Phantom icon

Phantom Summon Command Generator

  • Category: hostile
  • Baby variant: no
  • Entity id: minecraft:phantom

Phantoms are vanilla's punishment for skipped sleep: after three in-game days without a bed or a death, they materialize in the night sky and dive at whoever kept the insomnia statistic ticking. As the only flying undead, they mix aerial pathing with the whole undead rulebook — sunlight ignition, Smite vulnerability, and healing potions that hurt instead of help.

Summoning them directly skips the insomnia bookkeeping and puts a swooping attacker exactly where an encounter needs one. Pad customHealth to turn a 20-health nuisance into a proper night miniboss, add glowing so players can track dives against a black sky, or combine no_ai with no_gravity to hang a frozen specimen over a haunted build — without the gravity trait, a disabled phantom simply drops out of the air.

Example commands

Night terror miniboss

/summon minecraft:phantom ~ ~ ~ {PersistenceRequired:1b,Glowing:1b,CustomName:"Night Terror",CustomNameVisible:1b,Health:60f,attributes:[{id:"minecraft:max_health",base:60}]}

Triple the default health with a glowing outline and a name bar reads as a boss phase; persistent stops the despawn timer from eating it before dawn.

Frozen rooftop haunt

/summon minecraft:phantom ~ ~ ~ {NoAI:1b,NoGravity:1b,Silent:1b}

no_ai alone leaves the mob subject to gravity, so pairing no_gravity is what actually keeps it hovering in place over the build.

Daylight patrol flyer

/summon minecraft:phantom ~ ~ ~ {Fire:-32768s,PersistenceRequired:1b}

Undead sunlight burn is what normally clears the sky at sunrise; fire immunity lets this one keep circling through the day shift.

Skeleton bomber run

/summon minecraft:phantom ~ ~ ~ {Passengers:[{id:"minecraft:skeleton"}]}

A skeleton passenger fires from the phantom's back during dives, turning a melee swooper into a strafing archery platform.

The same build across versions

Rows appear only where the output actually changes -- copy the one that matches your world.

Java 1.16

/summon minecraft:phantom ~ ~ ~ {PersistenceRequired:1b,Glowing:1b,CustomName:'{"text":"Night Terror"}',CustomNameVisible:1b,Health:60f,Attributes:[{Name:"generic.max_health",Base:60}]}

Java 1.21.4

/summon minecraft:phantom ~ ~ ~ {PersistenceRequired:1b,Glowing:1b,CustomName:'{"text":"Night Terror"}',CustomNameVisible:1b,Health:60f,attributes:[{id:"minecraft:max_health",base:60}]}

Java 26.2

/summon minecraft:phantom ~ ~ ~ {PersistenceRequired:1b,Glowing:1b,CustomName:"Night Terror",CustomNameVisible:1b,Health:60f,attributes:[{id:"minecraft:max_health",base:60}]}

Bedrock 26.x

/summon minecraft:phantom "Night Terror" ~ ~ ~
  • Bedrock /summon does not accept Java entity NBT; omitted Health/Attributes, traits (persistent, custom_name_visible, glowing).

Worth knowing

  • Phantoms only spawn naturally over players who have gone at least three in-game days without sleeping or dying, tracked by the time-since-rest statistic.
  • They are undead: sunlight sets them on fire, Smite adds bonus damage, Instant Health harms them, and Instant Damage heals them.
  • Phantoms deliberately avoid cats and keep roughly 16 blocks clear of them, which is why a cat on the roof works as a passive deterrent.
  • They attack in swooping passes — circling high, diving for one strike, then climbing again — rather than applying sustained melee pressure.
  • Phantom membranes from their drops brew Slow Falling potions and are the only material that repairs elytra at an anvil.

FAQ

Why does my summoned phantom catch fire in the morning?

Phantoms burn in direct sunlight like zombies and skeletons. Apply the fire_immune trait, keep the encounter underground or at night, or give the area a solid roof to block sky light.

How much health does a phantom have by default?

20 health, the same as a zombie, which melts fast against endgame gear. Setting customHealth between 40 and 80 keeps a dive-bombing miniboss alive long enough for players to learn its pattern.

Will a cat protect players from a phantom I summon?

Yes — the avoidance is behavioral, not tied to how the mob spawned. Any summoned phantom with AI enabled steers clear of cats just like a natural insomnia spawn.