Minecraft wiki entry for Combat, associated text: Polar bears have 15 hearts, and do 4 damage on Easy, 6 on Normal, and 9 on Hard. They attack by rearing up on their back legs and smashing down with their front legs. This attack can sometimes miss or be dodged if the players is moving in circles or irregular movements. Iron gear or better makes dealing with them in low numbers trivial, but when in large groups (which is fairly uncommon) they can quickly overwhelm the player. The player can create a 3 block tall pillar to easily dispatch of any hostile adults.