Skeleton

Health points	20 × 10
Behavior	Hostile
Attack strength	Ranged Easy and Normal: 2 – 5 Hard: 3 - 5 Melee Easy: 2 Normal: 2 Hard: 3
Hitbox size	Height: 1.99 Blocks Width: 0.6 Blocks
Spawn	Overworld: Light level of 7 or less. Nether: Nether Fortress Soul Sand Valley
Natural equipment	Bow (right hand: 89%; left hand: 11%; may be enchanted) Jack o'Lantern (Head) Carved Pumpkin (Head)

Skeletons are common undead hostile mobs equipped with bows.

Spawning[edit]

Skeletons spawn at a light level of 7 or less in groups of 4 or 5 in the nether in Java and 1 to 2 in Bedrock. They can be found above solid blocks from biomes except mushroom fields. 80% of skeletons spawned directly under the sky spawn as strays in snowy tundras, frozen oceans and variants.

Spiders have a 1% chance to spawn with a skeleton riding them, creating a spider jockey.

Four skeleton horsemen spawn when a skeleton trap is triggered. The skeletons ride on skeleton horses and are equipped with enchanted bows and iron helmets and have damage immunity for 3 seconds after spawning.

In Bedrock Edition, skeleton horsemen do not have immunity.

Spawners[edit]

Skeletons spawn from 25% of the spawners found in dungeons.

Nether[edit]

Some of them may spawn in fortresses, replacing 20% of wither skeletons.

Skeletons are common in soul sand valleys, being found at a light level of 7 or less.

Drops[edit]

Skeletons drop:

0–2 bones. The maximum drop is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 bones with Looting III.
0–2 arrows. The maximum drop is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 arrows with Looting III.
Picked-up items have a 100% chance of dropping and drop with the same damage level it had when picked up.
Any naturally spawned equipment (including the bow) has an 8.5% chance of dropping if killed by the player (9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II, and 11.5% with Looting III). It is damaged and sometimes enchanted.
A skeleton drops its skull if killed by a charged creeper's explosion.
Skeletons drop 5 when killed by a player or tamed wolf and extra 1–3 if the skeleton has equipment.

Behavior[edit]

Skeleton shooting

Skeletons chase players they see within 16 blocks, climbing stairs, navigating mazes and traversing other complex obstacles to get within shooting range. They are able to climb ladders, but only if they are forced to. When within 15 blocks, with a clear line of sight, they start shooting with arrows, one every second. If you get out the 15-block radius, skeletons wait for some seconds with the bow charged, shooting at the same time that the player enters again.

The skeleton's accuracy is based on the difficulty. Skeletons have an "error" of 10 on easy, 6 on normal and 2 on hard. This is compared to the player's lack of accuracy of 1. To account for gravity, skeletons aim 0.2 blocks higher for every block horizontal they are from.

These mobs' behavior changes a bit across the game editions:

Java

The detection range of skeletons is reduced to 8 blocks while the player wears a skeleton mob head.
Strafe in circular patterns to dodge attacks and retreat to a safe range if the player comes within 4 blocks.
Sprint toward players the are 14 blocks away or thither.
Use bows even underwater. The water slows down the arrows.

Bedrock

Skeletons are immune from lightning bolts.
Skeletons typically stop moving for shooting, thus make no attempt to avoid being hit.
An underwater skeleton uses a melee attack to attack since it is unable to use bows.
If the skeleton is on land and you are inside water, it is going to shoot quickly. As the player gets closer, the arrows are shot even faster, making combat hard due to the knockback.

Dueling skeletons. One skeleton turned red from being shot by the other skeleton.

If their arrows hit most neutral and hostile mobs, the mob attacks the skeleton, if it was not hit by a player first. When a skeleton is attacked by other mobs or even another skeleton, it attacks that mob, reorienting on the player once the mob is dead.

Skeletons sink in water and are unable to swim, but do not drown.

If spawned with no weapon at all (which can be spawned with /summon skeleton ~ ~ ~ {HandItems:[{id:air,Count:1b}]}), a skeleton comes at players with arms outstretched and damages by touching them.

Skeletons holding tipped arrows in their offhand always shoot that type of arrow; these arrows are not consumed.

Skeletons in Minecraft Dungeons have similar behavior to Java Edition. However, they don't burn in sunlight and they cannot pick up items.

Sunlight[edit]

A Skeleton burning in sunlight

Skeletons burn at dawn when the sun is 15 degrees or greater above the ground (when the moon can no longer be seen) unless the skeleton is:

Below an opaque block.
In a sunlight level of 11 or less.
In water.
Standing in soul sand.
Affected by Fire Resistance.
Wearing head armor (the helmet absorbs the damage, but may take several day cycles before it wears out completely).

If not wearing a helmet, it seeks out shade during the day or enters water to protect itself. Unlike zombies, which leave the shade to chase a player, skeletons do not exit the shaded area even while attacking.

A burning skeleton has a 50% chance of shooting flaming arrows if the regional difficulty is 3 or greater.

Wolves attacking a skeleton.

Other mobs[edit]

Skeletons flee from wolves. A skeleton runs from a chasing wolf until the wolf deals damage, after which the skeleton turns to shoot at the wolf that successfully attacked it.

Skeletons shoot at nearby iron golems and baby turtles. Snow Golems are attacked as well in Bedrock.

Mob type[edit]

Skeletons are undead mobs, causing them to be damaged by the Instant Health status effect, healed by the Instant Damage status effect, and unaffected by the status effects Regeneration and Poison.

Skeletons are ignored by the wither and are affected by the Smite enchantment.

Geared skeletons[edit]

Some spawned skeletons have the ability to pick up dropped items from the ground. If a picked up item is armor, a carved pumpkin, a jack o'lantern, or a mob head, a skeleton equips itself with the item. If the picked up item is a weapon or tool, the skeleton uses the item as a melee weapon.

Skeletons spawn already-armed with bows, which may be enchanted. The chances of that event are listed below from code. If a skeleton spawns wearing multiple pieces of armor, the armor is never mismatched (all pieces are made of the same material).

	Easy	Normal	Hard
Armor	0%	0%–15%^{[note 1]}	1.875%–15%^{[note 1]}
Weapon^{[note 2]}	100%	100%	100%
Pick up	0%	0%–55%^{[note 1]}	6.875%–55%^{[note 1]}
Weapon enchantment^{[note 3]}	0%	0%–25%^{[note 1]}	3.125%–25%^{[note 1]}
Armor enchantment^{[note 3]}	0%	0%–50%^{[note 1]}	6.25%–50%^{[note 1]}

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Value is based on the regional difficulty.
↑ 100% chance of a bow
↑ ^a ^b Enchantment is the same as on an enchantment table at level 5–22.^{[note 1]}

If a skeleton does spawn with armor, the chances of specific armor are as follows:

Armor	Easy & Normal	Hard
1 piece	100%	100%
2 pieces	75%	90%
3 pieces	56.25%	81%
Full set	42.19%	72.9%

In Java Edition, the armor pieces go from feet to head, and in Bedrock Edition, they go from head to feet.

The chances of it being of a particular material are:

Armor Type	Chance
Leather	37.06%
Gold	48.73%
Chain	12.90%
Iron	1.27%
Diamond	0.04%

Skeleton armor is not damaged from most damage sources; it cannot "wear out" the way player armor does. Helmets (not blocks like carved pumpkins) on skeletons can break if the skeleton is exposed to daylight or has an anvil or other falling block dropped on its hitbox.

If a skeleton has a bow and a sword is given, it drops the bow, with the same chance as if killed with Looting I and starts using the sword. If a skeleton has a sword or bow in its hand, and one of a better type or with better enchantments is given, the skeleton drops the existing weapon, with the same chance as if killed with Looting I in favor of the better one. Any skeleton that spawns with equipment (picked-up items do not count) gives 1–3 extra experience points per item.

If multiple viable items exist, the skeleton endlessly picks up and drops the items. This feature has been intentionally programmed into the game.^[1]

Halloween[edit]

In Java Edition, during Halloween (October 31), skeletons have a 22.5% chance of spawning wearing a carved pumpkin and a 2.5% chance of spawning wearing a jack o'lantern. If these skeletons are killed using a tool enchanted with Looting, the pumpkin or jack o'lantern can drop with a chance equivalent to the level of Looting, up to 3 percent chance with Looting III.

Sounds[edit]

Subtitle	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
Skeleton rattles	?	?	`entity.skeleton.ambient`	subtitles.entity.skeleton.ambient	?	?	16
Skeleton dies	?	?	`entity.skeleton.death`	subtitles.entity.skeleton.death	?	?	16
Skeleton hurts	?	?	`entity.skeleton.hurt`	subtitles.entity.skeleton.hurt	?	?	16
Skeleton shoots	?	?	`entity.skeleton.shoot`	subtitles.entity.skeleton.shoot	?	?	16
Footsteps	?	?	`entity.skeleton.step`	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps	?	?	16

Data values[edit]

ID[edit]

Java Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Entity tags (JE)	Translation key
Skeleton	`skeleton`	`skeletons`	`entity.minecraft.skeleton`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Numeric ID	Translation key
Skeleton	`skeleton`	`34`	`entity.skeleton.name`

Entity data[edit]

Skeletons 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

Achievements[edit]

Icon	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
	Sniper Duel	Kill a Skeleton with an arrow from more than 50 meters.	Use a launched arrow to kill a skeleton, wither skeleton, or a stray from 50 or more blocks away, horizontally.	30G	Bronze

Advancements[edit]

Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Namespaced ID
Not Today, Thank You	Deflect a projectile with a shield	Suit Up	Deflect any projectile with a shield.	`story/deflect_arrow`
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. Other mobs, if any, may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.	`adventure/kill_a_mob`
A Throwaway Joke	Throw a trident at something. Note: Throwing away your only weapon is not a good idea.	Monster Hunter	Hit an entity with a thrown trident.	`adventure/throw_trident`
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 34 mobs. Other mobs, if any, may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.	`adventure/kill_all_mobs`
Sniper Duel	Kill a Skeleton from at least 50 meters away	Take Aim	Kill a skeleton with a projectile while being at least 50 blocks away horizontally.	`adventure/sniper_duel`

History[edit]

Java Edition Classic
August 14, 2009					Notch teased skeletons.
0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST					Added skeletons.
0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST					Skeletons spawn randomly in new Survival maps and follow players when approached, much like zombies.
0.25 SURVIVAL TEST					Skeletons now fire arrows with a purple/magenta colored shaft, appear to fire arrows at a faster and more random rate, and shoot 6 arrows outward a short range in all directions when dying. Arrows fired by skeletons can be picked up and used by players.
0.25 SURVIVAL TEST					Skeletons now take five hits to kill and can appear wearing NPC armor (that gave them no additional protection) and gave 120 points when killed.
Java Edition Indev
0.31		?			Skeletons no longer wear armor.
					The skeleton's attacking animation has been removed.
					The purple arrows that skeletons throw have been removed and have been replaced by brown arrows.
					Skeletons now drop 0–2 arrows upon death.
February 14, 2010, 1					Skeletons now catch on fire when exposed to sunlight.
February 18, 2010					The chances of catching on fire in sunlight have been tweaked for skeletons.
February 18, 2010					Skeletons now burn only when the sunlight level is greater than 7, and not due to torches at night.^{[is this the correct version?]}
February 19, 2010					Skeletons now drop arrows.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.2.0					Skeletons now hold a bow in their right hand, however they were held as an item just like a player would hold it at this period.
Java Edition Beta
1.2					Skeletons can now drop 0-2 bones, in addition to arrows.
1.8		Pre-release			The bows of skeletons are now larger and held realistically (full-sized bows, two-handed, and pulling the arrow back).
1.8		Pre-release			Skeletons now fire arrows slower but further.
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease			Skeletons now hold their bow with one hand again, but they still have the larger and held realistically bow.
1.2.1		12w04a			The skeleton's AI has been improved: if a skeleton catches fire in daylight, it rushes to the nearest shadow or body of water.
1.2.1		12w06a			There now is a 8.5% chance that a skeleton drops a bow when killed. There is also a small chance of the bow being enchanted.
1.4.2		12w32a			Skeletons, zombies and zombie pigmen can now pick up dropped items. They also have the ability to wear armor and wield a weapon, so if they pick up armor, they wear it.
		12w32a			Skeletons, zombies, and zombie pigmen can now spawn wearing any type of armor (including chain); both armor and weapons may be enchanted.
		12w36a			Skeletons may now be found in nether fortresses along with wither skeletons.
		?			On Halloween, skeletons, wither skeletons, zombies and zombie pigmen now have a chance of spawning with a pumpkin or jack o'lantern.
		12w38a			Skeletons now have new sounds.
1.4.4		1.4.3-pre			Skeletons now rush toward the player, instead of shooting arrows, if they don't have a bow.
1.5		13w02a			Skeletons now shoot from a range of 15 blocks instead of 10.
1.5		13w03a			Skeletons now fire rapidly at players who come within close range, in an attempt to knock them back. This makes melee combat in water hard.
1.8		14w10a			Skeletons now run away from wolves, instead of fighting back.
		14w11a			Skeletons now run away from creepers that are about to explode.
		14w30a			Skeletons now drop their skulls when killed by a charged creeper.
1.8.1		pre1			Skeletons no longer run away from creepers that are about to explode due to performance.
1.9		15w31a			Skeletons now lower their arms when idle.
					Skeletons can now, once again, animate their bow; they pull it out when becoming hostile and draw it back to fire arrows.
					Skeletons now have a 11% chance of spawning with their bow in their left hand.
					Skeletons can dual wield.
					Skeletons now hold their bow with two hands again when aiming.
		15w32a			The detection range of skeletons is halved when the player is wearing a skeleton mob head.
		15w38a			Skeletons now shoot one arrow per second and have improved behavior, allowing them to be a bit faster and strafe while shooting.
		15w38a			Skeletons spawn from skeleton trap horses.
		15w39a			Skeletons are slightly taller (1.99 blocks tall rather than 1.95).
		pre1			Skeletons shoot flaming arrows only when burning and regional difficulty is 3 or greater.
					Skeletons holding tipped arrows in their off hand now shoot that type of arrow.
					Entity ID `Skeleton` is now `skeleton`, `wither_skeleton` and `stray` for those respective mobs.
1.9.1					Skeletons shoot an arrow per 2 seconds on easy and normal instead of 1.
1.13		18w07a			Skeletons seek and attack baby turtles.
		18w19a			Skeletons sink underwater.
		18w19a			Skeletons no longer drown underwater.
1.14		18w43a			The texture of skeletons has been changed.
1.16		20w06a			Skeletons can now spawn in soul sand valley biomes.
1.16		Pre-release 4			Increased skeleton's spawning weight in soul sand valleys from 2 to 10.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.3.3					Added skeletons.
0.3.3					Skeletons use outdated sounds, move slowly, shoot an arrow each 3 seconds and with a very poor aim.
0.5.0					Skeletons now have new animations.
0.9.0		build 8			Skeletons now have new AI.
0.9.0		build 9			Skeletons now use the old AI again because they weren't firing arrows correctly.
0.11.0		build 1			Skeletons no longer hold bows with 2 arms.
		build 1			Skeletons may now spawn as rider from spiders or cave spiders.
		build 14			Skeletons now have a improved accuracy.
0.12.1		build 1			Skeletons now use the new AI again, thus improving accuracy, walking and shooting speed and intelligence. When skeletons catches fire in the daylight, they hides to the nearest shadow or body of water. Skeletons also avoid falls, fire, lava and cactus.
					Skeletons may now spawn wearing armor or enchanted armor.
					Skeletons may now spawn with enchanted bows.
		build 12			New sounds have been added for skeletons.
?					A developer asks for The community about flaming arrows being shot by burning skeletons:"What do you think about Skeletons on fire shooting fire arrows (that set you on fire?)." – @shoghicp, May 31, 2016
?					Burning skeletons now shoot flaming arrows.
0.13.0		build 1			Skeletons now run away from wolves.
0.13.0		build 1			Skeletons now fire faster when players get closer to knock them back, especially to players in water.
0.14.0		build 1			Skeletons are now slightly taller (1.99 blocks tall rather than 1.95).
0.15.0		build 1			Skeletons now animate their bow, they pull it out when becoming hostile and draw it back to shoot arrows.
0.15.0		build 1			Skeletons now spawn from skeleton trap horses.
?					Burning skeletons now shoot flaming arrows only if the regional difficulty is 3 or greater. Prior to this, burning skeletons would always shoot flaming arrows regardless of regional difficulty.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0		beta 1.2.0.2			Skeletons now have a 8.5% chance of dropping their equipment. Prior to this, skeletons would never drop their bow and would always drop always their armor.
1.5.0		beta 1.5.0.0			Skeletons now sink underwater.
					Skeletons no longer die from drowning.
					Skeletons now use melee attacks and stop shooting when underwater.
		beta 1.5.0.4			Skeletons now seek and attack baby turtles.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The texture of skeletons has been changed.
1.16.0		beta 1.16.0.51			Skeletons can now spawn in soul sand valley biomes.
					Skeletons can now pick up items.
					Skeleton now use melee attack when not holding bow on their hand, prior to this, skeleton use any items as ranged weapon to shoot arrow normaly.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added skeletons.
TU5					The skeleton's bow is now larger and held more realistically (full-sized bows, two-handed, and pulling the arrow back) than in previous versions (in one hand).
TU5					Skeletons now fire their arrows slightly slower. Their arrows, however, are shot with more force.
TU12					The skeleton's AI has been updated, so they are "smarter", i.e. if a skeleton catches fire in daylight, it rushes to the nearest shadow or body of water for safety.
TU12					There is now a small chance that skeletons drop a bow when killed. There is now also a small chance of the bow being enchanted.
TU19	CU7	1.12			Skeletons can now spawn wearing armor and weapons.
TU19	CU7	1.12			Once the player gets closer to a skeleton, the skeleton now fires arrows more frequently.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Skeletons now run away from wolves, instead of fighting back.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Skeletons now drop their skull when killed by a charged creeper.
TU46	CU36	1.38	Patch 15		Skeletons may now spawn from skeleton trap horses.
					Skeletons now have a new AI that allows them to strafe while attacking.
					Skeletons now animate their bow.
		1.90			The texture of skeletons has been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added skeletons.
Minecraft Earth
0.2.0					Added skeletons.

Historical sounds:

Sound	From	to	Pitch
Hurt/Die	?	1.4.2^{[is this the correct version?]}	1.0

Issues[edit]

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

Trivia[edit]

If alerted to a player's presence, a skeleton can fire arrows backward, occasionally hitting themselves.
Skeletons cannot see the player through glass, fences, or other transparent blocks.
If a skeleton kills a creeper, the creeper drops a music disc.
Skeletons and their variants do not know how to use a crossbow, despite the same using method as a bow.
The artificial intelligence of skeletons in Bedrock Edition is a mix of skeleton AI from Java Edition between versions 1.5 and 1.8.9 and the skeletons in Update Aquatic. They shoot faster when they are on land and the target underwater, causing knockback enough to make combat hard. Additionally, they do not strafe left to right, and they shoot more rapidly at closer targets. Skeletons also use ranged attacks on land and switch to melee attacks when sinking underwater.
Skeletons and endermen are the only mobs that can spawn in both the Overworld and the Nether. Additionally zombies may also rarely spawn if an attacked zombified piglin spawns in reinforcements.
89% of skeletons hold their bow in their right hand and 11% with the left.
If a skeleton has a sword or any other melee item, generally with commands, its AI resembles the wither skeleton's AI.
In Bedrock Edition, skeletons can still shoot their arrows even without a bow.
Since Java Edition 1.9.1, skeletons used to shoot an arrow every 1 second on hard and every 2 seconds in Normal and Easy difficulties. As 1.16.3, they shoot with the same speed across the modes (a second), which is unknown whether this is a bug or removed feature.

Gallery[edit]

A skeleton in java Edition Beta 1.8. The player can see it wielding its bow with both hands.
Dying skeleton mob in Bedrock Edition.
Dying skeleton mob in Java Edition.
Two skeletons shooting each other. The skeleton on the right is a spider jockey.
A skeleton in the Nether used as the 12w36a snapshot image.
A skeleton from then-Pocket Edition (before 0.11.0). Like in Beta 1.8, it holds its bow with both hands.
A skeleton riding a minecart.
A skeleton kills an attacking wolf.
A stray standing next to a normal skeleton.
A skeleton wearing an iron helmet.
A skeleton wearing a leather cap.
A player trying to give armor to a skeleton.
Skeletons spawned from skeleton trap horses.
A glitch where skeletons have no bow.
Naturally armored skeletons.
A skeleton that naturally spawned with the bow on their left hand.
Skeleton with a pumpkin on Halloween.
A skeleton without a bow spawned by /summon commands.
A skeleton with a white-dyed leather full set.
A spider jockey with a skeleton.
A cave spider jockey with a skeleton.
A preview featuring skeletons in the soul sand valley.
A Dungeons skeleton.