Monster infighting
Monster infighting is a mechanic in Minecraft in which certain mobs retaliate against other mobs.
Explanation
If a mob capable of attacking is directly attacked by a player or another mob, the damaged mob stops attacking its current target and attacks the mob or player that damaged it. This causes the mob that did the damage to retaliate in turn, and the two of them become locked into a duel until one of them dies. This is useful in combat as it distracts two monsters temporarily, kills one of them, and severely weakens the other.
Once a mob has taken damage from a mob or player, that mob or player is set as the mob's permanent target. This means that even if another mob or player attacks an infighting mob, the infighting mob does not stop trying to attack its permanent target. If a certain mob refuses to infight with another monster, it is likely because the player or a mob already attacked it, so the player or a mob was set as the mob's permanent target. That mob does not infight with any other mob until the attacking player or mob dies. If the attacker goes beyond the mob's sight range, this resets the retaliating behavior and the mob either returns to neutral mode or searches for a new target.
Specific mob behavior
Retaliation
Not all mobs have the same infighting behavior. Below is a list of how each mob reacts to being attacked by another. In Bedrock Edition, retaliation is controlled by the AI Goal component minecraft:behavior.hurt_by_target in the entity JSON files.
| Mob | Behavior |
|---|---|
 Blaze,  Bogged,  Cave Spider,  Drowned,  Enderman,  Ghast,  Husk,  Iron Golem,  Killer Bunny,  Shulker,  Skeleton,  Spider,  Stray,  Warden,  Witch,  Wither Skeleton,  Zoglin,  Zombie,  Zombie Villager
|
Retaliates normally, as described above. |
Blaze,  Dolphin, Drowned,  Endermite,  Hoglin, Husk,  Piglin,  Piglin Brute, Shulker,  Silverfish,  Vex,  Wolf, Zombie, Zombie Villager,  Zombified Piglin
|
These are pack mobs. When they retaliate, they call nearby mobs of the same type to help them if those mobs aren't already targeting another mob or player. Mobs that respond to the call set the victim as their permanent target. These mobs do not retaliate against other mobs of the same type. Additionally, piglins and piglin brutes retaliate in groups if a piglin/piglin brute is attacked by any mob including goats.[1] In Bedrock Edition, if the broadcast_anger field is set to true in the minecraft:angry component in the entity JSON files, it makes the mob a pack mob.
|
 Bee
|
Bees are a pack mob (see above) but they attack back only once until they are made angry again. |
 Polar Bear
|
Retaliates as a pack mob only when a baby polar bear is attacked. |
 Breeze
|
Retaliates normally, but not against mobs from the trial chambers (zombies, husks, slimes, silverfish, spiders, cave spiders, strays, skeletons, bogged). |
 Wither
|
Retaliates normally, but not against undead mobs. |
 Creeper
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Retaliates only if it is not already chasing the player. |
 Evoker,  Illusioner, Pillager,  Ravager,  Vindicator,
|
These are all the illager monsters. They retaliate against non-illager monsters. Additionally, evokers sometimes forget their target and focus back on the player. |
 Llama,  Trader Llama
|
Attacks back only once, although two llamas can alternate spitting at each other until one of them dies. |
 Panda
|
Aggressive pandas only retaliate. All other types try to attack back only once. |
 Axolotl,  Cat,  Elder Guardian, Endermite,  Ender Dragon,  Frog,  Fox, Ghast, Giant,  Goat,  Guardian,  Magma Cube,  Ocelot,  Phantom,  Slime,  Snow Golem, Wither
|
Does not retaliate. |
- Notes
- Endermen retaliate, but this rarely happens because they are immune to most projectiles. Endermen become hostile toward iron golems, the ender dragon, withers, zoglins and "Johnny" vindicators if damaged by any one of them.
- Witches don't usually fight one another, but when a battle between two witches begins, it does not end without outside interference, because they continually heal themselves with potions of Healing.
- Skeletons and witches can get into an eternal infighting battle. The witch's harming potions heal the skeleton, and the witch also drinks enough healing potions to counter the skeleton's arrows.
- Not all enemies can incite infighting. Zombies, for example, can hit only the player or mob they are currently targeting, so the only way to provoke them into infighting is to get another monster to hit them. For this reason, it is impossible to get two zombies to fight each other.
- A creeper retaliates against a mob that attacks it, but only if the player is outside the creeper's sight range. If not, the creeper continues pursuing the player.
- Breaking gold, opening a chest, or failing to wear gold armor near a piglin causes the piglin to set the player as its permanent target. This means that a piglin does not infight with other mobs once it becomes angry at the player, even if the player never directly attacks the piglin.
- Drowned behave like zombies, although a drowned with a trident can hit another when targeting the player, resulting in infighting.
- Withers in Bedrock Edition can only retaliate against ghasts, because it would already attack non-undead mobs instantly.
Hunting
Some mobs fight others for other reasons than retaliation, such as hunting and fighting natural enemies.
See also
References
| General mechanics | |
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| Survival |
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| Combat | |
| Environment |
More |
| Movement | |
| User interface | |
| Visuals | |
| Outdated |  Sword blocking
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