Wither in Minecraft: Everything you need to know

There are only a few boss mobs in vanilla Minecraft, but the Wither may be the most fierce among them, depending on the context.

A boss that players can summon, the Wither isn't necessary to beat to complete Minecraft's main story. However, it's still worth battling due to what it drops. Specifically, the Wither is the only source in Survival Mode for nether stars, which are core components in crafting beacons.

The Wither is also capable of creating wither roses, a scarce flower type that can damage entities on contact. With that in mind, it's no wonder many players still summon the Wither, but collecting its rewards and battling the creature are two different things.

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Minecraft: Summoning and Battling the Wither

To summon the Wither in Minecraft, players will need four blocks of either soul sand or soul soil, as well as three wither skeleton skulls. Soul sand is easy enough to obtain from the Nether, but players may need to kill a sizable number of wither skeletons to get enough skulls.

The base structure to summon the Wither (Image via Mojang)

If players use the Looting enchantment on their weapon as they kill wither skeletons, they'll have a higher chance of obtaining the needed skulls. Once the skulls and soil blocks are available, players can summon the Wither by placing the soul sand/soil blocks in a T shape.

The wither skeleton skulls can then be placed on the top of the T shape to spawn the Wither into the game world. Upon emerging, the Wither will immediately begin attacking players and any other mobs that may be unlucky enough to be in its vicinity. It will also instantly create an explosion around itself, so players should keep clear.

Depending on the version of Minecraft being played, battling the Wither can be slightly easier or significantly more difficult. Specifically, the Java Edition wither possesses 300 health (150 hearts), and its Bedrock Edition counterpart has 600 health (300 hearts). Different versions of the Wither also contain various combat behaviors, with the Bedrock iteration being arguably more dangerous.

The Minecraft: Java Edition Wither will often begin battles by firing wither skulls from its multiple heads. Killing any players or mobs will not only spawn a wither rose at the site of death but also gives the Wither five health back instantaneously. The Wither is immune to fire, lava, drowning, and freezing.

However, as an undead mob, the Wither can still be damaged by the Instant Healing effect. Once players have reduced their health by half, the Wither will gain an armor effect that makes it immune to damage from arrows and thrown tridents, meaning players will often need to close the distance and battle it in melee.

In Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, the Wither will still fire skulls at the outset of the battle. However, it will fire exactly three standard wither skulls, and one blue wither skull (which has a chance of >1% to be fired by the Java Wither) at its targets.

As it loses health, the firing speed of the skulls increases. Suppose the Wither can't find a way to its target on Normal difficulty or above. In that case, the Wither will randomly fire blue skulls in multiple directions alongside firing standard skulls in the target's direction.

Once the Wither loses half its health in Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, it will explode and generate three to four wither skeleton mobs to attack its targets before gaining its armor effect. The Bedrock Wither will dash and charge its targets, destroying blocks as it moves.

This particular version of the Wither will also drop the light level of the area as players battle it, preventing hostile mobs from burning in the sunlight.

Once it has been beaten, Minecraft players should stand back, as the Wither will perform an animation before exploding. The animation will be somewhat different depending on the Minecraft version being played, but being caught in the explosion can be fatal regardless. After it explodes, all that's left is for players to collect their reward and revel in their victory.