Wither

The **Wither** is a floating, three-headed, demon-like boss mob with a skeletal appearance. It is the second boss mob introduced and added to the game after the Ender Dragon in 1.4.2 the Pretty Scary Update. It's also the only way to obtain the Nether Star, which is used for crafting the Beacon.

## Appearance

The Wither looks like a 'demon' creature, and it is a black, skeletal beast with 3 wither skulls as heads along with a body that consists of a skeletal spikeand three prehensile rib-cages. It also has white eyes and white mouths.

## Behavior

The Wither is an extremely aggressive demon that is hostile to a player and all mobs except undead mobs, such as skeletons, zombies, zombie pigmen, wither skeletons, husks, strays, drowned, and other Withers. Upon noticing non-undead mobs, the Wither will attack them with a projectile called the “wither spike”. Each head fires heads, allowing a wither to attack up to three different mobs/players at the same time. If no mobs are around, the Wither will teleport behind you.

When provoked by a skeleton or another Wither, they will only remain hostile toward each other for a moment before returning to friendly status. If it is spawned in The End, it will prefer to attack any nearby endermen, but it will also attempt to pursue and attack the Ender Dragon if there are no other nearby targets.

In the upcoming 1.14 - Village and Pillage update, if the wither successfully kills a mob, there is a chance that a wither rose may spawn.

## Abilities

The Wither can move very fast. Upon noticing a mob, the Wither will attack them with a projectile called the “Wither Skull”. Wither Skulls inflict a status effect called "Wither II" on normal and hard difficulties for about 60 to 99 seconds, respectively. This effect is similar to fire except that it can spook a player, and it turns the health bar white, which makes it difficult to tell at a glance how many hearts are still full. The wither is able to destroy any block except bedrock and End Portal Frames. It can also destroy obsidian, which is well known for its immunity to TNT and long mining time.

Each head is fired individually, allowing a Wither to attack up to three different mobs at the same time or fire very quickly on a single mob. The middle-head Wither shoots a blue Wither skull, which will give a player the Wither effect while its other heads shoot their own skulls. Withers need at least a 5 block high airspace to fit. Regardless, they can't be trapped and suffocated in smaller rooms. When attacked, the Wither will break any block that comes into contact with it except bedrock, end portal frames, and barrier blocks.

The Wither has the ability to destroy blocks similar to that of the Ender Dragon's ability. When near any block that can be destroyed by a player, it will produce an audible smashing sound. For example, this could happen by having the Wither on one side of a wall and a player on the other, so the Wither would have to make a path through the wall in order to attack. The Wither will then instantly destroy a 3x3 hole in the wall in order to pass through it.

The Wither's boss health bar is only shown when a player is near a Wither, and it can also be seen through walls when a player is near the Wither's direction. When it reaches half health, the Wither will gain the "Wither Armor" effect, which makes it immune to arrows and potions, but not melee attacks. This will cause it to have a visual effect surrounding it, similar to that of a charged creeper. While in this state, the Wither cannot fly. The Wither, when calm, cannot fly, and instead it simply hovers above the ground, but it cannot "jump" up one block. When angered by a player, the Wither will fly at the same height as a player. Like other undead mobs, such as zombies, skeletons, etc., the Wither is harmed by Potions of Healing and healed by Potions of Harming. It also regenerates health over time (about a  per second).
The Wither will explode when it is done powering up when it is summoned, so a player should steer clear of it when it's spawned.

## Summoning the Wither

To create the Wither, a player must arrange four soul sand blocks in a capital "T" shape, and place three wither skeleton skulls on top. The Wither will appear instantly, staying still, while beginning charging its health and cannot be damaged in this time. Once fully charged, a large explosion happens around it, and it begins attacking anything in sight aside from other undead monsters (Zombies, Skeletons, etc.).

The Wither can destroy any block except Bedrock, and therefore cannot be contained. Once a player has worn it down to half health, it forms "Wither Armor" that protects it from arrows. A player must then finish it off at close range. When killed, it drops the Nether star, an ingredient to the beacon, a powerful block that gives a player enhanced powers when built in a pyramid.

*Note: The wither is not created in a crafting table. Instead, the components of the wither must be placed/stacked in a particular shape (similar to an Iron Golem), following the shape outlined in the table below.*

\**The last block placed MUST be a Wither Skeleton head, or this will not work.*

## Strategy

* The Wither will start destroying the terrain as soon as it spawns, so a player should spawn it in a barren place such as a desert.
* When killing The Wither, a player should shoot at it with a bow & arrows at long range as the player will stay out of the Wither's sight.

## Trivia

* If a Wither is killed with Strength 100, its health bar will glitch and say its at half health, while the Wither does its death animation.
* The name 'Wither' means dead, and it refers to the materials needed in order to create one which comes from *Minecraft's* "Hell", where dead souls supposedly go.
* The Wither had a glitch where it would spin around in circles while shooting Wither Skulls.
* There was a glitch where the Wither couldn't fly in Superflat worlds.
* Withers cannot be trapped inside any material excluding bedrock (in creative mode).
* There is a 2×2 Wither painting that can be placed.
* It is possible to change the Wither's size using commands which is similar to that of the slime and the magma cube. It can become up to 256 blocks tall, but it won't attack.
* There was a fixed glitch where the Wither could destroy the End portal even though the End portal is indestructible.
* If a player attempts to spawn the wither in peaceful mode, the blocks will stay there and not turn into the actual Wither.
* In the *Minecraft* 1.4 Update, The Wither is able to ride a minecart.
* A player can spawn the Wither horizontally, but it will always spawn vertically.
* The Wither can see a player even if they have an invisibility potion effect.
* The Wither appears on all the faces of the Red Chiseled sandstone.
* If a player is playing on Easy difficulty, then the Wither will not shoot the blue Wither Skulls which give the Wither effect to a player.
* If the Wither is given a name tag, then the text that appears on the top of the screen will change to the name of the name tag given.
* The wither has the most health of any mob in *Minecraft*, with 300 HP.
* In console or Bedrock Edition, the wither will spawn wither skeletons when on half health.
* In the Bedrock Edition, the wither has 600 HP.