What is a vex?
A vex is a small, fast, flying hostile mob that an evoker summons to fight for it. It carries a tiny iron sword and darts around the air, diving at whatever the evoker is angry at. That is usually you.
Vexes are dangerous out of proportion to their size. They fly, they pass straight through solid blocks, and they move quickly enough that hitting one with a sword can be a real problem. You almost never meet a vex on its own. You meet a pack of them, all summoned at once, while their evoker keeps its distance.
The good news: a vex has very little health, and it does not live forever. Understand those two facts and the fight gets a lot more manageable.
Vexes are one of the few mobs built purely to support another mob. On their own they have no reason to exist. They are the evoker’s way of turning a single caster into a small aerial army, which is why the answer to a vex problem almost always runs back through the evoker.
Where vexes come from
Vexes do not spawn on their own the way zombies or creepers do. The only mob that summons them is the evoker, and evokers show up in two places.
The first is the woodland mansion. Evokers patrol certain rooms inside a mansion, and when one spots you it starts casting. Some of those casts summon vexes.
The second is a raid. Evokers appear in the later waves of a village raid, and once combat starts they summon vexes to swarm you while you are busy with pillagers and other raiders. This is where vexes are most likely to catch you off guard, because you already have a lot to deal with.
When an evoker casts its summon spell, it usually calls up three vexes at once. It can keep casting, so a drawn-out fight against a single evoker can leave a whole cloud of vexes in the air if you let it.
For most players the first vex encounter happens in a raid rather than a mansion, simply because raids are far more common. If you defend a village long enough, the wave with an evoker will eventually arrive, and the vexes come with it. Knowing they are coming lets you save a shield and some healing for that moment instead of getting caught flat-footed.
How vexes attack
A vex has two states. When it is idle it drifts around slowly with a calm blue-white glow. When it locks onto a target it turns hostile, its glow shifts to an angry red, and it charges in a straight line to slash with its sword before peeling off to line up the next pass.
The charge is the whole threat. A vex does not shoot anything and it has no ranged attack. It has to reach you to hurt you. The trouble is that walls do not stop it. A vex flies through stone, dirt, doors, and any other block as if it were not there, so you cannot simply box yourself in and wait it out.
For its size a vex hits hard. A single one is a minor annoyance. Three or more taking turns diving at you can chew through your health fast, especially if you are also blocking hits from an evoker’s fang attack or a group of pillagers.
The red glow is your warning light. When a vex is that color it is committed to a charge and heading your way. When it fades back to blue-white it is repositioning and briefly harmless. Watching that color change tells you when to raise your shield and when to swing.
Health and the lifespan trick
A vex has 14 health, which is 7 hearts. That sounds like a lot for such a small mob, but because a vex is not armored, most weapons drop it in one or two solid hits. An iron or diamond sword will end one quickly if you can land the blow.
The second fact is the one a lot of players miss. Every vex an evoker summons is given a limited lifespan. After that timer runs out, the vex starts taking damage on its own, ticking down until it dies with no help from you. If a fight drags on and you survive the first rush, the vexes already in the air will begin dying by themselves.
That changes the math. You do not always have to chase down every vex. Sometimes the smarter play is to deal with the evoker, stay alive, and let the existing vexes time out.
How to fight vexes
Because you cannot wall vexes out, the fight is about controlling the source and surviving the swarm. A few things that work:
- Kill the evoker first. It is the tap the vexes flow from. As long as it lives, it keeps summoning more. Rush it, ignore the vexes if you can, and take it down.
- Use a shield. Vex charges come in straight lines, so facing an incoming vex and raising a shield blocks the hit. In a raid this buys you time to reach the evoker.
- Fight in the open. Vexes fly through blocks, so a tight room gives you no cover and takes away your room to swing. Open ground lets you see them coming and back away from a charge.
- Bring melee, not just a bow. Vexes are small, fast, and rarely fly in a straight predictable line, which makes them awkward to shoot. A sword swing catches them more reliably when they close in for a pass.
- Wear decent armor. You will take some hits no matter how well you play the fight, so iron or better armor keeps the swarm from overwhelming you.
Enchantments help, but pick the right ones. Smite does nothing to a vex because a vex is not undead, and Bane of Arthropods does nothing because a vex is not an arthropod. Plain Sharpness is your best damage enchant against them.
What vexes drop
A vex drops almost nothing. Most of the time you get no items at all for killing one. The only loot worth mentioning is the iron sword it carries, and even that only drops on rare occasions, usually damaged. It is not a reason to farm vexes. Treat them as an obstacle between you and the evoker, not as a source of gear.
Summoning a vex with a command
Outside of evokers, the only way to get a vex is a command. In a world with cheats on, running /summon minecraft:vex spawns one at your position. This is handy for testing a mob farm, building a map, or just getting a close look at the mob without fighting through a mansion.
A command-summoned vex behaves like any other. It will pick you as a target and start charging, and it flies through blocks the same way, so give yourself some space before you summon a batch of them. Since these are spawned by a command rather than an evoker, they are not tied to a raid or an evoker’s timer, which makes them useful for practicing the fight on your own terms.
Frequently asked questions
Can vexes fly through walls?
Yes. A vex passes through any solid block, so you cannot hide behind a wall or seal yourself in a room to escape one. This is the single most important thing to know about them.
Do vexes die on their own?
Yes. Each summoned vex has a limited lifespan. Once it expires, the vex starts taking damage until it dies without you touching it. Surviving long enough is a valid way to clear them.
How much health does a vex have?
A vex has 14 health, or 7 hearts. It has no armor, so a strong sword hit or two is usually enough to kill one.
What summons vexes?
Only evokers summon vexes naturally, either inside woodland mansions or during the later waves of a raid. If you never fight an evoker, you will never face a vex in normal play.
Does killing the evoker remove its vexes?
No. Vexes it already summoned keep flying and attacking after the evoker dies. Killing the evoker only stops new ones from appearing, so you still have to survive or outlast the ones in the air.
Do Smite or Bane of Arthropods work on vexes?
No. A vex is neither undead nor an arthropod, so both of those enchantments do nothing. Use Sharpness for extra melee damage instead.
Why does a vex turn red?
The red glow means it has switched into attack mode and is charging at a target. A calm blue-white vex is drifting or repositioning. Use the color as a cue for when to block and when to strike.
Can you summon a vex without an evoker?
Yes, with a command. Running /summon minecraft:vex in a world with cheats enabled spawns one directly. There is no crafting recipe or spawn egg path in normal survival play, so evokers and commands are the only two sources.
The short version
A vex is a summoned problem, not a permanent one. Cut off the evoker, keep your shield up against the charges, and remember that the vexes already chasing you are on a timer. Outlast that timer and the swarm clears itself.