Mobs (Minecraft Guide)

Minecraft's mobs are wierd bunch aren't they. Despite being blocky looking they share very different properties with each other. Some people might find this extremely boring, but learning how to deal with them can make you a Gold member Minecraft survivor.

If you want to read a more detailed description of some of the mobs, click on their specific pages on the wikia.

Passive Mobs
These mobs will never attack you, some from the list below can be used for taming and farming but some have just been added to annoy the player!

Bats

Bats are one of the few flying mobs in the game. If killed bats drop nothing not even XP, meaning Bat farming is not advised. They only spawn in Dark area like caves, and when it is day time outside, they will hand down from the celings in their 'idle' position. Bats will also emit a squeaky sound that can be hêard from far away. Making them useful to find large caves, but nothing else.

Chickens

Chickens are very valuable mobs in Minecraft since can be used for many things. One of them is that they are common like Pigs and Sheep. They can be found wandering around mainly in the Plains biomes and they are attracted to light. Much like the Cow the Chicken drops a food and a resource, these two things being Raw Chicken and Feathers. If killed by fire the Chiclen will be automatically cooked, and wont have a chance to poison you when you eat it.

Cows

Cows are common passive mobs that spawn mainly in Forest biomes and drop a Food source and a resource. The food they drop is raw beef, which fills you up the mobs when cooked. And the resource is Leather which can be used to make Leather Armour, Item Frames and Books. Cows can alos be Milked by right-clicking a Bucket on them, this can be done infinitly and wont effect the Cow. When a Mooshroom is sheared it turns into a Cow.

Horses

A recent addition into Minecraft is the Horse, which you can ride around and clad in Armour. Horses will only spawn in Plains and Savannah biomes and they can only wander into other areas. Horse can be tamed by riding on them over and over until the Horse emits love particles. Once tamed the player can place Armour onto them and a Saddle as well which allows you to take control of the Horse.

Horse can use alot of foodstuffs to breed, these include Apples, Golden Apples, Wheat and Hay Bales. Most of these foodstuffs are pretty rare so make sure you save them if you tame a horse.

Ocelots

The second tameable mob in the game is the Ocelot. They are native to Jungle biomes and will only spawn there and in 'Jungle Edge' biome types. They are shy creatures that can take no fall damage and can scare Creepers away when tamed. To tame an Ocelot to walk up to it slowly and keep right-clicking it with Fish until they emit heart particles. Since Ocelots can scare Creepers away this makes them a good ally to keep, so don't eat any Fish yourself, save it for the Cat.

Pigs

Pigs like some other mobs are a good source of food, dropping 1-3 porkchops when killed. They can found wandering around aimlessly near Plains and Foresty areas of the world. They can only drop porkchops, but if you manage to put a saddle on one, you can control it using a Carrot on Stick. And of cource they are lured to Carrots, meaning you can breed a bunch of Pigs and get more porkchops.

Sheep

Sheep are sort of rare animals found in some biomes across the world. They are the only way of obtaining Wool in Minecraft without crafting it. If killed Sheep only drops 1 wool block but it sheared they drop 3. Sheep like the Wool block can be dyed all 16 different colours. By just right-clicking the dye on the sheep, you can create a rainbow sheep farm. To dye the wool block simply place a white wool block and the dye of your choice in the crafting square. Sheep also eat Grass to grow back their wool, if they get sheared so you don't hVe to get rid of the sheep you sheared since it taked about 3 minutes to regrow their wool back.

Squids

Squids are only found in water and although they look very creepy and aggresive they are completely harmless. When killed they drop very little XP and 1-4 Ink Sac pieces. The Ink Sac an be used to create Black wool colours as well as create the Book and Quill. Squids are actully the only mob in Minecraft that drops a dye when killed.

Villagers

Villager mobs are humanoid like people found only in NPC Villages. They come in a bunch of textures depending on their profession around the Village. NPC Villagers can also trade to player items. The main item for currency is Emerals, you can buy Emerals for items or sell Emeralds for items. Most villages will offer pretty good trades, so if it could be possible to keep a couple Villagers wandering around your base, it could be a good way to gather materials quickly. Villagers at night are very vulnerable to Zombies, since at night any Zombies in the area will attempt to break down the doors of the houses. If any Zombies do get into the houses the Villagers can get turned into Zombie Villagers will are hostile towards the player.

Neutral Mobs
Neutral mobs are unique in that they wont attack you unless provoked. Ways of annoying them vary, but if you do agitate one you'll end up in a fight.

Endermen

Undoubtedly one of the creepiest mobs in Minecraft, Endermen are tall, dark humanoid creatures with glowing magenta coloured eyes. They are found all over the Overworld and spawn more frequently in the End. They're fond of teleporting around and they can pick up and move certain blocks, even your structures. Endermen can be provoked in two ways, the first one is to attack them, the second one is to simply look at them in the face. If you do this the Enderman will come running after you, and will more than likely teleport away if they have killed you. Avoiding them is easy enough but unfortunately you will eventually have to kill some Endermen to get Ender Pearls, items that are crucial to winning the game.

Wolves

Wolves can be found wandering around in packs in the Overworld, and will completely ignore the player unless attacked. If one is attacked that wolf and any more in the pack will become hostile towards you. If you tame a wolf, they will follow you around and can be fed, but if attacked they wont hurt you back. They can also teleport to the player if they are too far away from the player. (They cannot teleport if sitting).

Zombie Pigmen

Denizens of the Nether, Zombie Pigmen are hybrids of pigs and zombies and wield Golden Swords when they spawn in the Nether. They primarily found in the Nether in large groupds, but can spawn near Nether Portals in the Overworld. If attacked the injured Zombie Pigmen and any other in a 32 block radius will coverge onto the player. Each Zombie Pigman will do 2 hearts on Easy difficulty,so make sure you are prepared before stepping through the Nether Portal.

Hostile Mobs
Hostile mobs make no bones about it, they don't like you and they'll do anything to take you down. If you see or hear one of these, get ready to use your fight or flight reaction. Blaze

Blazes are dangerous fire creatures found only in the Nether. They can fly and will rapidly hurl fireballs at the player, which have impact damage and a DOT (damage over time), usually seen as fire damage. Avoiding them may seem like a prudent action, but you will need to kill these dangerous foes to harvest Blaze Rods, an item crucial to completing the game. Tackling Blazes requires perfect planning and tactics, with the best approach with a Fire Resistance Potion as well as good enough armour. Using ranged weaponds like arrows and splash potions are an advantage to killing them instead of getting up close and personal. Blazes are also hurt by snowballs slightly so bring your mittens.

Cave Spiders

Cave Spiders are dangerous spiders found only in abandoned mineshafts. They are smaller than regular spiders with a blue tinted colour to them. Unlike regular spiders Cave Spiders can inflict poison onto the player. Even Spiders only spawn from Monster Spawners it doesn't make them a rare mob to encounter.

Cave Spiders like normal Spiders will become Neutral in daylight meaning they wont attack you unless you leave them alone.

Creepers

The mostly instantly recognisable of all the mobs in Minecraft. The silent foe is a dangerous suiside bomber that loves the way of sneaking up on unaware players and causing serious damage to both them and the enviroment. Creepers are arguably the most feared mobs in Minecraft, even though theydon't have much health, and can be avoided easily, they still are considered a pain. Creepers when killed will drop only 0-2 gunpowder, or when killed by a Skeleton, a music disc.

Due to their attack style it's better to deal with Creepers with ranged weapons, but if the player has no weapon of that sort, using a sword run up to the creeper and know them away with the sword, then back away from them quickly to get out of thier blast radius, then repeat the process until the Creeper dies.

Having tamed Cats around your buildings makes good defence because Creepers are actually scared of them. Creepers can also turn into Super Charged Creepers if they get struck in a 5 block radius by lightning, the difference between the two is that Super Charged Creepers have bigger explosions which can seriously injure the player.

Elder Guardian

The Elder Guardian is a hostile mob found only in Underwater Monuments. The Elder Guardian will spawn 3 times in certain places of the monument. Elder Guardian will inflict Mining Fatigue III on nearby players, the purpose of this is to protect the treasures hidden within the monument.

The Elder Guardian attacks by firing a large laser beam at the player which will do lots of damage over time, the guardian can also target and attack players who are a riding in boats, although when the player get too far away from the guardians, its beam will disengage and will not attack the player. Elder Guardians do not swim as fast as regular guardians, although they do act the same on land by flopping around and staring at any nearby players.

Ghast

Ghasts are found within the Nether and are huge cube-shaped creatures that will float around the Nether aimlessly, when they take notice of the player they will hurl huge explosives at them, dealing both impact and fire damage. Often you will only know if a Ghast is near you when a fireball explodes near you. The easiest and safest way to kill Ghasts is to use arrows, about 1-4 will usually do. You can also kill Ghasts with there own fireball by hitting it back to them, this will give you an achievement known as 'Return To Sender'.

Guardian

The guardian is a hostile mob found only in underwater monuments. Guardians will attack by shooting a laser beam at the player which will do damage over time. In addition Guardians can target and attack player riding in boats altough if the player gets too far away the beam will disengage and will deal no more further damage.

The skin of a guardian represents a pufferfish like creature, it has one eye in the middle of it's face with 12 orange spikes from it's body that retract over time. The guardian also features a tail which ends in a large fin, which is obviously used for propulsion to swim.

Magma Cube

Similar to the overworld version of Slimes, the Magma Cubes are bouncing blocks that can split into smaller versions of themselves when killed. When killed they will sometimes drop Magma Creams which are used for Fire Resistance Potions. They can take a beating though even in large forms, so caution is paramount. Like most other Nether mobs, Magma Cubes are resistant to fire.

Silverfish

These small bug like creatures are found hiding in Monster Eggs, which are basically Stone disguised blocks that when broken will spawn a Silverfish or two. Silverfish although not very fast, can easily knock playersof high ledges or a swarm of them can catch an injured player in a corner. They drop nothing when killed and yield little experience, so farming them is considered pointless. A single hit with a Diamond sword should do it. As well as dousing lava or dropping gravel.

Skeletons

Without a doubt one of the most annoying but essential mobs in the game. Skeletons are bown and arrows un-dead monsters that can make your Minecraft adventure a misery no matter which part of the world you happen to be situated in. As of the 1.5 patch Skeletons were upgraded to be more accurate with their arrows and shoot faster the closer the player is to them. Luckily Skeletons are not the smartest of mobs as they will happily shoot away at solid walls, and they will burst into flames when sunlight is directed onto them. When killed they will drop either Arrows or Bones and rarely Armour pieces and Bows (possibly enchanted). Skeletons unlike Creepers are easily detected with their rattling sound of bones. Also Skeletons can be ofted fooled into attacking other mobs such as Endermen and Zombies. The tactic can be useful in occasions were a group of skeletons are attacking a player.

Spider Jockey

What is more scarier a Spider or a living Skeleton. How about two of them combined. Yep, two of Minecraft most feared foes combined to create an accurate and very agile tag team. Able to attack at a distance and climb walls, they're the heart of nightmare. The upside is that encountering this daunting creature is extremely rare since every Spider that spawns has a 4% chance of being a Spider Jockey. If you do happen to encounter one, you have to treat it carefully. Since the two mobs are treated like seperate entities it is considered to take out the skeleton first with a bow, so that the mob has no ranged attack, then let the Spider come to you, so that a sword will finish him of.

Spider Jockeys are useful to kill though since the reward of Bones, Arrows, Spider Eyes and String and possibly other rare items can be tempting, so if you find a Spider Jockey don't leave it to despawn, use a little bit of stamina and fight it of.

Witches

Although they look like Villagers, Witches are not friendly and they certainly wont trade goods with you. Along with Skeletons, Witches are a ranged attack mob who will spawn randomly throughout the world and in Witch Huts in some biomes. Witches way of attacking is simply chucking negative splash potions at you which will do different effects like Slowness, Weakness and Poison. Witches will also drink positive splash potions themselves technically making them immune to negative splash potions. This makes them pretty difficult to take on if the player doesn't have a bow equipped. But if you do end up killing a Witch it will bring a plethora of rewards such as Glass Bottles, Sticks, Spider Eyes, Glowstone, Redstone, Sugar and sometimes the positive Splash potions that witches use. when fighting witchs it is often considered to bring along a bucket of milk since that can reverse all potion effects.

Wither Skeletons

The Nether version of the Skeleton is not for the fain hearted. These tall, dark coloured mobs wield a stone sword and with it they can inflict the Wither status effect which causes serious damage to players. The Wither Skeleton spawns in Nether Fortresses, and they are immune to fire and can run faster that most mobs. When killed they drop Coal and Bones and rarely there Stone Swords and skulls. The skulls are used to build the Wither boss which is explained in more detail further on in the page.

Zombies

Possibly the biggest push-over in Minecraft the Zombie, is both plentiful and berefit in brains, but if underestimated they can cause grief. Zombies are slow-moving mobs that will intend to converge onto players to do melee damage. Like skeletons they are vunerable to sunlight so waiting untill morning for the Zombies to die away is a good option to take. They drop rotten flesh, carrots, potatos, iron ingots and sometimes iron shovels, swords and armour. Zombies come in a few types, the regular zombie, the baby, the villager and the baby villager. The baby versions are faster and weaker to the common adult ones. The villager types are basically either Baby Villagers or Villagers faling into the hands of a zombie invasion. Normal zombie attacks are easily dealt with if not in the form of an ambush, and using the creeper technique of attacking, backing of and then attacking again may come in handy.