If you’ve spent any time grinding through Minecraft’s late-game survival content, you’ve probably heard players rave about the power of beacons, the floating buff stations that turn your base into an unbeatable fortress. The only catch? Beacons require nether stars, a rare drop you can only get by defeating the wither, one of the game’s most dangerous optional bosses. If you’re not sure how to make a wither in Minecraft, or you’ve tried before and gotten wiped out by its explosive attacks before you could even land a hit, this guide breaks every part of the process down so you can pull it off without wasting hard-earned resources.
What you’ll need to make a wither in Minecraft
Before you can spawn the wither, you’ll need to collect two key materials, no extra crafting recipes required. The first is 4 blocks of either soul sand or soul soil, both easy to find in the Nether’s soul sand valley biomes. You can mine them with any tool, even your hand, so gathering these only takes a minute or two once you find the right biome.
The second, far rarer material is 3 wither skeleton skulls. Wither skeletons only spawn in nether fortresses, and they have a base 2.5% chance to drop a skull when killed. If you have a sword enchanted with Looting III, that drop rate jumps to 5.5% per kill, so we recommend using enchanted gear if you have it to cut down on farming time. You cannot craft wither skeleton skulls, so you will have to farm them directly from wither skeletons, no workarounds exist in vanilla Minecraft.
If you’re struggling to find wither skeletons, light up all other spawning spots in the nether fortress so only wither skeletons can spawn. That cuts down the time you spend waiting for them to appear by eliminating other hostile mob spawns. You can also build a wither skeleton farm if you plan on spawning multiple withers down the line, which automates the farming process so you don’t have to run around the fortress killing them manually.
Step-by-step process to spawn your wither safely
First, pick your spawn location carefully. Do not spawn the wither anywhere near your base, as it creates a massive 7-block radius explosion when it finishes charging, and its constant skull attacks will destroy almost every block in its path. The best spots are either a wide, open area in the Nether far from any bases you care about, or a closed underground chamber you dug specifically for the fight, so it can’t fly away and destroy random terrain.
Once you have your spot picked out, build the T-shaped structure for the wither. First, place 3 soul sand or soul soil blocks in a straight horizontal line on the ground. Next, place one more soul sand/soil block directly on top of the middle block in that horizontal line, making a T shape. Finally, place one wither skeleton skull on top of each of the three horizontal soul sand blocks. The third skull you place will trigger the wither spawn, so don’t add the last skull until you’re fully ready for the fight. As soon as you place the third skull, the wither will begin charging up for 10 seconds before it becomes active, so use that time to get to cover or drink your buff potions.
If you’re spawning the wither in an underground chamber, make sure the ceiling is at least 10 blocks high, so the wither has room to move but can’t fly away out of your reach. Some players also build a cage of obsidian around the spawn spot, since obsidian can’t be destroyed by the wither’s explosions, that keeps it contained so you don’t have to chase it around. Just make sure the cage is big enough for you to move around too, so you don’t get trapped with an angry wither.
Pro tips to beat the wither without dying
Even if you’ve spawned the wither correctly, it’s still one of the hardest bosses in the game, so proper prep will make the fight 10 times easier. We recommend full diamond or netherite armor enchanted with Protection IV as a baseline, with Feather Falling on your boots to reduce damage from explosion knockback. For weapons, a netherite sword enchanted with Smite V is ideal, as the wither is an undead mob and Smite deals extra damage to undead targets. A Power V bow with Infinity is also great for the first half of the fight, so you don’t run out of arrows mid-battle.
Bring plenty of consumables too: Strength II and Regeneration II potions will make you deal more damage and heal faster, milk buckets to clear the wither status effect, and a stack of golden apples for emergency heals. If you have any enchanted golden apples saved up, this is the perfect time to use them, as their absorption and resistance buffs will negate almost all damage for a short window.
Avoid these common mistakes to make the fight go smoothly:
- Don’t spawn the wither in an area with lots of high ground, as it will fly up out of your melee range and pelt you with skulls from above
- Don’t forget to bring milk buckets to clear the wither status effect, which drains your health even when you’re not taking direct hits
- Don’t use tools or blocks you aren’t willing to lose, as the wither’s explosions can destroy items dropped on the ground if you die
When the wither reaches half health, it gains immunity to all projectile damage, so you will have to switch to melee attacks to finish it off. It also gets faster and more aggressive at that point, so keep moving and don’t let it corner you. On hard mode, the wither also spawns extra wither skeletons to help it when it’s at half health, so take those out quickly before they swarm you. If you’re playing with friends, split up so it can’t target all of you at once, and have one person focus on passing out healing items while others attack.
What to do after you defeat the wither
Once the wither dies, it will drop one nether star, guaranteed, no matter what difficulty you’re playing on. Looting enchantments don’t increase the drop rate, so you’ll only ever get one per wither you defeat. Nether stars are indestructible, so even if the wither blows up the area around where it dies, the star will not be destroyed by explosions, so you don’t have to worry about losing it mid-fight.
The main use for nether stars is crafting beacons, the game’s most powerful utility block. To make a beacon, you’ll need 1 nether star, 3 obsidian blocks, and 5 glass blocks. Place the beacon on top of a pyramid made of iron, gold, diamond, or netherite blocks, and you can activate permanent buffs like speed, strength, regeneration, or damage resistance for everyone in the pyramid’s radius. Bigger pyramids give a larger radius and access to more powerful buffs, so many players build multiple beacons for their base to cover every possible buff.
If you don’t need a beacon right away, you can also save nether stars to craft end crystals if you want to respawn the Ender Dragon, though most players prioritize beacons first for the permanent buffs. If you’re playing on a multiplayer server, make sure you get permission from server admins before spawning a wither, as its explosions can cause massive damage to shared builds. Some servers even ban wither spawning entirely to prevent griefing, so it’s always better to check first.
If you want to get multiple nether stars for a network of beacons, you can repeat the spawning and fighting process as many times as you want. Many late-game players build dedicated wither fighting arenas to make the process faster, with pre-built obsidian cages and automatic healing stations to cut down on prep time between fights.
Spawning and defeating the wither is one of the most satisfying milestones in Minecraft’s survival mode, and the rewards are more than worth the effort of farming skulls and prepping for the fight. Whether you’re building your first beacon for your base or you’re farming nether stars for a massive server-wide buff system, knowing how to make a wither in Minecraft opens up a whole new layer of late-game content you won’t get from beating the Ender Dragon alone. Take your time prepping, pick a safe spawn spot, and you’ll have your first nether star in no time.