Wither

Behavior

The Wither is hostile to the player and all mobs except undead mobs ( Skeletons , Zombies , Zombie Pigmen , Wither Skeletons and other Withers). 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 spawned in The End , it will prefer to attack any nearby Endermen , but will attempt to pursue and attack the Ender Dragon if there are no nearby targets.

The Wither can move very quickly. Upon noticing a mob, the Wither attacks them with a projectile called the “Wither Skull”. Wither Skulls inflict a status effect called "Wither II" on Normal and Hard difficulties. This effect is similar to poison, except that it can kill the player and turns the health bar black, making it difficult to tell at a glance how many hearts are still full. The wither is able to break any block, except Bedrock and End Portal Frame . It can also destroy Obsidian , which is well known for it's 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. The middle-head Wither shoots a blue Wither skull which will give the player a Wither effect, while its other heads shoot their own skulls. Withers need at least 5 block high airspace to fit, but as of snapshot 12w41b, they can no longer be trapped (and suffocated) in smaller rooms. Every few seconds, the Wither will break any block that comes into contact with it, except bedrock and end portal frame.

The Wither has an ability to destroy blocks, similar to 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 the player on the other, so it would have to make a path through the wall to attack. The Wither will then instantly destroy a 3x3 hole in the wall to pass through it. The Wither also destroys a 3x3x4 space around itself about 5 seconds after being spawned.

The Wither's boss health bar is only shown when a player is looking in a direction of a Wither, and it can also be seen through walls when the player is looking in the Wither's direction. When reaching half health, the Wither will gain the "Wither Armor" effect, which makes it immune to arrows and potions, but not melee attacks, as well as having 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; it simply hovers above the ground and cannot "jump" up one block. When angered by the player, the Wither will fly at the same height as the player. Like other undead mobs (zombies, skeletons, etc.), the Wither is harmed by Potions of Healing and healed by Potions of Harming. It also regenerates over time. The Wither will explode when it is done powering up, so keep away from it when you spawn it.

Trivia

• The name 'Wither' means dead, which refers to the materials to create one, which come from minecraft's "Hell", where supposedly dead souls 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 can destroy Obsidian when they come into contact with them.
• Withers cannot be trapped inside any material, including bedrock .
• As of the 1.8 update, you can place a Wither's head with a Dispenser .
• There is a 2x2 Wither Painting that you can place.
• It is possible to change the Wither's size using commands, similar to the Slime and the Magma Cube . It can become up to 256 blocks tall, but it won't attack.
• There was a glitch where the Wither could destroy the End portal, while the End portal is undestructible.
• In the Minecraft 1.4.2 Update, if the player would to spawn the Wither on Peaceful mode then the blocks and the heads that were used to create the Wither would dissapear instead the game not allowing the player to create it. The Wither actually did spawn for a brief second but it would dissapear instantly due to the player being on Peaceful mode.
• In the Minecraft 1.4.2 Update, when you killed the Wither it would give the player 20 Experience Points , but then in the 1.4.4 Update it would give the player 50 Experience Points.
• In the Minecraft 1.4 Update, The Wither would be able to ride a Minecart .
• The player can spawn the Wither horizontally but it will always spawn vertically.
• The Wither can see the player even if they have an invisibility potion effect.
• The Wither appears on all the faces of the Red Chiseled Sandstone .
• The Wither was able to travel through the End Portal and the Nether Portal , but in the The Combat Update it is no longer to do so anymore.
• If the player is playing on Easy difficulty then the Wither will not shoot the blue Wither Skulls which are the Wither Skulls that give the Wither effect to the player.
• If you give the Wither a Name Tag then the text that appears on the top of the screen will change to the name of the name tag that you gave to it