Variants are a common way of spicing up mobs that appear throughout Minecraft. We have a couple to consider inside various biomes available. These mobs will be different enough to warrant a change of approach while maintaining the regular behavior of the original mob. Wither Skeletons are one such and may be the most different mob from its original variant.
Skeleton
The simple mob found inside the early stages of the game, Skeletons, are quite recognizable. Their bones immediately reveal what we are up against. However, the true danger is their bows which can get our health down quite a bit.
With all the biomes present in Minecraft, there are bound to be variants to the Skeleton mob. These come in a couple of different forms, replacing Skeletons in the areas they show up in. One of those is Wither Skeleton.
Wither Skeleton
Minecraft Variants of Skeletons appear in a few places. The Nether biome is one of them. Wither Skeletons replace regular ones here, with quite a few differences existing between the two. A Wither Skeleton is black in color and carries stone swords with them instead of bows. Additionally, Wither Skeletons are capable of inflicting Wither on the target. Wither lasts for a while and deals constant damage to the afflicted target. This duration can be refreshed, causing far more trouble to players from a single attack.
Wither Skeletons spawn in nether fortresses, often in groups of 4. It’s also possible for these mobs to spawn on wither roses because they are immune to them.
Wither Skeletons can also be summoned by the Wither in Bedrock Edition. The Wither spawns 3 or 4 Wither Skeletons when falling below half health. Turning the tide in the Wither’s favor.
While spiders don’t spawn in the Nether naturally, it’s still possible for Wither Skeletons to spawn as Spider Jockeys. Although the chance is tiny, there is a 0.8% chance of it happening, and it is exclusive to Bedrock Edition.
Wither Skeleton Behavior
These mobs will wander about as they explore the place. There are ample situations where Wither Skeletons can be observed from a distance. Once they spot a mob that they can attack, Wither Skeletons break into a full sprint. These include players, snow golems, iron golems, baby turtles, piglins, and piglin brutes. The wolves are capable of scaring these mobs away though, which makes having one as a pet quite useful.
These mobs are immune to fire, which makes them even more troublesome. A Wither effect these can inflict won’t affect the Wither Skeleton. In the daylight, Wither Skeletons will run for shade or water. This behavior happens even though Wither Skeletons don’t take damage from sunlight.
Wither Skeletons are healed by instant damage effects while being harmed by instant health effects. Additionally, Regeneration and Poison do not affect these mobs.
Wither Skeleton Attacks
Minecraft Wither Skeletons deal 8 damage on normal difficulty when using its stone sword. Along with that, they will inflict the Wither effect, which ticks 1 damage every 2 seconds, up to 10 seconds. The Wither effect can be reset consistently and makes the attacks more dangerous.
Unarmed attacks will do the same. However, the damage of the base attack will be 2 on normal difficulty, while Wither will deal the same damage as usual.
Wither Skeleton Drops
Bones are the most common loot, Wither Skeletons dropping 0 to 2 bones when killed in Minecraft. Going up to 5 if we get a higher level of Looting.
Coals can drop one out of three times when killing Wither Skeletons. They drop as many stacks as bones.
A tiny chance exists for wither skeleton skull to drop. This chance will be 2.5% ad increases all the way up to 8.5%.
It’s possible for Wither Skeletons to drop a stone sword they wield too. However, the chance will be between 8.5 to 11.5%.