A surprise to some, but appreciated for its interesting spawn activity and useful drops. Slimes only spawn on the surface in swamps and underground in what are known as “slime chunks” below height/ground level 40. The intriguing aspect to it’s spawn activity is that spawn rates are at their maximum during a full moon and at their minimum during a new moon, with spawn rates increasing with the size of the moon (in-game). The detail adds just a little bit more fun into the Minecraft gameplay.

Slimes also drop slimeballs when they die, a surprisingly useful tool, with the chance of dropping anywhere from 0-2 balls. They can be used to make leads, ropes that can be used to guide peaceful mobs such as animals to a designated location, which is much easier than guiding animals using food. Slimeballs can also be used to make slime blocks and sticky pistons, both having endless practical uses in redstone or simply for entertainment.

A classic. You can’t think about Minecraft without acknowledging the oldest hostile mob in the game. It’s impact and fame in the game alone earns the Creeper a spot on the leaderboard. It’s basic mechanics have remained unchanged throughout versions; it explodes when a player goes near it.

However, the mob also has interesting mechanics that add fun drops to the game. If killed by an arrow shot from a Skeleton, another hostile mob, the Creeper has a chance of dropping one of twelve music discs. Another cool drop comes from Supercharged Creepers, a version of the mob that has been struck by lightning, altering its appearance and behavior. When a Supercharged Creeper explodes and simultaneously kills either a Zombie, Skeleton, Wither Skeleton, or another Creeper, the head of the mob drops. The playable music discs and wearable mob heads add more fun aspects to the game.

Added in the 1.13 Minecraft Aquatic Update, the Drowned mob can be explained as the water version of a Zombie. They spawn in most ocean biomes and in river biomes, and can also be created from submerging normal Zombies fully underwater for at least 45 continuous seconds.

However, the main specialty about the Drowned is their drops. While they leave behind the normal pieces of rotten flesh and occasionally gold ingots, they can also drop tridents.

Alone, the teal, fork-shaped staff can only be used as a projectile weapon. However, enchants such as Riptide and Channeling bring an extra level to its abilities. The Riptide enchantment allows players to travel with a thrown trident through water, including oceans, rivers, and even in rain. Players can reach incredible heights by flying through the rain using a trident enchanted with Riptide. Channeling removes the trident’s usual projectile ability during thunderstorms and in its stead provides players with the power to summon lightning, dealing much more damage and setting surrounding areas on fire.

It is because of these tridents and their incredible possibilities that the Drowned earns its place on the leaderboard.

The Shulker is a secret found only in End Cities accessible after killing the Ender Dragon, and gaining the achievement “Free the End.” It appears as a seemingly harmless creature, simply a cute pale bead in a purple enclosure. When in range, the hostile mob will open its shell, revealing the creature within and shooting a shulker bullet, a projectile that will follow a player or mob around, moving along all X, Y, and Z axes. If struck, the player or mob takes damage and is inflicted with the levitation effect, sending them floating into the sky for ten seconds.

While this can be annoying, especially while taking damage from the shulker bullet impact and again from possible fall damage, there are some interesting uses for the levitation effect. Being the only mob that can cause the levitation effect, a shulker is necessary in completing certain achievements in the game, such as Great View From Up Here, requiring players to float up 50 blocks in the air, and the How Did We Get Here achievement, gained from applying all effects, including levitation, to a player.

Shulkers also have the possibility of dropping shulker shells, items that can be used to create shulker boxes. Shulker boxes are essentially a backpack, allowing players to expand their inventory space beyond the 36 basic inventory slots.

Perhaps an opinion of controversy. However, it is crucial to completing the game’s end goal of killing the Ender Dragon, and both its relevance to the story of Minecraft and its mechanics have remained, for the most part, unchanged throughout versions.

Found spawning inside and near Nether Fortresses, dark castle-like structures found in the Nether dimension in the game, Blazes target players within a 48 block radius, shooting fireballs and inflicting both projectile damage and fire damage. They also boast a unique attacking behavior, shooting only three fireballs before a cooldown that allows players to rush in and deal damage. This simple detail adds just another elevated level of gameplay and strategy.

Its relevance to the game, like many other creatures, comes from its drops. Blaze rods are necessary for crafting Eyes of Ender, the keys to unlocking a portal to the End dimension that the Ender Dragon calls home. This mechanic and crafting recipe has remained a constant through countless versions of the game — you need Blazes to finish the game. For its consistency throughout versions and high relevance to the game, the Blaze earns the number one spot for Best Hostile Minecraft Mobs.

Another famous mob in the game, the Ender Dragon is recognized across the community as being one of the three bosses in the game, sometimes even considered the Final Boss. The entire main purpose of the game is to kill the Ender Dragon. It’s impact on the game and how its behavior has changed throughout versions while still remaining a major plot point in the story of Minecraft definitely merits an honorable mention.

Introduced in the 1.16 update, Minecraft added our fat, lovable bees. They are neutral mobs that spawn in forests and plains. They typically hover above the ground near flowers and are able to pollinate them, along with crops such as wheat with an effect similar to bone meal. Players can also breed bees using flowers. They can live in beehives or bee nests and will make honey, which can be collected by the player through honeycombs or honey bottles. While they don’t drop anything besides experience points, if their hive is destroyed, all the bees will become angered and begin attacking the player, poisoning them. Ouch!

Dolphins are neutral mobs that spawn in oceans. They typically swim together in pods and can jump out of the water. They’ll follow players in boats, but if they’re hit, the whole pod will attack at once. When killed, they drop cod and experience points (but why would you want to kill these lovable guys in the first place!) A unique feature about dolphins is that upon being fed raw fish, they will lead the player to shipwrecks, buried treasure, and ocean ruins. This is extremely valuable for a player looking to explore and farm items. They cannot be bred like many passive and neutral mobs, but their treasure-seeking ability is cool enough that we can excuse this.

Added in the 1.16 Nether Update, the Piglin mob activity adds interesting new mechanics to the gameplay and the storyline of Minecraft.

A player is only safe from the Piglins if they’re wearing any item of gold armor. If not, the mob rushes towards its target wielding either crossbows or golden swords. However, the main component of this creature that adds to the game is bartering.

Piglins love their gold. The Nether Update even brings in a new structure, the Bastion Remnant, meant to house Piglins and their precious gold blocks. They love gold so much that players can distract the mob by handing them gold ingots or dropping gold ingots in front of them. This starts the trading process. Piglins can drop an array of different items from barters, from water bottles to crying obsidian. They also drop ender pearls, one half of the items needed to craft Eyes of Ender, a crucial part of completing the game. This newfound way of obtaining pearls provides a new RNG (random number generator) based step to completing the game and killing the Ender Dragon.

While quite rare, mooshrooms are extremely useful (and cute!). They only spawn in mushroom field biomes and are the only mobs that will spawn naturally there. With the exception of mob spawners that may be present, mushroom field biomes are totally peaceful, making it a safe place for players to explore. Much like their normal bovine counterparts, they can be fed wheat to breed, be milked with a bucket, and will drop raw beef and leather upon death. In addition to this, milking them with a bowl will yield mushroom stew. Using shears on them will give the player mushrooms, though they will not grow back. Mooshrooms can be a valuable source of food for the player should they be ambitious enough to bring two or so back to their base to breed.

Horses are passive mobs that come in a variety of colors and markings. They typically spawn in plains and savannas in herds. They can be tamed by the player by repeatedly mounting them until hearts appear, though how long this takes can vary. Once tamed, players can place saddles and horse armor onto them. With this, horses become a valuable asset in exploration and transportation. However, horses have their own substats such as health, movement speed, and jump strength. They can be bred using golden apples or golden carrots. Upon death, they drop leather and experience points. Donkeys operate similarly, though they are typically smaller and can be equipped with a chest instead of armor to allow the player to carry more items.

A passive mob that would be a crime to leave out is the lovable Moobloom. In a vote during MINECON Earth, players were able to vote on which mob they wanted to see added to Minecraft. The Moobloom unfortunately lost to the Glow Squid. While they are only available on Minecraft Earth, set to shut down June 2021, many players all over the internet expressed their desires for the Moobloom to be added to the game. Much like the mooshrooms, they are a rare variant of the cow. They are yellow-colored and sprout yellow flowers on their bodies and on the ground as they walk (the dream!) Like a normal cow, they drop leather and raw beef upon death.