How to defeat every Boss in Minecraft

Minecraft has two mobs who are healthy and strong enough to be called bosses. Unlike most mobs, who can virtually spawn anywhere in the dark and creep up on players without warning, boss monsters only spawn a handful of times, and their health bars are shown at the tops of players’ screens when nearby. Both of these Minecraft bosses can be defeated by playing toward their intended types of arenas.

Defeating the Ender Dragon boss

The Ender Dragon can only be found on a Minecraft world in the End dimension, where it is often the first thing that players find once crossing through the end portal. This dragon flies between giant pillars of obsidian topped with End Crystals that heal it when close by before circling down to hover over the bedrock fountain at the center of its arena.

The End Crystals, which stop healing the Ender Dragon when broken, can easily break with virtually any hit, from punches to sword swipes. As their high positioning keeps them far out of arm’s reach, it’s best for players to break them with well-aimed arrows from their preferred bow or crossbow.

Some of these End Crystals will spawn with cages of iron bars built around them, requiring players to tower up with either water buckets or blocks to break through them by hand. The water bucket is also useful elsewhere in the fight, like breaking falls or defending players from aggressive Endermen.

The Ender Dragon can be attacked at any part of the fight, but is the easiest to damage when it comes down to land near the fountain. While this low to the ground, it can be repeatedly slashed by the players’ swords. Another way to deal damage to the dragon is by placing a bed on top of the fountain’s center block and trying to sleep in it, causing a large explosion near its head.

Related: How to beat the Ender Dragon in Minecraft

Defeating the Wither boss

The Wither is a boss mob that can be built by the player using four Soul Sand and three Wither Skeleton Skulls. Once spawned, it will take a few seconds to charge up and release a powerful explosion before attacking.

The Wither attacks by firing explosive Wither Skulls at almost every nearby player and mob, with its rare blue skulls causing more damage to mob and block alike. This destructive power, when coupled with its passive ability to break almost all nearby blocks when damaged, make fighting the Wither something best done far away from important buildings or animals.

Before putting the Wither together, players can build an arena of obsidian, with its floor, walls, and roof designed to contain the Wither’s explosions. Players should have stacks of more obsidian on-hand to replace the blocks broken by the boss during the fight.

Within the obsidian room, players should build multiple inner obsidian walls that stretch from floor to ceiling, each with two or three doorways of one-by-two blocks. Doorways of this size are large enough for players to fit through, but too small for the Wither to break out of. Then, from behind these explosion-proof walls, the player can duck in and out of the doorways to attack the boss, hiding back behind the wall to avoid incoming damage when needed.

A sword of diamond or higher will be needed for the fight against the Wither, preferably with the sharpness enchantment to dish out the most damage possible. Diamond or Netherite armor with blast protection enchantments will also be necessary to survive its attacks.