What is Stray in Minecraft?

Celeb Gist

Strays are a variant of skeletons that only appear in frozen or snowy biomes. They have the same behavior and drops as regular skeletons, with the exception of their slowness arrows. Regular skeletons can be transformed into strays by placing them in powdered snow for seven seconds.

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Where do Strays Spawn?Edit icon

Strays spawn in frozen, ice, and snowy biomes. Within these biomes, skeletons have an 80% chance of spawning as strays.

How do Strays Behave?Edit icon

Strays behave mostly the same as normal skeletons. Strays will chase both players and iron golems that they see within 16 blocks and they will climb stairs, navigate mazes, and traverse other complex obstacles to get within shooting range. Once the stray is within 15 blocks of a target and they have a clear line of sight, the stray will start shooting arrows, once every second. If the player leaves the 15-block radius, the stray will wait for a few seconds with the bow charged, shooting as soon as the player comes within range again. However, in contrast to the skeleton, when strays are underwater, they do not shoot arrows. Instead, they use melee attacks that inflict Slowness. They also do not take damage from freezing in powdered snow. Like skeletons, the accuracy of a stray’s shot is based on game difficulty.

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Encountering a StrayEdit icon

Strays can be found in frozen, ice, and snowy biomes and can be dealt with in a similar way to regular skeletons. However, special attention needs to be paid to avoiding damage due to the stray’s slowness arrows.

What do Strays Drop?Edit icon

Strays have similar, but slightly varied drops compared to regular skeletons. Strays can drop:

  • 0–2 bones (there’s a chance to drop a maximum of 0-5 bones with Looting III).
  • 0–2 arrows. The maximum drop is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 arrows with Looting III.
  • 0–1 arrow of Slowness (if the stray was killed by either the Player or a tamed wolf). Each level of Looting will increase the chance of this specific drop by 50% of the previous chance, resulting in a maximum of a 93.75% chance of this drop with Looting III.
  • Any naturally spawned equipment (including the bow) has an 8.5% chance of dropping if killed by the player with a chance of enchantments, though it will be damaged. The odds of an equipment drop increase by 1% with each level of Looting with a maximum of 11.5% with Looting III.
  • Any picked-up equipment will have a 100% chance of dropping once the mob is killed and will drop with the same damage level it had when picked up.
  • Strays drop 5 experience orbs when killed by either the player or a tamed wolf, with an extra 1–3 experience orbs if the stray has equipment.

    • FAQsEdit icon

    Q.What does a stray do in Minecraft?

    A. Strays behave mostly the same as normal skeletons. Strays will chase both players and iron golems that they see within 16 blocks and they will climb stairs, navigate mazes, and traverse other complex obstacles to get within shooting range. Once the stray is within 15 blocks of a target and they have a clear line of sight, the stray will start shooting arrows, once every second.

    Q.How much XP does a stray give?

    A. Strays drop 5 experience when killed by either a player or a tamed wolf, with an extra 1–3 experience if the stray has equipment.

    ConclusionEdit icon

    While similar to skeletons in most ways, strays help give regional variety to Minecraft’s hostile mobs. They also serve as a convenient way of attaining slowness arrows, which can be useful for combat. These same slowness arrows also make the stray a more difficult version of the skeleton in combat.

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