Mob Menagerie: Ghast

Creeping through the Nether in search of its goodies is a terrifying task at the best of times. Avoiding pigmen, seas of lava, blazes and wither skeletons is a full-time job. But then you hear a sound. A little whine, at a distance. Oh no. It’s a ghast – and it’s our mob of the month.

Ghasts are large, incorporeal beings that float around the Nether. It’s not clear where they came from, or why, but they’ve been sighted on the unpleasant side of obsidian portals ever since the Nether dimension was added to the game in October 2010, as part of the Halloween Update.

You’ll only encounter ghasts in the basalt deltas, Nether wastes and soul sand valley biomes – they tend to avoid the fungal forests where it’s harder to track their prey. Most of the time they just bob around, with their legs, or tentacles, or whatever they are, dangling below them and their eyes tightly closed.

If they sense a player, though, their eyes open wide and they’ll begin to spit fireballs. These projectiles can destroy blocks and set whatever they hit on fire. Except a blaze, which is already ablaze. Ghasts keep their distance, making it hard to take them down with a sword – you’ll usually want a bow or crossbow instead.

Ghasts are affected by poison, but having spent so long in the Nether they’ve become immune to heat damage. In fact, they love the warmth of lava – and if they pass under a lava fall or sink into a pool of the stuff, they’ll slow down a little to enjoy it. This is a great time to pepper them with arrows.

If you do manage to take down one of these beasts, it’ll drop three things – gunpowder, ghast tears, and experience orbs, in varying quantities. The gunpowder can be used to craft TNT, fireworks or fire charges. The experience is used for enchanting. And the tears can be combined with an Awkward Potion to make a Potion of Regeneration – extremely useful when you’re traversing the Nether.

My top tip for killing a ghast? Swinging your sword at exactly the right time when a fireball is approaching will bat it right back where it came from, hopefully killing the ghast and earning you a “Return to Sender” achievement to boot! It’s not easy, but nothing ever is – especially not in the Nether.