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[Mute]

First up a video as proof that it's possible since I know some of you won't believe me.


The reason I made this guide is because I'm tired of people saying the Wither is a gear check and that there's no strategy involved in fighting it.

Preparation

First thing you need is to make a big flat area out in the open, around 50x50 made out of a block with decent blast resistance, I find cobblestone works good and is easy to get.  Don't make it out of dirt or sand otherwise he can easily create holes for you to fall into while your moving around.

Spoiler:

Next you need to get you weapons and potions ready what you'll need is
1 Power IV or higher bow with knockback II
1 Diamond sword with smite IV
1 Extended Potion of Regeneration
1 Extended Potion of Speed
1 Extended Potion of Strength
3 Splash Potions of Instant Health II
3 Wither Skulls
4 Soul Sand

Next make sure that it's early in the day and that there are no animals or mobs anywhere nearby.
After doing that set up the Wither like this and get all of you items on the hot-bar however you want them.

Spoiler:

Having it so all you need to do is place one skull gives you an extra space on the hot-bar that the soul sand would have taken up. Once you're prepared to fight place the skull on the wither.

STRATEGY FOR THE FIGHT

Some thing you should know about the Wither's skulls it launches out, they only apply the wither effect if they hit you directly and they have a delay before being fired again. As long as you don't take a direct hit the explosions cause by the skulls won't do to much  damage to you.

First thing you should do after placing the last head on it is to drink your extended potions while it's filling up the health bar, back away from the Wither while drinking them, also drink your regeneration potion last.

After you're far enough away from the Wither so that its explosion won't hit you pull out your bow and aim a bit above it so that when it launches into the air you can get a quick shot on it.

Now comes the hard part you have to avoid getting hit by the skulls while still shooting the Wither. First up you should never stop moving, if you stand still you will die. Just keep backing up while shooting. The best way to do this is to wait for the Wither to fire its skulls and shoot it between the delay. If you think you're going to get hit jump right before the skull hits you so that it goes under you and you only take explosion damage. Even without the wither effect this could end up doing around 4 full hearts of damage.
Never let the Wither get directly above you, if it does sprint away from it or use your knockback bow to launch it away. If the Wither gets above you it becomes almost impossible to dodge the skulls.

After it's down to half health get your sword ready. You'll want to get close to the Wither fast because it will still shoot skulls at you. When you attacking the Wither circle around it while attacking so that skulls are less likely to hit you. With any luck the Wither will die and you have a brand new nether star.

Hope you enjoyed this guide an if you have any suggestions for improvements feel free to tell me.

[bdt13334]

I don't see a video?

[Mute]

bdt13334, on 27 November 2012 - 06:07 AM, said:

I don't see a video?

It's the stupid post editing thing I went to edit something and it removed the video, I fixed it now.

[LtKernelPanic]

Not too bad at all. I'm partial to finding a specific bedrock formation and letting it suffocate itself while I enjoy a cold beverage.

[JTTCOTE2]

Another thing you can do that really removes all challenge is digging a looongggg 2*1 tunnel and spawning it at one end and backing up. It'll slowly blast its way down the tunnel but not be able to fit, and you can just spam arrows at it then hit it with your sword all while being completely safe

[Mute]

LtKernelPanic, on 27 November 2012 - 06:18 AM, said:

Not too bad at all. I'm partial to finding a specific bedrock formation and letting it suffocate itself while I enjoy a cold beverage.

JTTCOTE2, on 27 November 2012 - 10:43 AM, said:

Another thing you can do that really removes all challenge is digging a looongggg 2*1 tunnel and spawning it at one end and backing up. It'll slowly blast its way down the tunnel but not be able to fit, and you can just spam arrows at it then hit it with your sword all while being completely safe

Personally I find doing it those ways to be a lot less fun, I'd have a challenge.

[rodabon]

Good job Mute.   I find your post amusing after all the crying and moaning during the snapshots about how the wither took no skill and was just a gear check.  You've proven that with some preparation and skill no armor is necessary.

[Mute]

rodabon, on 27 November 2012 - 04:51 PM, said:

Good job Mute.   I find your post amusing after all the crying and moaning during the snapshots about how the wither took no skill and was just a gear check.  You've proven that with some preparation and skill no armor is necessary.

Eventually I plan on seeing if I can beat it without enchanted weapons. It might take me a lot longer to succeed doing that though.

[BrokenPsychics]

Amazing. I don't know how people find the Wither a fight without skill. He destroys EVERTHING in the area and the Wither effect is pretty lethal.

[LtKernelPanic]

Mute, on 27 November 2012 - 02:28 PM, said:

Personally I find doing it those ways to be a lot less fun, I'd have a challenge.

You're right and I have fought them in a similar way, albeit with armor, to what you described. It was fun to take them on but I need at least 10 beacons for my project and the novelty of having a royal rumble wears off quick after the first couple.

[Dragon]

Thanks, Mute!

[bart900]

Finally a tactic for the wither that involves it being an actual challenge instead of being an underground pussy. thanks mute

[Moonrox]

Lol, don't suppose my topic gave you the idea? Just to let you know, I actually just killed him. He plowed through the earth, all the way down to bedrock, and I hunted him down and killed him. Thanks for being the only person that didn't instantly write me off as a noob (despite the fact that I've been playing since beta 1.4) on my thread.

[Mute]

I'm currently trying to see if I can beat the wither with no potion boosts, just using unenchanted weapon and splash potions of health II. Currently the best I've done so far is doing a third of his life, took around 5 minutes to get him down that low due to his health regenerating.

Moonrox, on 28 November 2012 - 04:30 AM, said:

Lol, don't suppose my topic gave you the idea? Just to let you know, I actually just killed him. He plowed through the earth, all the way down to bedrock, and I hunted him down and killed him. Thanks for being the only person that didn't instantly write me off as a noob (despite the fact that I've been playing since beta 1.4) on my thread.

Yeah, it's what gave me the idea for the topic. Also figured that I had nothing better to do at the time than to try this.

[Sen4lifE]

You took off the armor.. and then used buffs and heals.. that doesn't prove much.  You took HoTs and instant heals over damage reduction.  Any RP gamer can see that you really just took a different path, you didn't prove that you don't need gear/item.

Do it without potions.  Then I'll be impressed.

Edit: I want to further elaborate that the Wither takes tanking, really, to defeat it (where the Enderdragon is more a DPS situation).  Healing can be a type of tanking (HoTs and megaheals), so by buffing yourself and doing this, you're doing much of the same as you are using DR (another type of tanking).  If you managed to do it without either of these, then that would be impressive.

[Kholdstare]

Mute, on 27 November 2012 - 02:28 PM, said:

Personally I find doing it those ways to be a lot less fun, I'd have a challenge.

Though I agree with you, the Wither isn't exactly a challenge. Unless, of course, you're fighting in a rigged arena that induces challenge, but that's the arena that makes the fight challenging. Not the boss.

Sen4lifE, on 19 December 2012 - 11:41 PM, said:

You took off the armor.. and then used buffs and heals.. that doesn't prove much.  You took HoTs and instant heals over damage reduction.  Any RP gamer can see that you really just took a different path, you didn't prove that you don't need gear/item.

Do it without potions.  Then I'll be impressed.

Edit: I want to further elaborate that the Wither takes tanking, really, to defeat it (where the Enderdragon is more a DPS situation).  Healing can be a type of tanking (HoTs and megaheals), so by buffing yourself and doing this, you're doing much of the same as you are using DR (another type of tanking).  If you managed to do it without either of these, then that would be impressive.

I can do it without potions. Or a sword, for that matter. The method is in the spoiler below.

Spoiler:

Do it on creative.

Spoiler:

I would be really impressed if someone could do it legit, but I seriously doubt that it is possible without doing it on creative or using bedrock formations.

[Sirsir94]

i made a chamber that uses heal pots to kill a wither. then i come in on normal and find out it only works in easy cuz of the blue skulls....

[MMWong]

Wow, thanks for the tip!

[DispenserWither]

A nice tatic for defeating Wither.Nice job,Mute! +1

[Mathy]

Great job, I tried this and it saved my armor a lot!