Minecraft is out to poison you with the latest new mob — The Bogged is in preview now

Image of the new Bogged hostile mob in Minecraft.
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios | X)

What you need to know

  • Mojang Studios is celebrating Valentine's Day with its own version of Cupid in Minecraft... Except love is deadly in this case.
  • The Bogged is a brand-new version of the hostile Skeleton mob that fires poison-tipped arrows at players.
  • It can be found in Swamp and Mangrove biomes, and also spawns in the new Trial Chambers.
  • The Bogged is arriving in the future Minecraft 1.21 content update, but you can test it now in the latest Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot.

Update, Feb. 15 at 11:20 a.m. CT — Mojang Studios has now released Minecraft Preview 1.20.70.24, which brings both the new Bogged hostile mob and Wind Charge items to the beta version of Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. With this release, both aforementioned features are available to test on every version of Minecraft. You can check out the full changelog for this release at Minecraft.net.

Original article continues below.


It's officially Valentine's Day, and love is in the arrow. Minecraft, however, has decided that "love" really translates to "poison" in the language of the Villagers. Mojang Studios has dropped a surprise bombshell on the Minecraft community today with the announcement of a brand-new hostile mob coming to everyone's favorite survival-crafting game in the future Minecraft 1.21 content update.

Say hello to the Bogged, a new moss-encrusted variant of the iconic Skeleton announced on Minecraft.net. Yes, it still fires arrows, but these projectiles are tipped in a deadly poison that is insistent on prematurely ending your Minecraft runs. The Bogged will be coming to Minecraft in a huge update later this year alongside other new mobs like the Armadillo and Breeze, but you don't have to wait to play with this new deadly bundle of bones.

The Bogged is already available to test in the latest Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot (24w07a, to be specific, with a changelog at Minecraft.net), and will be coming to Minecraft Preview in the near future. Those desperate to meet an early end on Valentine's Day (I get it) can go find the Bogged in Swamps and Mangroves, but it can also be found alongside its explosive friend the Breeze in challenging Trial Chambers.

The Bogged isn't completely identical to its non-poisonous cousins, though. It has a little less health, fires a little slower, and has a chance to drop Arrows of Poison if killed (figures). It's also still susceptible to the burning rays of the square Minecraft sun, so you can find it chilling in the shade or remaining deep underground in the safety (for them) of the Trial Chambers.

You can check out some more screenshots of the Bogged below, or watch Mojang's YouTube Short introducing the new mob.

This snapshot follows hot on the heels of the last Minecraft: Java Edition snapshot, which added a new item to blow away your opponents or supercharge your jumps. If you'd rather stick to the public version of Minecraft, though, the latest Minecraft: Bedrock Edition update does include access to some experimental features alongside the usual batch of fixes, improvements, and changes. It's nice to see Mojang Studios commit to another mob for one of the best Xbox games in the world — the Bogged may not shake up the balance of Minecraft's ecosystems, but it'll certainly add some more challenge for those weak to poison (that's all of you).

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Zachary Boddy
Staff Writer

Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary.