Phantom
Health points |
20 |
---|---|
Behavior |
Hostile |
Attack strength |
Java Edition: |
Hitbox size |
Height: 0.5 Blocks |
Spawn |
In the Overworld at nighttime or during thunderstorms, when player has not attempted to enter a bed for 3+ ingame days |
Phantoms are common undead pterosaur-like hostile mobs that spawn when the player has not slept for three or more in-game days.
Contents
Spawning[edit]
Phantoms spawn unless the game rule doInsomnia
is set to false
. The spawning mechanics differ between Java and Bedrock editions. In both editions, they spawn in the Overworld above the player if the "since last rest" statistic is at least 1 hour (72000 ticks or 3 in-game days). This statistic is reset when the player enters a bed, dies, or switches the doInsomnia
gamerule from false
to true
. Furthermore, the player must not have a block overhead that blocks light in any way; for example, leaves prevent phantoms from spawning as they have a light opacity of 2, but glass does not, as its light opacity is 0. Phantoms do not spawn in spectator mode,[JE only] but they do spawn in creative mode.
Bedrock Edition[edit]
Phantom spawning is similar to other monsters spawning: the spawn location must have a light level of 7 or less, and spawns are limited by the monster population cap. Phantoms are also subject to a density cap of 5. Phantom spawn attempts are made on surface blocks throughout the same spawn radius as other monsters. However, when a phantom spawn attempt succeeds the phantom appears somewhere in a 21 x 15 x 21 cube centered 28 blocks above the player instead of at the block where the spawn attempt occurred.
They are most common if the player is at Y=75.[1][verify]
Java Edition[edit]
Phantoms attempt to spawn every 1–2 minutes. They spawn only if it is night or a thunderstorm is happening, the player is above sea level (y=64) with sky access, and the local difficulty is greater than a randomly chosen value between 0.0 and 3.0. The chance of a successful spawn is x−72000⁄x, where x is the number of ticks since the player last entered a bed or died. This roughly comes to a 1⁄4 (25.0%) chance on day 4, a 2⁄5 (40.0%) chance on day 5, a 3⁄6 (1⁄2) (50.0%) chance on day 6, 4⁄7 (about 57.1%) chance on day 7, and so on.
If all conditions are met, a group of phantoms attempt to spawn 20–34 blocks above the player, and off to the side by a taxicab distance of up to 10 blocks. The number of phantoms spawned is 1-2 in Easy difficulty, 1-3 in Normal, and 1-4 in Hard.
Phantoms are counted toward the hostile mob cap, but they don't adhere to it when spawning. Their spawning mechanic is based on the location of players in the world rather than by chance, unlike regular mob spawning.
Drops[edit]
Phantoms drop when killed:
- 0–1 phantom membranes when killed by a player or tamed wolf. Looting increases the maximum drops by 1 per level, for a maximum of 4 with Looting III.
- 5 when killed by the player or a tamed wolf.
Behavior[edit]

When idle, phantoms fly around in a roughly circular pattern within 15 to 25 blocks of a player horizontally and within 24 to 35 blocks of a player vertically, leaving a trail of gray smoke while doing so. They have a large search radius, targeting and following players from 64 blocks away[BE only][more information needed]. Once every 10-20 seconds[BE only][more information needed] they swoop down or up quickly to attack their victim. If stopped or hurt during this action, the phantom retreats back to its original elevation. When a path to its original elevation is obstructed by a block, the phantom continues attempting to return to its original elevation until it either attacks or moves out from under the block.
Phantoms are able to move through water at their normal speed and cannot drown.
A phantom's body disappears when under the Invisibility effect, but its eyes and smoke particles are still visible.
Like zombies and skeletons, phantoms burn in sunlight.
Cats hiss at phantoms that are currently attacking players, and phantoms try to stay at least 16 blocks away from them. In Bedrock Edition, phantoms also avoid ocelots in the same manner.
Undead[edit]
Like other undead mobs, phantoms are harmed by the Instant Health effect, healed by the Instant Damage effect, immune to the Poison and Regeneration effects, ignored by the wither, and affected by the Smite enchantment.
Sounds[edit]
Sound | Subtitle | Source | Description | Namespaced ID | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Phantom screeches | Hostile Creatures | ? | entity.phantom.ambient | subtitles.entity.phantom.ambient | 0.8 | ? | 16 | |
Phantom bites | Hostile Creatures | ? | entity.phantom.bite | subtitles.entity.phantom.bite | ? | ? | 16 | |
Phantom dies | Hostile Creatures | ? | entity.phantom.death | subtitles.entity.phantom.death | ? | ? | 16 | |
Phantom flaps | Hostile Creatures | ? | entity.phantom.flap | subtitles.entity.phantom.flap | 0.9 | ? | 16 | |
Phantom hurts | Hostile Creatures | ? | entity.phantom.hurt | subtitles.entity.phantom.hurt | 0.75 | ? | 16 | |
Phantom swoops | Hostile Creatures | ? | entity.phantom.swoop | subtitles.entity.phantom.swoop | 0.7 | ? | 16 |
Data values[edit]
ID[edit]
Name | Namespaced ID | Translation key |
---|---|---|
Phantom | phantom | entity.minecraft.phantom |
Name | Namespaced ID | Numeric ID | Translation key |
---|---|---|---|
Phantom | phantom | 58 | entity.phantom.name |
Entity data[edit]
Phantoms have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.
- Entity data
- Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template
- Tags common to all mobs see Template:Nbt inherit/mob/template
- AX: The phantom, when not actively attacking, attempts to circle around X,Y,Z =
AX
,AY
,AZ
. Appears to reset to a point above the target player every time the phantom flies up after a swoop. Set to spawn location if not specified. - AY: See
AX
. - AZ: See
AX
. - Size: The size of the phantom. Ranges from
0
to64
, similar to slimes. Unlike slimes, phantoms always have a constant 20× 10 HP, and deal 6
+
Size
damage. Naturally spawned phantoms are always size 0.
Achievements[edit]
Icon | Achievement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) | Gamerscore earned | Trophy type (PS) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Monster Hunter | Attack and kill a monster. | Kill a hostile mob or one of the following neutral mobs: an enderman, a zombified piglin, a spider, or a cave spider. | 15G | Bronze | |
![]() | Sound the Alarm! | Ring the bell with a hostile enemy in the village. | — | 20G | Bronze |
Advancements[edit]
Icon | Advancement | In-game description | Parent | Actual requirements (if different) | Namespaced ID |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | 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 34 mobs:
| adventure/kill_a_mob
|
![]() | Monsters Hunted | Kill one of every hostile monster | Monster Hunter | Kill each of these 34 mobs:
| adventure/kill_all_mobs
|
![]() | Two Birds, One Arrow | Kill two Phantoms with a piercing arrow | Ol' Betsy | Use a crossbow enchanted with Piercing to kill two phantoms. | adventure/two_birds_one_arrow
|
History[edit]
November 1, 2017 | ![]() | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
November 14, 2017 | The article about the phantom was published, which introduced a community vote option for the phantom at MINECON Earth 2017. | ||||
November 18, 2017 | The phantom wins the vote at MINECON Earth. | ||||
Java Edition | |||||
1.13 | 18w07a | ![]() | |||
18w09a | Phantoms no longer spawn in the End. | ||||
Phantoms now despawn at daytime. | |||||
18w10a | ![]() | ||||
18w10c | Phantoms are now considered undead. | ||||
18w10d | Phantoms now burn in sunlight like most undead mobs. | ||||
Phantoms no longer despawn at daytime. | |||||
18w14a | Phantoms now drop 0-1 phantom membrane, instead of leather. | ||||
18w19a | The phantom's animation has been changed to have the wings flap quicker and smoother. | ||||
Phantoms now drop experience.[2] | |||||
pre1 | Phantoms now have new flapping sounds. | ||||
1.14 | 18w44a | Phantoms are now afraid of cats. | |||
pre3 | The damage of phantoms has been reduced from 6![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||
Bedrock Edition | |||||
1.6.0 | beta 1.6.0.1 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||
beta 1.6.0.5 | Phantoms now drop phantom membranes. | ||||
The phantom's health has been increased from 10![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||||
Phantoms now burn in direct sunlight. | |||||
Phantoms are now able to drown. | |||||
1.8.0 | beta 1.8.0.8 | Phantoms are now afraid of cats. | |||
Legacy Console Edition | |||||
TU69 | 1.76 | Patch 38 | ![]() |
Issues[edit]
Issues relating to "Phantom" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia[edit]

- The phantom was added into the game as a result of winning the MINECON Earth mob poll on Twitter as "Mob B".
- Phantoms are currently the fastest non-boss mob in the game, traveling at speeds of up to 20.83 m/s (74.988 km/h).
- At one point before the release of 18w10a, the phantom texture was made red, but it was decided that it appeared too much like a Nether mob.[4]
- The phantom was originally going to have a mouth, like the drawing shown during MINECON Earth, but it was eventually scrapped because "it looked so much like a muppet".[4] Earlier designs can be seen on Minecraft's Instagram account.[5]
- The sounds of the phantom were taken from Samuel Åberg's baby son screaming.[6]
- Phantoms are one of the 4 mobs that were added as a result of the community voting for it, the others being the Fox, Goat, and Glow Squid.
Gallery[edit]
A phantom under the Invisibility effect.
The particles produced by the phantom's wings can be clearly seen.
The phantom's poses from Jasper Boerstra's Twitter.
References[edit]
- ↑ https://youtube.com/watch?v=xijibknIFhs
- ↑ MC-128712
- ↑ MC-154372 – resolved as "Works As Intended"
- ↑ a b "Meet the Phantom" – Minecraft.net, March 12, 2018
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BkdvBUXjqcD
- ↑ https://www.asoundeffect.com/minecraft-dungeons-game-audio/