Wither Skeletons are dangerous hostile mobs that spawn in Nether Fortresses. Wither Skeletons are the Nether equivalent of skeletons. Unlike skeletons, however, Wither Skeletons use stone swords and are over two blocks tall. When hit by a Wither Skeleton, the player may be inflicted with the "Wither" effect for a few seconds. Wither effect takes away your hearts, similar to poison, except for a few differences. Your hearts turn black instead of green. Unlike poison, Wither can kill you. And how ever many hearts Wither takes away from you, the Wither Skeleton will get back. And this works for any mob. So if a Wither does 5 damage to a mob, the Wither will get 5 hearts back. Wither Skeleton, unlike the Wither has a Wither 1 effect instead of 2.
When killed, the mob may drop coal and bones, and very rarely drop their skull and the stone sword. The skulls are the key items to creating the Wither boss.
Wither Skeletons, like all Nether mobs, are immune to fire and lava and are not damaged by daylight. Wither Skeletons can also occasionally pick up items, weapons, and tools, or spawn naturally with armor, similar to other undead-type monsters.
Skeleton spawn eggs are able spawn Wither Skeletons instead of the skeletons only when used in the Nether. Similarly, when a spider is spawned in the Nether (whether via spawn egg or a mob spawner), it has a slight chance of spawning as a wither skeleton jockey.
History
| u | |||||
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| 12w36a | Added Wither Skeletons. | ||||
Gallery
- Wither skeleton Armor.jpg
A Wither Skeleton wearing iron armor and wielding an iron sword.
- Minecraftdino Witherskeletonoverworld.jpeg
A Wither Skeleton in the Overworld, with a skeleton burning behind it.

