Hostile Minecraft Mobs - For Dummies

Hostile mobs cause most of the danger in Minecraft: They attack without provocation. However, hostile mobs tend to provide especially useful loot. The table describes hostile mobs in detail.

Hostile Mobs Hostile Mob What It Does Blaze A powerful guardian of the nether fortresses, the fiery construct known as the Blaze provides a useful item, the blaze rod. It can fly, it shoots fireballs, and it takes damage from snowballs. To protect yourself, hide behind physical structures that can’t get hit by the blaze’s fireballs. Cave spider The poisonous cave spider lurks around abandoned mine shafts. An arthropod, it’s fast, and it climbs walls and jumps. It poisons targets in Normal mode or Hardcore mode. To properly defeat the cave spider, use weapons that don’t require close proximity, such as a bow and arrow. Ensuring your house has a roof over it will also keep cave spiders can’t enter. Creeper The plant-like enemy known as the creeper walks up to you and explodes. It’s destructive, and it deals massive damage by exploding, though it cannot use melee attacks. It becomes incredibly powerful when struck by lightning. To stay safe from creepers, keep your distance, and attack from a distance if you can. Ender dragon The ender dragon is the giant dragon that constitutes the final battle of the game. It’s an enemy that appears in the End, flying around and occasionally charging for massive damage. Ghast The giant, floating beast of the Nether, the ghast spits fireballs that can be hit back at it. It can fly, and it’s destructive, hard to hit, and not resilient. To protect yourself, stay inside stone bricks of any sort, because ghast fireballs can’t blow up stone blocks. Magma cube A magma cube is the slime of the Nether — it bounces like a spring. It splits into smaller cubes when killed. Larger cubes are more armored. Magma cubes are generally pretty slow, so it’s easy to stay away from them or kill them. Silverfish A silverfish is a nipping bug that burrows into stone. An arthropod, it can hide inside stone, cobblestone, and stone bricks. Active silverfish can awaken hidden silverfish to rally a swarm. Silverfish are very easy to defeat, so the easiest way to protect yourself is just to kill them when they are around. Skeleton A skeleton is a powerful, skilled archer that drives off foes with its arrows. It’s an undead, and some skeletons can equip armor or weapons. To defend yourself, hide behind tree trunks or other physical objects so they can’t shoot you. Then, when the skeleton comes to you, attack — wait for them to come to you! Slime A bouncing blob of slime appears in various sizes in swamps and, occasionally, in deep caves. It splits into smaller slimes when killed: Tiny slimes are harmless and can be kept as pets. Slime, like the magma cube, is pretty slow so you should either destroy them or stay away from them to protect yourself from dying. Slime is very weak and easy to kill. Spider The spider, a quick enemy, is difficult to outrun and escape. An arthropod, it becomes neutral in daylight and doesn’t attack unless provoked. It’s fast, wall-climbing, and jumping. To protect yourself from a spider, keep a roof over your head, or keep your distance. Witch A witch is a master alchemist who lives in a hut in the swamp and attacks with an assortment of potions. She drinks potions of regeneration to heal and uses potions to mitigate fire damage. She throws potions of weakness, poison, slowness, and harming. Witches are rarely encountered, but when you do, hide behind a physical object so the witch can’t throw potions at you. Attack the witch the same way you would a creeper, rushing them as fast as you can, attacking, and getting away. Wither The wither, which is a powerful foe, is a flying undead construct. It’s a destructive, unique undead. You can create the wither with 4 blocks of soul sand and 3 wither skeleton skulls. Stay away from the wither as it comes to life, because it creates a sizable explosion. The wither flies around and throws exploding skulls at everything it sees, and it can smash its way through blocks. It also regenerates over time, and it drains health from its victims to heal itself. After the wither loses half its health, it becomes immune to arrows. It drops a nether star. To defeat the wither, either fight it in a cave, or shoot it with a bow (until half of his health is gone) and finish with the sword (or both). Wither skeleton A wither skeleton is a powerful warrior that patrols nether fortresses. It’s an undead, it inflicts high damage, and it’s immune to fire. (Some wither skeletons can equip weapons and armor.) It inflicts wither damage to the player in either Normal or Hardcore mode, draining the Health bar temporarily and potentially causing death. To stay safe from the wither skeleton, keep 2 blocks above or below you and the wither skeleton. A wither skeleton can’t jump higher than 2 blocks, and you can easily fight them from above or below. Zombie A zombie is a slow, lumbering enemy that inflicts damage on contact, and it appears commonly at night. An undead mob, it burns in daylight and slightly resists damage. Some zombies can equip items and wear armor. To beat a zombie, just attack them over and over again to kill them. Zombies are usually pretty slow and easy to hit. Zombified villager A zombified villager can appear naturally or whenever a villager is killed by a zombie in Normal mode or Hardcore mode. It has the same faculties as a zombie. To beat a zombie villager, fight them the same way as the zombie. Guardian Guardians are the protectors of their home, the ocean monument, and their elders. Hitting them when they are not swimming also does damage to you. When they are swimming, you can hit them without hitting yourself. They flop around, trying to return to water whenever they are out of the water. There is no avoiding the guardians when you need to get inside ocean monuments and similar structures. The only way to defeat them is to attack them, but you will usually incur damage in the process! Elder guardian The elder guardian, which is bigger than a guardian, gives you mining fatigue if you get too close. Like the guardian, it flops around to the nearest water source. The elder guardian fights just like the guardian, but is a bit slower and easier to fight. The only way to get around them is to fight them! Endermite An endermite spawns as long as an enderman teleports away or an enderpearl is thrown. It has the same sounds as silverfish. Just like silverfish, the easiest way to protect yourself from endermite is to just kill them.