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Strays are a variant of skeletons that spawn in snowy biomes. They are hostile mobs which will shoot players with a bow and arrow much like a skeleton. They are undead mobs which like to stay away from the sun and drop bones, arrows and any armor they are wearing when slain. Here is how to deal with Strays in Minecraft.
Where do strays spawn in Minecraft
A stray will spawn in the following biomes:
Frozen River
Snowy Plains
Ice Spikes
Frozen Ocean (Bedrock Edition only)
Deep Frozen Ocean (Bedrock Edition only)
Legacy Frozen Ocean (Bedrock Edition only)
Strays can also spawn if a skeleton walks into powder snow. If it stays for 7 seconds, it will start shaking and turn into a stray after another 15 seconds. Strays do not take damage from powder snow and make noises similar to skeletons.
How to deal with strays in Minecraft
Strays usually shoot players with normal arrows or arrows of Slowness which slow your movement for 30 seconds and deal between 3 and 5 hearts worth of damage on ranged weapons. They will do between 2 and 3 hearts of damage in easy, normal and hard difficulties. You can attack them with a bow and arrow or by using melee weapons.
You can also shoot their own arrows of slowness at them which will cause them to be slowed for 30 seconds. They are undead mobs which burn in sunlight unless spawned wearing a helmet. They will generally seek shelter under shade in order to stay safe from the sun.
The best and safest way to fight a stray is with a bow and arrow. When they get close enough to you, they stop walking and start shooting so when you try to run up to them to just hit them, they will continuously hit you with arrows. If going for a melee attack, try to sneak up on them. Another option is to trick the skeleton into shooting another hostile mob, that mob will then attack the skeleton and they will fight each other.
