What is Wither in Minecraft?
Wither is a boss in Minecraft, which is very difficult to defeat and drops a very unique item that can be used to craft a beacon. Upon spawn, the wither will glow as its health bar fills. It will then emit a powerful explosion that can kill the player and anything around it. Following the…
Wither is a boss in Minecraft, which is very difficult to defeat and drops a very unique item that can be used to craft a beacon. Upon spawn, the wither will glow as its health bar fills. It will then emit a powerful explosion that can kill the player and anything around it. Following the explosion, it will start shooting projectiles damaging players and mobs. When the wither is defeated, it will hover in the air and detonate after a few seconds dropping a nether star. Wither can be spawned by placing 4 soul grains of sand, with 3 wither skeleton heads.
If you have reached the end game of Minecraft, you may be left wondering what is left to do. After defeating the Ender Dragon it seems that there is not much left to do in the game. However, there is an optional boss that can grant an even more difficult fight than the ender dragon itself.
| Difficulty | Wither Health | Damage | Spawn |
| Easy | 300 in Java, 600 in Bedrock | Birth Explosion: 24.5 Full hearts, Wither Skull: 2.5 Full hearts, Dash Attack (Bedrock only): 7.5 Full hearts | Built by the player, 10 second delay. |
| Normal | 300 in Java, 600 in Bedrock | Birth Explosion: 48 Full hearts, Wither Skull: 4 Full hearts + Wither II for 10 seconds,Dash Attack (Bedrock only): 7.5 Full hearts | Built by the player, 10 second delay. |
| Hard | 300 in Java, 600 in Bedrock | Birth Explosion: 72 Full Hearts, Wither Skull: 6 Full Hearts + Wither II for 40 seconds, Dash Attack (Bedrock only): 7.5 Full hearts | Built by the player, 10 second delay. |
How does Wither behave?
When the wither is spawned it will glow as its health bar fills. It is immune in this state. After its health bar fills up to the top of the surrounding area it will emit a powerful explosion that can kill the player and anything around it. Be careful and keep your distance. After the explosion, the wither will begin shooting projectiles and attacking players and other mobs around it.
The wither is immune to fire, lava, and drowning damage. The wither has 300 total health points in java and 600 in bedrock. This is more than the Ender Dragon which only has 200 total health points.
After the wither has reached half health it will cause a large explosion and summon wither skeletons (except on easy).
In the java edition, the wither becomes immune to arrows after it loses half its HP. You will have to use a sword in order to defeat the wither from this point.
When the wither is defeated it will hover in the air and it will detonate after a few seconds. Stay far away from this explosion as it deals a lot of damage, more damage than even a supercharged creeper.
Upon defeating the wither it will drop a nether star. Stay away from the explosion, wait for it to finish exploding before attempting to pick up the nether star.
The nether star is immune to explosions so do not worry about the nether star breaking from the wither explosion. It is not immune to lava however, try to keep lava out of your arena or ensure that the wither is not above lava when it is low on health. The nether star will take ten minutes to despawn on java and it will never despawn on the bedrock edition. Take your time to collect your reward.
How to Spawn a Wither in Minecraft
To spawn the wither, ensure you are not on peaceful difficulty. Swapping to peace will despawn the wither.
Placing four soul sand and three wither skeleton heads in this configuration will spawn the wither after placing the last wither skeleton skull. Make sure there is no block in the 3x3x1 arrangement other than air otherwise the wither will not spawn.
After placing the last skull, the wither will be summoned.
Wither Skull
The wither will shoot wither skulls as projectiles. These projectiles will explode, dealing damage to nearby players and inflict wither II on normal or hard. There are two different kinds of wither skulls that the wither can shoot. The regular black skull will travel at high speed and explode nearby blocks. The blue skull will travel slower but destroy even high durability blocks like obsidian. In bedrock edition, you can deflect the skull similarly to ghast fireballs by using a projectile or your hand. Both skulls will do similar amounts of damage and inflict wither II on normal or hard difficulty.
Achievements
| Name | In-Game Description | Actual Requirements | Gamerscore/Trophy | Rewards |
| The beginning? | Spawn the wither | Be within 100 blocks in any direction centered on the wither when it is spawned | 20G / Bronze | N/A |
| The Beginning. | Kill the wither | Be within 100 blocks in any direction centered on the wither when it is killed. | 40G / Silver | N/A |
Advancements
| Name | In-Game Description | Parent | Actual Requirements | Reward |
| Nether | We need to go deeper | Ice Bucket Challenge | Enter the Nether Dimension | N/A |
| A Terrible Fortress | Break your way into a Nether Fortress | Nether | Enter a Nether Fortress | N/A |
| Spooky Scary Skeleton | Obtain a Wither Skeleton’s skull | A Terrible Fortress | Have a wither skeleton skull in your inventory | N/A |
| Withering Heights | Summon the Wither | Spooky Scary Skeleton | Summon the wither | N/A |
| Bring home the Beacon | Bring a beacon to full power | Withering Heights | Be within a 20x20x14 centered on the beacon when it has become powered | N/A |
FAQ
Q. Is the Wither harder than the Ender Dragon?
Yes, the wither has more health and deals more damage than the Ender Dragon. Other than the dragon’s breath attack there is not much that is too dangerous about fighting the Ender Dragon especially if you are well equipped to handle the end crystals. The wither deals a lot of damage and can kill players even in full netherite armor. Wither II deals a full heart of damage every second and on hard difficulty, this effect will last for forty seconds! The wither fight can be made easier with the help of some iron golems and being able to pick the arena that the wither spawns in. You can also exploit unbreakable blocks and pistons to suffocate the wither with no worry, but without using exploits the wither seems much more difficult than the ender dragon.
Q. Can Withers break obsidian?
The blue withers skull that the wither uses as a projectile can destroy obsidian. There is not much that can cage the wither other than unbreakable blocks like end portal blocks or bedrock.
Q. What happens if you don’t kill the Wither?
If you were unfortunate you may die before you can kill the wither. Depending on where your spawn point was you can return to your wither arena to fight him again or leave him in an unloaded chunk until you are ready to face him again.
Q. Does Pigman heal the Wither?
Pigman alone does not heal wither. The splash effect from wither skulls can inflict wither and if the wither inflicts itself with wither it will heal itself. This can be especially problematic if you are close to defeating the wither. Try to stay away from its skulls and keep its skulls away from the wither.
Q. Does Wither attack the Ender Dragon?
The wither will attack the ender dragon assuming the dragon dealt damage to the wither. The dragon is immune to all effects so getting a wither involved may not be as beneficial as you would like but the wither can do minimal damage to the Ender Dragon.
Did you know?
The wither is the only way to get a wither rose. If the wither kills any mob that mob will drop a wither rose. A wither rose is one of the rarest items in the game as it can only be attained after fighting a wither.
You can spawn multiple withers at the same time. These withers will fight each other if they hit each other with a projectile, but they can end up healing each other from the wither status effect. Only spawn multiple withers if you are truly confident you can clean up the mess afterward.
Milk will remove any status effect. This can be crucial when fighting the wither on hard as the wither II effect will last long enough to kill the player four times over!
