Minotaur Skeleton 5e: Stats, Charge and How to Break It

The minotaur skeleton is a CR 2 Large undead (450 XP) with AC 12, 67 hit points, a 40-foot speed and one attack a turn, either a greataxe for 17 or a gore for 13. Its Charge turns the gore into the big hit: after a 10-foot straight run, it adds 2d8 piercing and can shove the target 10 feet and knock it prone. Like every skeleton it is vulnerable to bludgeoning damage. The 2024 version drops the greataxe and 22 hit points, swaps in a bludgeoning slam, and makes its charge knock targets prone with no save.

Table of Contents

• •Minotaur Skeleton Stat Block (2014)
• •The 2024 Minotaur Skeleton
• •How the Minotaur Skeleton Fights
• •How Many Minotaur Skeletons for a Level 3 Party?
• •How Players Beat a Minotaur Skeleton
• •Minotaur Skeleton Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Minotaur Skeleton Stat Block (2014)

Compare it to the living minotaur (CR 3, AC 14, 76 HP). The skeleton keeps the same greataxe, gore and charge numbers, but loses Reckless, two points of AC and the minotaur's memory for paths. In exchange it is immune to poison, exhaustion and the poisoned condition, and it never tires or panics. It understands Abyssal, the minotaur's language, but can't speak.

There's no Multiattack. Every turn is one swing, so how much damage it does depends on whether it gets its run-up.

The 2024 Minotaur Skeleton

The 2024 skeleton is a third less durable at the same XP, and its charge needs twice the run-up. In return, the prone is automatic. It no longer pushes, which matters on bridges and ledges.

How the Minotaur Skeleton Fights

Charge every time it can. Against AC 16, its +6 attack hits on a 10 or better, 55% of the time. A plain greataxe swing averages about 9.4 damage per turn. A 2014 charge gore deals 22 on a hit, about 12.1 per turn, and a failed DC 14 Strength save leaves the target prone and 10 feet away. A wizard with Strength -1 fails that save 70% of the time, and a fighter with +5 fails 40% of the time.

Make room to run. The 2014 skeleton only needs 10 feet of straight movement. With a 40-foot speed it can step back and come in again, though stepping out of reach provokes opportunity attacks. The 2024 skeleton needs 20 feet, which makes open halls and arenas its best ground.

Push people off things (2014). The 10-foot push is the most dangerous part of the 2014 charge. Put it at the end of a bridge, on a balcony or beside a pit. A failed save there means falling damage, not just lying on the floor.

It doesn't think. Intelligence 6, no fear, no retreat. It fights until destroyed or ordered to stop. That makes it a perfect guardian for a necromancer who isn't in the room.

How Many Minotaur Skeletons for a Level 3 Party?

A minotaur skeleton is 450 XP. For four characters:

The 2014 column follows the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines (used by our encounter calculator). Alone, it is a solid level 2 fight and a speed bump at 5. With archer skeletons behind it, the party has to choose between bludgeoning the big one and dealing with the arrows.

How Players Beat a Minotaur Skeleton

• •Bring a hammer. Bludgeoning vulnerability doubles the damage. A warhammer averaging 7.5 deals 15 per hit, so the 2024 skeleton falls in three hits and the 2014 one in five. Maces, clubs, quarterstaffs and unarmed strikes all count.
• •Deny the run-up. Stand in a doorway, behind difficult terrain or right next to it. A skeleton already in melee has to back off to charge again and takes an opportunity attack doing it.
• •Turn it. Its Wisdom save is -1. Against a level 5 cleric's DC 14 Turn Undead, it fails 70% of the time. In 2014, Destroy Undead only destroys it outright from cleric level 11 (CR 2 or lower). In 2024, Sear Undead adds radiant damage instead.
• •Don't bother with poison. It is immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition.

It also can't be made by Animate Dead, which only raises Medium or Small Humanoids. If one shows up in your world, something other than that spell raised it, which is a good thread to pull.

Minotaur Skeleton Encounter Ideas

The bone arena. A necromancer runs blood sports in an old amphitheater, and the champion is a minotaur skeleton. The arena floor is a 60-foot circle with nothing to hide behind. Its charge gets a straight line every turn.

The ravine bridge. A minotaur skeleton guards a rope bridge in a 2014 game. Its charge pushes 10 feet, and the bridge is 10 feet wide. The fight is less about damage and more about Strength saves.

The Abyssal password. The skeleton only stops for someone who speaks the right Abyssal word. DM ruling, not rules text: the stat block only says it understands Abyssal, so a spoken password is a safeguard you add. The party finds half the word on a dead cultist.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a minotaur skeleton in 5e?

The minotaur skeleton is CR 2 and worth 450 XP in both the 2014 and 2024 rules.

Is a minotaur skeleton vulnerable to bludgeoning damage?

Yes, in both editions. Bludgeoning attacks deal double damage to it. A mace hit that would deal 7 deals 14.

How does the minotaur skeleton's charge work?

In 2014, if it moves at least 10 feet straight toward a target and hits with its gore, the target takes an extra 9 (2d8) piercing damage and must make a DC 14 Strength save or be pushed 10 feet and knocked prone. In 2024, the run is 20 feet, the extra 9 damage is the same, and a Large or smaller target is knocked prone with no save.

Does the minotaur skeleton have Multiattack?

No. It attacks once per turn in both editions.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.