If you attack the wither while the universalAnger gamerule is set to true, they behave differently. In survival the wither itself will not become hostile or hover above you after hitting it once while its small heads are attacking. It may closely relates to MC-29274.
To reproduce
Set
universalAngerto trueSummon a wither
Attack the wither once
→ ❌ Notice that it doesn't hover above and towards you, but its smaller heads are still attacking.
Linked issues
Attachments
Comments 7
Affects 1.18.2 Pre-release 1
This is most notable in the end where there are many mobs (endermen) which can draw the wither's attention making it very challening to hit with enough consecutive arrows to draw the wither down. The wither will move erratically from mob to mob rather than focus on just one or the player.
can't reproduce it in the latest version. The mechanics fixed in MC-29274 are so that the player not only attacks the wither, but also hovers over the player with just aggro and chases the player.
However, Wither is equally affected by the Universal Angry Gamerule. Taunt the wither with an arrow from a position where the wither is not aggro. The wither won't be chasing you. So this is a fault with MC-264525.
Can confirm.