Ghast

Ghast

Health points	10
Behavior	Hostile Passive (Peaceful difficulty, currently a bug) ‌[BE only]
Attack strength	Impact: 6 Explosion: varies by proximity, maximum: Easy: 9 Normal: 17 × 8.5 Hard: 25 × 12.5
Size	Height: 4.0 Blocks Width: 4.0 Blocks
Spawn	Anywhere in the Nether [until JE 1.16 & BE 1.16] Nether Wastes‌[upcoming: JE 1.16 & BE 1.16] Soul Sand Valley‌[upcoming: JE 1.16 & BE 1.16] Basalt Deltas‌[upcoming: JE 1.16 & BE 1.16]
Internal ID	JE: 56 BE: 41
Namespaced ID	ghast

	“	At least they keep their eerie red eyes shut. Until the Ghast learns you're around, of course.	„
		— Tom Stone

Ghasts are floating hostile mobs that live in the Nether and shoot explosive fireballs at the player. They are the second-largest mobs that naturally spawn in the game, the largest being the ender dragon.

Spawning

To spawn naturally, ghasts require a solid block below them and 5×4×5 free space. They spawn only in the Nether at the Basalt Deltas, Nether Wastes and Soul Sand Valley. ‌^{[upcoming: JE 1.16 & BE 1.16.0]}, and in any light level. In a single chunk, only one ghast can spawn at once, although due to pack spawning the game tries to spawn up to four entities.

Ghasts do not spawn in nether fortresses.

Drops

• Ghast Tear (0–1) . Looting increases the maximum ghast tears dropped by one per level, for a maximum of 4 ghast tears with Looting III.

• Gunpowder (0–2) . Looting increases the maximum gunpowder dropped by one per level, for a maximum of 5 gunpowder with Looting III.
• 5 when killed by the player.

Behavior

Ghasts float around the Nether with their eyes and mouth closed and periodically make crying sounds, opening their eyes and mouth when attacking.

They emit a loud screech when attacking the player. The sounds that the ghast makes have a minimum intensity regardless of their distance, meaning that they can sound closer than they actually are. They have a size of 4×4×4 blocks, as well as 9 tentacles. The tentacles are not part of the ghast's hitbox.

Ghasts have a search range of 100 blocks, an explosive attack and mobility. Unlike most other hostile mobs, the ghast does not have a pursuit mode: it does not attempt to draw closer to the player when at long range and likewise is not particularly likely to float away.

Ghasts can cause other mobs to attack it, but the ghast never targets other mobs; it targets only the player.‌^{[JE only]}

When a player comes within 16 blocks, it opens fire, strafing left and right and attempts to gain altitude.^[verify] Ghasts flee when hit in Creative.

Ghasts require a line of sight to the player before firing. Any solid blocks (including transparent blocks) can interfere with the line of sight.

If the player is able to fly inside an aggressive ghast, it may die of shooting fireballs at itself. They are also careless about being hurt by blasts from short-range shots.

Sounds

Sound	Subtitle	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Ghast cries	?	?	entity.ghast.ambient	subtitles.entity.ghast.ambient	?	?	16
	Ghast shoots	?	?	entity.ghast.warn	subtitles.entity.ghast.shoot	?	?	16
	Ghast dies	?	?	entity.ghast.death	subtitles.entity.ghast.death	?	?	16
	Ghast hurts	?	?	entity.ghast.hurt	subtitles.entity.ghast.hurt	?	?	16
	None	?	Unused sound event	entity.ghast.scream	None	?	?	16
	Ghast shoots	?	?	entity.ghast.shoot	subtitles.entity.ghast.shoot	?	?	16

Data values

See also: Chunk format

Ghasts have entity data associated with them that contain various properties of the mob.

• Entity data
  • Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template
  • Tags common to all mobs see Template:Nbt inherit/mob/template
  •  ExplosionPower: The radius of the explosion created by the fireballs this ghast fires. Default value is 1.

Ghast fireball

Ghast Fireball

Size	Height: 1 Block Width: 1 Block
Internal ID	JE: 12 BE: 85
Network ID	JE: 63
Namespaced ID	fireball

The ghast's fireball attack has a straight trajectory unaffected by gravity and a theoretically infinite range, although it disappears after 1 minute. Fireballs do not track the player once fired, are slow, and can be deflected if the player hits them with a projectile, fishing lure or melee attack. At close range, it is one of the most powerful mob attacks in Minecraft, fourth only to the explosion of a creeper, the melee attack of an iron golem, and the explosion of a wither. A direct hit deals 6 projectile damage from the impact, and up to 9, 17 × 8.5, or 25 × 12.5 explosion damage from the blast, depending on difficulty. When two ghast fireballs collide, one is deflected to a random direction while the other explodes upon impact. Blocks are also set on fire by the explosion. If a ghast is killed, fireballs launched by that ghast disappear. A fireball deals 1000 × 500 damage to a ghast if the fireball was rebounded by a player.

The minimum blast resistance required to absorb all blast force of the ghast's fireballs is 4.034 (about the equivalent of a cobweb).

When a player hits a fireball, only the projectile damage dealt by the ghast fireball counts as the player's kill.

Data values

Entity data

Ghast fireballs are also entities that have associated entity data.

• Entity data
  • Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template
  •  direction^{[until JE 1.16]}: List of 3 doubles. Should be identical to Motion.
  •  life^{[until JE 1.16]}: Increments each tick when the projectile is not moving; resets to 0 if it moves. Has no effect, though is still saved/read
  •  power: List of 3 doubles that adds to direction every tick. Act as the acceleration.
  •  Item: The item to render as, may be absent.
    • Tags common to all items see Template:Nbt inherit/itemnoslot/template
  •  ExplosionPower: The power and size of the explosion created by the fireball upon impact. Default value 1.

Achievements

Main article: Achievement

Icon	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
	Return to Sender	Destroy a Ghast with a fireball.	Kill a ghast using a ghast fireball.	30G	Silver

Advancements

Main article: Advancement

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Namespaced ID
	Return to Sender	Destroy a Ghast with a fireball	Nether	Kill a ghast using a ghast fireball.	nether/return_to_sender
	Uneasy Alliance	Rescue a Ghast from the Nether, bring it safely home to the Overworld... and then kill it	Return to Sender	Kill a ghast while in the Overworld.	nether/uneasy_alliance
	Adventure	Adventure, exploration, and combat	—	Kill any entity, or be killed by any entity.	adventure/root
	Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Adventure	Kill one of these 25 mobs. ‌In Java Edition 1.16‌[upcoming], elder guardians, ender dragons, endermites, hoglins, piglins, vexes, withers, and zoglins can also be killed for this advancement. Other mobs, if any, may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.	adventure/kill_a_mob
	Take Aim	Shoot something with an arrow	Monster Hunter	Using a bow or a crossbow, shoot an entity with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.	adventure/shoot_arrow
	Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Monster Hunter	Kill each of these 25 mobs. ‌In Java Edition 1.16‌[upcoming], elder guardians, ender dragons, endermites, hoglins, piglins, vexes, withers and zoglins are also required for the advancement. Other mobs, if any, may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.	adventure/kill_all_mobs

Video

Note: At 0:39 in the video, it is stated that the player can kill a ghast only with an arrow, or by deflecting a fireball. However, this is not true. It is possible to kill a ghast with anything, as long as the player can reach it. Usually, this would be when the ghast has spawned under a fairly low ceiling, so it can't fly away. It is also possible to use a fishing rod to pull a ghast in close, then hit it.

History

Java Edition Alpha
v1.2.0		October 11, 2010			Notch tweets that he is working on "the most unfair mob ever," adding that "you will hate the Ghast."
		October 22, 2010			Originally, ghasts were intended to be able to spawn near Nether portals in the Overworld. However, this ability was not implemented.
		October 29, 2010			A preview of the Halloween Update was sent to two gaming companies; their articles highlighted the behavior of the upcoming ghast mobs.
		preview			Added ghasts, along with the Nether.
					When ghasts attack the player, they shoot fireballs.
					Ghasts appear to expand slightly before shooting a fireball, similarly to a creeper about to explode. However, this effect does not work in multiplayer.
Java Edition Beta
1.7					Ghasts now aim toward the player and not the camera. Prior to this, pressing F5 (going into third person view) allowed one to easily send the fireball over their head instead of at the character.
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease			Ghasts now drop ghast tears.
					Ghasts are now affected by light and no longer appear with the same brightness anywhere.
					The ghast fireball texture has been updated to a new fire charge () texture. They previously used the snowball () texture, set on fire.
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5			Ghasts can now be killed by their own fireballs, allowing the achievement "Return to Sender."
1.1		?			As heard in .minecraft/resources/newsound/mob/ghast, ghasts now have an unused "affectionate scream", which is a high pitched horn sound (like the classic cartoon tugboat sounds).
1.2.1		12w05a			The ghast hitbox has been updated to incorporate their whole body. Prior to this, ghasts could be injured only by hitting their tentacles and lower body.
1.3.1		12w19a			Ghasts now make their kill sound when killed rather than their pain sound.
					As a result of the client/server split, ghasts no longer visibly expand before shooting a fireball in singleplayer.
1.5		13w02a			The texture of the fireball has been changed from to .
		13w02b			The texture of the fireball has been changed from back to .
1.6.1		13w24a			The texture of the fireball has been changed from to .
		13w24b			The texture of the fireball has been changed from back to .
1.8		14w06a			The AI of ghasts has slightly changed. They cannot see the player unless their height comes to almost eye level with the player. When attacking, ghasts now turn their whole body to face the player's direction, and repeatedly strafe left to right around the player while attacking. They now have perfect accuracy with their fireballs, shooting at the player's head, compared to earlier versions when the fireball was previously aimed slightly above the player's head.
					The (now broken) code to make ghasts visibly expand while shooting was removed.
1.11		16w32a			The entity ID of ghasts has been changed from Ghast to ghast.
					The projectile entity ID of the fireball has been changed from Fireball to fireball.
		16w40a			The tags xTile, yTile, zTile, inTile and inGround have been removed from the fireball's entity data.
					The ghast life tag is no longer used for anything, but still saved/read.
1.14		18w43a			The texture of ghasts has been changed.
					The texture of the fireball has been changed.
Upcoming Java Edition
1.16		20w06a			Ghasts now spawn in the Soul Sand Valley biome in the Nether.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.11.0		build 2			Added ghasts.
					When ghasts attack the player, they shoot fireballs.
					Ghasts are currently unobtainable in-game without editing.
0.12.1		build 1			Ghasts can now be spawned using spawn eggs.
					Ghasts now spawn naturally in the Nether.
		build 6			Ghasts now hit the player more reliably.
		build 7			Ghasts now drop gunpowder and ghast tears.
		build 8			The hitbox of ghasts is now bigger.
		build 13			Ghasts now have sounds.
0.13.0		build 1			The spawn rate of ghasts has been increased.
		build 4			The spawn rate of ghasts has been increased even more.
0.14.0		build 1			Open ghast eyes now glow.
Pocket Edition
1.1.0		alpha 1.1.0.0			The entity ID for the fireball has been changed from largefireball to large_fireball.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The texture of ghasts has has been changed.
					The texture of the fireball has been changed.
?					Due a bug, ghasts now spawn in peaceful.
Upcoming Bedrock Edition
1.16.0		beta 1.16.0.51			Ghasts now spawn in the Soul Sand Valley biome in the Nether.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1		Added ghasts.
					When ghasts attack the player, they shoot fireballs.
TU9					The volume of the ghast sound effects has been reduced.
					The distance the ghast's sound effect for shooting a fireball can be heard from has been increased.
TU11					The volume of the ghast sound effects has been further reduced.
PlayStation 4 Edition
1.90					The texture of ghasts has been changed.
					The texture of the fireball has been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added ghasts.
					When ghasts attack the player, they shoot fireballs.

Issues

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

Trivia

• In English, "ghast" is an archaic word meaning "ghastly". H.P. Lovecraft first coined its use as name for monster (a vaguely humanoid one, in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath), but "Ghasts" have appeared in many other fantasy stories and games. In Minecraft, it also seems to follow a pattern of playfully replacing the letter "o" by "a" (Netherrock → Netherrack, Nether Wort → Nether Wart, Ghost → Ghast).
• The player can go inside of a ghast by falling through the top of it or flying up underneath it. If the player stands on top of the head, the player sees inside of it.
• If a ghast is trapped in a 1-thick cube, it shoots fireballs through the cube. This is because all mobs that shoot spawn the projectile one block in front of it to prevent the projectile from hitting the mob.
• On rare occasions, ghasts spawn in such a way as to see through blocks (usually trapped on all sides in a tight area). When this happens and the ghast has a "line of sight" through those blocks, it launches a fireball in the player's direction.
• C418 revealed in an AMA on Reddit that ghast sounds are taken from his pet cat, which he makes when disturbed while sleeping.
• Two ghasts are featured in the LEGO set "Minecraft Micro World - The Nether", along with a Zombie pigman.
• Iron golems and vindicators named Johnny do not fight ghasts unless they are close enough, even in this case, it's rare.
• When killed with its own fireball, the ghast turns orange rather than red. This is because the ghast is set on fire.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}
• Splash potions affect ghasts only when hitting them on their lower half.
• Despite not having visible feet, ghasts are still capable of making footstep sounds.
• Ghasts are the only non-undead mob that withers are not hostile toward.
• If a player hits a fireball using an item with the Looting enchantment, any mob killed by that fireball has its drops affected by the enchantment as though the mob was killed by directly using the item.

Gallery

• 

  A ghast up close, shooting a fireball (with the old snowball texture) at the player.

• 

  A ghast opens its red eyes when it spits out fireballs (note old "expansion" effect).

• 

  Ghasts (note old snowball texture).

• 

  A ghast that is in a nether fortress.

• 

  A spawner programmed to spawn ghasts.

• 

  A ghast pictured in the Mobestiary.

References

Entities

View at: Template:Entities/content [edit]