Skeleton
| Health points |
20 |
|---|---|
| Behavior |
Hostile |
| Attack strength |
Ranged |
| Size |
Height: 1.99 Blocks |
| Spawn |
Overworld: Light level of 7 or less.
|
| Drops |
See § Drops |
| Natural equipment |
|
| Experience |
5 |
| Sounds |
|
| Internal ID | |
| Namespaced ID |
skeleton |
This article is about the regular skeleton. For their variant that spawns in icy biomes, see Stray. For their variant that spawns in the nether, see Wither Skeleton. For other uses, see Skeleton (disambiguation).Skeletons are common undead hostile mobs equipped with bows.
Contents
Spawning[edit]
Skeletons can spawn almost anywhere in the Overworld at a light level of 7 or less, in groups of up to 4. 80% of skeletons spawned directly under the sky spawn as strays in Snowy Tundra, Snowy Mountains, Ice Spikes, Frozen River, Frozen Ocean, and Deep Frozen Ocean biomes. In the Nether, they can also spawn in nether fortresses at a light level of 7 or less in place of a wither skeleton.
Spiders have a 1% chance to spawn with a skeleton riding them, creating a spider jockey.
Skeleton horsemen spawn when a skeleton trap is triggered by a player. 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 they are only immune from lightning bolts.
- Bedrock Edition
Skeletons spawn in groups of 1-2.
80% of skeletons spawned directly under the sky in Legacy Frozen Ocean, Snowy Tundra and Snowy Mountains spawn as strays instead. Only skeletons and strays can spawn naturally there.
Cave spiders have 1% chance to spawn with a skeleton riding them, creating a cave spider jockey.
Monster spawners[edit]
Skeletons can spawn from naturally-generated spawners found in dungeons.
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.
- Any picked-up equipment has 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 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 usually badly damaged, and has a chance of being enchanted.
- A skeleton drops its head if killed by a charged creeper's explosion.
- Skeletons drop 5 experience when killed by a player or tamed wolf, and 1–3 extra experience if the skeleton has equipment.
Variants[edit]
Wither Skeleton[edit]
Wither Skeletons are a taller variant of skeletons that spawn in nether fortresses, as well as the general Nether[Legacy Console Edition only]. They hold a sword instead of a bow, and inflict the Wither status effect for several seconds when attacking.
Stray[edit]
Strays are another variant of skeletons that spawn in certain cold biomes. They attack like normal skeletons, but shoot and drop tipped arrows of slowness instead.
Halloween[edit]
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% chance with Looting III).
Behavior[edit]
Skeletons chase any player or iron golem they see within 16 blocks. They can climb stairs, navigate mazes, and traverse other complex obstacles to get within shooting range. When they are within 15 blocks of the player with a clear line of sight, they stop chasing and start shooting with arrows, one arrow every 2 seconds (1 on hard difficulty). They can strafe at a player's walking speed in circular patterns to try to dodge attacks during the process, and retreat to safe range if the player comes too close (4 blocks or less) to them. The detection range of skeletons is reduced to half of their normal range (8 blocks) while the player wears a skeleton mob head.
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 "error" of 1. To account for gravity, skeletons aim 0.2 blocks higher for every block horizontal they are from the target.
If a skeleton's arrow hits certain hostile mobs, that mob attacks the skeleton the same way it would attack the player, if it was not hit by the player first. If a skeleton is attacked by another mob (usually another skeleton), it may attack that mob, reorienting on the player once that 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 acts like a zombie (though faster), coming at the player with arms outstretched and damaging the player by touching them.
Skeletons are also able to climb ladders, but only when forced to, as their AI does not handle ladders in a special way.
Skeletons holding tipped arrows in their offhand always shoot that type of arrow; these arrows are not consumed.
- Bedrock Edition
When its target is closer, a skeleton shoots faster, but deals less damage. Skeletons make no attempt to avoid being hit. An underwater skeleton can use a melee attack only to attack its target and cannot use its bow.
Burning in sunlight[edit]
Like zombies, skeleton burning occurs at dawn when the sun is 15 degrees or greater above the ground (that is, 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, they may make some attempt to seek out shade during the day, or enter bodies of water to protect themselves from burning up. Unlike zombies, which always chase the player if they see one, skeletons do not exit the shade area even if attacking a player. Burning skeletons have a 50% chance of shooting flaming arrows if the regional difficulty is 3 or greater.
Wolves[edit]
Skeletons run from wolves chasing them. A skeleton flees from a chasing wolf until the wolf deals damage, after which the skeleton turns to shoot at the wolf that successfully attacked it.
Attacking other mobs[edit]
Skeletons shoot at any nearby iron golems and snow golems. Skeletons also search for and attack baby turtles.
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 also ignored by the wither and are affected by the Smite enchantment.
Geared skeletons[edit]
Like zombies, 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 also be enchanted. The chances of that event are listed below and are taken from the game's code. If a skeleton spawns wearing multiple pieces of armor, the armor is never mismatched (i.e. 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] |
If a skeleton does spawn with armor, the chances of specific armor are as follows:
| Armor | Easy & Normal | Hard |
|---|---|---|
| Boots | 100% | 100% |
| Boots & Leggings | 75% | 90% |
| Boots & Chestplate & Leggings | 56.25% | 81% |
| Full set | 42.19% | 72.9% |
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, which means it cannot "wear out" the way player armor does. Helmets (not blocks like carved pumpkins) on skeletons can wear away and break if the skeleton is exposed to daylight or has an anvil or other falling block dropped on its head.
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 don't count) gives 1–3 extra experience points per item.
Data values[edit]
Skeletons 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
Achievements[edit]
| Icon | Achievement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) | Availability | Xbox points earned | Trophy type (PS) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xbox | PS | Bedrock | Nintendo | ||||||
| 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. | Yes | PS3 | Yes | Yes | 30G | Silver | |
| PS4, PSVita | Bronze | ||||||||
Advancements[edit]
| Icon | Advancement | In-game description | Parent | Actual requirements (if different) | Internal ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not Today, Thank You | Deflect an arrow with a shield | Suit Up | Deflect any projectile with a shield. | minecraft:story/deflect_arrow |
|
| Adventure | Adventure, exploration, and combat | — | Kill any entity, or be killed by any entity. | minecraft:adventure/root |
|
| Monster Hunter | Kill any hostile monster | Adventure | Kill one of these 25 mobs. Other mobs are ignored for this advancement. | minecraft: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 something with a trident | minecraft:adventure/throw_trident |
|
| Take Aim | Shoot something with a bow and arrow | Monster Hunter | — | minecraft:adventure/shoot_arrow |
| Monsters Hunted | Kill one of every hostile monster | Monster Hunter | Kill each of these 25 mobs. Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for the advancement. | minecraft:adventure/kill_all_mobs |
|
| Sniper Duel | Kill a Skeleton from more than 50 meters away | Take Aim | Kill a skeleton with a projectile while being at least 50 blocks away horizontally. | minecraft:adventure/sniper_duel |
History[edit]
| Java Edition Classic | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 14, 2009 | Teased skeletons. | ||||
| 0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST |  Skeletons are added.
| ||||
| 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. | ||||
| 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 now been removed. | |||||
| The Purple arrows that skeletons throw have now 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 now been tweaked for skeletons. | ||||
| Skeletons now burn only when the sunlight level is greater than 7, and not due to torches at night[verify]. | |||||
| 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 | ? |  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).
| |||
| Skeletons now fire arrows slightly slower. Their arrows however, are shot with more force. | |||||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.0.0 | ? |  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 now 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. | |||
| 12w06a | There is now a small 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. If they pick up a weapon, they wield it. However, there is a bug that skeletons fire arrows when wielding a sword. | |||
| Skeletons, zombies, and zombie pigmen can now spawn wearing any type of armor (including chain); both armor and weapons may be enchanted. | |||||
| 12w36a | Skeletons can now be found in nether fortresses along with wither skeletons, their Nether equivalent. | ||||
| ? | On Halloween, skeletons, wither skeletons, zombies and zombie pigmen now have a chance of spawning with a pumpkin or jack o'lantern. | ||||
| 12w38a | Skeletons have now been given 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. | |||
| 13w03a | Skeletons now begin to 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. | |||
| 1.9 | 15w31a |  Skeletons now lower their arms when idle.
| |||
| Skeletons now animate their bow; they now pull it out when becoming hostile and draw it back to shoot arrows. | |||||
| Skeletons now have a small chance of spawning with their bow in their left hand. | |||||
| Skeletons now have the ability to dual wield. | |||||
| Skeletons now hold their bow with two hands again. | |||||
| 15w32a | The detection range of skeletons is now halved when the player is wearing a skeleton mob head. | ||||
| 15w33c | The detection range for players wearing the skeleton mob head has now been adjusted, it is now 37.5% of the normal range. | ||||
| 15w36a | The detection range for players wearing the skeleton mob head is now again 50% of the normal range. | ||||
| 15w38a | Skeletons now have a new AI that allows them to strafe while shooting the target. | ||||
| Skeletons may now spawn from skeleton trap horses. | |||||
| 15w39a | Skeletons are now slightly taller (1.99 blocks tall rather than 1.95). | ||||
| pre1 | Skeletons can now shoot flaming arrows 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. | |||||
| 1.13 | 18w07a | Skeletons now seek and attack baby turtles. | |||
| 18w19a | Skeletons can now sink underwater. | ||||
| Skeletons can now no longer drown underwater. | |||||
| 1.14 | 18w43a | The texture of the skeleton has now been changed. | |||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| 0.3.3 | Added skeletons. | ||||
| 0.5.0 | Skeletons have new animations. | ||||
| 0.9.0 | build 8 | Skeletons now have new AI. | |||
| build 9 | Skeletons now use the old AI again because they weren't firing arrows correctly. | ||||
| 0.11.0 | build 1 | Skeletons now no longer hold their bow with 2 arms.
| |||
| Skeletons can now spawn as rider from spider jockey or cave spider jockey. | |||||
| build 14 | Skeletons now have improved accuracy. | ||||
| 0.12.1 | build 1 | Skeletons now use the new AI again, thus improving accuracy and intelligence, so when the skeleton starts burning in the daylight, it hide to the nearest tree or a big shallow lake. | |||
| Skeletons can now spawn wearing armor. | |||||
| Skeletons can now spawn with enchanted bows. | |||||
| Skeletons now have the ability to pick up items. | |||||
| build 12 | New sounds have now been added for dying skeletons. | ||||
| 0.13.0 | build 1 | Skeletons now run away from wolves. | |||
| Skeletons now shoot faster when players get closer, but their arrows deal less damage. | |||||
| 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.
| |||
| Skeletons may now spawn from skeleton trap horses. | |||||
| ? | Burning skeletons can 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 | Skeletons now have a 8.5% chance of dropping their equipment. Prior to this, skeletons would never drop their bow and would always drop their armor. | ||||
| 1.5.0 | beta 1.5.0.0 | Skeletons now sink while underwater. | |||
| Skeletons now breathe underwater. Prior to this, skeletons would die from drowning. | |||||
| Skeletons now use melee attacks and stop using ranged attacks when underwater. | |||||
| beta 1.5.0.4 | Skeletons now seek and attack baby turtles. | ||||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 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).
| ||||
| Skeletons now fire their arrows slightly slower. Their arrows, however, are shot with more force. | |||||
| TU12 | The skeleton's AI has now 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. | ||||
| 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 (Power I). | |||||
| TU19 | CU7 | 1.12 | Skeletons can now spawn wearing armor and weapons. | ||
| Once the player gets closer to a skeleton, the skeleton fires arrows more frequently. | |||||
| TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | Skeletons now run away from wolves, instead of fighting back. | |
| 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. | |||||
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 backwards, 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.
- The artificial intelligence of skeletons in Bedrock Edition is equivalent of the skeletons from Java Edition between versions 1.5 and 1.8.9.
Gallery[edit]
A skeleton in 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.
Armor[edit]
A skeleton with full leather armor.
A skeleton with full gold armor.
A skeleton with full chainmail armor.
A skeleton with full iron armor.
A skeleton with full diamond armor.
