The Withered Abomination is the miniboss of the Soul Fortress Remains, which is a Legendary Monsters structure that generates in the Nether. You’ll find it asleep in the middle of the ruins, and it won’t wake up until a player gets within 15 blocks. Stats wise, it has 190 health, which equates to 95 hearts, and it counts as an undead mob, so Smite will work on it.
Every hit it lands will give you the Wither effect, which makes it dangerous for its size, as your hearts keep draining while you’re trying to back off. It’s also the only source of 
Withered Horns and 
Withered Bones, which are needed for the 
Withered Scythe and the 
Withered Ribcage. Oddly, the horns drop during the fight rather than at the end.
Location
Withered Abominations can only be found in the Soul Fortress Remains, with one in each. The ruins generate in Soul Sand Valleys and Nether Wastes, and they’re placed fairly close together, around 27 chunks apart, so you might pass a few on a long Nether trip.
With cheats enabled, the command below gives you the coordinates of the nearest ruins straight away. It’s the quickest way to find one, though on a survival world without cheats you’ll want the Eye instead.
Without cheats, you’ll want to craft an 
Eye Of Soul, which is 4 
Soul Sand placed around an 
Ender Pearl. It has to be thrown in the Nether, as that’s where the ruins are, and it’ll fly toward the nearest one within 100 chunks. Like an 
Eye of Ender it can shatter on a throw, so bring a couple.
You’ll find the ruins are a low, broken fortress rather than a tall one, with a few 
Chests inside that use Nether Fortress loot, plus one with Bastion treasure. The Withered Abomination sleeps right in the center. Because it wakes at 15 blocks, you will usually be inside the walls before it moves, so loot the edges first.
Behavior
While it’s asleep, the Withered Abomination can’t be damaged and can’t be given any effects, so you can’t get a head start on it. Once a player comes within 15 blocks it will wake up and come for them, and it will attack 
Iron Golems as well. It walks slowly, but it has a dash that covers ground quickly, so distance on its own won’t keep you safe.
Attacks
Most of the time it will sweep its arms through a wide arc in front of it, and those sweeps get chained together. The bigger attacks are a slam that sends shockwaves along the ground, and a dash that ends in a hit. Whenever one connects and you aren’t blocking, you’ll be given Wither II for 2 seconds, and most of them disable a raised 
Shield as well.
| Attack | Reach | Damage | What to Know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arm Sweep | 4.5 blocks, wide arc | 16.5 | Its most common attack, often two in a row, disables a Shield for 5 seconds |
| Heavy Swing | 6 blocks | 15 | A slower single hit that launches you, disables a Shield for up to 6 seconds |
| Slam | 7 blocks, wide arc | 21 | Shockwaves run out along the floor afterward, disables a Shield for 7 seconds |
| Dash | Closes from 6 blocks | 10, 10, then 16 | Two quick swipes, a charge, and a 14 damage hit that throws you at the end |
The slam is the one to get away from, as the shockwaves keep going after the arms have come down, and 21 damage before armor is enough to kill you outright with no gear on.
The dash is harder to see coming, as it starts with two small swipes and then it charges, so if you see the double swipe, expect it on top of you a moment later.
Special Mechanics
Like the mod’s other minibosses, the Withered Abomination has a damage cap of 21, so a single hit will never deal more than that. Damage is ignored whenever you’re more than 4 blocks above or below it as well, and the blocks around it get broken every couple of hits, which stops you pillaring up or walling it off.
Splash Potions and Lingering Potions are ignored completely, so even though it’s undead, a 
Potion of Healing thrown at it does nothing. It’s immune to Fire, Lava and 
Magma Blocks as you’d expect in the Nether, and it can’t be Withered itself either.
Arrows do work on it, which is unusual for the mod, so a 
Bow can be used to pull it awake from a distance and get a few hits in while it closes the gap. Once it’s on you though, the cap means melee is just as good.
The Horns Drop Mid Fight
You won’t find the Withered Horns in its death drops. Instead, one Withered Horn falls off it the first time it drops below half health, and a second one falls off below a quarter, with a loud crack each time. They land on the floor next to it, so grab them once there’s a gap, as they might be lost in Lava if the fight drifts.
This means the horns are guaranteed as long as you get it below 25%, even if you then die or run. The Withered Abomination will heal back up while it has nobody to fight, but the horns it has already dropped don’t come back, so a second attempt on the same one only gives you the bones at the end.
Drops
When it finally dies, the Withered Abomination drops 2 Withered Bones and 100 experience. Along with the 2 Withered Horns from earlier in the fight, that’s everything one of them gives, and Looting doesn’t add to it. The bones and horns don’t come from anywhere else in the mod.
Withered Abomination Drops
Withered Horn 
Withered Bone One fight covers one of two items. The Withered Scythe needs both horns, both bones and a 
Block of Gold. The Withered Ribcage is a chestplate made from the same two horns and two bones. A Withered Bone also goes into the Void Sword, with 2 Void Gems brushed out of the 
Suspicious Sand in Ancient Tower Remains.
As the horns and bones only stretch to one recipe, you’ll need to find a second Soul Fortress Remains for the other. That’s less of a problem here than with most of the mod’s bosses, as the ruins are spaced closer together than any structure other than the nests. An Eye Of Soul thrown from a different part of the Nether will usually find a fresh one.
Strategy
A Sword with Smite is the pick here, as it’s undead and the 21 damage cap means a 
Diamond Sword with Smite V already hits it. Milk is worth more than extra armor, since a 
Milk Bucket clears the Wither straight away, and the Wither is what usually finishes people off. Diamond armor with Protection IV is plenty for the hits themselves.
Stay on its level and within a few blocks, hit it after a sweep lands rather than during, and step back the moment it raises both arms for the slam. Drink the Milk whenever the Wither has a few seconds left rather than waiting for it to run out, as two hits close together stack the drain up quickly. Keep an eye on the floor for the horns too.
If you’d rather not take it on straight away, wake it, take it below a quarter health for both horns, then leave and come back later for the bones. It heals while nobody is around, so nothing is lost by doing it in two goes. The second visit will only drop bones though, as the horns never regrow.
FAQ
It sleeps in the middle of the Soul Fortress Remains, which generate in Soul Sand Valleys and Nether Wastes in the Nether, around 27 chunks apart. Craft an Eye Of Soul from 4 Soul Sand and an Ender Pearl and throw it while you’re in the Nether, and it will fly toward the nearest ruins. With cheats on, /locate structure legendary_monsters:soul_fortress_remains gives you the coordinates.
You get 2 Withered Horns during the fight, one when it drops below half health and one below a quarter, then 2 Withered Bones when it dies. That’s exactly enough for either the Withered Scythe, which also needs a Block of Gold, or the Withered Ribcage. The Void Sword takes one Withered Bone as well.
Use a Sword with Smite, as it’s undead and each hit is capped at 21 anyway, and bring Milk to clear the Wither its hits give you. Stay on its level, since it ignores damage from more than 4 blocks above or below, and back away when both arms go up for the slam. Potions don’t work on it at all, so don’t waste them.
That’s how the horns work, as they break off when it’s damaged rather than being part of its death loot. The first Withered Horn comes off below 50% health and the second below 25%, with a crack you can hear. Pick them up when you get a chance, because they don’t come back if it heals, and it won’t drop any more when it dies.
