Stray

A stray is a skeleton variant that spawns in a few snow-covered biomes. They behave similarly to skeletons, except they fire tipped arrows of Slowness from their bows.

Stray

• Idle
• Aiming

Health points	20HP × 10
Behavior	Hostile
Mob type	Undead, Monster
Attack strength	Ranged: Java Edition: Easy: 2HP - 4HP Normal: 3HP - 5HP Hard: 4HP - 8HP (Varies with proximity)‌ Tipped arrows: Slowness for 30 seconds Melee (only without bow): 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	When a skeleton freezes. Frozen River Snowy Plains Ice Spikes Frozen Ocean‌ Deep Frozen Ocean‌ Legacy Frozen Ocean‌ Trial Chambers
Natural equipment	Bow (right hand: 89%; left hand: 11%)

{
    "title": "Stray",
    "rows": [
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            "label": "(link to Health article, displayed as Health points)"
        },
        {
            "field": "Hostile",
            "label": "Behavior"
        },
        {
            "field": "(link to Undead article, displayed as Undead), (link to Monster article, displayed as Monster)",
            "label": "(link to Mob article, displayed as Mob) type"
        },
        {
            "field": "(values exceeds 1000 characters...)",
            "label": "Attack<br/>strength"
        },
        {
            "field": "'''In (link to Java Edition article, displayed as ''Java Edition''):'''<br>\nHeight: 1.99 Blocks<br>Width: 0.6 Blocks\n\n'''In (link to Bedrock Edition article, displayed as ''Bedrock Edition''):'''<br>\nHeight: 1.9 Blocks<br>Width: 0.6 Blocks",
            "label": "(link to Hitbox article, displayed as Hitbox size)"
        },
        {
            "field": "(values exceeds 1000 characters...)",
            "label": "(link to Mob spawning article, displayed as Spawn)"
        },
        {
            "field": "\n*   <span class=\"nowrap\"><span class=\"sprite-file\" style=\"\">(link to File:ItemSprite bow.png article, displayed as 16x16px|link=Bow|alt=|class=pixel-image|)</span>(link to Bow article, displayed as <span class=\"sprite-text\">Bow</span>)</span>    (right hand: 89%; left hand: 11%)",
            "label": "(link to Drops#Equipped items article, displayed as Natural<br/>equipment)"
        }
    ],
    "invimages": [
        "Stray Spawn Egg"
    ],
    "images": [
        "Stray.png",
        "Stray Aiming.png"
    ]
}

Spawning

A stray may spawn directly under the sky at Y coordinates 60-66 in snowy plains, ice spikes, or frozen rivers, replacing 80% of skeletons. Additionally, a stray may spawn in frozen oceans, deep frozen oceans or legacy frozen oceans in Bedrock Edition. Strays do not spawn naturally from monster spawners in Java Edition.

When a skeleton is kept inside powder snow for 7 seconds (140 game ticks), it begins shaking. After another 15 seconds (300 game ticks), it becomes a stray. A converted stray appears with full health even if the original skeleton did not have full health. Items being held or worn by a skeleton when it becomes a stray remain unchanged. Unlike regular skeletons, bogged do not turn into strays, but take freezing damage instead.

Trial spawners

Strays have a chance to be selected as the "ranged" mob for trial spawners in trial chambers.

Drops

On death

Item		Roll Chance	Quantity (Roll Chance)
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Arrow	100%	0–2	0–3	0–4	0–5
	Bone	100%	0–2	0–3	0–4	0–5
	Arrow of Slowness	50%–93.75%	1 (50%)	1 (75%)	1 (87.5%)	1 (93.75%)

• Any picked-up equipment has a 100% chance of dropping and drops with the same damage level it had when picked up.
• Any naturally spawned equipment, including the bow, has an 8.5% chance of dropping (9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II and 11.5% with Looting III). It is damaged and may be enchanted.
• 5XP experience orbs when killed by a player or tamed wolf and an extra 1–3XP if the stray has armor.

Behavior

Strays behave the same as normal skeletons but make noises with an echoing effect and shoot tipped arrows that inflict Slowness for 30 seconds on any target that they hit. In Bedrock Edition, strays that are underwater use a melee attack that inflicts Slowness. Strays do not take damage from freezing in powder snow, but they are not immune to Slowness. A stray holding a tipped arrow or spectral arrow in its off-hand always shoots that type of arrow instead, and the arrow held is not consumed.

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.
• unable to swim in water, but do not drown.
• a threat to armadillos, causing them to hide in their shell.

Sounds

Java Edition:
Strays 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
	​Stray rattles	Hostile Creatures	Randomly	entity.stray.ambient	subtitles.entity.stray.ambient​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	​Stray hurts	Hostile Creatures	When a stray is damaged	entity.stray.hurt	subtitles.entity.stray.hurt​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	​Stray dies	Hostile Creatures	When a stray dies	entity.stray.death	subtitles.entity.stray.death​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	​Footsteps	Hostile Creatures	While a stray is walking	entity.stray.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16
	​Skeleton shoots	Hostile Creatures	When a stray 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.stray.ambient	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	When a stray is damaged	mob.stray.hurt	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	When a stray dies	mob.stray.death	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	While a stray is walking	mob.stray.step	1.0	1.0
	Players	When a stray 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
Stray	stray	can_breathe_under_water freeze_immune_entity_types ignores_poison_and_regen inverted_healing_and_harm no_anger_from_wind_charge skeletons undead wither_friends	entity.minecraft.stray

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	[hide]Translation key
Stray	stray	46	entity.stray.name

Entity data

Strays 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]

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
		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	–
	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

[hide]Java Edition
1.10			April 11, 2016				Jens Bergensten tweets an image of a new skeleton-type mob.
			16w20a				Added strays. When explaining the origin of the stray, Jeb stated, "They’re based on a concept that emerged from a game jam the Bellevue team had, where they were just adding a bunch of stuff to Minecraft - whatever they wanted. Jason Major made a bunch of cool mobs and I thought these particular ones fitted [sic] really well with what we were already planning."
							Added spawn eggs for strays, which strays can be spawned from.
			pre2				The spawn egg for strays has been removed.
							New sounds have now been added for strays, which allow them to have their own sounds. Previously, they had the same sounds as a regular skeleton.
1.11			16w32a				The spawn egg for strays has been re-added.
							The entity ID Skeleton has been changed to skeleton, wither_skeleton and stray for those respective mobs.
							The SkeletonType tag has been removed.
							The in-game name of strays is now "Stray" instead of "entity.Skeleton.name".
1.13			18w19a				Strays now sink underwater.
							Strays no longer drown underwater.
1.14			18w43a				The texture of strays has been changed.
							Creepers now drop music discs when killed by strays.
			19w09a				Strays holding tipped arrows or spectral arrows in their off-hand now shoot that type of arrow.
1.15			19w37a				Mobs that spawn wearing carved pumpkins or jack o'lanterns on Halloween no longer drop them.
1.17			21w05a				Skeletons now convert to strays when in powder snow.
			21w13a				Strays are now immune to freezing.
							Skeletons now only take 20 seconds to convert to strays when in powder snow, instead of 45.
1.20.3			23w40a				Strays are now part of the #can_breathe_under_water and #undead tags.
1.20.3 Experiment Update 1.21			23w45a				Strays now spawn in trial chambers behind the "Update 1.21" experimental data pack.
1.20.5 Experiment Update 1.21			24w04a				No longer retaliates against attacks from the breeze.
[hide]Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.15.0			build 1				Added strays.
v0.16.0			build 5				New sounds have now been added for strays, which allow them to have their own sounds. Previously, they had the same sounds as the regular skeleton.
[hide]Pocket Edition
1.0.0			alpha 0.17.0.2				The clothing of strays now has their own overlay and no longer glitch through their bones.
			alpha 1.0.0.1				Strays can now drop tipped arrows of Slowness when killed by players.
1.1.0			alpha 1.1.0.0				The entity ID has now changed from skeleton.stray to stray.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.5.0			beta 1.5.0.0				Strays now sink underwater.
							Strays now use melee attacks that inflict Slowness and no longer use ranged attacks while underwater.
1.9.0			beta 1.9.0.5				Strays now have a correct overlay model.
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The texture of strays has now changed.
?							Strays no longer spawn as riders in spider jockeys.
1.16.0			beta 1.16.0.51				Strays can now pick up items.
							Strays now use melee attacks when not holding a bow. Prior to this, strays used any items as ranged weapons to shoot arrows of Slowness normally.
1.17.0			beta 1.16.230.54				Strays are now immune to freezing.
			beta 1.17.0.54				Skeletons now convert to strays when in powder snow.
			release				Strays don’t drop wither skeleton skulls anymore if killed by a charged creeper.
1.20.60 Experiment Update 1.21			Preview 1.20.60.20				Strays now spawn in trial chambers behind the "Update 1.21" experimental toggle.
1.20.70 Experiment Update 1.21			Preview 1.20.70.21				Strays no longer retaliate against attacks from breezes.
[hide]Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU46	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15	1.0.1	Added strays.
TU54	CU44	1.52	1.52	1.52	Patch 24	1.0.4	Strays now have their own sounds. Previously, they had the same sounds as a regular skeleton.
							Added stray spawn eggs, which strays can be spawned from.
TU69		1.76	1.76	1.76	Patch 38		Strays now sink underwater.
			1.90				Creepers now drop music discs when killed by strays.
[hide]New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added strays.

Issues

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

Trivia

• Strays and other skeleton variants do not know how to use a crossbow, despite the same using method as a bow.
• According to the Minecraft website, the slowness arrows represent frozen arrows that freeze on impact.
• The stray's fourth ambient sound is the skeleton's second ambient sound but partly edited.

Gallery

Renders

• 

  A stray aiming.

• 

  A sitting stray.

Screenshots

• 

  A stray being compared to its variants in Java Edition.

• 

  A stray standing next to a normal skeleton.

• 

  Stray wearing a pumpkin on Halloween.

• 

  Stray without a bow.

• 

  A stray in a superflat world.

• Several strays spawned during an ominous trial

  Several strays spawned during an ominous trial

Developer images

• 

  One of the first images of strays, as tweeted by Jeb.

• 

  Two strays, one in full gold armor. Note the old texture.

• 

  First image of a stray in Bedrock Edition.

Textures

• 

  Stray texture file.

• 

  Stray overlay texture file.

In other media

• 

  Artwork of a stray.

• 

  Lego Minecraft stray.

• 

  An artwork from minecraft.net

• 

  Animation of a stray falling into powder snow.

See also

• Skeleton
• Husk
• Bogged

External links

• "Meet The Stray" by Marsh Davies – Minecraft.net, December 14, 2016.