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Summary

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Creatures


Creatures or mobs, short for “mobiles,” are the various entities – animals, monsters, non-player characters – that move by themselves and have predetermined behavior patterns.

Appearance

Creatures can appear in different ways. Most creatures spawn naturally, depending on the light level, biome, and their environment, often in groups of the same species. Creatures typically appear during the initial generation of chunks. Most passive creatures also have the ability to reproduce, spawning “baby” versions of themselves. Creatures do not naturally spawn on transparent blocks, in water (except for squids, drowned, fish, dolphins, and guardians), in lava (except for striders), on bedrock, on half-blocks (stairs hollow on top, slabs in the low position) or on a floor covered with carpets or rails. However, in the case of a monster generator, the generated monsters can appear on any block, including an air block.

Some creatures (such as snow golems or iron golems or the Wither) require the player to “build” them to appear. The iron golem can appear naturally and can also be built. The Ender Dragon can be regenerated with 4 or 2 End crystals.

Players can also spawn creatures using spawn eggs in Creative mode, or the summon command (provided commands are enabled). However, if the player tries to summon an Ender Dragon with the command without setting the DragonPhase tag, the dragon will not be able to move or attack.

Disappearance

Creatures systematically spawn around the player, with a certain frequency while the player explores caves or tries to farm areas that spawn specific creatures. Creatures whose persistence has been defined by an interaction (tagging, taming, breeding, transporting a fish in a bucket, etc.) will not naturally disappear. Otherwise, almost all creatures that spawn naturally disappear automatically when they are 54 blocks or more away from the nearest players. If creatures are between 32 and 54 blocks from the nearest player, they must not take damage for 30 seconds and succeed in getting 1 chance out of 800 to disappear.

The following creatures do not follow these disappearance rules:

NameImage
BeeBee
Elder GuardianElder Guardian
Ender DragonEnder Dragon
VindicatorVindicator
Iron GolemIron Golem
Snow GolemSnow Golem
VillagerVillager
Wandering TraderWandering Trader
EvokerEvoker
WitherWither

Behavior

Creatures are affected by the environment in the same way as the player: they are subject to physics, can be injured by the same elements as the player (catching fire, falling, drowning, being attacked with weapons, etc.) Some monsters may be resistant or immune to certain hazards, such as Nether monsters (excluding Piglins and Hoglins), which are insensitive to fire. Creatures can ride in minecarts and climb ladders in the same way as a player: if they try to move forward while having a ladder in front of them, they will climb it instead. When a creature dies, it emits smoke particles, giving the impression that it turns to dust.

Each type of creature in Minecraft has a certain AI (artificial intelligence) system involving different behaviors and mechanisms. Creatures usually wander randomly – when there is a player nearby –, while avoiding cliffs high enough to cause fall damage. Many creatures have a complex pathfinding system that allows them, for example, to cross mazes to reach an object or a desired destination. The following video illustrates this with zombies. Creatures avoid cacti and fire (except for Blazes, which do not avoid fire). Passive creatures flee in random directions when attacked. Hostile creatures enter “pursuit mode” and go straight to combat when a player is close. Neutral creatures remain neutral until a player or another creature provokes them (usually by attacking them). Most creatures detect players within a radius of 16 blocks around them, but some can see farther. Conversely, most creatures can be heard by players up to 16 blocks away.

Most creatures cannot see through most solid blocks, including semi-transparent blocks such as ice, glass, tall grass, or panes. Creatures will not walk on rails unless pushed. This can be used to retain a small amount of creatures, to create a protection between hostile creatures and the player, or to prevent creatures from interrupting the run of a minecart.

List of Creatures

Creatures are listed and classified by nature below. For more details regarding a particular creature, click to see its own page.

Passive Creatures

Passive creatures are harmless creatures that never attack the player and flee if provoked. Most can breed. Armor stands and players are considered creatures in the Bedrock and Education versions, but not in the Java version.

NameImage
AllayAllay
DonkeyDonkey
StriderStrider
AxolotlAxolotl
MooshroomMooshroom
CatCat
BatBat
HorseHorse
Skeleton HorseSkeleton Horse
PigPig
CamelCamel
Snow GolemSnow Golem
FrogFrog
RabbitRabbit
Wandering TraderWandering Trader
CodCod
SheepSheep
MuleMule
OcelotOcelot
ParrotParrot
Tropical FishTropical Fish
OctopusOctopus
Glowing OctopusGlowing Octopus
ChickenChicken
SnifferSniffer
SalmonSalmon
TadpoleTadpole
TurtleTurtle
CowCow
VillagerVillager

Defensive Creatures

Defensive creatures are special passive creatures that are never hostile toward the player but can still harm them when they feel threatened.

NameImage
PufferfishPufferfish

Neutral Creatures

Neutral creatures do not attack the player unless provoked.

NameImage
BeeBee
SpiderSpider
Cave SpiderCave Spider
GoatGoat
DolphinDolphin
EndermanEnderman
Iron GolemIron Golem
LlamaLlama
Trader LlamaTrader Llama
WolfWolf
DrownedDrowned
Polar BearPolar Bear
PandaPanda
PiglinPiglin
Zombified PiglinZombified Piglin
FoxFox

Hostile Creatures

Hostile creatures attack the player on sight.

NameImage
Ridden SpiderRidden Spider
BlazeBlaze
Skeleton RiderSkeleton Rider
CreeperCreeper
Magma CubeMagma Cube
EndermiteEndermite
EvokerEvoker
GuardianGuardian
GhastGhast
Elder GuardianElder Guardian
HoglinHoglin
PhantomPhantom
Piglin BrutePiglin Brute
PillagerPillager
SilverfishSilverfish
Ridden ChickenRidden Chicken
RavagerRavager
ShulkerShulker
SlimeSlime
WitchWitch
SkeletonSkeleton
StrayStray
VexVex
VindicatorVindicator
Wither SkeletonWither Skeleton
ZoglinZoglin
ZombieZombie
Mummified ZombieMummified Zombie
Zombie VillagerZombie Villager
WardenWarden

Bosses

Bosses are special hostile creatures with complex attacks and movements, as well as a very high amount of health. They are generally immune to most potion effects and capable of seeing creatures affected by the Invisibility effect. There are two bosses.

NameImage
EnderdragonEnderdragon
WhiterWhiter

Classification

Weaknesses and Immunities

Some creatures are vulnerable or otherwise immune to certain types of damage. Aquatic creatures, such as turtles, take more damage with the Impaling enchantment on a trident. Skeletons and their variants are immune to drowning. All so-called “undead” creatures are healed by damage potions, but take extra damage with the Smite enchantment on weapons, as well as damage from instant health potions. Many of these weaknesses and immunities result from the category (see below) to which the creature belongs.

Undead Creatures

This group of creatures includes zombies (and their variants), skeletons (and their variants), Phantoms, Withers, zombie horses, and skeleton horses. These creatures are vulnerable to instant health potions, healed by damage potions, and immune to drowning and poisoning. Zombies, zombie villagers, drowned, skeletons, strays, and Phantoms will burn in daylight unless they come into contact with water or wear a helmet. Under the effect of a fire resistance potion, undead creatures will continue to catch fire in the sun but will no longer take damage. All undead creatures except for drowned, Phantoms, and Withers sink in water. All undead creatures take extra damage with the Smite enchantment on weapons and are ignored by Withers.

Most undead creatures have the ability to pick up items on the ground, and some can appear with pieces of armor or weapons on them.

Aquatic Creatures

This group of creatures includes dolphins, guardians, elder guardians, pufferfish, tropical fish, octopuses, cods, salmons, and turtles, but not drowned zombies. They take extra damage with the Impaling enchantment on a trident. All aquatic creatures except dolphins are immune to drowning, and all except guardians, elder guardians, and turtles take suffocation damage when out of water for too long. Aquatic creatures have the ability to swim, while other creatures simply float on water or sink.

Arthropod Creatures

This group consists of creatures based on arthropods, namely spiders, cave spiders, silverfish, endermites, and bees. They take extra damage and receive the Slowness IV effect when attacked with weapons equipped with the Bane of Arthropods enchantment. Both types of spiders are immune to poison effects. Silverfish hide in infested blocks.

Illagers

This group includes evokers, illusionists, pillagers, vindicators, and ravagers. They are immune to damage from evoker jaws and ignored by vindicators named “Johnny,” supposed to be hostile towards all other game creatures. Illagers are hostile towards villagers, golems, and players. Witches and vexes may accompany them during village raids. Illusionists (and witches) can see players or their targets through blocks. Unlike other illagers, vindicators named “Johnny” attack ravagers.

Recoil Resistance

Some creatures other than bosses have a chance of being immune to the recoil effect when attacked.

Availability

CreatureJavaBedrockEducational
Bee
AgentX
AllayX
Donkey
CameraXX
Spider
Ridden Spider
Cave Spider
Strider
Axolotl
Blaze
BreezeplannedplannedX
Horse
Skeleton Rider
Mooshroom
Cat
Bat
Skeleton Horse
Zombie Horse
Goat
Pig
Creeper
Magma Cube
Dolphin
Camel
Bogged DownplannedplannedX
Ender Dragon
Enderman
Endermite
Evoker
Guardian
GiantXX
Ghast
Iron Golem
Snow Golem
Elder Guardian
FrogX
Hoglin
IllusionistXX
Llama
Trader Llama
Rabbit
Killer RabbitXX
Wolf
Cod
Wandering Trader
Sheep
Mule
Drowned
Ocelot
Polar Bear
Panda
Parrot
Piglin
Piglin Brute
Zombified Piglin
Pillager
Phantom
NPCX
Silverfish
Pufferfish
Tropical Fish
Chicken
Ridden Chicken
Octopus
Glowing Octopus
Ravager
Fox
Sniffer
Salmon
Shulker
Slime
Witch
Skeleton
Armadilloplannedplanned
TadpoleX
Turtle
Cow
Stray
Vex
Villager
Vindicator
WardenX
Wither
Wither Skeleton
Zoglin
Zombie
Mummified Zombie
Zombie Villager

Damage Inflicted by Hostile and Neutral Creatures

The damage that creatures inflict on players is affected by the game’s difficulty. The values below represent the amount of damage taken per hit.

This only applies to creatures attacking the player. Creatures that attack other creatures (wolves, iron golems, etc.) always inflict the damage corresponding to the ‘Normal’ difficulty mode in the table, regardless of the actual difficulty. The values for the Creeper and Ghast assume that the player is directly adjacent to the explosion. The damage of slimes and magma cubes depends on their size. Tiny slimes, although hostile, cannot inflict direct damage. If a Creeper explodes in water, it will not inflict any damage.

However, the damage from an iron golem has a large random factor. Creatures do not inflict any damage in Peaceful mode, except for the wolf (only in the Bedrock version) and the llama.

Combat

Fighting passive creatures is easy — they cannot attack you, so you can kill them without problems. Hostile creatures are divided into three main groups: creatures of darkness, which appear in dark places in your world; Nether creatures, which appear anywhere in the Nether; and local creatures, which appear in specific locations in the normal world or the Nether. Each of these has unique abilities to harm the player, but also weaknesses that can be exploited. In this section, we will give you tips on how to deal with each of these creatures.

Creatures of Darkness

These creatures appear on dark surfaces but not on transparent blocks. Zombies, skeletons, and spiders also have special generators in dungeons.

Nether Creatures

All Nether creatures are immune to fire and lava. Most of them appear regardless of light level.

Local Creatures

These appear only in specific locations, usually in natural structures generated by the game.

Achievements

Progress

Miscellaneous Notes


All this information comes from the official Minecraft Wiki.