Wither (effect)

"Decay" redirects here. For the Easter Egg dimension in 20w14∞, see Java Edition 20w14∞ § decay dimension.
For the diseases in Story Mode, see Story Mode:Wither and Story Mode:Mad Wither.
This article is about the effect. For the mob, see Wither. For other uses, see Wither (disambiguation).
Wither (effect)
Wither (effect).png: Infobox image for Wither (effect) the effect in Minecraft
Invicon Potion of Decay.png: Inventory sprite for Potion of Decay in Minecraft as shown in-game with description: Potion of Decay Wither II (00:40)Invicon Splash Potion of Decay.png: Inventory sprite for Splash Potion of Decay in Minecraft as shown in-game with description: Splash Potion of Decay Wither II (00:40)Invicon Lingering Potion of Decay.png: Inventory sprite for Lingering Potion of Decay in Minecraft as shown in-game with description: Lingering Potion of Decay Wither II (00:10)Invicon Arrow of Decay.png: Inventory sprite for Arrow of Decay in Minecraft as shown in-game with description: Arrow of Decay Wither II (00:05)
Sources

See § Causes

Particle

EffectSprite particle-wither.png: Sprite image for particle-wither in Minecraft #736156 (bistre)

Type

Negative

Wither is a status effect that inflicts damage over time. It acts similarly to Poison, save for the fact that it acts slower, can do so against the undead, and can kill on any difficulty level. It also turns the player's health to black, making their health harder to track.

It can be cured by drinking milk.

Effect

An animation of the health bar when it receives the Wither II effect for 5 seconds.

The amount of damage inflicted to the affected entity is shown in the table below:

Level Ticks per HP♥ HP♥ per second
1 40 0.5HP♥ × 0.25
2 20 1HP♥
3 10 2HP♥
4[note 1] 5 4HP♥♥
5[note 1] 2 10HP♥♥♥♥♥
6+[note 1] 1 20HP♥ × 10
  1. a b c Due to damage immunity, the effective rate is 10 ticks (HP♥ × 1 per second) at levels 4 and up.

The player's hearts turn black (HP♥ on Survival mode or HP♥ on Hardcore mode), making it more difficult, but still possible, for the player to see their health. Death is reported as "<player> withered away". Amplifiers outside the range 0–31 (corresponding to levels 1–32) use modulo 32.

Causes

Cause Potency Length Lifetime damage Notes
Potion of Decay II 0:40 40HP♥ × 20
Splash Potion of Decay II 0:40 40HP♥ × 20
Lingering Potion of Decay II 0:10 10HP♥♥♥♥♥
Arrow of Decay II 0:05 5HP♥♥♥
Wither II

0:10 (normal difficulty)
0:40 (hard difficulty)

10HP♥♥♥♥♥ (normal difficulty)
40HP♥ × 20 (hard difficulty)

When wither skulls make a direct hit on the target. Normal and Hard difficulty only.
Wither Skeleton I 0:10 5HP♥♥♥ Melee attack only.
Wither Rose I 0:02[note 1] 1HP♥

Only when in range (within the block) and if the difficulty is higher than Peaceful.
The effect is also applied when a bee is fed a wither rose.

Suspicious Stew I 0:07 3HP♥♥ Must be made with Wither Rose
  1. In Java Edition the effect is being refreshed every tick, causing it to apply damage at the same rate. Effectively this causes 1 (HP♥) damage every 10 ticks (instead of every 2 seconds) to living entities due to damage immunity while the entity touches the block.

Immune mobs

Data values

ID

This section is about the effect IDs. For the IDs on potions, see Potion § Item data. For the IDs on tipped arrows, see Arrow § Metadata.

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID Translation key
EffectSprite wither.png: Sprite image for wither in Minecraft Witherwither20effect.minecraft.wither

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID Translation key
EffectSprite wither.png: Sprite image for wither in Minecraft Witherwither20potion.wither

Advancements

IconAdvancementIn-game descriptionActual requirements (if different)
How Did We Get Here?Have every effect applied at the same time

The source of the effects is irrelevant for the purposes of this advancement. Other status effects may be applied to the player, but are ignored for this advancement.

This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.

History

Java Edition
1.4.212w34a The Wither effect has been added, and it is inflicted by the wither's wither skulls and wither skeletons.
1.1418w43aWither Rose added, which inflicts the Wither status effect.
Suspicious stew have been added, which can inflict the Wither status effect.
Changed effect icon texture.
1.2023w12aThe Wither effect color has been adjusted from
 #352A27
to
 #736156
to make it more distinguishable.
1.21.424w44aBees are inflicted with Wither when they are fed a wither rose.
24w45aDecreased the duration of Wither obtained from suspicious stew made with a wither rose from 8 seconds to 7 seconds.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.11.0build 1 Added the wither status effect, which is currently unobtainable.
v0.12.1build 1The Wither effect is now obtainable from wither skeleton attacks.
v0.16.0build 4The Wither effect is now obtainable from wither skull projectiles, and potions of decay as well as splash potion and tipped arrow variants.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0alpha 0.17.0.1The Wither effect can now be obtained from lingering potions of decay.
Bedrock Edition
1.11.0beta 1.11.0.5 Changed effect icon texture.
1.13.0beta 1.13.0.9Added suspicious stew and wither roses, which can inflict the Wither effect.
1.18.30Preview 1.18.30.21The Wither effect is now mitigated by Protection to match Java Edition.[1]
1.21.50Preview 1.21.50.28Bees are inflicted with Wither when they are fed a wither rose.
Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360Xbox OnePS3PS4PS VitaWii USwitch
TU19CU71.121.121.12Patch 11.0.1 Added Wither.
TU69 1.761.761.76Patch 38 The wither effect can now be obtained from potions, splash potions, lingering potions and arrows of decay.
1.91 The texture for the wither effect has changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0 Added the wither status effect.

Issues

Issues relating to "Wither (effect)" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

  • Wither is the only status effect that can harm both living and undead mobs.

References

  1. MCPE-40651 — Protection enchantment doesn't provide extra defense against magic attacks — resolved as "Fixed".

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