Mob

Mobs are living, moving game entities.

General Behavior

Generally, mobs are affected by the environment in the same ways as the player: they are subject to physics, and they can be hurt by almost all the same things that harm the player (catching on fire, falling, drowning or suffocating, and of course, being attacked with weapons). However, some types have individual resistances or immunities. For example, Nether mobs are immune to fire, several mobs do not take fall damage, and some have a natural armor rating that protects them against attacks. Mobs can ride minecarts and other mobs, which is a way to move them around for special purposes. When mobs are killed, they drop items which may be useful resources.

Mobs come to exist by spawning in various ways. Players can spawn most mobs by using spawn eggs in creative mode. Most mobs are aware of players within 16 blocks of them, but some can see farther. Their individual abilities are discussed below and on their individual pages.

The term mob is short for mobile and has been used as a general term referring to any moving entities in games since the first MUDs surfaced.

Passive mobs

Passive mobs will never attack the player. The farm animals (chickens, cows, pigs, and sheep), spawn with the landscape, but occasionally spawn on well-lit grass, and can be bred by the player. Horses spawn in Plains and Savanna biomes, and can be tamed. Mooshrooms spawn and act similarly to cows, but spawn only in mushroom island biomes. Ocelots spawn only in jungle biomes above the Y level of 63, and can also be tamed. Squids need water to spawn in, while bats spawn in darkness similarly to the hostile mobs. Villagers spawn with their village, but only breed on their own initiative when their village population is too low and are willing to breed.

Chicken	Cow	Horse	Ocelot	Pig	Sheep
Bat	Mooshroom	Squid	Villager	Rabbit (PC only)

Video

Mob/Passive video

Neutral mobs

Neutral mobs will not attack the player unless provoked. The act of provoking neutral mobs varies. Endermen can be provoked both by hitting them and by looking at their upper torso or head. Zombie pigmen will "call" other zombie pigmen within a 67×67×21 to 111×111×21 area centered on the attacked pigman to attack the player upon hit, and wolves will do the same within a 33×33×21 area (±5% horizontally), both having the ability to see the player through blocks.

Note that spiders and cave spiders will spawn hostile since they spawn in light levels of 7 or lower, but are considered neutral mobs as they become neutral in light levels of 12 or higher, unless hit.

Cave Spider	Enderman	Spider	Wolf	Zombie Pigman

Video

Mob/Neutral video

Tamable mobs

These mobs can be tamed by the player, and in the horse's case, ridden as well. The methods of taming these mobs varies between mob.

Wolf (Dog)	Ocelot (Cat)	Horse

Video

Mob/Tamable video

Hostile mobs

Hostile mobs will attack the player when in range, each with their own abilities. It is worthy to note that most hostile mobs cannot see the player through blocks, and when a player moves behind an obstacle, they will stop chasing the player within a few seconds (with the exception of skeletons, witches, blazes, ghasts and spider variants). However, if the player directly attacks a mob, it will have the ability to see through all blocks and continue chasing the player. Certain mobs (namely zombies, silverfish, Endermites and blazes), upon being hit, also have the ability to "call" other mobs of the same kind in a set area to see and chase the player through walls.

• Zombies, creepers, skeletons, witches, spiders and spider jockeys require a light level of 7 or less to naturally spawn.
• Blazes and silverfish require a light level of 11 or less to naturally spawn.
• Zombie pigmen, ghasts and magma cubes can naturally spawn at any light level.
• Hostile mobs do not spawn on peaceful difficulty, and will instantly despawn once switched to peaceful.
• In creative mode, hostile mobs act completely passive unless triggered by a mob other the player.
• Note that spiders and cave spiders will spawn hostile since they spawn in light levels of 7 or less, but are actually neutral mobs, as they become neutral in light levels of 12 or higher. This includes spiders from spider jockeys.

Blaze	Creeper	Endermite (PC only)	Ghast	Magma Cube	Silverfish	Skeleton	Slime	Spider Jockey

Witch	Wither Skeleton	Zombie	Zombie Villager	Chicken Jockey (PC only)	Killer Bunny (PC only)	Guardian (PC only)	Elder Guardian (PC only)

Video

Mob/Hostile video

Utility mobs

Utility mobs are created by and serve the player. Player-created utility mobs will never hurt their creator. However, a naturally spawned iron golem can be provoked by attacking it or nearby villagers. If a player repeatedly attacks villagers, all of that village's golems can become hostile to that player.

Snow Golem	Iron Golem

Video

Mob/Utility video

Boss mobs

Boss mobs have more complicated attack patterns and movements. Bosses are meant as end game mobs with their high attack strength and health. When killed, they also drop end game items which can not be legitimately obtained in any other way.

File:Enderdragon face 3.png
Ender Dragon	Wither

Video

Mob/Boss video

Pocket Edition mobs

The current mobs found in Minecraft Pocket Edition.

Passive

Chicken	Cow	Mooshroom	Pig	Sheep	Villager

Neutral

Enderman	Spider	Wolf

Hostile

Creeper	Silverfish	Skeleton	Slime	Zombie	Zombie Pigman

Unused mobs

Unused mobs are found in the source code, but are not being used at this time. It is still possible to spawn them with the /summon command, but they will have no AI.

Giant	Undead Horse	Skeleton Horse

Removed mobs

Removed mobs are no longer in the PC version's game code, and can be found only in certain older versions.

Beast Boy	Black Steve	Rana	Steve	Human	Generic Villager

AI

Main article: Mob AI

Mobs will ordinarily wander around at random and usually avoid walking off blocks high enough to cause falling damage, though they can be fooled by non-solid blocks such as open trapdoors. In this state, hostile mobs (besides ghasts, Endermen, and zombies) have a search radius of 16 blocks.

Mobs are capable of climbing ladders just as the player is: if they try to move toward a ladder they're touching, they move up it instead. Mobs do not willingly climb ladders, even when aggressive (with the exception of slimes, magma cubes and blazes), and do not see ladders nor do they pathfind up them, so they will not attempt to avoid falling off a ladder should they be on the edge of one. Spiders and cave spiders can climb all blocks as if they were ladders (but only to a limited height).

All mobs except slimes, magma cubes and ghasts will stop wandering within 5 seconds if there is no player within a 32 block radius. In this state, they will glance around randomly, but they won't walk anywhere, although they can still be moved by other means such as flowing water, minecarts, etc. Zombies can walk when there is a villager they can attack even if they are over 32 blocks from a player; similarly, villagers will flee when there is a zombie chasing them.

Most mobs have an advanced pathfinding system that allows them to traverse complex mazes to get to the player. Here is a video showcasing their pathfinding system.

Hostile mobs

If the closest player to a wandering hostile mob is within the search radius of 16 blocks and a line of sight can be drawn, the mob will enter pursuit mode. In this mode, will attempt to attack the player, and will find the quickest route to get to the player. Mobs will cease attacking if the player moves out of their vision, but if the player directly hits a mob, it will be able to see the player through blocks. Most mobs will float in water, and whilst in pursuit mode, can pathfind around walls to get to the player. When certain hostile mobs are attacked by another one, it will attack the attacking mob. For example, when a skeleton arrow hits a zombie, the zombie will attack the skeleton. If the mob burns when exposed to daylight, it will seek cover (out of direct sunlight) or water, which will prevent them from burning.

Passive mobs

Passive mobs will not attack the player under any circumstances, rather if damaged directly by the player, they will run around in a random pattern (except squid). This category includes most of the "farm animals" present in the game, which can be bred for food and/or other resources. Also included are bats and squid, both of which have special spawning conditions and cannot be bred. Ocelots are technically passive, in that they will not attack the player, but are actually coded as hostile mobs.

Animals are attracted to both light and grass. If there is a lot of grass nearby, they will wander toward it regardless of light level. If they are completely surrounded by grass, they will wander aimlessly. If they can't see any grass, they will wander toward light. Baby farm animals will follow fully grown farm animals of their species. Passive mobs will flee randomly when attacked. Unlike hostile mobs, most passive mobs (including neutral wolves) will not despawn when the player moves away from them; the exceptions are squid, ocelots, and bats.

Most passive mobs will follow a player who is holding their specific food item: wheat (cows and sheep), carrots/potatoes/beetroots (pigs), or seeds (chickens). As long as the player does not get too far ahead of the mob, they will follow the player over long distances. This can be used to corral mobs into pens. If the food is given to the mob by right clicking the mob, the mob will enter breeding mode (indicated by red heart particles rising off the mob. Horses can also be tamed and bred, but the player must mount the horse and feed it apples before being thrown off (in order to tame).

Neutral mobs

This includes Endermen, zombie pigmen, wolves, and (bright light) spiders and cave spiders. Most of these are discussed under "combat" above, as they are essentially hostile monsters for which the fight can often or usually be avoided.

Wolves merit their own discussion. Much as with zombie pigmen, if a wolf is attacked, all wolves in the area will permanently become hostile to the player and attack them. However, wolves are not as common as zombie pigmen are (in the Nether), as they appear only in Forest and Taiga biomes, and then only in small groups. Accordingly, it's almost trivial to avoid attacking them. Wolves which have not become hostile can be tamed by feeding them bones. While they don't change their appearance as drastically as ocelots do, they effectively become dogs, with a dyeable collar and much higher health. Once tamed, they will fight for the player, targeting any mob that attacks the player (including skeleton arrows), or which the player attacks (not including missiles). Dogs can be healed or bred by feeding them any sort of meat (but not bones).

Common NBT data

Main article: Mobs/ED

[edit]

Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
PS4	Other
		Monster Hunter	Attack and destroy a monster.	Kill a hostile mob or one of the following neutral mobs: an enderman, a piglin, a zombified piglin, a spider, or a cave spider.	15G	Bronze
		Cow Tipper	Harvest some leather.	Pick up leather from the ground.	15G	Bronze
		When Pigs Fly	Use a saddle to ride a pig, and then have the pig get hurt from fall damage while riding it.	Be riding a pig (e.g. using a saddle) when it hits the ground with a fall distance greater than 5.	40G	Silver
		Sniper Duel	Kill a Skeleton with an arrow from more than 50 meters.	Use a launched arrow to kill a skeleton, spider jockey, wither skeleton, or a stray from 50 or more blocks away, horizontally.	30G	Bronze
		The Beginning?	Spawn the Wither	Be within a 100.9×100.9×103.5 cuboid centered on the Wither when it is spawned.	20G	Bronze
		The Beginning.	Kill the Wither	Be within a 100.9×100.9×203.5 cuboid centered on the Wither when it drops the nether star.	40G	Silver
		Repopulation	Breed two cows with wheat.	Breed two cows or two mooshrooms.	15G	Bronze
		Leader of the Pack	Befriend five wolves.	This does not have to be in a single game, so multiple games or reloading old saves does count toward this achievement.	20G	Bronze
		Have a Shearful Day	Use Shears to obtain wool from a sheep.	—	15G	Bronze
		Body Guard	Create an Iron Golem	—	20G	Bronze
		Zombie Doctor	Cure a zombie villager.	Throw a splash potion of weakness at a zombie villager and give it a golden apple (by facing the zombie and pressing the use key with a golden apple in your hand)	40G	Gold
		Archer	Kill a creeper with arrows.	—	10G	Bronze

Notes

• Mobs will normally spawn in groups with mobs of the same variety.
• Mobs will not spawn on transparent blocks, in water (except for squid and guardians), in lava, or on half blocks (slabs, stairs). The exception is monster spawners, from which they can spawn on any block including air.
• Mobs can not see through semi-transparent blocks such as ice, glass, or glass panes.
• Mobs have been found to spawn facing south. This includes with spawn eggs.
• Mobs can ride in minecarts, and on other mobs.

Issues

For issues unique to specific mobs, see that mob's issues section.

Issues relating to "Mob" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

A pig emitting smoke upon death.

An excessive amount of boss mobs spawned using the /summon command.

• Renaming a mob "Dinnerbone" or "Grumm" using spawn eggs or name tags will flip them upside down.
• When a mob walks off a block they will sometimes turn around and get back on as if they didn't mean to get off of it, then walk off yet again and continue on their way. This can be useful when trying to get distance between you and a hostile mob (particularly creepers).
• When mobs die, they emit puffs of white smoke. This gives them the appearance of them turning to dust or vanishing in a puff of smoke.
• Mobs can be heard up to 16 blocks away. Most hostile mobs can track players up to 16 blocks away. Therefore, if the player hears a hostile mob, it is likely that the mob is aware of the player.
• Players can approach a hostile mob without being detected if they ensure that there are solid blocks between them and the mob.
• Players can hide from hostile mob that pursuing the player in 2 blocks tall non-solid block (i.e sugar cane) even if the mob saw the player going in it (this will not work on spiders).
• After killing a player, or if a player dies while hostile mobs are pursuing the player, the hostile mobs will gather around the player's deathplace, attempting to attack the player. This is because the player has been made invisible and non-solid, but still exists in that position. (evident by the "You Died!" screen still remaining in that position).
  • A player can use this to their advantage by holding a large number of hostile mobs over their deathplace while another player may pass by unnoticed. This quirk can also work against the player in these cases:
    • Ghasts will continue to fire at the player, possibly destroying more blocks or dropped items.
    • If a creeper ignites itself when a player dies, the creeper's fuse will not stop, so it explodes and destroys the player's items.
  • The targeting of the player by hostile mobs is canceled once the player logs out, quits, or respawns.
• If a hostile mob is tracking a player, the player can separate him or herself and the mob through a wall, relog, and the mob will no longer be tracking the player.
• Mobs will not walk on top of rails unless pushed on to the rails by another mob. This can be used to trap small amounts of mobs, to create a wall between the player and a mob, or to prevent mobs from interrupting minecarts as they travel down rails.
• Mobs can be spawned with armor using the /summon command. The armor does not appear on the body of all mobs, but will still work.

References

Entities 

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Environment 

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