Stray

Idle
Aiming

Classification

Undead

Behavior

Hostile

Spawn

Frozen River
Snowy Plains
Ice Spikes
Frozen Ocean‌^{[BE only]}
Deep Frozen Ocean‌^{[BE only]}
Legacy Frozen Ocean‌^{[BE only]}

Damage

Bow:

3 to 5‌^{[JE only]}
(Varies with proximity)‌^{[BE only]}
Tipped Arrows:
Slowness for 30 seconds
Melee (only without bow):
Easy: 2
Normal: 2
Hard: 3

Details

Size

In Java Edition:

Height: 1.99 Blocks
Width: 0.6 Blocks

In Bedrock Edition:
Height: 1.9 Blocks
Width: 0.6 Blocks

A stray is a variant of a skeleton that spawns in a few snow-covered biomes. They behave similarly to skeletons, except they fire tipped arrows of Slowness from their bows.

Spawning[]

A stray may spawn directly under the sky in snowy plains, ice spikes or frozen rivers, replacing 80% of skeletons. Additionally, a stray may spawn in frozen oceans, deep frozen oceans or legacy frozen oceans in Bedrock Edition. Strays do not spawn naturally from monster spawners in Java Edition. In Bedrock Edition, 1% of spiders and cave spiders may spawn as a spider jockey with 80% chance to be a stray spider jockey or stray cave spider jockey.

The stray has its own spawn egg in the creative inventory.

When a skeleton is kept inside powder snow for 7 seconds (140 game ticks), it begins shaking. After another 15 seconds (300 game ticks) it becomes a stray. The stray appears with full health even if the previous skeleton did not. Items being held or worn by a skeleton when it becomes a stray remain unchanged.

Drops[]

A stray drops

From 0 to 2 bones. The maximum drop is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 bones with Looting III.
From 0 to 2 arrows. The maximum drop is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 arrows with Looting III.
From 0 to 1 arrow of Slowness if the stray was killed by a player or tamed wolf. Each level of Looting increases the chance of this drop by 50% of the previous chance, resulting in a maximum of 93.75% with Looting III.
Any picked-up equipment has a 100% chance of dropping and drops with the same damage level it had when picked up.
Any naturally spawned equipment, including the bow, has an 8.5% chance of dropping (9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II and 11.5% with Looting III). It is damaged and may be enchanted.
5 experience orbs when killed by a player or tamed wolf and an extra 1–3 if the stray has armor.

Behavior[]

Strays behave the same as normal skeletons but make noises with an echoing effect and shoot tipped arrows that inflict Slowness for 30 seconds on any target that they hit. In Bedrock Edition, strays that are underwater use a melee attack that inflicts Slowness. Strays don’t take damage from freezing in powder snow, but they are not immune to Slowness.

Sounds[]

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

Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
Stray rattles	Hostile Creatures	Randomly	`entity.stray.ambient`	`subtitles.entity.stray.ambient`	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
Skeleton converts to Stray	Hostile Creatures	When a skeleton converts to a stray	`entity.skeleton.converted_to_stray`	`subtitles.entity.skeleton.converted_to_stray`	2.0	0.8-1.2	16
Stray dies	Hostile Creatures	When a stray dies	`entity.stray.death`	`subtitles.entity.stray.death`	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
Stray hurts	Hostile Creatures	When a stray is damaged	`entity.stray.hurt`	`subtitles.entity.stray.hurt`	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
Skeleton shoots ^{[sound 1]}	Hostile Creatures	When a stray shoots an arrow	`entity.skeleton.shoot`^{[sound 1]}	`subtitles.entity.skeleton.shoot`^{[sound 1]}	1.0	⁵⁄₆-1.25	16
Footsteps	Hostile Creatures	While a stray is walking	`entity.stray.step`	`subtitles.block.generic.footsteps`	0.15	1.0	16

↑ ^a ^b ^c The stray reuses the skeleton's sound events instead of having its own, resulting in these unintuitive subtitles - see MC-98316

Bedrock Edition:

Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
Hostile Creatures	Randomly	`mob.stray.ambient`	1.0	0.8-1.2
Friendly Creatures	When a skeleton converts to a stray	`mob.skeleton.convert_to_stray`	1.0	1.0
Hostile Creatures	When a stray dies	`mob.stray.death`	1.0	0.8-1.2
Hostile Creatures	When a stray is damaged	`mob.stray.hurt`	1.0	0.8-1.2
Players	When a stray shoots an arrow^{[sound 1]}‌^{[upcoming: BE 1.20.30]}	`random.bow`	1.0	0.83-1.25
Hostile Creatures	While a stray is walking	`mob.stray.step`	1.0	1.0

↑ MCPE-172385

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Entity tags (JE)	Translation key
Stray	`stray`	`skeletons`	`entity.minecraft.stray`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Translation key
Stray	`stray`	`46`	`entity.stray.name`

Entity data[]

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

Java Edition:

Entity data
- Tags common to all entities
- Tags common to all mobs

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Advancements[]

Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
Not Today, Thank You	Deflect a projectile with a 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: Blaze Cave Spider Creaking Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin 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`
It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Monster Hunter	Kill one of these 70 mobs near a sculk catalyst: Axolotl Bee Blaze Camel Cat Cave Spider Chicken Chicken Jockey Cod Cow Creeper Donkey Dolphin Drowned Elder Guardian Enderman Endermite Evoker Fox Frog Ghast Goat Glow Squid Guardian Hoglin Horse Husk Llama Magma Cube Mooshroom Ocelot Panda Parrot Phantom Pig Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Polar Bear Pufferfish Rabbit Ravager Salmon Sheep Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Skeleton Horse Skeleton Horseman Slime Sniffer Stray Spider Spider Jockey Squid Strider Trader Llama Tropical Fish Turtle Vex Vindicator Warden Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Wolf Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this advancement.	`adventure/kill_mob_near_sculk_catalyst`
Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Monster Hunter	Kill each of these 37 mobs: Blaze Bogged Breeze Cave Spider Creaking Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin 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`

History[]

Java Edition
1.10		April 11, 2016			Jens Bergensten tweets an image of a new skeleton-type mob.
		16w20a			Added strays. When explaining the origin of the stray, Jeb stated, "They’re based on a concept that emerged from a game jam the Bellevue team had, where they were just adding a bunch of stuff to Minecraft - whatever they wanted. Jason Major made a bunch of cool mobs and I thought these particular ones fitted [sic] really well with what we were already planning."^[1]
		16w20a			Added spawn eggs for strays, which strays can be spawned from.
		pre2			The spawn egg for strays has been removed.
		pre2			New sounds have now been added for strays, which allow them to have their own sounds. Previously, they had the same sounds as a regular skeleton.
1.11		16w32a			The spawn egg for strays has been re-added.
					The entity ID `Skeleton` has been changed to `skeleton`, `wither_skeleton` and `stray` for those respective mobs.
					The `SkeletonType` tag has been removed.
					The in-game name of strays is now "Stray" instead of "entity.Skeleton.name".
1.13		18w19a			Strays now sink underwater.
1.13		18w19a			Strays no longer drown underwater.
1.14		18w43a			The texture of strays has been changed.
1.15		19w37a			Mobs that spawn wearing carved pumpkins or jack o'lanterns on Halloween no longer drop them.
1.17		21w05a			Skeletons now convert to strays when in powder snow.
		21w13a			Strays are now immune to freezing.
		21w13a			Skeletons now only take 20 seconds to convert to strays when in powder snow, instead of 45.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.15.0		build 1			Added strays.
v0.16.0		build 5			New sounds have now been added for strays, which allow them to have their own sounds. Previously, they had the same sounds as the regular skeleton.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0		alpha 0.17.0.2			The clothing of strays now has their own overlay and no longer glitch through their bones.
1.1.0		alpha 1.1.0.0			The entity ID has now changed from `skeleton.stray` to `stray`.
Bedrock Edition
1.5.0		beta 1.5.0.0			Strays now sink underwater.
1.5.0		beta 1.5.0.0			Strays now use melee attacks that inflict Slowness and no longer use ranged attacks while underwater.
1.9.0		beta 1.9.0.5			Strays now have a correct overlay model.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The texture of strays has now changed.
1.16.0		beta 1.16.0.51			Strays can now pick up items.
1.16.0		beta 1.16.0.51			Strays now use melee attacks when not holding a bow. Prior to this, strays used any items as ranged weapons to shoot arrows of Slowness normally.
1.17.0		beta 1.16.230.54			Strays are now immune to freezing.
		beta 1.17.0.54			Skeletons now convert to strays when in powder snow.
		release			Strays don’t drop wither skeleton skulls anymore if killed by a charged creeper.^[2]
Legacy Console Edition
TU46	CU36	1.38	Patch 15	1.0.1	Added strays.
TU54	CU44	1.52	Patch 24	1.0.4	Added stray spawn eggs, which strays can be spawned from.
TU69		1.76	Patch 38		Strays now sink underwater.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added strays.

Issues[]

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

Trivia[]

Strays and other variants of a skeleton do not know how to use a crossbow, despite the same using method as a bow.
In their texture, strays are wearing an ice necklace around their neck, but they do not drop ice.
According to the Minecraft website, the slowness arrows represent frozen arrows that freeze on impact.^[1]
The stray's fourth ambient sound is the skeleton's second ambient sound but partly edited.
If a stray kills a creeper with an arrow, the creeper will drop a music disc just as when a skeleton kills them.

Gallery[]

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