Witch
hostileOurs, not the game's own: how a witch behaves. Bedrock v1.26.40.05 differs: spawn weight 5 on most Java biome lists (it runs from 1 to 5) against 1 on Bedrock. Checked 2026-08-22, and here is how we check.
Added InOverview
The Witch is a hostile mob in Minecraft, which means it will attack players on sight whenever it is able to reach them.
You will normally come across witches in the Overworld, where they appear in all Overworld biomes and Witch Huts (Swamp).
What sets it apart is its behaviour: attacks by throwing harmful splash potions (Poison, Slowness, Weakness, Harming).
With 26 HP (13 hearts) on its bar, killing one rewards 5 experience.
The Witch has been part of the game since version 1.4.2.
Also worth noting: Witch huts in swamps are the only place they spawn at any light level.
Knowing how the Witch behaves is mostly about survival: recognising it early and reacting correctly is what keeps a night-time excursion from ending in a respawn.
Spawning
Natural spawns for the Witch occur in all Overworld biomes and Witch Huts (Swamp).
Because it appears across 53 different biomes, it is one of the easier mobs to track down, and heading to any of them should turn one up before long.
Spawns at light level 0 or in Swamp Huts. Villagers struck by lightning become witches.
Naturally spawned witches will despawn over time when no player is nearby; naming one with a name tag or leading it away on a lead keeps it permanent.
For a reliable Witch farm, set your spawning floor within the biomes above and light everything else nearby so spawns funnel to one spot.
Badlands
Bamboo Jungle
Beach
Birch Forest
Cherry Grove
Cold Ocean
Dark Forest
Deep Cold Ocean
Deep Frozen Ocean
Deep Lukewarm Ocean
Deep Ocean
Desert
Dripstone Caves
Eroded Badlands
Flower Forest
Forest
Frozen Ocean
Frozen Peaks
Frozen River
Grove
Ice Spikes
Jagged Peaks
Jungle
Lukewarm Ocean
Lush Caves
Mangrove Swamp
Meadow
Ocean
Old Growth Birch Forest
Old Growth Pine Taiga
Old Growth Spruce Taiga
Pale Garden
Plains
River
Savanna
Savanna Plateau
Snowy Beach
Snowy Plains
Snowy Slopes
Snowy Taiga
Sparse Jungle
Stony Peaks
Stony ShoreSulfur Caves
Sunflower Plains
Swamp
Taiga
Warm Ocean
Windswept Forest
Windswept Gravelly Hills
Windswept Hills
Windswept Savanna
Wooded BadlandsWhere the Witch spawns
Badlands, Bamboo Jungle, Beach and Birch Forest are where it stands strongest: weight 5 on the monster list and 1% of it, arriving 1 at a time. There it shares the list with Creeper at 100, Skeleton at 100, Slime at 100, Spider at 100 and Zombie at 95 and 2 more, 515 weight together, of which 5 is witch. The other 4 biomes on its list run from 0.9% down to 0.3%.
| Biome | Weight | Share | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Badlands | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Bamboo Jungle | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Beach | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Birch Forest | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Cherry Grove | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Cold Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Dark Forest | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Deep Cold Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Deep Frozen Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Deep Lukewarm Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Deep Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Desert | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Eroded Badlands | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Flower Forest | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Forest | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Frozen Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Frozen Peaks | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Frozen River | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Grove | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Ice Spikes | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Jagged Peaks | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Jungle | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Lukewarm Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Lush Caves | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Mangrove Swamp | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Meadow | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Old Growth Birch Forest | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Old Growth Spruce Taiga | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Pale Garden | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Plains | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Savanna | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Savanna Plateau | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Snowy Beach | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Snowy Plains | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Snowy Slopes | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Snowy Taiga | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Sparse Jungle | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Stony Peaks | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Stony Shore | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Sunflower Plains | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Swamp | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Taiga | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Warm Ocean | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Windswept Forest | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Windswept Gravelly Hills | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Windswept Hills | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Windswept Savanna | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Wooded Badlands | 5 | 1% | 1 |
| Old Growth Pine Taiga | 5 | 0.9% | 1 |
| Dripstone Caves | 5 | 0.8% | 1 |
| River | 5 | 0.8% | 1 |
| Sulfur Caves | 1 | 0.3% | 1 |
- Inside a swamp hut the biome list is replaced: weight 1 there, 100% of the monster list, in groups of 1.
It does not have that swamp hut list to itself: the cat at weight 1.
Drops
Here is what you can expect to collect from a Witch:
Every kill yields 4 to 8 Redstone Dust.
On top of that, you may come away with 0 to 2 Glowstone Dust, 0 to 2 Sugar, 0 to 2 Spider Eyes, 0 to 2 Glass Bottles, 0 to 2 Gunpowder, and 0 to 2 Sticks.
You also collect 5 experience for every Witch you defeat.
Farming witches is the standard way to stockpile redstone dust in quantity.
The Looting enchantment on your sword raises the quantity and, for many of these items, the drop chance of the rarer rolls, so it is well worth using when you grind this mob.
Across many kills the guaranteed items pile up steadily while the chance-based extras trickle in, so consistent farming is the way to build a meaningful stockpile.
| Item | Count | Chance | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glowstone Dust | 0 to 2 | not every kill | Looting III up to 5, 1 to 3 draws |
| Sugar | 0 to 2 | not every kill | Looting III up to 5, 1 to 3 draws |
| Spider Eye | 0 to 2 | not every kill | Looting III up to 5, 1 to 3 draws |
| Glass Bottle | 0 to 2 | not every kill | Looting III up to 5, 1 to 3 draws |
| Gunpowder | 0 to 2 | not every kill | Looting III up to 5, 1 to 3 draws |
| Stick | 0 to 2 | not every kill | Looting III up to 5, 1 to 3 draws |
| Redstone Dust | 4 to 8 | always | Looting III up to 11 |
That Gunpowder row is not its own: the creeper drops 0 to 2 and the ghast the same.
Witch attributes
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
 Size | 0.6 x 1.95 blocks |
 Eye height | 1.62 blocks |
 Tracking range | 8 chunks |
 Experience | 5 |
 Health | 26 points |
| Follow range | 16 blocks |
 Movement speed | 0.25 |
The Witch does not stand alone on these numbers: the zombie horse at 25 health, the nearest we list to its 26.
Witch: 0.78% of its category, rank 37 of 52
On 53 of the 66 biome lists (53 spawn entries in total), and 0.78% of every spawn the game puts in its monster group is a witch.
A witch averages 6 Redstone Dust a kill on the rolls Minecraft Java 26.2 makes for it, before Looting, which puts a full stack of 64 Redstone Dust at 11 kills. Next down is Glass Bottle at 2 a kill, which is 32 witch kills to 64. 5 further rows sit under those, down to 2 Sugar per witch and 32 kills a stack.
| Item | Average per kill |
|---|---|
 Redstone Dust | 6 |
 Glowstone Dust | 2 |
| Sugar | 2 |
 Spider Eye | 2 |
 Glass Bottle | 2 |
 Gunpowder | 2 |
 Stick | 2 |
How this average is worked out
| Weapon | Attack damage | Full swings | Swings per 64 Redstone Dust |
|---|---|---|---|
 golden sword, wooden sword | 4 | 7 | 77 |
 stone sword | 5 | 6 | 66 |
 iron sword | 6 | 5 | 55 |
 diamond sword, golden axe, wooden axe | 7 | 4 | 44 |
 netherite sword | 8 | 4 | 44 |
 diamond axe, iron axe, stone axe | 9 | 3 | 33 |
 netherite axe | 10 | 3 | 33 |
Behavior & Combat
Behaviourally, attacks by throwing harmful splash potions (Poison, Slowness, Weakness, Harming). Drinks defensive potions (Healing, Fire Resistance, Water Breathing, Speed).
Its 26 health is 18th of 80, just over the 25 of the zombie horse.
It has no melee attack of its own, which is why its damage figure reads zero: it attacks by throwing harmful splash potions (Poison, Slowness, Weakness, Harming). Killing one still means working through 26 health (13 hearts).
To deal with one efficiently, exploit its weaknesses: it is vulnerable to Instant Damage potions and Melee while drinking.
The practical takeaway is to respect its strengths, exploit the weaknesses listed above, and you will rarely lose a fight you choose to take.
Witch commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| /summon minecraft:witch | Puts a witch on the block you are standing on. |
| /give @p minecraft:witch_spawn_egg | Hands you the witch spawn egg, so you can place witches where you want them. |
| /kill @e[type=minecraft:witch] | Removes every witch that is loaded around you. |
Entity id minecraft:witch, spawn egg minecraft:witch_spawn_egg.
Witch farm
Build a witch farm around the one rule the game applies to every witch. Spawns at light level 0 or in Swamp Huts. Villagers struck by lightning become witches.
Badlands is where the witch has the biggest slice of the roll, 1% across the 53 lists the witch appears on, and that is the biome to build a witch farm in.
Each kill is worth 5 experience and up to 8 redstone dust, or 11 with Looting III, and that figure is what decides how big the witch farm has to be.
Witch version history
Minecraft 1.4.2 brought the witch in on 24 November 2012, 13 years of witch by now.
4 other mobs here came with it: the bat, the wither skeleton, the wither and the zombie villager. That puts the witch behind 24 of the 88 mobs here and ahead of 59.
Every witch figure on this page is read from Minecraft Java 26.2 as it stands today, not from the version above.
What Witch sounds like
Turn subtitles on and every witch sound names itself in the corner of the screen. These are the 6 lines a witch can put there, and you can play any of them yourself with /playsound minecraft:entity.witch.ambient master @p.
| Sound | What you hear |
|---|---|
| entity.witch.ambient |  Witch giggles |
| entity.witch.hurt | Witch hurts |
| entity.witch.death | Witch dies |
| entity.witch.celebrate | Witch cheers |
| entity.witch.drink | Witch drinks |
| entity.witch.throw | Witch throws |
Advancements that need Witch
2 advancements ask for witch by name, and each of them counts other mobs too.
- Monster HunterKill any hostile monster
- Monsters HuntedKill one of every hostile monster
