Can pointed dripstones kill the wither in Minecraft? Everything you need to know

Pointed dripstones are one of the newest blocks added to Minecraft in the Caves & Cliffs update Part 1. Once the dripstone cave biome is out with the next major update, pointed dripstone will make up the stalactites and stalagmites in those caves.

As of version 1.17, players can find pointed dripstones in ordinary caves and some ravines, which can be mined using any tool, but quickest with the pickaxe. With the addition of dripstone, lava has become a renewable source in Minecraft.

Players can farm lava by placing a cauldron under a pointed dripstone with a dripstone block above it. Then they need to place lava above the dripstone block, and the pointed dripstone will start dripping lava which will get collected in the cauldron.

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Can players kill the wither with pointed dripstone in Minecraft 1.17?

Wither is a boss mob that does not spawn naturally in any dimension. The only way to spawn a wither is by using three Wither skulls and four soul sand blocks. Killing this fearsome mob rewards the player with a nether star that can be used to craft a beacon.

Defeating this dangerous mob is challenging as it shoots wither skulls rapidly at the player and has 300-600 health points depending on the platform (Java or Bedrock). Despite this, some players have found a relatively easy method of doing so.

After trapping a wither, players can kill it with falling pointed dripstone blocks. These falling dripstone blocks deal so much damage that if the wither is consecutively hit by them, it can die in less than 10 seconds in the Java edition.

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How to easily kill the wither with pointed dripstone?

Pointed dripstone dropping contraption (Image via Minecraft)

The player first needs to trap the wither in bedrock blocks as the wither explodes when spawned. Players can do this at the bedrock present in the last five layers of the overworld. Once trapped, players can make a tunnel above it through which the pointed dripstone will drop.

To make the pointed dripstone blocks drop one by one, players can use many observers and sticky pistons to create a mechanism similar to the one shown in the above picture. Players can add as many pointed dripstone blocks as they want to the structure.