Skeleton
Skeleton is a hostile mob in Minecraft. Skeleton has 20 health points (10 hearts). Skeleton deals 2 attack damage. When killed, Skeleton drops 0–2 Arrow and 0–2 Bone.
Skeleton is the ranged half of the Overworld's night shift. It shoots from a distance, backs away when you close in, and catches fire when the sun reaches it unless it is under cover, in water, or wearing a helmet. That retreat is the whole fight: corner one, close the gap behind a raised shield, and it has nothing left, while chasing one across open ground just feeds it shots. Its arrows hurt other mobs too, so a stray hit into a crowd starts an argument you can stand back and watch.
Bones and arrows are the point of them. Bone meal drives every crop, tree, and flower farm you will ever build, and arrows are the one ammunition you never have to craft, which is why a skeleton farm sitting over a dungeon monster spawner or a trial chamber spawner tends to be the second farm a world gets. The skull is a different matter — it drops only when a charged creeper's blast kills one.
Cold turns them into strays. A Skeleton left standing in powder snow long enough freezes into a stray, which fires Arrows of Slowness, and that is a variant you can manufacture deliberately with a cauldron and a bucket of powder snow. Wither skeletons in Nether fortresses are a separate mob entirely, and their skulls are what summon the wither.
A skeleton horse is not a variant of this mob but its mount. During a thunderstorm a skeleton trap can spawn one already carrying a rider, and killing the rider leaves the horse behind, tameable and rideable — the only route to one without commands.
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What does Skeleton drop?
Loot
The following items are dropped from Skeleton when killed
4
Dropped fromThe item the mob drops. Follow it for its own page. Avg. per killHow likely this appears — the bar compares it at a glance. AmountHow many drop at once when the mob is killed, before any Looting bonus. Looting IHow many drop when the weapon that killed the mob carries Looting I. Looting IIHow many drop when the weapon that killed the mob carries Looting II. Looting IIIHow many drop when the weapon that killed the mob carries Looting III. | |||||
| 100% | 0 - 2 | 0 - 3 | 0 - 4 | 0 - 5 | |
| 100% | 0 - 2 | 0 - 3 | 0 - 4 | 0 - 5 | |
| 100% | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 9% - 12% | 1 (9%) | 1 (10%) | 1 (11%) | 1 (12%) | |
Skeleton FAQ
Quick answers
Yes — Skeleton is a hostile mob.
Skeleton has 20 health points, which equals 10 hearts.
Skeleton deals 2 attack damage.
When killed, Skeleton drops 0–2 Arrow and 0–2 Bone. It also drops 5 experience points.
Skeleton spawns naturally in Desert, Plains, Beach, Snowy Beach, Stony Shore, and 47 more.
