| Health points |
20 |
|---|---|
| Behavior |
Hostile |
| Attack strength |
Ranged |
| Hitbox size |
In Java Edition: In Bedrock Edition: |
| Spawn |
Overworld: Light level of 0.
|
| Natural equipment |
|
Skeletons are common undead hostile mobs equipped with bows.
Contents
Spawning[]
Skeletons spawn at a light level of 0 in groups of 4 or 5 in the Overworld in Java Edition and 1 to 2 in Bedrock Edition. They can be found above solid blocks from all Overworld biomes except mushroom fields. 80% of skeletons spawned directly under the sky spawn as strays in snowy plains, frozen oceans, and variants.
Spiders have a 1% chance to spawn with a skeleton riding them, creating a spider jockey.
Four skeleton horsemen spawn when a skeleton trap is triggered. The skeletons ride on skeleton horses and are equipped with enchanted bows and iron helmets and have damage immunity for 3 seconds after spawning.
In Bedrock Edition, skeleton horsemen do not have immunity.
Monster Spawners[]
Skeletons spawn from 25% of the spawners found in dungeons.
Nether[]
In Nether fortresses, when a wither skeleton attempts to spawn, there is a 20% chance that a normal skeleton spawns instead.
Skeletons spawn commonly in soul sand valleys. However, existing skeletons prevent the spawning of other skeletons nearby, meaning there are much less skeletons in a given area compared to zombified piglins in nether wastes.
Drops[]
Skeletons drop:
- 0–2 bones. The maximum drop is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 bones with Looting III.
- 0–2 arrows. The maximum drop is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 arrows with Looting III.
- Picked-up items have a 100% chance of dropping and drop with the same damage level it had when picked up.[Java Edition only]
- Any naturally spawned equipment (including the bow) has an 8.5% chance of dropping if killed by the player (9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II, and 11.5% with Looting III). It is damaged and sometimes enchanted.
- A skeleton drops its skull if killed by a charged creeper's explosion.
- Skeletons drop 5 when killed by a player or tamed wolf and extra 1–3 if the skeleton has equipment.
Behavior[]
A skeleton shooting.
Skeletons chase players and iron golems they see within 16 blocks, climbing stairs, navigating mazes and traversing other complex obstacles to get within shooting range. They can climb ladders if they are forced to do so. When within 15 blocks of a target, with a clear line of sight, they start shooting with arrows, once every second. If the player leaves the 15-block radius, skeletons wait for some seconds with the bow charged, shooting the moment the player comes within range again.
Their detection range is reduced to 8 blocks if a skeleton skull is worn by the player. This stacks with sneaking and the invisibility effect.
The skeleton's accuracy is based on the game difficulty. Skeletons have an "error" of 10 on easy, 6 on normal and 2 on hard. This is compared to the player's lack of accuracy of 1. To account for gravity, skeletons aim 0.2 blocks higher for every horizontal block of range to the target.
Skeleton behavior varies between the game editions:
- Java
- Strafe in circular patterns to dodge attacks and retreat to a safe range if the player comes within 4 blocks.
- Sprint toward the player if they are 14 blocks away or farther.
- Use bows even underwater. The water slows down the arrows.
- Bedrock
- Skeletons typically stop moving to shoot, making no attempt to avoid being hit.
- An underwater skeleton uses a melee attack because it is unable to use a bow underwater.
- A skeleton on land shoots quickly at a player in water. The rate of fire increases as the player approaches, making combat difficult due to the knockback.
Dueling skeletons. One skeleton turned red from being shot by the other skeleton.
In most cases, if a skeleton's arrow hits a neutral or hostile mob that has not yet been attacked by the player, the mob attacks the skeleton. When a skeleton is attacked by another mob (including another skeleton), it attacks that mob, reorienting on the player once the mob is dead.
Skeletons sink in water and cannot swim, but do not drown.
If spawned with a weapon other than a bow, or no weapon at all (which can be spawned with commands such as /summon skeleton ~ ~ ~ {HandItems:[{Count:1,id:"iron_sword"}]}, or /summon skeleton ~ ~ ~ {}), a skeleton charges at a player with arms outstretched and deals damage by touch, similar to a wither skeleton.
Skeletons holding tipped arrows in their offhand always shoot that type of arrow; these arrows are not consumed.
Sunlight[]
A skeleton burning in sunlight.
Skeletons burn at dawn when the sun is 15 degrees or greater above the ground (when the moon can no longer be seen) unless the skeleton is:
- Below an opaque block.
- In a sunlight level of 11 or less.
- In water.
- Standing in soul sand.
- Affected by Fire Resistance.
- Wearing a helmet, which absorbs the damage, wearing out completely after several day cycles.
- Standing in cobwebs.[1]
If not wearing a helmet, it seeks out shade during the day or enters water to protect itself. Unlike zombies, which leave the shade to chase a player, skeletons do not exit the shaded area even while attacking.
Wolves attacking a skeleton.
Other mobs[]
Skeletons flee from wolves. A skeleton runs from a chasing wolf until the wolf deals damage, after which the skeleton turns to shoot at the wolf that successfully attacked it.
Skeletons shoot at nearby iron golems and baby turtles. Snow golems are attacked as well in Bedrock Edition. If a creeper dies from a skeleton's arrow, it drops one of any music discs except for Pigstep.
Mob type[]
Skeletons are undead mobs, causing them to be damaged by the Instant Health status effect, healed by the Instant Damage status effect, and unaffected by the status effects Regeneration and Poison.
Skeletons are ignored by the wither and are affected by the Smite enchantment.
Geared skeletons[]
     
|
Some spawned skeletons have the ability to pick up dropped items from the ground. Unlike zombies however, they pick up only weapons or armor. Since they already hold bows, they do not pick up and hold any other dropped item from the ground other than a weapon. If a picked up item is armor, a carved pumpkin, or a mob head, a skeleton equips itself with the item. If the picked up item is a weapon, the skeleton uses the item as a melee weapon. In Bedrock Edition, skeletons can also pick up and equip illager banners worn in their chest slot.
Skeletons spawn already-armed with bows, which may be enchanted. The chances of that event are listed below from code. If a skeleton spawns wearing multiple pieces of armor, the armor is never mismatched (all pieces are made of the same material) except if it is spawned as part of a skeleton trap, in which case only the helmet may be mismatched, and it would be iron.
| Easy | Normal | Hard | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armor | 0% | 0%–15%[note 1] | 1.875%–15%[note 1] |
| Weapon[note 2] | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Pick up | 0% | 0%–55%[note 1] | 6.875%–55%[note 1] |
| Weapon enchantment[note 3] | 0% | 0%–25%[note 1] | 3.125%–25%[note 1] |
| Armor enchantment[note 3] | 0% | 0%–50%[note 1] | 6.25%–50%[note 1] |
If a skeleton does spawn with armor, the chances of specific armor are as follows:
| Armor | Easy & Normal | Hard |
|---|---|---|
| 1 piece | 100% | 100% |
| 2 pieces | 75% | 90% |
| 3 pieces | 56.25% | 81% |
| Full set | 42.19% | 72.9% |
In Java Edition, the armor pieces go from feet to head, and in Bedrock Edition, they go from head to feet.
The chances of it being of a particular material are:
| Armor Type | Chance |
|---|---|
| Leather | 37.06% |
| Gold | 48.73% |
| Chain | 12.90% |
| Iron | 1.2% |
| Diamond | 0.04% |
In Java Edition, skeleton armor is not damaged from most damage sources; it cannot "wear out" the way player armor does. Helmets (not blocks like carved pumpkins) on skeletons can break if the skeleton is exposed to daylight or has an anvil or other falling block dropped on its hitbox.
If a skeleton has a bow and a sword is given, it drops the bow, with the same chance as if killed with Looting I and starts using the sword. If a skeleton has a sword or bow in its hand, and one of a better type or with better enchantments is given, the skeleton drops the existing weapon, with the same chance as if killed with Looting I in favor of the better one. Any skeleton that spawns with equipment (picked-up items do not count) gives 1–3 extra experience points per item.
If multiple viable items exist, the skeleton endlessly picks up and drops the items. This feature is intentional.[2]
Halloween[]
In Java Edition, during Halloween (October 31), skeletons have a 22.5% chance of spawning wearing a carved pumpkin and a 2.5% chance of spawning wearing a jack o'lantern. If these skeletons are killed using a tool enchanted with Looting, the pumpkin or jack o'lantern can drop with a chance equivalent to the level of Looting, up to 3 percent chance with Looting III.
Strays[]
If a skeleton is inside of powder snow for 7 seconds, it converts into a stray.
A newly-converted stray always has full health even if converted from a damaged skeleton.
The converted stray keeps any items worn or held when it was a skeleton.
Only normal skeletons can become strays; wither skeletons cannot be converted.
Sounds[]
| Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skeleton rattles | Hostile Creatures | Random | entity.skeleton.ambient | subtitles.entity.skeleton.ambient | ? | ? | 16 | |
| Skeleton converts to Stray | Hostile Creatures | Converting to stray | entity.skeleton.converted_to_stray | subtitles.entity.skeleton.converted_to_stray | ? | ? | 16 | |
| Skeleton dies | Hostile Creatures | Dying | entity.skeleton.death | subtitles.entity.skeleton.death | ? | ? | 16 | |
| Skeleton hurts | Hostile Creatures | Taking damage | entity.skeleton.hurt | subtitles.entity.skeleton.hurt | ? | ? | 16 | |
| Skeleton shoots | Hostile Creatures | Shooting an arrow | entity.skeleton.shoot | subtitles.entity.skeleton.shoot | ? | ? | 16 | |
| Footsteps | Hostile Creatures | Walking | entity.skeleton.step | subtitles.block.generic.footsteps | ? | ? | 16 |
Data values[]
ID[]
| Name | Resource location | Entity tags (JE) | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skeleton | skeleton | skeletons | entity.minecraft.skeleton |
| Name | Resource location | Numeric ID | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skeleton | skeleton | 34 | entity.skeleton.name |
Entity data[]
Skeletons have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.
- Entity data
- Tags common to all entities
- Tags common to all mobs
- StrayConversionTime: The number of ticks until this skeleton converts to a stray (default value is -1, when no conversion is under way).
Achievements[]
| Icon | Achievement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) | Gamerscore earned | Trophy type (PS4) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS4 | Other platforms | |||||
| Monster Hunter | Attack and kill 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. | 15G | Bronze | ||
| Sniper Duel | Kill a Skeleton with an arrow from more than 50 meters. | Use a launched arrow to kill a skeleton, spider jockey, wither skeleton, or a stray from 50 or more blocks away, horizontally. | 30G | Bronze | ||
Advancements[]
| Icon | Advancement | In-game description | Parent | Actual requirements (if different) | Resource location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Not Today, Thank You | Block a projectile using your shield. | Suit Up | Block any projectile with a shield. | story/deflect_arrow
|
| Adventure | Adventure, exploration, and combat | — | Kill any entity, or be killed by any entity. | adventure/root
|
| Monster Hunter | Kill any hostile monster | Adventure | Kill one of these 34 mobs:
| adventure/kill_a_mob
|
| A Throwaway Joke | Throw a trident at something. Note: Throwing away your only weapon is not a good idea. | Monster Hunter | Hit a mob with a thrown trident. | adventure/throw_trident
|
| Take Aim | Shoot something with an arrow | Monster Hunter | Using a bow or a crossbow, shoot an entity with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow. | adventure/shoot_arrow
|
 | Monsters Hunted | Kill one of every hostile monster | Monster Hunter | Kill each of these 34 mobs:
| adventure/kill_all_mobs
|
| Sniper Duel | Kill a Skeleton from at least 50 meters away | Take Aim | Be at least 50 blocks away horizontally when a skeleton is killed by an arrow after the player has attacked it once. | adventure/sniper_duel
|
History[]
| Java Edition Classic | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 14, 2009 | Notch teased skeletons. | ||||
| 0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST |  Added skeletons.
| ||||
| Skeletons spawn randomly in new Survival maps and follow players when approached, much like zombies. | |||||
| 0.25 SURVIVAL TEST | Skeletons now fire arrows with a purple/magenta colored shaft, appear to fire arrows at a faster and more random rate, and shoot 6 arrows outward a short-range in all directions when dying. Arrows fired by skeletons can be picked up and used by players. | ||||
| Skeletons now take five hits to kill and can appear wearing NPC armor (that gave them no additional protection) and gave 120 points when killed. | |||||
| Java Edition Indev | |||||
| 0.31 | 20091223-1 | Skeletons and other mobs no longer spawn naturally. | |||
| 20100202 | Skeletons and other mobs now spawn naturally again. However, they are currently passive. | ||||
| Skeletons no longer wear armor. | |||||
| The skeleton's attacking animation has been removed. | |||||
| 20100204-2 | Skeletons are now hostile again. | ||||
| The purple arrows that skeletons throw have been removed and have been replaced by brown arrows. | |||||
| 20100213 | Skeletons now catch on fire when exposed to sunlight. | ||||
| 20100218 | The chances of catching on fire in sunlight have been tweaked for skeletons. | ||||
| Skeletons now burn only when the sunlight level is greater than 7, and not due to torches at night.[is this the correct version?] | |||||
| 20100219 | Skeletons now drop arrows. | ||||
| Java Edition Alpha | |||||
| v1.2.0 | ? |  Skeletons now hold a bow in their right hand, however they were held as an item just like a player would hold it at this period. | |||
| Java Edition Beta | |||||
| 1.2 | Skeletons can now drop 0-2 bones, in addition to arrows. | ||||
| 1.8 | Pre-release |  The bows of skeletons are now larger and held realistically (full-sized bows, two-handed, and pulling the arrow back).
| |||
| Skeletons now fire arrows slower but further. | |||||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.0.0 | Beta 1.9 Prerelease |  Skeletons now hold their bow with one hand again, but they still have the larger and held realistically bow. | |||
| 1.2.1 | 12w04a | The skeleton's AI has been improved: if a skeleton catches fire in daylight, it rushes to the nearest shadow or body of water. | |||
| 12w06a | There now is a 8.5% chance that a skeleton drops a bow when killed. There is also a small chance of the bow being enchanted. | ||||
| Skeletons no longer spin in circles on non-full-height blocks. | |||||
| 1.4.2 | 12w32a | Skeletons, zombies and zombie pigmen can now pick up dropped items. They also have the ability to wear armor and wield a weapon, so if they pick up armor, they wear it. | |||
| Skeletons, zombies, and zombie pigmen can now spawn wearing any type of armor (including chain); both armor and weapons may be enchanted. | |||||
| 12w36a | Skeletons may now be found in nether fortresses along with wither skeletons. | ||||
| 12w37a |   On Halloween, skeletons, wither skeletons, zombies and zombie pigmen now have a chance of spawning with a pumpkin or jack o'lantern. | ||||
| 12w38a | Skeletons now have new sounds. | ||||
| 1.4.4 | 1.4.3 | Skeletons now rush toward the player, instead of shooting arrows, if they don't have a bow. | |||
| 1.5 | 13w02a | Skeletons now shoot from a range of 15 blocks instead of 10. | |||
| Accuracy of skeleton can now be changed by changing difficulty. | |||||
| 13w03a | Skeletons now fire rapidly at players who come within close range, in an attempt to knock them back. This makes melee combat in water hard. | ||||
| 1.8 | 14w10a | Skeletons now run away from wolves, instead of fighting back. | |||
| 14w11a | Skeletons now run away from creepers that are about to explode. | ||||
| 14w30a | Skeletons now drop their skulls when killed by a charged creeper. | ||||
| 1.8.1 | pre1 | Skeletons no longer run away from creepers that are about to explode due to performance issues. | |||
| 1.9 | 15w31a |  Skeletons now lower their arms when idle.
| |||
| Skeletons can now, once again, animate their bow; they pull it out when becoming hostile and draw it back to fire arrows. | |||||
| Skeletons now have an 11% chance of spawning with their bow in their left hand. | |||||
| Skeletons can dual wield. | |||||
 Skeletons now hold their bow with two hands again when aiming. | |||||
| 15w32a | The detection range of skeletons is halved when the player is wearing a skeleton mob head. | ||||
| 15w38a | Skeletons now shoot one arrow per second and have improved behavior, allowing them to be a bit faster and strafe while shooting. | ||||
| Skeletons spawn from skeleton trap horses. | |||||
| 15w39a | Skeletons are slightly taller (1.99 blocks tall rather than 1.95). | ||||
| pre1 | Skeletons shoot flaming arrows only when burning and regional difficulty is 3 or greater. | ||||
| Skeletons holding tipped arrows in their off-hand now shoot that type of arrow. | |||||
Entity ID Skeleton is now skeleton, wither_skeleton and stray for those respective mobs. | |||||
| 1.9.1 | ? | Skeletons shoot an arrow per 2 seconds on easy and normal instead of 1. | |||
| 1.11 | 16w32a | Skeletons no longer shoot flaming arrows when they are on fire.[3] | |||
| 1.13 | 18w07a | Skeletons seek and attack baby turtles. | |||
| 18w19a | Skeletons sink underwater. | ||||
| Skeletons no longer drown underwater. | |||||
| 1.14 | 18w43a | The texture of skeletons has been changed. | |||
| 1.16 | 20w06a | Skeletons can now spawn in soul sand valley biomes. | |||
| Pre-release 4 | Increased skeleton's spawning weight in soul sand valleys from 2 to 10. | ||||
| 1.17 | 21w05a | Skeletons now turn into strays when they are in powder snow. | |||
| 21w13a | Decreased stray conversion time in powder snow from 30 to 7 seconds. | ||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| v0.3.3 | Added skeletons. | ||||
| Skeletons use outdated sounds, move slowly, and shoot an arrow every 3 seconds with poor aim. | |||||
| v0.5.0 | Skeletons now have new animations. | ||||
| v0.7.3 | Skeletons are now set on fire when exposed to sunlight. Previously, they emit smoke particles and take damage, but are not visually on fire. | ||||
| v0.9.0 | build 8 | Skeletons now have new AI. | |||
| build 9 | Skeletons now use the old AI again because they weren't firing arrows correctly. | ||||
| v0.11.0 | build 1 | Skeletons no longer hold bows with 2 arms.
| |||
| Skeletons may now spawn as rider from spiders or cave spiders. | |||||
| build 14 | Skeletons now have a improved accuracy. | ||||
| v0.12.1 | build 1 | Skeletons now use the new AI again, thus improving accuracy, walking and shooting speed and intelligence.
When skeletons catches fire in the daylight, they hides to the nearest shadow or body of water. Skeletons also avoid falls, fire, lava and cactus. | |||
| Skeletons may now spawn wearing armor or enchanted armor. | |||||
| Skeletons may now spawn with enchanted bows. | |||||
| build 12 | New sounds have been added for skeletons. | ||||
| ? | A developer asks for The community about flaming arrows being shot by burning skeletons:"What do you think about Skeletons on fire shooting fire arrows (that set you on fire?)." – @shoghicp on Twitter, May 31, 2016 | ||||
| Burning skeletons now shoot flaming arrows. | |||||
| v0.13.0 | build 1 | Skeletons now run away from wolves. | |||
| Skeletons now fire faster when players get closer to knock them back, especially to players in water. | |||||
| v0.14.0 | build 1 | Skeletons are now slightly taller (1.99 blocks tall rather than 1.95). | |||
| v0.15.0 | build 1 | Skeletons now animate their bow, they pull it out when becoming hostile and draw it back to shoot arrows.
| |||
| Skeletons now spawn from skeleton trap horses. | |||||
| ? | Burning skeletons now shoot flaming arrows only if the regional difficulty is 3 or greater. Prior to this, burning skeletons would always shoot flaming arrows regardless of regional difficulty. | ||||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.2.0 | beta 1.2.0.2 | Skeletons now have a 8.5% chance of dropping their equipment. Prior to this, skeletons would never drop their bow and would always drop always their armor. | |||
| 1.5.0 | beta 1.5.0.0 | Skeletons now sink underwater. | |||
| Skeletons no longer die from drowning. | |||||
| Skeletons now use melee attacks and stop shooting when underwater. | |||||
| beta 1.5.0.4 | Skeletons now seek and attack baby turtles. | ||||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | The texture of skeletons has been changed. | |||
| 1.16.0 | beta 1.16.0.51 | Skeletons can now spawn in soul sand valley biomes. | |||
| Skeletons can now pick up items. | |||||
| Skeleton now use melee attack when not holding bow on their hand, prior to this, skeleton use any items as ranged weapon to shoot arrow normaly. | |||||
| 1.17.0 | beta 1.17.0.54 | Skeletons now turn into strays when they are in powder snow. | |||
| 1.17.10 | beta 1.17.10.20 | Decreased stray conversion time in powder snow from 30 to 7 seconds. | |||
| 1.17.30 | beta 1.17.30.20 | Skeletons now hold their bow with two hands again when aiming. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | Added skeletons. |
| TU5 | The skeleton's bow is now larger and held more realistically (full-sized bows, two-handed, and pulling the arrow back) than in previous versions (in one hand).
| ||||
| Skeletons now fire their arrows slightly slower. Their arrows, however, are shot with more force. | |||||
| TU12 | The skeleton's AI has been updated, so they are "smarter", i.e. if a skeleton catches fire in daylight, it rushes to the nearest shadow or body of water for safety. | ||||
| There is now a small chance that skeletons drop a bow when killed. There is now also a small chance of the bow being enchanted. | |||||
| TU19 | CU7 | 1.12 | Skeletons can now spawn wearing armor and weapons. | ||
| Once the player gets closer to a skeleton, the skeleton now fires arrows more frequently. | |||||
| TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | Skeletons now run away from wolves, instead of fighting back. | |
| Skeletons now drop their skull when killed by a charged creeper. | |||||
| TU46 | CU36 | 1.38 | Patch 15 | Skeletons may now spawn from skeleton trap horses. | |
| Skeletons now have a new AI that allows them to strafe while attacking. | |||||
| Skeletons now animate their bow. | |||||
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 0.1.0 | Added skeletons. | ||||
| Minecraft Earth | |||||
| 0.2.0 | Added skeletons. | ||||
Historical sounds:
| Sound | From | to | Pitch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hurt/Die | Alpha v1.0.3 | 1.4.2[is this the correct version?] | 1.0 |
Issues[]
Issues relating to "Skeleton" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia[]
- If alerted to a player's presence, a skeleton can fire arrows backward, occasionally hitting themselves.
- Skeletons cannot see the player through glass, fences, or other transparent blocks.
- Skeletons and their variants do not know how to use a crossbow, despite the same using method as a bow.
- The artificial intelligence of skeletons in Bedrock Edition is a mix of skeleton AI from Java Edition between versions 1.5 and 1.8.9 and the skeletons in Update Aquatic. They shoot faster when they are on land and the target underwater, causing knockback enough to make combat hard. Additionally, they do not strafe left to right, and they shoot more rapidly at closer targets. Skeletons also use ranged attacks on land and switch to melee attacks when sinking underwater.
- In Java Edition, 89% of skeletons hold their bow in their right hand and 11% with the left. This reflects estimated handedness percentages in the real world.
- If a skeleton has a sword or any other melee item, generally with commands, its AI resembles the wither skeleton's AI.
- Prior to Bedrock Edition 1.16, skeletons could still shoot their arrows even without a bow.
- Since Java Edition 1.9.1, skeletons used to shoot an arrow every 1 second on hard and every 2 seconds in Normal and Easy difficulties. As 1.16.3, they shoot with the same speed across the modes (1.5 seconds).
- In Bedrock Edition, skeletons do not animate their bow.
- C418 used bamboo wind chime sounds as a base for the skeleton sounds.[4]
Gallery[]
Screenshots[]
A skeleton in java Edition Beta 1.8. The player can see it wielding its bow with both hands.
Dying skeleton mob in Bedrock Edition.
Dying skeleton mob in Java Edition.
Two skeletons shooting each other. The skeleton on the right is a spider jockey.
A skeleton in the Nether used as the 12w36a snapshot image.
A skeleton from then-Pocket Edition (before 0.11.0). Like in Beta 1.8, it holds its bow with both hands.
A skeleton riding a minecart.
A skeleton kills an attacking wolf.
A stray standing next to a normal skeleton.
A skeleton wearing an iron helmet.
A skeleton wearing a leather cap.
Skeletons spawned from skeleton trap horses.
A glitch where skeletons have no bow.
Naturally armored skeletons.
A skeleton with a white-dyed leather full set.
A spider jockey with a skeleton.
A cave spider jockey with a skeleton.
A preview featuring skeletons in the soul sand valley.
2 skeletons fighting each other.
A skeleton with full chainmail armor looking at the player.
A skeleton jockey.
Skeleton wearing a pumpkin on Halloween.
In other media[]
A Skeleton in promotional artwork for the first Caves & Cliffs update.
Skeletons in promotional artwork for the second Caves & Cliffs update.
Skeleton Spirit from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Lego Minecraft Skeleton.
