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HOSTILE Added in 1.21.11

Parched mob in Minecraft

The Parched is the desert member of the skeleton family. Unlike an ordinary Skeleton, it does not burn in sunlight, so it is still around after sunrise. Killed by a player, it can drop Arrows of Weakness.

Health: 168 hearts
Behavior: Hostile
Main drop: Arrow
Found in: Desert

Parched stats

Health: 16 8 hearts
Behavior: Hostile
Main drop: Arrow
Spawns in: 1 biomes
Size: 0.6 × 1.99 blocks
XP when killed: 5+1 to 3 per item it wears
Speed: 0.25
Detection range: 16 blocks

// Experience drops only when a player kills it. Speeds are the game’s internal values, not blocks per second.

How much damage Parched deals

Damage to a player without armor, by world difficulty. 1 ♥ = 2 damage points.

Ranged attack · Arrow

Base 2, multiplied by the projectile’s speed: the faster it flies, the harder it hits.

Weakness: 30 s

Melee attack

Peaceful00 ♥

Easy21 ♥

Normal21 ♥

Hard31.5 ♥

What else changes with difficulty

Aim gets more accurate as difficulty rises (spread 10 / 6 / 2)
Shoots every 3.5 s on Easy, 3.5 s on Normal, 2.5 s on Hard

// Armor, Protection and Resistance reduce these values. Base values read from the game code (26.3).

Where to find Parched

Biomes where it spawns naturally, with its share of the spawns in each group.

Desert

Spawning

Group size: 4
Light level: Block light 0and light 7 or less overall
Sky: Needs open sky

Parched drops

Parched dropsFrom the loot table · chance per kill

Arrow+1 per Looting level0–2

Bone+1 per Looting level0–2

Tipped Arrow+1 per Looting level · Only when killed by a player0–1

Carried items and gearDropped on death, outside the loot table (game code)

The weapon or armor it spawned withEach piece: 8.5% chance, +1% per Looting level. The item comes back damaged.8.5%

Items it picked up off the groundAlways dropped. Only some of them can pick items up.100%

Health compared

Health vs other hostile mobshealth points

Zombie Villager20

Bogged16

Magma Cube16

Parched16

Slime16

Vex14

Ghast10

Parched and its family

Mobs built on the same base in the game code, compared on their game values.

Mob	Health	Attack	XP	Speed	Burns in daylight	Freeze immune
Bogged	16	2	5	0.25	✓	·
Parched	16	2	5	0.25	·	·
Skeleton	20	2	5	0.25	✓	·
Stray	20	2	5	0.25	✓	✓
Wither Skeleton	20	4	5	0.25	·	·

Traits

Properties set in the game files.

Breathes underwaterDoes not drown.

Ignores Poison and RegenerationThese two effects have no effect on it.

Inverted healingInstant Health hurts it and Instant Damage heals it.

Weak to SmiteSmite deals extra damage to it.

SkeletonWolves attack it on sight.

UndeadThe game counts it among the undead, which affects how several effects and enchantments treat it.

Ignored by the WitherThe Wither does not target it.

Advancements with Parched

Advancements whose criteria involve this mob, from the game files.

Monster HunterKill any hostile monster Monsters HuntedKill one of every hostile monster

Command

Summon a Parched/summon →

/summon minecraft:parched ~ ~ ~

Where you find the Parched

The Parched spawns in the Desert, about as often as ordinary Skeletons there. Together with the Husk, which does not burn either, it makes the desert one of the few places where hostile mobs survive the morning sun.

You will often hear it before you see it: a Parched makes a dry crackling sound. A parrot on your shoulder that starts crackling is imitating one nearby.

What kind of mob it is

The game counts the Parched among the skeletons and the undead, with the usual consequences:

Smite deals extra damage to it.
Healing hurts it. A splash Potion of Healing damages it, and Poison and Regeneration do nothing to it.
Wolves attack it on sight, like any skeleton.
It does not drown. Leading it into an oasis will not get rid of it.

It also has a little less health than a Skeleton.

Arrows of Weakness

Besides bones and arrows, a Parched killed by a player can drop an Arrow of Weakness. Weakness lowers the melee damage of whatever it hits, which is handy against a strong melee mob.

It has one classic use: curing a Zombie Villager. The cure needs a Zombie Villager under Weakness, then a Golden Apple. One arrow of Weakness does the first half of the job, without brewing a Potion of Weakness.

Its relatives

Each biome-specific skeleton drops its own tipped arrow: Slowness for the Stray of snowy biomes, Poison for the Bogged of swamps, and Weakness for the Parched.

✓ Checked in Java Edition 26.3 · updated 1 November 2026