Ghast in Minecraft: Deflect Fireballs and Get Ghast Tears

Ghasts are huge white jellyfish-like mobs that float over the open Nether and shoot explosive fireballs at you from long range. They only have 10 health, and you can knock their own fireball back at them for an instant kill. They drop ghast tears, the ingredient for Regeneration potions.

Stat	Value
Health	10 (5 hearts)
Fireball impact	4 / 6 / 9 (Easy / Normal / Hard)
Explosion	Up to 17 damage on Normal, depending on distance
Spawns	Nether wastes, soul sand valleys, basalt deltas (any light level)
Drops	0-1 ghast tear, 0-2 gunpowder; 5 XP

Where you’ll meet them

Ghasts need a big open space to spawn (5×5 blocks wide and 4 tall), so you’ll see them over the lava oceans and wide caverns of Nether wastes, soul sand valleys and basalt deltas. Their wailing carries up to 80 blocks, so you usually hear one before you see it.

Fighting a ghast

A ghast that sees you opens its eyes, screeches and fires a fireball about every three seconds. It doesn’t chase you; it hangs back and keeps shooting.

Hit the fireball back. Swing at the fireball just before it reaches you, or shoot it with an arrow, and it flies back the way you’re facing. A reflected fireball that hits the ghast does 1,000 damage, and killing a ghast with its own fireball unlocks the “Return to Sender” advancement. It also makes the ghast drop the Tears music disc.

Shoot it. With only 10 health, a ghast dies to two or three bow hits. Aim at the body, not the tentacles, which aren’t part of its hitbox.

Break line of sight. Ghasts can’t fire through any solid block, including glass. Duck behind a wall to reset them.

Ghast tears often fall into lava when you kill a ghast over it. Try to lure them over solid ground first.

Protecting your portal and paths

A ghast fireball is a weak explosion but sets fire to whatever it hits. Netherrack burns forever once lit, and ghasts love to blow holes in it. Build your Nether paths and walls from cobblestone, blackstone or stone bricks, which all survive a fireball.

Ghast fireballs also extinguish your Nether portal if they hit the portal blocks. Keep a flint and steel on you, or build the portal frame inside a cobblestone shell. The obsidian frame itself never breaks.

Ghast tears

Each ghast drops zero or one tear, and Looting adds up to one more per level. Tears brew into the potion of Regeneration and craft end crystals (with glass and an eye of ender), which you need to respawn the Ender Dragon.

Happy ghasts

From 1.21.6 on, a dried ghast block placed in water rehydrates into a ghastling, which grows into a happy ghast that you can ride. They’re a separate, friendly mob, and normal ghasts stay hostile.