Skeleton

Skeleton

• Idle
• Aiming

Right-handed

Left-handed

Right-handed

Health points	20HP × 10
Behavior	Hostile
Mob type	Undead, Monster
Attack strength	Ranged Java Edition: Easy: 2HP - 4HP Normal: 3HP – 5HP Hard: 4HP - 8HP Bedrock Edition: Easy and Normal: 1HP - 4HP, depending on proximity Hard: 1HP - 5HP, depending on proximity Melee Easy: 2HP Normal: 2HP Hard: 3HP
Hitbox size	In Java Edition: Height: 1.99 blocks Width: 0.6 blocks In Bedrock Edition: Height: 1.9 blocks Width: 0.6 blocks
Spawn	Overworld: Light level of 0. Rarely when a spider spawns, as a spider jockey. When a skeleton horse trap is triggered, as a skeleton horseman. Monster Room: from monster spawners. Trial Chambers: from trial spawners. The Nether:(Light level of 7 or less) Soul Sand Valley Nether Fortress
Natural equipment	Bow (right hand: 89%; left hand: 11%‌; may be enchanted) Armor (occasionally, may be enchanted) Carved Pumpkin (22.5% chance, only during Halloween) ‌ Jack o'Lantern (2.5% chance, only during Halloween) ‌

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A skeleton is an undead hostile mob that performs ranged attacks with a bow.

Spawning

Skeletons may spawn in the Overworld in groups of up to four‌ or two‌ above solid blocks at a light level of 0, except in mushroom fields, deep dark biomes, and naturally in Trial Chambers.

Spider jockeys

Spiders have a 1% chance to spawn with a skeleton riding them, creating a spider jockey.

A spider jockey.

Skeleton horse traps during thunderstorms

Four skeleton horsemen spawn when a skeleton horse trap is triggered, typically during a thunderstorm. The skeletons ride on skeleton horses and are equipped with enchanted bows and iron helmets. In Java Edition, they have damage immunity for 3 seconds after spawning.

A skeleton horse trap.

In the Nether

Skeletons spawn commonly in soul sand valley biomes. However, skeletons have a lower population density in soul sand valleys than zombified piglins have in nether wastes (i.e. there are much fewer skeletons in a given area).

In nether fortresses structures, there is a 20% chance that a skeleton spawns in place of a wither skeleton.

Monster spawners

Skeletons spawn from 25% of the monster spawners found in monster rooms.

Trial spawners

Regular skeletons have a ¹⁄₃ chance to be selected as the "ranged" mob for trial spawners in trial chambers.

Variants

Many skeletons are also replaced by their variants, strays, in snowy biomes, and bogged, in swamp and mangrove swamp biomes.

Drops

On death

Item		Roll Chance	Quantity (Roll Chance)
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Bone	100%	0–2	0–3	0–4	0–5
	Arrow	100%	0–2	0–3	0–4	0–5
	Skeleton Skull	100%	1	1	1	1

A skeleton always drops any equipment it picked up. A skeleton also has a random chance to drop each piece of naturally spawned equipment, including its bow, if it is killed by a player or tamed wolf. The chance to drop a naturally spawned piece of equipment is 8.5% without Looting, 9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II, and 11.5% with Looting III.

Skeletons drop 5XP experience points when killed by a player or tamed wolf, and an additional 1–3XP for each piece of naturally spawned equipment. The random amount dropped by each piece is independent of the amounts dropped by the other pieces.

Behavior

Skeletons chase players, baby turtles, and iron golems they see within 16 blocks, climbing stairs or ladders, navigating mazes and traversing other complex obstacles to get within shooting range.

An idle skeleton and a skeleton shooting.

When within 15 blocks of a target, with a clear line of sight, a skeleton starts shooting arrows, once every 3 seconds on Easy and Normal difficulties or once every 2 seconds on Hard difficulty. If the player leaves the 15-block radius, skeletons wait for some seconds with the bow charged, shooting the moment the player comes within range again. Their detection range is reduced by 50% if a skeleton skull is worn by the player. This stacks with sneaking and the Invisibility effect.

The skeleton's accuracy is based on the world difficulty. Skeletons have an "error" of 10 on Easy, 6 on Normal and 2 on Hard. This is compared to the player's lack of accuracy of 1. To account for gravity, skeletons aim 0.2 blocks higher for every horizontal block of range to the target.

Skeletons have infinite durability on their bows, and can shoot an infinite amount of arrows. Arrows shot by skeletons cannot be picked up from the ground.

Skeleton behavior varies between the game editions:

Java Edition

• Strafe in circular patterns to dodge attacks and retreat to a safe range if the player comes within 4 blocks. They can walk off cliffs while strafing.
• Sprint toward the player if they are 14 blocks away or farther.
• Use bows even underwater. The water slows down the arrows.
• Animates its bow while attacking.

Bedrock Edition

• Skeletons typically stop moving to shoot, making no attempt to avoid being hit.
• An underwater skeleton uses a melee attack because it is unable to use a bow underwater.
• A skeleton on land shoots quickly at a player in water. The rate of fire increases as the player approaches, making combat difficult due to the knockback.
• Skeletons shoot faster at players the more they are closer to it. The rate of fire decreases from 3 seconds to 1 second the closer the player is.

In most cases, if a skeleton's arrow hits a neutral or hostile mob that has not yet been attacked by the player, the mob attacks the skeleton. When a skeleton is attacked by another mob (including another skeleton), it attacks that mob, reorienting on the player once the mob is dead. Skeletons flee from wolves. A skeleton runs from a chasing wolf until the wolf deals damage, after which the skeleton turns to shoot at the wolf that successfully attacked it.

Dueling skeletons. One skeleton turned red from being shot by the other skeleton. Additionally, a zombie can be seen to the left of the red skeleton.

Skeletons sink in water and cannot swim, but do not drown.

If a skeleton is inside of powder snow for 7 seconds (140 game ticks), it begins shaking. After another 15 seconds (300 game ticks), it converts into a stray. A newly-converted stray always has full health even if converted from a damaged skeleton. The converted stray keeps any items worn or held when it was a skeleton. Only skeletons can become strays; bogged or wither skeletons cannot be converted.

Wolves attacking a skeleton.

If spawned with a weapon other than a bow or no weapon at all (which can be spawned with commands such as /summon skeleton ~ ~ ~ {HandItems:[{Count:1,id:"iron_sword"}]}, or /summon skeleton ~ ~ ~ {}), or it picks up a weapon other than a bow, a skeleton charges at a player with arms outstretched and deals damage by touch, similar to a wither skeleton.

A skeleton holding a tipped arrow or spectral arrow in its off-hand always shoots that type of arrow, and the arrow held is not consumed.

If a skeleton kills a creeper, the creeper drops a music disc. It can be any music disc, except for Pigstep, otherside, Relic, 5, Creator, Creator (Music Box) and Precipice.

Sunlight

A skeleton burning in sunlight.

When the moon can no longer be seen (Dawn) and the sun is above 15°, skeletons can burn. Burning is suppressed when the skeleton is:

• in a place with a non-air block directly over it. In Java Edition, the roof must be a light-blocking block.
• in a sufficiently shaded area: a sunlight level of 11 or less.
• in water. A skeleton pathfinds to water if it is not wearing head armor and not already in water.
• wearing head armor. Helmets slowly get damaged when a skeleton has it on in sunlight, and it eventually breaks.
• under the status effect of Fire Resistance.
• standing in cobwebs.

Transparent and translucent blocks, including glass and ice, do not prevent them from burning.‌.

Unlike zombies, skeletons seek out shelter during the day, and remain under it while attacking.

Mob type

Being an undead mob, they are:

• damaged by the status effect Instant Health and healed by the status effect Instant Damage.
• unaffected by the status effects Regeneration and Poison.
• ignored by the wither.
• affected by the Smite enchantment.
• a threat to armadillos, causing them to hide in their shell.

Geared skeletons

Some spawned skeletons have the ability to pick up dropped items from the ground. Unlike zombies, however, they pick up only weapons or armor. If a picked up item is armor, a carved pumpkin or a mob head, a skeleton equips itself with the item. If the picked up item is a weapon, the skeleton uses the item as a melee weapon. In Bedrock Edition, skeletons can also pick up and equip illager banners worn in their chest slot.

Skeletons spawn already armed with bows, which may be enchanted. The chances of that event are listed below. If a skeleton spawns wearing multiple pieces of armor, the armor is never mismatched (all pieces are made of the same material) except if it is spawned as part of a skeleton trap, in which case only the iron helmet may not match the rest of the armor.

On Halloween, skeletons may spawn wearing a carved pumpkin or jack o'lantern. They do not drop this, even when killed with Looting.

	Easy	Normal	Hard
Armor	0%	0%–15%	1.875%–15%
Weapon	100%	100%	100%
Pick up	0%	0%–55%	6.875%–55%
Weapon enchantment	0%	0%–25%	3.125%–25%
Armor enchantment	0%	0%–50%	6.25%–50%

If a skeleton does spawn with armor, the chances of specific armor are as follows:

Armor	Easy & Normal	Hard
1 piece	100%	100%
2 pieces	75%	90%
3 pieces	56.25%	81%
Full set	42.19%	72.9%

In Java Edition, the armor pieces go from feet to head, and in Bedrock Edition, they go from head to feet.

The chances of it being of a particular material are:

Armor type	Chance
Leather	37.06%
Gold	48.73%
Chain	12.90%
Iron	1.2%
Diamond	0.04%

In Java Edition, a skeleton's armor does not lose durability upon taking damage. Helmets (not blocks like carved pumpkins) on skeletons can break if the skeleton is exposed to daylight. In Bedrock Edition, any armor piece is damaged as if the player is wearing it.

Pickup mechanics

When picking up items, skeletons prefer weapons made of netherite over diamond, over iron, over stone, over gold/wood.

For weapon types, skeletons prefer swords over bows, over axes, over pickaxes, over shovels, over hoes. Skeletons won't take crossbows, tridents or maces whatsoever, as long as they have any other item in hand.

For armor, skeletons prefer armor that give more armor points than the armor to replace. Skeletons accept given cosmetic wearables (heads and carved pumpkins), as long as they aren't wearing a helmet.

If the skeleton accepts a given equipment, the skeleton drops the old one, with the same chance as if killed with Looting I, in favor of the new one. Any skeleton that spawns with equipment (picked-up items do not count) gives 1–3 extra experience points per item.

Skeletons can pick up and equip shields in the other hand, but they cannot use it to block damage.

A skeleton holding a shield.

If multiple viable items exist, the skeleton endlessly picks up and drops the items.

Sounds

Java Edition:
Skeletons use the Hostile Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Skeleton rattles	Hostile Creatures	Randomly	entity.skeleton.ambient	subtitles.entity.skeleton.ambient​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	​Skeleton hurts	Hostile Creatures	When a skeleton is damaged	entity.skeleton.hurt	subtitles.entity.skeleton.hurt​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	​Skeleton dies	Hostile Creatures	When a skeleton dies	entity.skeleton.death	subtitles.entity.skeleton.death​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	​Footsteps	Hostile Creatures	While a skeleton is walking	entity.skeleton.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16
	​Skeleton shoots	Hostile Creatures	When a skeleton shoots an arrow	entity.skeleton.shoot	subtitles.entity.skeleton.shoot​	1.0	5⁄6-1.25	16
	​Skeleton converts to Stray	Hostile Creatures	When a skeleton converts to a stray	entity.skeleton.converted_to_stray	subtitles.entity.skeleton.converted_to_stray​	2.0	0.8-1.2	16

Bedrock Edition:

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Hostile Creatures	Randomly	mob.skeleton.say	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	When a skeleton is damaged	mob.skeleton.hurt	0.7	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	When a skeleton dies	mob.skeleton.death	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	While a skeleton is walking	mob.skeleton.step	1.0	1.0
	Players	When a skeleton shoots an arrow	random.bow	1.0	0.83-1.25
	Friendly Creatures	When a skeleton converts to a stray	mob.skeleton.convert_to_stray	1.0	1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Entity tags	[hide]Translation key
Skeleton	skeleton	can_breathe_under_water ignores_poison_and_regen inverted_healing_and_harm no_anger_from_wind_charge skeletons undead wither_friends	entity.minecraft.skeleton

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	[hide]Translation key
Skeleton	skeleton	34	entity.skeleton.name

Entity data

Skeletons have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.

Java Edition:

• [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Entity data
  • Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template[show]
  • Tags common to all mobs see Template:Nbt inherit/mob/template[show]
  • [Int] StrayConversionTime: The number of ticks until this skeleton converts to a stray (default value is -1, when no conversion is under way).

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements

[hide]
Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Camouflage	Kill a mob while wearing the same type of mob head.	—	30	Bronze
		It Spreads	Kill a mob next to a catalyst	—	10	Bronze
		Monster Hunter	Attack and destroy a monster.	Kill a hostile mob or one of the following neutral mobs: an enderman, a piglin, a zombified piglin, a spider, or a cave spider.	15	Bronze
		Overkill	Deal nine hearts of damage in a single hit.	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have nine hearts of health overall.	30	Bronze
		Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	—	20	Silver
		Sniper Duel	Kill a Skeleton with an arrow from more than 50 meters.	Use a launched arrow to kill a skeleton, wither skeleton, or stray from 50 or more blocks away, horizontally.	30	Bronze

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	A Throwaway Joke	Throw a Trident at something. Note: Throwing away your only weapon is not a good idea.	Hit a mob with a thrown trident.
	Adventure	Adventure, exploration and combat	Kill any mob, or be killed by any living entity.
	Arbalistic	Kill five unique mobs with one crossbow shot	Armor Stand also counts 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.
	It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Kill one of these 73 mobs near a sculk catalyst:[show] Mobs that drop no experience as well as the ender dragon are ignored for this advancement.
	Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Kill one of these 37 mobs:[hide] Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.
	Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Kill each of these 37 mobs:[hide] Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.
	Not Today, Thank You	Deflect a projectile with a Shield	Block any projectile with a shield.
	Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	–
	Sniper Duel	Kill a Skeleton from at least 50 meters away	Receive kill credit for a skeleton that is at least 50 blocks away horizontally and is killed by a projectile.
	Take Aim	Shoot something with an Arrow	Using a bow or a crossbow, shoot a mob with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.

History

August 14, 2009							Notch teased skeletons.
[hide]Java Edition Classic
0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST							Added skeletons.
							Skeletons spawn randomly in new Survival maps and follow players when approached, much like zombies.
							Skeletons appear wearing armor, just like zombies, but had no protective effect in their health.
0.25 SURVIVAL TEST							Skeletons now fire arrows with a purple/magenta colored shaft, appear to fire arrows at a faster and more random rate, and shoot 6 arrows outward a short-range in all directions when dying. Arrows fired by skeletons can be picked up and used by players.
							Skeletons now take five hits to kill.
0.27 SURVIVAL TEST							Skeletons now give 120 points when killed.
[hide]Java Edition Indev
0.31			20091223-0040				Skeletons and other mobs no longer spawn naturally.
			20100202				Skeletons and other mobs now spawn naturally again. However, they are currently passive.
							Skeletons no longer wear armor.
							The skeleton's attacking animation has been removed.
			20100204-2027				Skeletons are now hostile again.
							The purple arrows that skeletons throw have been removed and have been replaced by regular (brown) arrows.
20100213							Skeletons now catch on fire when exposed to sunlight.
20100218							The chances of catching on fire in sunlight have been tweaked for skeletons.
							Skeletons now burn only when the sunlight level is greater than 7, and not due to torches at night.
20100219							Skeletons now drop arrows.
[hide]Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.3							Added unique idle and hurt sounds for skeletons. Previously, they had no idle sounds and used the hurt sound for players.
v1.2.0							Skeletons now hold a bow in their right hand, however they were held as an item just like a player would hold it at this period.
[hide]Java Edition Beta
1.2							Skeletons can now drop 0-2 bones, in addition to arrows.
1.8			Pre-release				The bows of skeletons are now larger and held realistically (full-sized bows, two-handed, and pulling the arrow back).
							Skeletons now fire arrows slower but further.
[hide]Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease				Skeletons now hold their bow with one hand again, but they still have the larger and held realistically bow.
1.2.1			12w04a				The skeleton's AI has been improved: if a skeleton catches fire in daylight, it rushes to the nearest shadow or body of water.
			12w06a				There now is a 8.5% chance that a skeleton drops a bow when killed. There is also a small chance of the bow being enchanted.
							Skeletons no longer spin in circles on non-full-height blocks.
1.4.2			12w32a				Skeletons, zombies and zombie pigmen can now pick up dropped items. They also have the ability to wear armor and wield a weapon, so if they pick up armor, they wear it.
							Skeletons, zombies, and zombie pigmen can now spawn wearing any type of armor (including chain); both armor and weapons may be enchanted.
			12w36a				Skeletons may now be found in nether fortresses along with wither skeletons.
			12w37a				On Halloween, skeletons, wither skeletons, zombies and zombie pigmen now have a chance of spawning with a pumpkin or jack o'lantern.
			12w38a				Skeletons now have new sounds.
1.4.4			1.4.3				Skeletons now rush toward the player, instead of shooting arrows, if they don't have a bow.
1.5			13w02a				Skeletons now shoot from a range of 15 blocks instead of 10.
							Accuracy of skeleton can now be changed by changing difficulty.
			13w03a				Skeletons now fire rapidly at players who come within close range, in an attempt to knock them back. This makes melee combat in water hard.
1.8			14w10a				Skeletons now run away from wolves, instead of fighting back.
			14w11a				Skeletons now run away from creepers that are about to explode.
			14w30a				Skeletons now drop their skulls when killed by a charged creeper.
1.8.1			pre1				Skeletons no longer run away from creepers that are about to explode due to performance issues.
1.9			15w31a				Skeletons now lower their arms when idle.
							Skeletons can now, once again, animate their bow; they pull it out when becoming hostile and draw it back to fire arrows.
							Skeletons now have an 11% chance of spawning with their bow in their left hand.
							Skeletons can dual wield.
							Skeletons now hold their bow with two hands again when aiming.
			15w32a				The detection range of skeletons is halved when the player is wearing a skeleton skull.
			15w38a				Skeletons now shoot one arrow per second and have improved behavior, allowing them to be a bit faster and strafe while shooting.
							Skeletons spawn from skeleton trap horses.
			15w39a				Skeletons are slightly taller (1.99 blocks tall rather than 1.95).
							Skeletons shoot an arrow every 2 seconds on Easy and Normal instead of 1.
			pre1				Skeletons shoot flaming arrows only when burning and regional difficulty is 3 or greater.
							Skeletons holding tipped arrows in their off-hand now shoot that type of arrow.
1.11			16w32a				Skeletons no longer shoot flaming arrows when they are on fire.
			16w40a				Skeletons holding spectral arrows in their off-hand now shoot that type of arrow.
1.12.1			17w31a				Skeletons no longer pick up items based on their enchantments.
1.13			18w07a				Skeletons seek and attack baby turtles.
			18w19a				Skeletons sink underwater.
							Skeletons no longer drown underwater.
1.14			18w43a				The texture of skeletons has been changed.
1.15			19w37a				Mobs that spawn wearing carved pumpkins or jack o'lanterns on Halloween no longer drop them.
1.16			20w06a				Skeletons can now spawn in soul sand valley biomes.
			Pre-release 4				Increased skeleton's spawning weight in soul sand valleys from 2 to 10.
1.17			21w05a				Skeletons now turn into strays when they are in powder snow.
			21w13a				Decreased stray conversion time in powder snow from 30 to 7 seconds.
1.18			Experimental Snapshot 1				Skeletons now spawn only at light level 0.
1.19			Pre-release 1				Skeletons can now spawn from light level 0 to 11 in the Nether.
1.19.3			22w46a				Skeletons now spawn from light level 0 to 7 in the Nether.
1.20.3			23w40a				Skeletons are now part of the #can_breathe_under_water and #undead tags.
1.20.3 Experiment Update 1.21			23w45a				Skeletons now spawn in trial chambers behind the "Update 1.21" experimental data pack.
							Skeletons from trial spawners surrounded by bone blocks, podzol and red mushrooms shoot tipped arrows of Poison.
1.20.5 Experiment Update 1.21			24w04a				Skeletons no longer retaliate against attacks from the breeze.
			24w07a				Trial spawners surrounded by bone blocks, podzol and red mushrooms no longer spawn skeletons with tipped arrows of Poison, and instead spawn bogged.
1.21.4			24w45a				Prefer to pick bows from the ground as opposed to other items.
[hide]Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.3.3							Added skeletons.
							Skeletons use outdated sounds, move slowly, and shoot an arrow every 3 seconds with poor aim.
v0.5.0							Skeletons have new animations.
v0.7.3							Skeletons are now set on fire when exposed to sunlight. Previously, they emitted smoke particles and took damage, but were not visually on fire.
v0.9.0			build 8				Skeletons have new AI.
			build 9				Skeletons use the old AI again because they were not firing arrows correctly.
v0.9.2							The health of skeletons has been reduced from 20HP × 10 to 16HP × 8
v0.11.0			build 1				Skeletons no longer hold bows with 2 arms.
							Skeletons may now spawn as the rider of a spider jockey.
			build 9				Burning skeletons now shoot flaming arrows.
			build 14				Skeletons now have improved accuracy.
v0.12.1			build 1				Skeletons use the new AI again, thus improving accuracy, walking and shooting speed, and intelligence. When skeletons catch fire in the daylight, they hide in the nearest shadow or body of water. Skeletons also avoid falls, fire, lava, and cactus.
							Skeletons may now spawn wearing armor or enchanted armor.
							Skeletons may now spawn with enchanted bows.
			build 12				New sounds have been added for skeletons.
v0.13.0			build 1				Skeletons now run away from wolves.
							Skeletons now fire faster when players get closer to knock them back, especially to players in water.
v0.14.0			build 1				Skeletons are now slightly taller (1.99 blocks tall rather than 1.95).
May 31, 2016							Shoghicp asks the community about flaming arrows being shot by burning skeletons.
v0.15.0			build 1				Skeletons now animate their bow, they pull it out when becoming hostile and draw it back to shoot arrows.
							Skeletons now spawn from skeleton trap horses.
v0.16.0			build 1				Burning skeletons now shoot flaming arrows only if the regional difficulty is 3 or greater. Prior to this, burning skeletons would always shoot flaming arrows regardless of regional difficulty.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.2.0			beta 1.2.0.2				Skeletons now have a 8.5% chance of dropping their equipment. Prior to this, skeletons would never drop their bow and would always drop always their armor.
1.5.0			beta 1.5.0.0				Skeletons now sink underwater.
							Skeletons no longer die from drowning.
							Skeletons now use melee attacks and stop shooting when underwater.
			beta 1.5.0.4				Skeletons now seek and attack baby turtles.
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The texture of skeletons has been changed.
							Skeletons once again attack iron golems.
1.16.0			beta 1.16.0.51				Skeletons can now spawn in soul sand valley biomes.
							Skeletons can now pick up items.
							Skeleton now use melee attack when not holding bow on their hand, prior to this, skeleton use any items as ranged weapon to shoot arrow normally.
1.17.0			beta 1.17.0.54				Skeletons now turn into strays when they are in powder snow.
1.17.10			beta 1.17.10.20				Decreased stray conversion time in powder snow from 30 to 7 seconds.
1.17.30			beta 1.17.30.20				Skeletons now hold their bow with two hands again when aiming.
1.18.20			Preview 1.18.20.28				Skeletons' melee attack now deals 2HP damage instead of 3HP on normal mode.
1.19.60			Preview 1.19.60.22				Skeletons now spawn from light level 0 to 7 in the Nether.
1.20.60 Experiment Update 1.21			Preview 1.20.60.20				Skeletons now spawn in trial chambers behind the "Update 1.21" experimental toggle.
1.20.70 Experiment Update 1.21			Preview 1.20.70.21				Skeletons no longer retaliate against attacks from breezes.
			Preview 1.20.70.24				Trial spawners surrounded by bone blocks, podzol and red mushrooms no longer spawn skeletons, and instead spawn bogged.
[hide]Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU1	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added skeletons.
TU5							The skeleton's bow is now larger and held more realistically (full-sized bows, two-handed, and pulling the arrow back) than in previous versions (in one hand).
							Skeletons now fire their arrows slightly slower. Their arrows, however, are shot with more force.
TU12							The skeleton's AI has been updated, so they are "smarter", i.e. if a skeleton catches fire in daylight, it rushes to the nearest shadow or body of water for safety.
							There is now a small chance that skeletons drop a bow when killed. There is now also a small chance of the bow being enchanted.
TU19	CU7	1.12	1.12	1.12			Skeletons can now spawn wearing armor and weapons.
							Once the player gets closer to a skeleton, the skeleton now fires arrows more frequently.
							On Halloween, skeletons, wither skeletons, zombies and zombie pigmen now have a chance of spawning with a pumpkin or jack o'lantern.
							Skeletons may now be found in nether fortresses along with wither skeletons.
							Skeletons now have a new death sound. Previously it made the same sound as when taking damage.
TU31	CU19	1.22	1.22	1.22	Patch 3		Skeletons now run away from wolves, instead of fighting back.
							Skeletons now drop their skull when killed by a charged creeper.
TU46	CU33	1.36	1.36	1.36	Patch 13		Skeletons now use the old sound for dying.
	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15		Skeletons may now spawn from skeleton trap horses.
							Skeletons now have a new AI that allows them to strafe while attacking.
							Skeletons now lower their arms when idle.
							Skeletons now have a chance of spawning with their bow in their left hand.
TU57	CU49	1.57	1.56	1.56	Patch 27	1.0.7	Skeletons no longer attack iron golems.
TU69		1.76	1.76	1.76	Patch 38		Skeletons sink underwater.
							Skeletons no longer drown underwater.
[hide]New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added skeletons.

Historical sounds:

Sound	From	to	Pitch
Hurt/Die	Alpha v1.0.3	1.4.2	1.0

Data history

[hide]Java Edition
1.9			15w39a				Entity ID Skeleton is now skeleton, wither_skeleton and stray for those respective mobs.
1.13			17w47a				Numeric IDs for entities were presumably deprecated in this version.​

Issues

Issues relating to "Skeleton" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• If alerted to a player's presence, a skeleton can fire arrows backward, occasionally hitting themselves.
• The artificial intelligence of skeletons in Bedrock Edition is a mix of skeleton AI from Java Edition between versions 1.5 and 1.8.9 and the skeletons in Update Aquatic. They shoot faster when they are on land and the target underwater, causing enough knockback to make combat hard. Additionally, they do not strafe left to right, and they shoot more rapidly at closer targets. Skeletons also use ranged attacks on land and switch to melee attacks when sinking underwater.
• In Java Edition, 89% of skeletons hold their bow in their right hand and 11% with the left. This reflects estimated handedness percentages in the real world.
• If a skeleton has a sword or any other melee item, generally with commands, its AI resembles the wither skeleton's AI.
• In Bedrock Edition, skeletons do not animate their bow.
• C418 used bamboo wind chime sounds as a base for the skeleton sounds.

Gallery

Renders

Poses

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  A spider jockey with a skeleton.

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  A cave spider jockey with a skeleton.

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  A skeleton without a bow spawned by /summon commands.

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  A skeleton wearing two spyglasses in Java Edition 22w13oneBlockAtATime.

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  Aiming

Armored

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Screenshots

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  A skeleton being compared to its variants in Java Edition.

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  A skeleton in Java Edition Beta 1.8. The player can see it wielding its bow with both hands.

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  Dying skeleton mob in Bedrock Edition.

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  Dying skeleton mob in Java Edition.

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  Two skeletons shooting each other. The skeleton on the right is a spider jockey.

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  A skeleton in the Nether used as the 12w36a snapshot image.

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  A skeleton in Bedrock Edition. Like in Beta 1.8, it holds its bow with both hands and it doesn't animate it's bow.

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  A skeleton riding a minecart.

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  A skeleton kills an attacking wolf.

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  A stray standing next to a normal skeleton.

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  A skeleton wearing an iron helmet.

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  A skeleton wearing a leather cap.

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  A player trying to give armor to a skeleton.

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  Skeletons spawned from skeleton trap horses.

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  A glitch where skeletons have no bow.

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  Naturally armored skeletons.

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  Skeleton with a pumpkin on Halloween.

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  A skeleton with a white-dyed leather full set.

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  2 skeletons fighting each other.

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  A skeleton with full chainmail armor looking at the player.

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  A skeleton jockey.

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  Skeleton wearing a pumpkin on Halloween.

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  A left handed skeleton in a superflat world with a zombie and a spider in the background.

Mojang images

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  A preview featuring skeletons in the soul sand valley.

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  To the left is (or was) a skeleton holding the bow the wrong way.

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  First image of skeletons wearing armor.

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  First image of a skeleton duel wielding.

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  An armored skeleton in Bedrock Edition.

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  A skeleton and zombie in a cave.

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  A skeleton in alpha.

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  Skeleton scoring big in the floor routine.

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  Moments before disaster.

Textures

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  Skeleton texture file.

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  Programmer Art

In other media

Merchandise

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  Pixel art of a skeleton used on a banner for the Minecraft Marketplace

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  Lego Minecraft Skeleton.

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  Official skeleton plush made by JINX.

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  Official T-shirt artwork "Skelly Dreams" made by JINX.

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  City texture pack

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  Plastic texture pack

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  Party Skeleton, a skin featured in the 1st Birthday skin pack.

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  Halloween mash-up pack

Other appearances

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  Artwork of a skeleton.

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  Animation of undead mobs walking on snow, including skeletons.

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  A Skeleton in promotional artwork for the first Caves & Cliffs update.

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  Skeletons in promotional artwork for the second Caves & Cliffs update.

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  Skeletons in the key art for the Wii U Edition.

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  Skeleton Spirit from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

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  Potato variant of skeleton in 24w14potato