Do you want to find and defeat the Wither to get the Nether Star in Minecraft?
Players consider the Ender Dragon as the ultimate boss in Minecraft which they have to defeat to win the game. However, most players forget the other boss, who is of similar difficulty, and drop one of the rarest items. Wither is the second boss in Minecraft and this article tells how to find and defeat the Wither in Minecraft.
Wither
The Wither is an extremely hostile mob that attacks all players and mobs in its sights. Visually, the WIther is a floating mob with three heads that shoots explosive wither skulls at everyone. In addition, the Wither is the only source of Nether Stars in Minecraft that players use to craft Beacons.
Interestingly, players bring this boss into existence by collecting certain resources and placing them in a specific pattern. Specifically, players need three Wither Skulls and four pieces of Soul Sand or Soul Soil pieces to build this mob. Fortunately, both of these resources are present in the Nether so the player can collect both together.
Soul Sand or Soul Soil are relatively easy to find. In particular, players can find these in the Soul Sand Valley biome or in Nether Fortresses. However, the real challenge is collecting the Wither Skulls as they have one of the lowest drop rates in Minecraft. Players can collect Wither Skulls by killing Wither Skeletons, which spawn in the Nether Fortress.
Wither Skeletons have a 2.5% chance of dropping a Wither Skull when a player kills them. This chance increases by one percent with every level of looting in the Java Edition, while two percent in Bedrock Edition. Overall, the maximum chance of dropping a Wither Skull is 5.5% in the Java Version while 8.5% in Bedrock.
Overall, collecting the resources for the Wither is time-consuming and requires patience. After collecting these items, the player can build the Wither and start fighting, but proper gear and weapons are necessary for fighting. Below is exactly how to find and defeat the Wither in Minecraft.
Preparing to Fight the Wither
The Wither is a powerful boss so the player needs proper weapons and gear to have a chance of defeating it. For this reason, he should first make at least a Diamond Sword, and enchanting it further increases the winning chance. It can also be a Netherite Sword, but that is relatively hard to make, so a Diamond Sword is sufficient.
Next is fighting from long-range, which means making a Bow and plenty of Arrows. Furthermore, enchanting the Bow is extremely important as a regular Bow has low damage and requires hitting a lot of shots. For this reason, make sure to enchant it with Power and Infinity, so there’s no end to the shooting spree.
Armor is one of the most important aspects when fighting the Wither. In particular, it acts as a protective layer against the explosive wither skulls it throws at the player. To defend against it, make sure to make at least Diamond Armor as it gives protection. Furthermore, the player can enchant it to give more durability.
For example, Protection and Blast Protection on all armor pieces will allow the player to soak more damage from the Wither. Besides this, upgrading the Diamond Armor to Netherite maximizes the chances of winning the fight against the Wither. In addition, a Shield is also important to block off the explosive attack of the Wither.
Lastly, carry food and potions to give boosts against the boss. For example, food like Golden Apple will give resistance, and health regeneration, giving more durability. While potions like the Strength potion increase the player’s damage. Overall, all this gear is important when fighting against the Wither.
How to Summon the Wither
After collecting all the resources and making the gear, the question arises of how to find and defeat the Wither in Minecraft. Fortunately, the answer to summoning the Wither is quite simple. First, place the four Soul Sand or Soul Soil in a T shape. In particular, one block at the bottom with three in a horizontal line above the bottom block.
The next step is placing the three Wither Skulls on top of the three Soul blocks. Interestingly, the Wither will not spawn until all three Wither Skulls are present on the structure. Before placing the Wither Skulls, make sure that all gear and weapons are available and no mobs are present nearby. Lastly, place the Skulls and fight the Wither.
Battling the Wither – Part One:
The Wither battle is interesting as it happens in two phases. Phase one of the fight occurs after the player spawns the Wither. Specifically, the Wither starts as a small white mob that keeps on growing and suddenly explodes. After that, the actual battle begins with the Wither shooting explosive skulls at the player and other mobs.
These explosive skulls cause damage according to the difficulty the player is currently playing in. For example, a skull causes five hearts of damage in Easy difficulty while eight on Medium. In Hard difficulty, the skull deals twelve hearts of damage, showing how powerful the Wither actually is. In addition, it gives the Wither effect to entities it hits.
The Wither effect is a negative effect that causes damage over time depending on the difficulty. Fortunately, players can remove this effect by drinking a Bucket of Milk which the player can collect by milking Cows. Aside from this, any mob that the Wither kills spawns a Wither Rose which gives the same Wither effect to players.
To damage the Wither in this phase, maintain distance and damage the Wither with the Bow and Arrows. Be mindful that the Wither can heal when it damages other mobs, so make sure to spawn it in a clear area. After dealing sufficient damage, around half the Wither’s health bar, it uses a shield to negate incoming ranged damage from players.
Battling the Wither – Part Two:
Part two of the battle starts when the Wither grows this shield. In this phase, the player can only deal damage with melee weapons so take out the sword and start swinging. However, be careful because the Wither keeps on shooting the explosive skulls, which can cause massive damage to the player.
While the aforementioned occurs in the Java Edition, the Wither gains a new attack in the Bedrock Edition. In particular, it gains a ram attack which happens occasionally, but the player can predict this. Specifically, the Wither chances its stance to a flat shape and shoots ahead with high speed. This causes damage to any close mobs.
While this move is dangerous, the player can dodge it by being careful and looking at the animation of the Wither. Keep on swinging at the Wither while dodging its attacks and eventually, the player will deplete the health bar. When this happens, the Wither will stay still, shake after a few moments and disappear, leaving behind EXP and a Nether Star.
The player can use this Nether Star to build a Beacon which provides different boosts such as Haste, Strength, etc. Overall, the battle with the Wither is tiresome and definitely needs precise tactics to defeat it successfully.
Minecraft is full of surprises which include different mobs, crafts, and more. The Wither is one such mob boss which the players can craft and defeat to get the rare Nether Star. Hopefully, this article on how to find and defeat the Wither in Minecraft will help you in getting the unique loot from the Wither.
