The Wither

Minecraft Wither

The Wither is a pretty nasty boss mob that can be summoned when you feel you are ready to fight it.

Summoning the Wither

The way to summon the Wither is pretty obscure, but there’s a clue in one of the paintings that you can place:

Minecraft Wither Painting

You will need to venture into the Nether and collect 4 blocks of Soul Sand, then find a Nether Fortress and kill enough Wither Skeletons to collect three of their skulls.

Then, when you’re ready to summon the Wither, build a structure like this:

Summoning the wither

4 blocks of Soul Sand topped with three Wither Skeleton Skulls.

When you place the last skull, the Wither will spawn. Stand well back, because it will cause an explosion when it arrives!

Where to summon the Wither

The Wither can be summoned in the Overworld, the Nether or the End. However, it will cause enormous damage to its surroundings and any nearby living things, so you probably don’t want to do this in the middle of your base.

Fighting the Wither

The Wither causes an explosion when it arrives, andmore explosions when it is damaged. These explosions will damage anything, even obsidion.

The Wither will attack any living thing, and it fires projectiles called Wither Skulls that, you guessed it, explode.

When one of the Wither’s projectiles hits you, you will suffer a poison-like Wither effect

Tips for an easier fight:

  • Summon the Wither in a small obsidian bunker with thick walls to hold it still.
  • Have good armour with blast protection enchantments.
  • Have a really good diamond sword (Fire Aspect enchantments don’t affect the Wither, but a high level of Smite should work wonders).
  • Drink a potion of Strength, summon the Wither, run away to avoid the explosion then come back to your bunker and try to kill the thing before it batters its way out.

Nether Star

Reward

Upon death the Wither drops a Nether Star that can be used to build a Beacon.