What is an Illusioner in Minecraft?

The Illusioner is a villager armed with a bow. It has the ability to create illusions and fire arrows at its enemies. This mob is a hostile mob that is exclusive to the Java Edition of Minecraft. It has a health of 32 hearts.

Illusioners do not spawn naturally in any biome, world-generated structure, monster spawner, raids, or patrols. However, players can spawn them using data packs or the in-game command "/summon illusioner." Also, illusioners do not have a spawn egg in the creative mode inventory.

When a player or a tamed wolf kills an illusioner, it has an 8.5% chance of dropping naturally spawned equipment, including its unenchanted bow. In addition, 5 experience orbs are dropped on players or tamed wolf kills. If the illusioner is a raid captain, it will also drop a villager Ominous Banner.

The Illusioner is a hostile mob that attacks players, adult villagers, iron golems, and wandering traders within a 16416 cubic area. It attacks with its spells and bow, firing an arrow every second. It cannot attack with a non-bow item in its hand or use tipped arrows in its offhand slot, but it can use spectral arrows. It is also the only villager that can see its target through walls.

The Illusioner moves quickly in a semi-circular fashion and always tries to maintain a consistent distance between himself and the player. It strafes from left to right and vice versa, retreating if the player gets too close or advancing if the player retreats. The Illusioner has two spells, the first of which is a spell that blinds its opponent, and the second is a spell that summons visual pseudo-duplicates and makes the Illusioner invisible.

The Illusioner casts its blindness spell only if the regional difficulty exceeds 2. The world's difficulty setting, the inhabited time of a chunk, the total daytime in the world, and the phase of the moon from the day-night cycle affect its ability. The Illusioner casts a Blindness effect that lasts for 20 seconds upon first engaging a new player opponent. It signals this attack by raising its arms during a short-timed animation, making a low-pitched sound, and producing a black mist of particles. This spell resets the Illusioner's spell cooldown to 1 second and the cooldown for the blinding spell to 9 seconds.

In addition to its blindness spell, the Illusioner has another ability that makes it one of the trickiest mobs to fight in Minecraft. When engaged in combat, it casts an Invisibility status effect on itself that lasts for 60 seconds and refreshes the effect whenever the Invisibility's time runs out. The Illusioner signals this spell by raising its arms, making a strange high-pitched sound, and producing a blue mist of particles called a "mirror."

When an Illusioner becomes invisible through this or another method, it creates four false duplicates of itself. These duplicates hover and waver at short distances from the actually invisible Illusioner, though they only space themselves out the first time the Illusioner is attacked. They face in precisely the same direction as the Illusioner and move somewhat in step with the original, appearing to no-clip through blocks like a vex does. Despite using the shooting animation whenever the original uses its bow, only the real Illusioner can shoot and be damaged.

The clones move to new positions if they were not triggered and are still bunched together. The Illusioner can also do this once in a while to refresh the clones' positions. When the real Illusioner is damaged, its duplicates all snap back to where the real Illusioner is, then quickly snap back out to new positions, making a teleporting sound, signaling the hit.

If an invisible Illusioner receives the Glowing effect, all of the duplicates glow, while the true Illusioner remains invisible. Moreover, only the invisible Illusioner burns when catching fire.

The duplicates dissipate once the real Illusioner's Invisibility status effect ends or if the Illusioner dies. However, if an Illusioner's Invisibility status effect is removed by a Lingering Potion of Invisibility, its duplicates will persist indefinitely until the Illusioner dies or is attacked, at which point they will disappear.

The Illusioner is a formidable foe, but there are some strategies players can use to take it down.

• First, players should prioritize taking out the Illusioner's duplicates as quickly as possible. While they cannot damage the player, the clones can make it difficult to keep track of the real Illusioner and can block the player's line of sight.

• Second, players should try to avoid getting hit by the Illusioner's blindness spell, which can significantly hinder their ability to fight. To do this, players can try to stay at a distance and dodge the spell or use a Lingering Potion of Invisibility to make themselves immune.

• Third, players should take advantage of the Illusioner's weakness to melee attacks. While the Illusioner can attack from range with its bow, it is not as effective up close. Players can use a sword or axe to quickly take down the Illusioner while avoiding its arrows.

• Finally, players should be patient and avoid getting too close to the Illusioner. The Illusioner is fast and will try to maintain a consistent distance from the player, making it difficult to land hits. Players should take their time and wait for opportunities to strike when the Illusioner is vulnerable.

The Illusioner is a unique and challenging mob in Minecraft that requires a different approach than most other mobs. Its ability to summon duplicates and cast blindness spells makes it a formidable opponent that can catch even experienced players off guard. However, with the right strategy and a little patience, players can take down the Illusioner and reap the rewards of its drops.