Vindicators' base damage is too high since 16w40a

History

When vindicators were introduced in 16w39a, their iron axe was purely visual, so their base damage (on normal difficulty) was set to a reasonable value of 2.5 hearts.

In the next snapshot, the axe became a real item, so its damage of +4 hearts was added to the vindicator’s damage output. The mob’s base damage was not lowered to compensate. This unintentionally made vindicators deal a total of 6.5 hearts of damage.

This change was not mentioned in the changelog, so it appears to have been an oversight. Contrast with vexes, who have always used a real weapon, and whose +2 heart damage buff in 16w42a, insane as it was, was in the changelog.

Unlike the similar issue with zombie pigmen (MC-305896), I don’t believe the original 2.5 hearts of damage vindicators dealt should be considered the intended amount, since that’s less than an iron axe deals, and it was changed after a single snapshot. However, I do believe that adding the damage of an axe to the mob without adjusting its base damage was an oversight. It’s unclear what the intended amount is, but following the example of pigmen, an additional 0.5 hearts on top of the weapon damage seems reasonable.

How to reproduce

1. Be in normal difficulty

2. Spawn a vindicator

3. Get hit by it

Expected behavior

You take 4.5 or so hearts of damage

Observed behavior

You take 6.5 hearts of damage