Minecraft Guardian

Minecraft Guardian

Guardian

Health points	30 × 15
Behavior	Hostile
Attack strength	Easy: 4 Normal: 6 Hard: 9 When attacked (spikes): 2
Size	Height: 0.85 Blocks Width: 0.85 Blocks

Spawning

Guardians spawn naturally only in and around ocean monuments. They require water to spawn. Specifically, they can spawn only if the spawning block and the block below the spawning block are both water (regardless of stationary water or flowing water), and the block above the spawning block is transparent(air, water, sign, slab, ice, etc.).

Guardians spawn less often in ocean open to the sky than they do in covered areas (i.e. inside the monument). Specifically, spawning fails 95% of the time if the spawning water block is below sea level (Y=63 by default), all blocks between the spawning water block and sea level are liquid or fully transparent, and the block at sea level has a view of the sky. Above sea level, spawning fails 95% of the time if the spawning water block has a view of the sky.

Most guardians spawn in between Y=39 (floor of the ocean monument) to Y=63.

Drops

See also: Guardian farming

When killed, guardians always drop 0-2 prismarine shards. Looting increases the maximum prismarine shard drop by one per level, for a maximum of 5.

They also drop one of the following:

• 40% chance of dropping a raw cod (cooked cod if killed by fire‌^[JE only]). An additional 0-1 drops are added per level of Looting for a maximum of 4 cod with Looting III.^[verify]
• 40% chance of dropping prismarine crystals. An additional 0-1 drops are added per level of Looting for a maximum of 4 prismarine crystals with Looting III.^[verify]
• 20% chance of dropping neither.

Guardians also have a 2.5% chance of dropping a random fish as an extra drop in addition to the normal fish drop. This chance is increased by 1% per Looting level, for a maximum of 5.5% with Looting III. This drop uses the same chances that fishing uses, resulting in a 60% chance for raw cod, a 25% chance for raw salmon, a 13% chance for pufferfish, and a 2% chance for tropical fish. A guardian on fire drops cooked fish.

Guardians also drop 10 experience orbs when killed by a player or tamed wolf.

Behavior

Guardians swim around in water, attacking any players or squid that come into sight. They swim in abrupt charges, moving their tail rapidly when doing so. When swimming, their spikes retract. When not swimming they sink slowly and their spikes extend and quiver.

The guardian's eye follows and stares at any nearby players, and always looks directly at its target. The eye follows completely unarmored players under the effects of a potion of invisibility, and the guardians can attack them.

Stationary guardians can be pushed by flowing water, but swimming guardians cannot. When pushed horizontally they move significantly faster than other mobs pushed by water.

When out of water, guardians squeak at the player while flopping about. They do not suffocate in air and can live indefinitely out of water. Their spikes are always extended when out of water.

Guardians, as aquatic mobs, are affected by the Impaling enchantment.

Combat

See also: Tutorials/Combat § Guardians

Guardians have two methods of attack: a laser and a defensive attack analogous to the thorns enchantment. Unlike most other hostile mobs, a guardian does not follow a player who moves out of sight. Instead, it simply continues swimming until the player becomes visible again, and then starts charging its laser to attack.

Laser

The laser takes several seconds to charge, doing no damage in the meantime, and changing from purple to bright yellow (thus, acting like a warning indicator). Once charged, the beam abruptly ends and deals 6 damage on normal difficulty. Guardians swim around for a few seconds before firing again. If the target comes near the guardian while it is firing its beam, it stops firing and swims away until it is at a comfortable range, at which point it continues attacking. The beam cannot be dodged, and has a maximum range of approximately 15 blocks. Once the player is out of range, or if the beam is obstructed by solid blocks, the guardian's beam disengages from the player and deals no damage. The guardian's laser is able to penetrate armor to some extent.

Thorn-like attack

Guardians deal 2 damage each time it is hit when its pufferfish-type spikes are extended. If cornered, the guardian usually extends its spikes and fire at the player, even at point blank range.

Data values

See also: Chunk format

Guardians have entity data associated with them that contain various properties of the mob.

•  Entity data
  • Tags common to all entities [show]
  • Tags common to all mobs [show]

Achievements

Main article: Achievements

Icon	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Availability				Xbox points earned	Trophy type (PS)
				Xbox	PS	Bedrock	Nintendo
	Monster Hunter	Attack and destroy a monster	Kill a hostile mob or one of the following neutral mobs: enderman, zombie pigman, spider, cave spider.	Xbox One	Yes	Yes	Yes	15G	Bronze
				Xbox 360		Alt		20G
	Overkill	Deal nine hearts of damage in a single hit	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have nine hearts of health overall.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	30G	Bronze

Advancements

Main article: Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Internal ID
	Adventure	Adventure, exploration, and combat	—	Kill any entity, or be killed by any entity.	minecraft:adventure/root
	Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Adventure	Kill one of these 25 mobs. Other mobs are ignored for this advancement.	minecraft:adventure/kill_a_mob
	Take Aim	Shoot something with a bow and arrow	Monster Hunter	—	minecraft:adventure/shoot_arrow
	Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Monster Hunter	Kill each of these 25 mobs. Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for the advancement.	minecraft:adventure/kill_all_mobs

History

Java Edition
1.8		June 3, 2014			Jeb announces he is working on a hostile mob that lives underwater, though currently doesn't do much.
		June 8, 2014			Jeb provides more details into the upcoming mob - it will have a ranged attack and will be hostile to squid as well as the player. He recommended using a full set of diamond armor, potion of water breathing and respiration enchantment on Hard difficulty.
		June 9, 2014			Jeb posted a stylized guardian image to Reddit for use as a user flair. This was the first indication of how the guardian would look.
		14w25a			Added guardians.
1.9		15w43a			The guardian's drop chances for raw cod and prismarine crystals have now been changed. Instead of a 33% chance of fish and a 33% chance of crystals (only if the fish drop failed with both percentages adjusted by Looting), the percentages have now been changed to 40% fish, 40% crystals, and 20% neither, with the amount increased by Looting.
		15w47b			Added sounds for guardians' defensive Thorns attack.
1.11		16w32a			Changed Entity ID from Guardian to guardian. Removed Elder tag.
		16w38a			Guardian's common drop of raw cod now drops as cooked cod, if killed while on fire.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.16.0		build 1			Added guardians.
Legacy Console Edition
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Added guardians.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
1.3.12					Added guardians.

Issues

Issues relating to "Guardian" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

• A guardian's eye is actually the "head" part of the mob's model. This gives the illusion of a dynamic eye.
• Underwater, guardians emit deep, growl-like sounds, but on land they emit high-pitched squeaks.
• Guardians' laser-beam attacks are affected by the potion of strength, which normally affects only melee attacks.
• When placed or spawned on a slime block, guardians start bouncing and continue, each bounce higher than the last, until each bounce brings the guardian to 17 blocks height.
• In the texture file for the guardian, "jeb" is written in the bottom right corner.
• If summoned with {NoAI:1}, the guardian's eye still follows the player.
• Guardians are always immune to the fire damage from magma blocks.

Gallery

• 

  Jeb's Instagram mob reveal.
 
• 

  The inside of a guardian (with their spikes extended).
 
• 

  A guardian's "eye" follows players at any position.
 
• 

  A guardian attacking a squid.
 
• 

  A group of guardians defending their monument.
 
• 

  Size comparison between a guardian and its elder variant.
 
• 

  The guardian texture, with "jeb" written in the corner.
 
• 

  A guardian in a boat.