Enderman

An Enderman (plural Endermen) is a unique three-block-high humanoid neutral mob that densely populates The End, and spawns rarely in Overworld areas with a light level of 7 or less. Endermen will turn hostile when provoked. They are known for their spooky presentation and behavior, their unique abilities to pick up blocks and teleport, and their vulnerability to water. They are the only source for Ender Pearls, which are both useful in their own right and (trading notwithstanding) needed to craft Eyes of Ender, which are necessary to reach the endgame.

Endermen can be provoked via an attack, but also become hostile towards players who merely look at them (placing the crosshairs on them). Endermen's lower legs can safely be looked at, but placing the crosshairs any higher, from up to 64 blocks away, will be considered provocation. When provoked, Endermen stand still, stare at the player with trembling, gaping mouths, and emit a long, loud, unsettling noise.

Endermen frequently spawn in The End, their home world, but they still require a light level of seven or less in order to spawn. They will also spawn in the Overworld, although about 10 times more rarely in comparison to other mobs. They spawn in pairs, and can be seen regularly at night in groups of up to five.

Appearance
Endermen have long limbs, thin bodies, black skin, glowing purple eyes, and emit the signature purple Ender particle effect (like Ender Chests, Nether Portals and Eyes of Ender). They are often seen holding blocks.

Behavior
Endermen always spawn in pairs, but sometimes pairs can mix and therefore appear to be a group, and likewise, one of the pair could teleport away, leaving a lone enderman. Endermen will take damage from coming in contact with water or rain. They can step up one full block without having to jump.

Endermen are neutral mobs that don't attack unless provoked, similar to Zombie Pigmen and Wolves. They have a unique ability to pick up certain block types and move them around, which they generally spend their time doing while neutral. Aside from attacking, if the player simply passes their crosshairs over the head or body (upper legs in SSP), Endermen will proceed to attack. This "staring" provocation can occur from a surprisingly long distance, so take caution when scanning an open area, like Plains or a Desert.

When provoked, Endermen will open their mouths and shake with rage. They will continue to shake even when the game is paused. If they are, staring at their torso will stop them from moving, and you can go up to them and attack, at which point they will teleport behind you. Provoking an Enderman will cause the player to hear a lengthy, threatening sound. This sound is not linked to the Enderman's current state; it will continue to play if the Enderman is pacified by water or sunlight, or even killed. Conversely, when the sound ends, it does not mean that the Enderman is pacified.

Endermen will continue chasing a player until they are either killed, sustain several hits, or become distracted by exterior elements like rain or sun; Endermen are likely to teleport away to underground locations at day break.

In Creative mode, Endermen can not be provoked by looking at them. They must be attacked.

If a Skeleton or the Ender Dragon attacks an Enderman that is attempting to attack the player, the Enderman will stop chasing the player, even after it has killed the offending attacker.

Endermen can't see the player through transparent blocks such as glass/glass panes.

Teleportation
Endermen always attempt to teleport when attacked. Melee attacks are usually successful, but are followed by an immediate teleport, generally to a point a few blocks behind the attacking player. It is nearly impossible to hit Endermen with projectiles, as they always teleport away just before projectiles hit. Endermen teleport when coming into contact with rain or water.

When teleporting, Endermen search for an air block within 32m (along each axis); if there is a solid block below that air block, they can teleport to it regardless of the downward distance. An Enderman can teleport onto nearly any solid block, exceptions being blocks directly beneath water or lava or blocks with less than 3 vertical spaces above.

An Enderman cannot teleport when it is in a minecart unless attacked or hit with rain, in which case it will teleport out of the minecart and then immediately teleport back (repeatedly until death, if rain continues long enough).

In Creative mode, if an Enderman gets stuck in a hole 3 blocks deep, and is aggressive, it will not be able to teleport out.

Moving blocks
Endermen will only pick up and move certain blocks, regardless of whether they were natural or placed by the player. They will pick up blocks horizontally and vertically nearby, within a short reaching distance similar to the player's (3 layers).

Endermen will not drop the block they are holding when enraged or slain. It will simply disappear.

Endermen can only pick up the following blocks:

Endermen cannot pick up entities, such as boats, minecarts, primed TNT, and mobs.

Because Endermen possess the ability to move blocks, they can cause damage to the natural environment and in some cases player-built structures. They can also allow fenced animals to jump out by placing blocks adjacent to fences. Their block handling is not purposeful, but they may randomly breach walls and the like.

In the Overworld, signs of Enderman activity will become apparent in frequently loaded chunks in the form of misplaced blocks. In desert areas, Endermen may also propagate cacti by removing blocks and placing them on fresh sand, gradually increasing the population of cacti in frequently loaded deserts.

Endermen do not spawn in well-lit areas, but they may wander or teleport into lit areas from adjacent dark ones, particularly if rain or water causes them to teleport. It can be risky to stay awake at night, as an Enderman can teleport into your house. This is more apparent in large buildings, where rain may cause the building to be invaded by multiple Endermen seeking shelter. Therefore, lighting your structures with torches is not a guaranteed defense. However, they will not teleport into areas where they won't fit, so two-block high ceilings will keep them out.

The Enderman's ability to pick up TNT means that means that they can accidentally blow themselves up by placing the TNT near fire/lava, or on an area powered by redstone.

Strategy
Endermen are one of the most dangerous mobs in the game to fight. While initially neutral, they are easily provoked. They have more health than any mob short of an Iron Golem, their attacks do nearly as much damage as a Zombie Pigman's, and they're completely immune to missile attacks. On top of that, they use their teleportation in combat -- they often teleport behind the player to attack, or teleport out of sight only to reappear later for a surprise attack.

That said, they do have a few weaknesses that can be exploited: They take damage from water and rain on top of most of the usual sources, sunlight can turn them neutral (as does water or fire damage), and their height lets the player retreat to, or attack them from, a 2 block high shelter. Also, while their block-moving ability can be annoying, they don't use it purposefully: If they breach your defenses, it's by accident.

Avoiding attack
There are only two ways to provoke an Enderman:
 * Actually hit it, which is usually easy to avoid. Using potions against them, or pushing them off a cliff or into a trap, will not provoke them. Shooting them with an arrow or other missile will also not provoke them, and they may then teleport.
 * Look at its face/upper body with the crosshairs. Looking at them through transparent blocks such as glass or fences will not  provoke them, so a windowed watchtower is safe. As well, a player wearing a pumpkin as a helmet can look at them safely, without provoking them.  However, once provoked, a pumpkin will not prevent them from attacking.

As Endermen are 3 blocks tall, the player can keep his or her house's interior 2-2.5 blocks tall to prevent Endermen from teleporting into it. Due partly to their size, Endermen are usually only encountered in relatively open spaces. although they will still spawn, you're much more likely to see other mobs in cramped caves underground, before you see Endermen. When exploring caves, a player can often spot an Enderman in the darkness by its glowing eyes. A player can use this warning to avoid accidentally staring at them. In a cave, you can often retreat into a 2 block high area, or even build a small ceiling as shelter, as soon as you see one.

An attempted shot to the head or torso has a 35% chance of making them teleport, but an attempted shot to the arms, lower legs, or upper legs is a guaranteed teleportation. All arrows that do not make the Enderman teleport will simply bounce off.

Also, if the player is in a body of water, no closer than 2-3 blocks away from dry land, and at least one block deep, and provokes an Enderman, it will become aggressive, but rather than charge and attack when the player moves the crosshairs away, it will stand in one spot for at least 30 seconds, then either teleport into the water, take damage, and teleport away, or continue to stand in one spot. Also, if the player continuously stares at the Enderman for at least 30 seconds, it may teleport away, or try to attack, and then teleport away upon coming in contact with water. After at least 90-120 seconds, if the Enderman has not tried to attack or teleport away, it will turn neutral again.

If provoked under sunlight, Endermen will usually teleport away rather than attack the player. In any case, they will immediately become neutral. In rain, they will teleport randomly and rapidly, and even if provoked, they will not stay hostile.

Defense
If a player has accidentally provoked an Enderman, they have several options for turning them neutral and cutting off the fight:
 * Endermen will return neutral and teleport away once they take damage from water or fire. This makes a bucket of water (or a water-releasing trap) very useful for chasing off an accidentally provoked Enderman, or for clearing out crowds in The End.  Likewise, if the player retreating into water (beyond their attack range of 3-4 blocks), they will generally try to follow, but then take damage from the water, turn neutral, and teleport away.
 * Enchanted weapons can be useful: Hitting them with a Fire Aspect sword, or otherwise setting them afire, will also cause them to turn neutral and teleport.  Using a Flint and Steel to put fire in their way can be helpful, as they are likely to walk into the fire.  Using a Knockback sword to knock them into water or off a steep drop, will likewise effectively get rid of them.
 * Luring them into sunlight or rain will likewise turn them neutral and make them go away. (If already provoked, you may need to attack or "look" at them in the sun.)
 * If an Enderman comes near an active Creeper it will teleport away for a moment right before the Creeper explodes, giving you a small amount of time to get away.
 * When you encounter Endermen in the desert, you can try hiding behind a cactus, or build some around you (try not to get hurt by them yourself). Unfortunately, they may teleport behind you instead of running into the cactus.

Combat
Despite the danger, there are several strategies to fight Endermen successfully, and they can even be hunted for their pearls.

While they are fairly rare among darkness spawns, they can be provoked at a distance, and will then teleport toward the player. Thus it is entirely practical to prepare an appropriate shelter in a flat area such as plains or desert, then purposely scan the surrounding area to lure them into a fight on your terms.

The most basic preparation against them is to build a 2-high ceiling, at least 3&times;3 in size. 4&times4; is a little safer, giving more room to retreat out of their attack range. Underground or in close quarters, this should be done against a wall to prevent them from teleporting behind you. In an open area, it's probably better to have the shelter open on all sides, including removing any pillar used to build it. This will let you scan in all directions, and also keep watch for other dangerous monsters such as Skeletons or Creepers.

Hostile Endermen will often teleport away after a player hits them, though they may attack first. Similarly, Endermen may teleport away several seconds after attacking. Above or below ground, be very wary if they teleport away in the middle of a fight, as they may well teleport behind you (and attack )as soon as you emerge from your shelter. In open areas or under high ceilings, they may also teleport onto the roof. Endermen teleportation can be tracked by looking for the glowing teleportation trail they leave behind, or by listening for their snarls and screeches.

Their melee attacks hit hard enough that you want to avoid being hit by them as much as possible. Naturally, you'll want good armor and sword, preferably iron or better. For armor enchantments, only Protection and Thorns will be useful. For the sword, Sharpness and Knockback are both useful. However, Fire Aspect is useless for hunting them, as they will turn neutral and flee at the first strike.

Arrows, snowballs, and eggs will usually not hit them due to the fact that they usually teleport away before impact. However, shooting an Enderman with a bow carrying the "Flame" enchantment will still light it on fire, even though it will take no direct damage from the arrow. This can be an effective method of holding off and killing Endermen from range. Projectiles will not cause Endermen to become hostile because they do not get hurt. They will become hostile to the source of the damage if a projectile does manage to somehow damage an Enderman, such as an accidental arrow hit from a skeleton while they are attacking the player.

A flint and steel is difficult to use effectively, but still rather useful, as the flame can damage them before they are provoked. With care, lava can be used similarly.

In general, focus on hitting their legs, as they will not teleport when their legs are attacked. Try to time your attacks so that the Enderman is continually knocked back, so that it will not be able to hit you. This will usually kill them fairly quickly. Endermen that wander into fire or lava will not teleport away, nor will they become aggressive to the player. This can be used to weaken or kill them, though the second will require that they be set on fire twice (likely by placing fire with a flint and steel) due to their high hit points.

You can perform preemptive strikes against Endermen by keeping your crosshair over them, which will cause them to stay still for several seconds, or until the Enderman is hit, whichever comes first. A player can also get in the first hit by looking only at the Enderman's legs until they attack - though once hit, the Enderman will become aggressive as normal.

A height advantage of at least one block will also help keep the Enderman at bay as you hit it. A three block height advantage will prevent them from hitting you at all.

Fishing lures will hit an Enderman and "snag" them on the end of the line. However, the Enderman teleports away when the lure hits them (possibly behind a wall or into caves), so this is only sometimes useful as a tool for killing them. If do you manage to pull it forward, it will travel a remarkable distance.

Another effective way of hunting an Enderman is to make a 4-block high pillar underneath yourself, then look them. The Enderman will run toward you and come into melee range. You will be in range to attack them, but they will not be in range to attack you. Make sure that there are no skeletons nearby (within 16 blocks), as they will shoot you off your pillar and make you a vulnerable target. If you can limit them to a single square, you may also be able to drop three blocks of sand and gravel onto them, which will suffocate them to death.

Another technique is to have four or more wolves ready before attacking them once. Fewer wolves can still help, but be ready to help them out with your own attacks, and/or by healing them during combat.

Iron golems will attack Endermen, and will kill one in two hits. Endermen will hit the iron golem once before the iron golem kills it.

If you are near a high drop, it is possible to kill Endermen by pushing them off the edge of a cliff. With care, this can be done without even provoking them. Note that Endermen cannot teleport while falling, so it may be possible to kill them with repeated attack that knock them down the slope.

Endermen also cannot teleport when riding a minecart, even hitting them with an arrow will not cause the Enderman to teleport away (Though they will flash red and disappear for a second, as if trying to teleport unsuccessfully.) This is one potential way to kill them at a distance.

Players with brewing capability can also use splash potions of poison against them. A level II potion, or two level I potions (waiting for the first to finish before using the second) can reduce them to 1 health, or nearly so. Then they can easily be killed with a single sword blow. Make sure to carry a milk bucket to cure self inflicted poison, and be wary that it may take two hits to kill them if the potion(s) struck too far away (reducing their effect).

Trivia

 * Notch claimed in public that the Endermen is a "(subtle)" reference to "the Slenderman", a similar looking monster with a similar name. Given the later development of the End, it is possible he already had the name in mind, and did not choose it because of the Reddit thread in which their name was revealed.
 * If an Enderman is in his aggressive state, you can prevent him from walking/going anywhere if you stare at him (you can freeze the endermen as long as your cursor remains on him). However, if attacked in this state, the endermen may teleport away.
 * The Enderman seems to use a re-colored version of the player's face texture, much like blazes, zombies, and skeletons.
 * The exact size of an Enderman is 0.6x0.6x2.9 blocks(1.9x1.9x9.5 feet).
 * Endermen sounds seems to stem from reverse audios:
 * the "idle1" sound is a reversed “here”
 * the "idle2" sound is a reversed "hiya"
 * the "idle3" sound is a down-pitched “whats up?” or "this way!"
 * the "idle4" sound is a down-pitched reversed "forever!"
 * the "idle5" sound is a reversed "uh oh!"
 * Even in an aggressive state, they can still pick up blocks, which at times made it seem as though they were tearing through walls to reach the player. However, they will never pick up blocks to reach the player.
 * If a Mob Spawner is tweaked to spawn Endermen, the model inside will have its head jutting out the top of the frame.
 * The purple particles the Endermen emit are hard-coded into the game, so they cannot be re-textured without mods.
 * Endermen are able to create snow golems and iron golems if they pick up a pumpkin and set it on already placed snow or iron blocks.
 * After 12w38a Snapshot update, the previously unused stare.ogg and scream.ogg can now be heard without use of any mods. Stare.ogg plays whenever the player is staring at an Enderman, and Scream.ogg plays when Enderman is chasing a player.
 * Amusingly, if an Enderman is set on fire, they may try to put it out by teleporting into water, and therefore committing 'suicide', because they take damage from it.
 * Amusingly enough, if an Enderman is caught in rain, he will continuously teleport in random directions. Players can sometimes, during rain, see Endermen teleport in front of them quickly and teleport off the moment they take damage.
 * If you throw a Potion of Invisibility to an Enderman, the Enderman will be invisible, but you can still see the eyes. This is because the eyes, like spiders, are in a separate texture file.
 * In the End, an invisible Enderman at a distance will become visible as a pale purple figure.
 * Burning Endermen will teleport randomly; similar to if they are in rain.
 * If you go to sleep in a bed it is possible for an Enderman to teleport on it and knock you off. You will still continue to go to sleep as if you were in a bed.

Beta 1.8+
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