I've been playing my new survival world for a while now and have defeated the Ender Dragon. I'm getting ready for the next challenge: to face the Wither. I've never even built one before in survival mode, so this is going to be a new experience for me, and I'd like some advice.
Equipment
I have a fairly safe, mild play style and I don't try extreme challenges (like killing an Ender Dragon while only dressed in pyjamas and armed with a banana). Forgive my wimpishness. I have a full set of heavily enchanted Diamond armor, an Infinity bow, plain arrows and Health II tipped arrows, a Smite IV Diamond sword, plenty of food and Regeneration II potions, Healing II potions, and Ender Pearls. I think that's all I'll be bringing with me on this journey, other than the essentials to spawn the Wither itself, and a map to get to the...
Location
I've scouted out a good place to spawn the Wither, on a deserted desert island, far away from any of my constructions. I have tested the location in Creative mode and it seems to work out okay. At first I wanted to spawn the Wither in the End, but my testing there resulted in the Wither committing suicide rather than giving me it's Nether Star, by chasing an Enderman off the edge of the End island. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry as I watched the Wither slowly falling to it's death in the abyss below the End, taking the Star well out of my reach.
My Questions
Is there anything else in the way of equipment that I really should take with me when fighting the Wither?
I could breed a horde of wolves at the location to attack it, or sheep to keep it otherwise occupied. Would that help any?
Is there any point building a shelter (or shelters) at the location, if the Wither can just destroy them with a touch?
Are there any tactics I should know about which are useful for dispatching the Wither quickly?
Thanks in advance for any advice that you can give. I expect this battle to be a challenge for me, but to last no more than about an hour. If it becomes a long, protracted campaign then I'll probably be back seeking more advice, hehe.
Hi, I'm Augur and I'm from New Zealand (NZ). Just call me "Augur". I'm an older person playing Minecraft Xbox 360 Legacy Console Edition without Xbox Gold (no online gaming, sorry), so please don't hate on the old. 😄
Take a bed with you and dig a little hole so you can sleep and set your spawn there. Put it in a hole where you will spawn out of sight of the wither (should you die). Taking 'friends' with you to occupy the wither and make it easier for you only works for a short time, the wither will quickly kill them all and then you'll be on your own. The first part of the fight is the easy part, when you can used ranged attacks and keep your distance. When he drops below half health and you gotta use a sword is when it becomes really difficult.
In addition to potions golden apples are awesome for this fight, notch apples especially. Take plenty of regen potions, nothing sucks worse than killing the wither only to wither away.
What difficulty are you playing on, because that can really make a difference. If it's on Easy, you will take damage from the wither by its heads but it's like getting blasted by a creeper from a distance that can hurt but not kill.
Normal or hard, you will get blasted and withered. In normal, the withering effect is Finite, like timed potion effects, and additional hits do not add to the effect time.
In hard mode, the withering effect stacks each time you take damage, adding another minute with each hit.
Withering is not poison. Poison won't kill you, but withering will.
Here's what you need. Smite V sword. Power V bow, ideally with infinity on it. If not, have around two stacks of arrows. Bring a golden apple. Notch apple is even better. Only use it in the case of being withered while you snipe with your bow.
Splash potions of strength II (glowdust instead of redstone dust) splash potion of regeneration, and a bucket of milk.
It's best to take it underground. Out in the open it's destructive and flies around and behind things and kills passive mobs. Never spawn one by on your base. I always take mine as far down as the bedrock because the wither can destroy any block, even obsidian, but not bedrock. Trust me, these things leave quite a wake, and the less room it has to move around, the better. Dig a long hallway, like branch mining for diamonds. Build a little room at the end of the tunnel, especially at the map edge. The soul sand cannot touch anything or it won't make the wither.
When first creating it, it will begin to fill its healthbar. It cannot be damaged at this point so don't even try. When it reaches full health, it will send out a shockwave which will destroy anything nearby, including you. Give it a very wide berth
From a good enough distance, around 15 or 20 blocks, it will not attack you, so begin shooting it with arrows until it gets down at half its health. It will then shield and deflect any projectiles and begin to heal. This is when you hit yourself with your potions and go in with your sword. It will wither the crap out of you, but the regeneration will protect you. The combination of smite V and strength II at half health will finish off the wither in seconds.
Once it's dead, drink your milk to stop withering. You can still die at this point without it. At least on hard mode.
I've been playing my new survival world for a while now and have defeated the Ender Dragon. I'm getting ready for the next challenge: to face the Wither. I've never even built one before in survival mode, so this is going to be a new experience for me, and I'd like some advice.
Equipment
I have a fairly safe, mild play style and I don't try extreme challenges (like killing an Ender Dragon while only dressed in pyjamas and armed with a banana). Forgive my wimpishness. I have a full set of heavily enchanted Diamond armor, an Infinity bow, plain arrows and Health II tipped arrows, a Smite IV Diamond sword, plenty of food and Regeneration II potions, Healing II potions, and Ender Pearls. I think that's all I'll be bringing with me on this journey, other than the essentials to spawn the Wither itself, and a map to get to the...
Location
I've scouted out a good place to spawn the Wither, on a deserted desert island, far away from any of my constructions. I have tested the location in Creative mode and it seems to work out okay. At first I wanted to spawn the Wither in the End, but my testing there resulted in the Wither committing suicide rather than giving me it's Nether Star, by chasing an Enderman off the edge of the End island. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry as I watched the Wither slowly falling to it's death in the abyss below the End, taking the Star well out of my reach.
My Questions
Thanks in advance for any advice that you can give. I expect this battle to be a challenge for me, but to last no more than about an hour. If it becomes a long, protracted campaign then I'll probably be back seeking more advice, hehe.
Hi, I'm Augur and I'm from New Zealand (NZ). Just call me "Augur". I'm an older person playing Minecraft Xbox 360 Legacy Console Edition without Xbox Gold (no online gaming, sorry), so please don't hate on the old. 😄
Take a bed with you and dig a little hole so you can sleep and set your spawn there. Put it in a hole where you will spawn out of sight of the wither (should you die). Taking 'friends' with you to occupy the wither and make it easier for you only works for a short time, the wither will quickly kill them all and then you'll be on your own. The first part of the fight is the easy part, when you can used ranged attacks and keep your distance. When he drops below half health and you gotta use a sword is when it becomes really difficult.
In addition to potions golden apples are awesome for this fight, notch apples especially. Take plenty of regen potions, nothing sucks worse than killing the wither only to wither away.
What difficulty are you playing on, because that can really make a difference. If it's on Easy, you will take damage from the wither by its heads but it's like getting blasted by a creeper from a distance that can hurt but not kill.
Normal or hard, you will get blasted and withered. In normal, the withering effect is Finite, like timed potion effects, and additional hits do not add to the effect time.
In hard mode, the withering effect stacks each time you take damage, adding another minute with each hit.
Withering is not poison. Poison won't kill you, but withering will.
Here's what you need. Smite V sword. Power V bow, ideally with infinity on it. If not, have around two stacks of arrows. Bring a golden apple. Notch apple is even better. Only use it in the case of being withered while you snipe with your bow.
Splash potions of strength II (glowdust instead of redstone dust) splash potion of regeneration, and a bucket of milk.
It's best to take it underground. Out in the open it's destructive and flies around and behind things and kills passive mobs. Never spawn one by on your base. I always take mine as far down as the bedrock because the wither can destroy any block, even obsidian, but not bedrock. Trust me, these things leave quite a wake, and the less room it has to move around, the better. Dig a long hallway, like branch mining for diamonds. Build a little room at the end of the tunnel, especially at the map edge. The soul sand cannot touch anything or it won't make the wither.
When first creating it, it will begin to fill its healthbar. It cannot be damaged at this point so don't even try. When it reaches full health, it will send out a shockwave which will destroy anything nearby, including you. Give it a very wide berth
From a good enough distance, around 15 or 20 blocks, it will not attack you, so begin shooting it with arrows until it gets down at half its health. It will then shield and deflect any projectiles and begin to heal. This is when you hit yourself with your potions and go in with your sword. It will wither the crap out of you, but the regeneration will protect you. The combination of smite V and strength II at half health will finish off the wither in seconds.
Once it's dead, drink your milk to stop withering. You can still die at this point without it. At least on hard mode.