Wither (effect)

Wither is a status effect that inflicts damage over time. It acts similarly to Poison, but it acts slower and it can kill.

Mechanic[]

Wither is an effect that keeps damaging the player as it continues. Unlike Poison, it can affect undead mobs, deals less damage per second, and can kill. It is usually difficult for the player to see how much health they have left, as it turns the player's health bar black.

Effect[]

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

Level	Ticks per	per second
1	40	0.5 × 0.25
2	20	1
3	10	2
4[note 1]	5	4
5[note 1]	2	10
6+[note 1]	1	20 × 10

The player's hearts turn black ( on Survival mode or on Hardcore‌^{[Java Edition only]} 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	40 × 20	‌[Bedrock Edition only][more information needed]
Splash Potion of Decay	II	0:30	30 × 15	‌[Bedrock Edition only][more information needed]
Lingering Potion of Decay	II	0:10	10	‌[Bedrock Edition only][more information needed]
Arrow of Decay	II	0:05	5	‌[Bedrock Edition only]
Wither	II	0:10 (normal difficulty) 0:40 (hard difficulty)	10 (normal difficulty) 40 × 20 (hard difficulty)	When wither skulls make a direct hit on the target. Normal and Hard difficulty only.
Wither Skeleton	I	0:10	5	Melee attack only.
Wither Rose	I	0:02	1	Only when in range (within the block)
Suspicious Stew	I	0:08	4	Must be made with Wither Rose

Unaffected mobs[]

Wither skeletons, withers and ender dragons are immune to Wither, while witches are 85% resistant to damage from Wither.

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Advancements[]

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	How Did We Get Here?	Have every effect applied at the same time	A Furious Cocktail	Have all of these 27 status effects applied to the player at the same time: Absorption Bad Omen Blindness Conduit Power Darkness Dolphin's Grace Fire Resistance Glowing Haste Hero of the Village Hunger Invisibility Jump Boost Levitation Mining Fatigue Nausea Night Vision Poison Regeneration Resistance Slow Falling Slowness Speed Strength Water Breathing Weakness Wither 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.	nether/all_effects

History[]

Java Edition
1.4.2		12w34a			The Wither effect has been added, and it is inflicted by the wither's wither skulls and wither skeletons.
1.14		18w43a			Wither Rose added, which inflicts the Wither status effect.
					Suspicious stew have been added, which can inflict the Wither status effect.
					Changed effect icon texture.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.11.0		build 1			Added the wither status effect, which is currently unobtainable.
v0.12.1		build 1			The Wither effect is now obtainable from wither skeleton attacks.
v0.16.0		build 4			The Wither effect is now obtainable from wither skull projectiles, and potions of decay as well as splash potion and tipped arrow variants.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0		alpha 0.17.0.1			The Wither effect can now be obtained from lingering potions of decay.
Bedrock Edition
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.5			Changed effect icon texture.
1.13.0		beta 1.13.0.9			Added suspicious stew and wither roses, which can inflict the Wither effect.
1.18.30		beta 1.18.30.20			The Wither effect is now mitigated by Protection to match Java Edition.[1]
Legacy Console Edition
TU19	CU7	1.12	Patch 1		Added Wither.
		1.90			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. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

• Wither is the only status effect that can harm both living and undead mobs.
• The only mobs immune are mobs that inflict wither and boss mobs.

References[]