Mob infighting

Mob infighting is a mechanic in Minecraft in which certain mobs retaliate against other mobs, as part of their mob AI.

Overview

Two skeletons fighting each other.

If a mob capable of attacking is directly attacked by a player or another mob, the damaged mob stops attacking its current target and attacks the mob or player that damaged it. This causes the mob that did the damage to retaliate in turn, and the two of them become locked into a duel until one of them dies. This is useful in combat as it distracts two monsters temporarily, kills one of them, and severely weakens the other.

Once a mob has taken damage from a mob or player, that mob or player is set as the mob's permanent target. This means that even if another mob or player attacks an infighting mob, the infighting mob does not stop trying to attack its permanent target. A mob can refuse to infight with another monster if the player or a mob already attacked it, so the player or a mob was already set as the mob's permanent target. That mob does not infight with any other mob until the attacking player or mob dies. If the attacker goes beyond the mob's sight range, this resets the retaliating behavior and the mob either returns to neutral mode or searches for a new target.

Specific mob behavior

Retaliation

Not all mobs have the same infighting behavior. Below is a list of how each mob reacts to being attacked by another. In Bedrock Edition, retaliation is controlled by the AI Goal component minecraft:behavior.hurt_by_target in the entity JSON files.

Mob Behavior

In Bedrock Edition only:

In Java Edition only:

Retaliates normally, as described above.

In Java Edition only:

These are pack mobs. When they retaliate, they call nearby mobs of the same type to help them if those mobs aren't already targeting another mob or player. Mobs that respond to the call set the victim as their permanent target. These mobs do not retaliate against other mobs of the same type. Additionally, piglins and piglin brutes retaliate in groups if a piglin/piglin brute is attacked by any mob including goats.‌[JE only][1] In Bedrock Edition, if the broadcast_anger field is set to true in the minecraft:angry component in the entity JSON files, it makes the mob a pack mob.
Bee Bees are a pack mob (see above) but they attack back only once until they are made angry again.
Hoglin Hoglins are a pack mob (see above) but only adults can broadcast anger when attacked by a non-prey mob, but babies cannot.
Shulker


In Java Edition shulkers are a pack mob (see above) but they can retaliate against each other.
Zoglin Adults only retaliate. Babies cannot.
Polar Bear Retaliates as a pack mob only when a baby polar bear is attacked.
Wither Retaliates normally, but not against undead mobs.
Breeze‌[BE only] Retaliates normally, but not against trial chambers mobs.
Creeper Retaliates only if it is not already chasing the player.

In Java Edition only:

These are all the illager monsters. They retaliate against non-illager monsters. Additionally, evokers sometimes forget their target and focus back on the player. In Java Edition, ravagers are also a pack mob and call other ravagers when attacked.
Llama, Trader Llama Attacks back only once, although two llamas can alternate spitting at each other until one of them dies.
Panda Aggressive pandas only retaliate. All other types try to attack back only once.

In Bedrock Edition only:

In Java Edition only:

Does not retaliate.
Notes
  • Endermen retaliate, but this rarely happens because they are immune to most projectiles. Endermen become hostile toward iron golems, the ender dragon, withers, zoglins and "Johnny" vindicators if damaged by any one of them.
  • Witches don't usually fight one another, but when a battle between two witches begins, it does not end without outside interference, because they continually heal themselves with potions of Healing.
  • Skeletons and witches can get into an eternal infighting battle. The witch's harming potions heal the skeleton, and the witch also drinks enough healing potions to counter the skeleton's arrows.
  • Not all enemies can incite infighting. Zombies, for example, can hit only the player or mob they are currently targeting, so the only way to provoke them into infighting is to get another monster to hit them. For this reason, it is impossible to get two zombies to fight each other.
  • Most mobs do not retaliate to being rammed by a goat, except for piglins, piglin brutes, hoglins, zoglins, vindicators named "Johnny," and wardens.
  • A creeper retaliates against a mob that attacks it, but only if the player is outside the creeper's sight range. If not, the creeper continues pursuing the player.
  • Breaking gold, opening a chest, or failing to wear gold armor near a piglin causes the piglin to set the player as its permanent target. This means that a piglin does not infight with other mobs once it becomes angry at the player, even if the player never directly attacks the piglin.
  • Drowned behave like zombies, although a drowned with a trident can hit another when targeting the player, resulting in infighting.
  • Withers in Bedrock Edition can retaliate only against ghasts, because it would already attack non-undead mobs instantly.

Hunting

Some mobs fight others for other reasons than retaliation, such as hunting and fighting natural enemies.

Predator Prey
Axolotl
Breeze Iron Golem
Iron Golem
Cat
Drowned

In Bedrock Edition only:

Enderman Endermite
Endermite Enderman‌[BE only]

In Java Edition only:

In Bedrock Edition only:

Frog
Fox
Goat Randomly attack mobs (including armor stands‌[JE only] and cameras) that remain stationary for too long.

In Bedrock Edition only:

In Bedrock Edition only:

Iron Golem Every monster except for the creeper.
Killer Bunny‌[JE only] Wolf
Llama Wolf
Magma Cube Iron Golem
Ocelot
Polar Bear Fox
Silverfish

In Bedrock Edition only:

Slime
Snow Golem Every monster except for the ghast and hoglin‌[BE only]
Tamed Wolf Every mob that the owner attacks except for creeper, ghast and other tamed wolves.
Trader Llama

In Java Edition only:

Trusting Fox Any mob that attacks its trusted player except other trusting foxes and ghasts.

Natural enemies:

Vindicator named "Johnny" Every mob except fellow illagers, ghasts, and agents.

In Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only:

Warden Every mob except other wardens.

In Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only:

Witch

In Bedrock Edition only:

Only as part of a patrol in Java Edition only:

Wither Every mob except undead mobs, ghasts, and agents.

In Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only:

Wither Skeleton
Wolf
Zoglin Every mob except creepers, ghasts, agents and other zoglins.

In Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education only:

See also

References

  1. ↑ MC-227625 — Piglins, piglin brutes and hoglins can still attack goats when attacked

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