Mobs are the various types of creatures and monsters found in Minecraft. Currently, there are nine types of mobs. Each of these mobs are affected by the same environmental hazards as the player, including burning and collision (falling) damage. Up to 200 hostile mobs and 15 neutral mobs can be on a map at a time. Mobs spawn no closer than 24 blocks and disappear if they are more than 4 chunks away from the player.
Current Mobs
Passive Mobs
Mobs that will not attack the player and spawn only on grass panels with sufficient level of light (9 or greater).
| Description | Snapshot | Loot |
|---|---|---|
Pigs | ||
| The Pig is a neutral mob that appears in Survival, Infdev, and Indev mode. Pigs exist for the express purpose of providing health-replenishing food to the player. Pigs spawn in groups of three or four and wander aimlessly around a map. Though they are not hostile, pigs can bump into the player, possibly pushing the player over a cliff to their death.
In Survival Test, Pigs can be killed to drop Brown Mushrooms. In Alpha pigs eat mushrooms when they touch them, and they can also be ridden via a saddle. The pigs cannot be controlled when ridden and are the only creature that can use said saddle. |
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Survival: 0-2 brown mushrooms |
Sheep | ||
| Sheep are, like pigs, a neutral mob that first appeared in version 0.30. Unlike other mobs, sheep do not stray far from the area they spawn at; they move to an area with grass if they spawn in an area without grass, however. They usually spawn in packs of 2-8. When sheep are hit they drop White Cloth.
In Survival Test, Sheep eat grass which makes the blocks Dirt. A Sheep's cloth grows back after they eat Grass. Sheep can be killed to drop Brown Mushrooms. In Alpha, sheep act much like pigs, wandering and idling aimlessly. In this mode, sheep do not drop any food when killed. |
File:Sheep2.png | Survival: 0-2 brown mushrooms
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Cows | ||
| Cows are currently the largest neutral mob. They were added in Alpha Version 1.0.8. Cows can be milked by using a Bucket, although Milk has no current use. When killed, cows produce 0-3 pieces of leather that can be used to make armor. Cows make rather loud moos when idle and squeal when you hit them. Cows never spawn with more than twelve (rarely) in their group. However, cows do have a tendency to wander around alone.
With the update to Alpha Version 1.0.14, cows were given a new skin in addition to horns. |
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Alpha: |
Chickens | ||
| Chickens were added in Alpha Version 1.0.14. Chickens can fly when falling, which prevents any Falling Damage. Currently, Chickens can spawn in groups of 2-4 but are mostly spotted individually. The chicken is currently the smallest neutral mob. They occasionally drop Eggs at random and give 0-2 feathers when they are killed. In the 1.0.17_02 update, they were given sounds. Chickens can be killed by a single sword-blow, unlike other mobs. | 
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Alpha: |
Enemy Mobs
Mobs that will attack the player and spawn on every type of block with the exception of glass and half-blocks in a light level of 7 or less. There are exceptions.
| Description | Snapshot | Loot |
|---|---|---|
Skeletons | ||
| The skeleton is a hostile mob found in Survival, Infdev and Indev. Skeletons are spawned randomly in new Survival maps and follow players when approached, much like zombies. In Indev mode, they only spawn in dark areas, such as unlit areas on the surface at night, or in unlit caves.
Skeletons are vastly different in Survival mode than in InDev and InfDev. Both variations can, however, attack other hostile mobs (of the same or different type). In Survival, skeletons are similar to zombies. They take 4-6 hits to kill and can wear NPC armour, although the armour does not give them any additional hit points. They inflict 2 hearts of damage upon attack. Skeletons will fire arrows at you and, upon death, will burst out arrows that the player can collect. Killing said skeleton will net you 120 points. One important note about skeletons is that they can shoot arrows through water with little to no effect on speed and accuracy. Therefore, it is extremely hard to kill a skeleton in water, it is best to fight skeletons on land. In Indev and Infdev, skeletons are fairly fast-paced enemies that will shoot arrows at the player at a decent speed. Unlike the skeletons in Survival mode, InDev and InfDev ones do not currently wear armour. If touched by sunlight (the sun at a 15 degree angle or greater) InDev and InfDev skeletons will begin to take burn damage until death. After a seecret Friday Update, skeletons are able to ride spiders (see below). |
File:Skeleton.jpg | Alpha: 0-2 arrows |
Zombies | ||
| The zombie is a hostile mob that appears in Survival, Indev, Infdev and Zombie Siege. As of the September 3, 2009 update, zombies are the fastest mobs in the game. Zombies can navigate and chase players. Their attack deals 3 hearts of damage. They usually appear in packs of two or more. In Indev mode they only spawn in dark areas, such as unlit areas on the surface at night, or in unlit caves. Zombies can sometimes be found wearing one piece of armor or the whole set in Survival mode but this is merely cosmetic. When a zombie is killed, the player gets 80 points. They are much slower in Indev/Infdev. Like the Indev/Infdev skeletons, zombies burst into flames if they come into contact with direct sunlight. In Alpha, the zombie's sounds are arguably the most realistic in the game.
In the free version of Survival mode, armored zombies appear randomly along with groups of normal zombies. These zombies are easily distinguishable by their body armor and/or helmets. Their armor does not however give them any additional hit points, the difference is purely cosmetic. |
File:Zombie.jpg | Alpha: 0-2 feathers |
Creepers | ||
| The creeper is a type of mob, found in Survival, Infdev, Indev, and the newest Alpha version. Like the skeleton, the creeper differs heavily from one version to another. The creeper design is based on a failed attempt to make a pig model, hence the four legs. Creepers make no idle noise therefore you will only know if one is nearby if you see it first.
Indev/Infdev/AlphaThe creeper is a slow-moving kamikaze mob. Upon getting close enough, it will let out a loud "burning fuse" sound and detonate after 1.5 seconds, but never make any other noises. This count-down can be halted; if the player moves out of the creeper's blast radius, the creeper will cancel its detonation, run up to the player, and start again. This can be useful by smacking the creeper, moving back so it follows you, smacking it again, and so on until it is defeated. The player can also get close enough to a Creeper from above to hit it with a melee weapon without the Creeper's detonation being activated. Killing the creeper before this countdown starts or finishes will not cause the creeper to detonate. The creeper will cause a 4x4x4 spherical crater upon detonation. Unlike in Survival mode, the explosion caused by a creeper in Indev mode can destroy stone and other hard materials but the harder the material, the less effective the explosion. Creepers do not catch fire when daylight comes. Creepers can drop records. How they get hurt does not matter, as long as the final blow is made by a skeleton. The most efficient way to do this is to hit a creeper with an iron sword twice, and have a skeleton shoot it after. SurvivalThe creeper behaves much like a zombie, except its attack deals only two hearts worth of damage instead of three. After taking some damage, it flashes, showing it is about to detonate. Upon being killed, it causes an explosion which can hurt the player, and leaves a small crater, destroying plenty of blocks. Currently, their explosions have no effect on "hard" materials such as rock, cobblestone, ore, or metal tiles. Unlike the zombie, it does not wear armour. In groups, they can cause a chain reaction of explosions, which can be very dangerous to the player. The creeper is worth 200 points. Notch has described Creepers as "being crunchy, like dry leaves". Warning: on hard mode you can escape creepers before they explode; however, it is more difficult to do so than on easier difficulties. Also, creepers are infamous for sneaking up behind unsuspecting players just as they think they're safe. You have been warned. |
File:Twocreepers.png | Alpha:
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Spiders | ||
| The spider was the second mob added to the game. Unlike other hostile mobs (1x1x2 box), the spider is a flat mob (2x2x1 box). It cannot enter the same narrow spaces that zombies and other tall mobs can, but it can crawl into places where the ceiling is too low for any other mobs.
Alpha: In the Minecraft Alpha mode the spider is drastically different from the zombie. For starters, their eyes glow red and it has multiple model skins. It moves at the same speed as in Survival, but its jumping ability is significantly improved. You cannot out-run a spider in Indev/Infdev mode. Spiders will not burn during the day, but will also be much more passive, not becoming aggressive until you attack them. If they were chasing the player during night they will usually continue. Spiders make a sound somewhat like someone slurping a straw and their distinctive noise can warn you of their presence. When a spider is spawned it has a 1 in 100 chance of having a skeleton spawn with it riding on its back. They are separate enemies though and have separate health bars. This "Spider jockey" has both the ranged arrow attack of a skeleton and the mobility of a spider as well as larger combined health.
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File:Spider2.png | Alpha: 0-2 units of string |
Slimes | ||
| The slime is the fifth hostile mob, added in Minecraft Alpha 1.0.11. They appear as green semi-transparent cubes. Slimes come in four official sizes: huge, big, normal, and small. When a player attacks a huge, big or normal-sized slime, it will break off into four smaller sized slimes (huge to big, big to normal, normal to small) unless a sword is used. Slimes will not grow larger over time. Slimes of any size will burn instantly upon touching lava and die moments later without splitting into smaller slimes. Only huge, big and normal-size slimes can deal damage; small ones are harmless but can still push you around.
Slimes are found in deep caves, usually in large, cavernous spaces (making them appear often in large, open mines). This is partially caused by the fact that they will not spawn more than 15 squares above the bottom of the map (10 squares before the topmost bedrock). They are currently available in all difficulties, even in peaceful where small slimes will spawn. In addition, a bug causes slimes of any size to not be removed when switching to peaceful. Huge slimes are currently the largest hostile mob in the game. The slime is the first mob that can spawn in both light and dark areas. By editing the mob's files, it is possible to make the slimes much bigger, some values creating 50 block high slimes. Slimes cannot swim, therefore they will drown if they are submerged completely in water, and jumping does not get them out of water. |
File:Slime1.png | Alpha: 0-2 units of Slime Balls |
Past Mobs
Humans | |
| Humans are non-playable characters (NPCs) which take the form of clones of the default skin. They used to be be created by pressing 'G' while playing in Creative mode, but this function was later removed. It has never been possible to spawn humans in Survival mode. If the player has a custom skin, any humans created will still use default skin and will not assume the look of the player. Humans could not create or delete blocks, they would just move around the map aimlessly. They were affected by blocks and fluids the same way the player is. Humans currently do not appear in any form of Minecraft. The human model was originally going to be used for a top-down game called "Zombie Town" by Notch. | File:Mob1.png |
Rana | |
| "Rana" were mobs who resembled little girls with frog hats. They were originally in-game as a test; Rana was made by "Dock", Minecraft's past artist, for another project of his. The player's character was supposed to look like Rana, albeit with a miner hat, no ponytails and a different skin. This was scrapped with Dock's removal, with a fair few people arguing for her to stay. There were also other mobs that were styled like Rana, called Steve, Black Steve and Beastboy. however, these were pulled from the game at the same time as Rana. | 
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Future Mobs
Ghasts
Notch commented on his Twitter, saying he "made the most unfair mob ever even more unfair," and that we "will hate the Ghast". He also stated that it is currently just a 4 meter (4 block) grey cube, is not invisible, and since "fire works surprisingly well [at killing it] considering it lives in the hell dimension," has been made immune to fire. Notch also stated on Twitter that Ghasts will not be ghost-like or two-legged.
The Ghast will appear in Hell in the Halloween Update.
Giants
Notch briefly ran a test of giant zombies during the very first version of survival, .31. (video)
It is possible Giants may become a future mob.
Dragons
Notch hinted during the Spider-riding skeleton update that he will add Dragons to the game. It is likely they will be classified as mega-mobs and will likely be found in caves underground or exposed to the surface. Dragons may also be able to fly or breath fire.
Notch confirmed in his twitter that he will definitely add a form of flying transportation. There is a chance that Dragons may be able to be ridden in a similar manner to pigs.
Prefix Mobs
Notch confirmed during the Brocraft.net stream that he will be adding 'prefix mobs'. This meaning that there will be mobs such as 'Burning Spider' 'Giant Zombie' 'Cobble Creeper' and etc. It's unknown how many prefixes there will be. A similar comparison could be that of the creatures from Borderlands or Dwarf Fortress.
Sea monsters
On July 21st, 2010, Notch commented via [1] that Sea Monsters are a possibility. He particularly noted the possibility of sharks. Whales have recently been confirmed as a sea mob, although their purpose hasn't been specified.
Fish
Notch has confirmed the addition of fish and fishing, but it is unknown if the fish will be visible, physically there (pushing you), or do they appear only after catching them.
Other Future Mobs
Notch has stated that wolves are going to be a definite addition, along with goblins who live in NPC Villages.