by the Instant Damage effect, immune to the Poison and Regeneration effects, ignored by the wither, and affected by the Smite enchantment.

Like zombies and skeletons, phantoms burn in sunlight. They burn even when equipped with helmets through commands.[5]

Sounds[]

Java Edition:
Phantoms use the Hostile Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.

SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
Phantom screechesHostile CreaturesRandomlyentity.phantom.ambientsubtitles.entity.phantom.ambient0.80.8-1.216
Phantom bitesHostile CreaturesWhen a phantom attacks somethingentity.phantom.bitesubtitles.entity.phantom.bite0.30.9-1.016
Phantom diesHostile CreaturesWhen a phantom diesentity.phantom.deathsubtitles.entity.phantom.death1.00.8-1.216
Phantom flapsHostile CreaturesPeriodicallyentity.phantom.flapsubtitles.entity.phantom.flap0.95-1.00.95-1.016
Phantom hurtsHostile CreaturesWhen a phantom is damagedentity.phantom.hurtsubtitles.entity.phantom.hurt0.750.8-1.216
Phantom swoopsHostile CreaturesWhen a phantom dives down to attackentity.phantom.swoopsubtitles.entity.phantom.swoop7.00.95-1.0516

Bedrock Edition:

SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
Hostile CreaturesRandomlymob.phantom.idle10.00.8-1.2
Hostile CreaturesWhen a phantom attacks somethingmob.phantom.bite10.00.8-1.2
Hostile CreaturesWhen a phantom diesmob.phantom.death10.00.8-1.2
Hostile CreaturesPeriodicallymob.phantom.flap10.00.8-1.2
Hostile CreaturesWhen a phantom is damagedmob.phantom.hurt10.00.8-1.2
Hostile CreaturesWhen a phantom dives down to attackmob.phantom.swoop10.00.95-1.05

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierTranslation key
Phantomphantomentity.minecraft.phantom

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID Translation key
Phantomphantom58entity.phantom.name

Entity data[]

Phantoms have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.

Java Edition:

Main article: Entity format
  • Entity data
    • Tags common to all entities
    • Tags common to all mobs
    •  AX: The phantom, when not actively attacking, attempts to circle around X,Y,Z = AX, AY, AZ. Appears to reset to a point above the target player every time the phantom flies up after a swoop. Set to spawn location if not specified.
    •  AY: See AX.
    •  AZ: See AX.
    •  Size: The size of the phantom. Ranges from 0 to 64, similar to slimes. Unlike slimes, phantoms always have a constant 20♥ × 10 HP, and deal 6♥♥♥+Size damage. Naturally spawned phantoms are always size 0.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements[]

Icon Achievement In-game description Actual requirements (if different) Gamerscore earned Trophy type (PS4)
PS4 Other
Monster HunterAttack and destroy a monster.Kill a hostile mob or one of the following neutral mobs: an enderman, a piglin, a zombified piglin, a spider, or a cave spider.15GBronze
Sound the Alarm!Ring the bell with a hostile enemy in the village.20GBronze

Advancements[]

Icon Advancement In-game description Parent Actual requirements (if different) Resource location
Advancement-plain-rawAdventure
Adventure, exploration and combat Kill any entity, or be killed by any entity.adventure/root
Advancement-plain-rawMonster Hunter
Kill any hostile monster AdventureKill one of these 34 mobs: Only the riders of the chicken jockeys and skeleton horsemen are counted in this advancement. Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.adventure/kill_a_mob
Advancement-fancy-rawIt Spreads
Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst Monster HunterKill one of these 70 mobs near a sculk catalyst: Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this advancement.adventure/kill_mob_near_sculk_catalyst
Advancement-fancy-rawMonsters Hunted
Kill one of every hostile monster Monster HunterKill each of these 36 mobs: Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement. Only the riders of the chicken jockeys and skeleton horsemen are counted in this advancement.adventure/kill_all_mobs
Advancement-fancy-rawTwo Birds, One Arrow
Kill two Phantoms with a piercing Arrow Ol' BetsyUse a crossbow enchanted with Piercing to kill two phantoms with a single arrow shot.adventure/two_birds_one_arrow

History[]

November 1, 2017MINECON 2017 Mob B Phantoms are first shown on YouTube (back then known only as Mob B and The Monster of the Night Skies).
November 14, 2017The article about the phantom was published, which introduced a community vote option for the phantom at MINECON Earth 2017.
November 18, 2017The phantom wins the vote at MINECON Earth. It is the second of mobs that were added as a result of the community voting for it.
Java Edition
1.1318w07aPhantom Revision 1 Added phantoms with a placeholder drop of 1-4 leather.
18w09aPhantoms no longer spawn in the End.
Phantoms now despawn at daytime.
18w10aPhantom The phantom's model and texture have been changed.
18w10cPhantoms are now considered undead.
18w10dPhantoms now burn in sunlight like most undead mobs.
Phantoms no longer despawn at daytime.
18w14aPhantoms now drop 0-1 phantom membrane, instead of leather.
18w19aThe phantom's animation has been changed to have the wings flap quicker and smoother.
Phantoms now drop experience.[6]
pre1Phantoms now have new flapping sounds.
1.1418w44aPhantoms are now afraid of cats.
pre3The damage of phantoms has been reduced from 6♥♥♥ to 2♥.[7]
1.1519w36aPhantom spawning can now be toggled with the game rule doInsomnia.
Bedrock Edition
1.6.0beta 1.6.0.1Phantom BE1 Added phantoms with the health of 10♥♥♥♥♥, with a placeholder drop of 1-4 leather.[verify]
beta 1.6.0.5Phantoms now drop phantom membranes.
The phantom's health has been increased from 10♥♥♥♥♥ to 20♥ × 10.
Phantoms now burn in direct sunlight.
Phantoms are now able to drown.
1.8.0beta 1.8.0.8Phantoms are now afraid of cats.
Legacy Console Edition
TU69 1.76 Patch 38Phantom Added phantoms.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Phantom" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

Red Phantom

The red phantom design was scrapped because it looked like a Nether mob.

  • At one point before the release of 18w10a, the phantom texture was made red, but it was decided that it appeared too much like a Nether mob.[8]
  • The phantom was originally going to have a mouth, like the drawing shown during MINECON Earth, but it was eventually scrapped because "it looked so much like a muppet".[8] Earlier designs can be seen on Minecraft's Instagram account.[9]
  • The sounds of the phantom were taken from Samuel Åberg's baby son screaming.[10]
  • Despite that they are flying mobs, phantoms can destroy turtle eggs when on top of them.[11]
  • The game rule that modify Phantom spawning (doInsomnia ) is probably the reference to the condition of spawning Phantom since "Insomnia" means "the state of unable to sleep".

Gallery[]

Screenshots[]

Development images[]

In other media[]

References[]

  1. MC-145177 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  2. MC-198101
  3. MC-126778
  4. MC-127599
  5. MC-146985 — Helmeted phantoms will still burn under the sunlight
  6. MC-128712
  7. MC-154372 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  8. a b "Meet the Phantom" – Minecraft.net, March 12, 2018
  9. https://www.instagram.com/p/BkdvBUXjqcD
  10. https://www.asoundeffect.com/minecraft-dungeons-game-audio/
  11. MC-248332
  12. "Today I'm working on Mob B (the Phantom?)... baby steps..."@jeb_ (Jens Bergensten) on X, December 13, 2017
  13. "Don't worry guys and gals, I've improved the texture!!!!111"@jeb_ (Jens Bergensten) on X, December 13, 2017

External Links[]

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