Enderman

An Enderman (plural Endermen) is a three-block-high, humanoid, neutral mob. Endermen are known for their unique ability to teleport and pick up blocks.

Along with those abilities, they also have a peculiar way of becoming provoked; as well as becoming provoked when attacked, Endermen also become provoked by the player staring into their eyes.

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 can be seen regularly at night in groups of up to five.

Appearance
They have black skin, long limbs and a thin body. Endermen have glowing magenta eyes (formerly green eyes) and emit a purple particle effect similar to Nether portals. When aggressive their mouths will open and their bodies will shake violently.

Behavior
Endermen will take damage from coming in contact with water and rain.

Endermen will not attack a player unless the player's crosshair is directly on the Enderman's eyes (i.e., looking at them). In Creative mode, they will only attack if they are attacked. In SMP, if the player looks at its body or upper legs, it will not be alerted. However, if the player looks at its head/eyes, it will become aggressive.

When provoked, Endermen will open their mouths and shake with rage. They will continue to shake with rage even when the game is paused. Endermen will never give up a chase once made hostile; even when moving several hundred kilometers from them they will continue to follow until killed or distracted by exterior elements such as water or rain. Sometimes you may find Endermen while mining, so it is advisable to have a bucket of water in your arsenal.

If a skeleton or the Ender dragon attacks an Enderman while attempting to attack the player, the Enderman will completely stop chasing the player, even after it has killed the offending attacker.

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

Endermen's notable traits are the ability to pick up and move blocks, teleport, and even yell to the player.

Teleportation
When teleporting, an Enderman will leave a faint trail of particles leading to itself from where it teleported, but, if an Enderman is holding a block it will not leave a trail. Endermen teleport when coming in contact with rain or water - though not if set on fire. Endermen can step up one full block without having to jump. The range in which an Enderman can teleport is 32 meters in most cases, however informal testing on superflat worlds shows they can travel much further on the Y axis. An Enderman can teleport onto any solid block, the only exceptions being blocks directly beneath water or lava.

An Enderman cannot teleport when it is in a minecart. However, if it is hit with a projectile, it will teleport out of the minecart and then immediately teleport back.

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.

Damage to structures and environment
Because Endermen possess the ability to move blocks, they can cause damage to the natural environment and in some cases player-built structures.

On the Overworld signs of Endermen activity will become apparent in frequently loaded chunks in the form of misplaced blocks. In desert areas, Endermen may also pollinate 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 lit areas but they may wander or teleport into lit areas from adjacent dark ones, particularly if rain or water causes them to teleport. Simply lighting structures liberally with torches is not a guaranteed defense.

Preventing attacks
The only way to get an Enderman to chase the player is to hit it, or look at its body or face within the crosshairs. 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. Endermen are usually only encountered in relatively open spaces, as well; although they will still spawn, you're much more likely to see other mobs in cramped caves underground, before you see Endermen.

If the player sits in a pool of water, Endermen will take damage from the water, teleport away in response to the damage, and come back to attack. This makes it an easy way to kill them.

If the player wears a pumpkin on his or her head and looks at an Enderman, it will not turn hostile when looked at. Once provoked, however, wearing a pumpkin will not prevent it from attacking or teleporting, though it will not teleport away if the player is within melee range.

If an Enderman is in the player's house or another area where the player wants it out from, the easiest method to remove it is to shoot it with an arrow, snowball, or egg while the Enderman is still non-hostile. This causes it to teleport away. An attempted shot to the head or torso lowers the chance of an Enderman teleporting to 35%, 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. This tactic is quite useful for archers.

Another good method of getting rid of Endermen inside the player's house is to have a water source inside it and to use a piston to open and close this water source. When an Enderman enters the house, the player should open the gate, stand inside the running water, and look at the Enderman. It will come towards the player, teleport away from the water, come back, and eventually die.

Because Endermen take damage from water, building a moat is useful for preventing an encounter and an attack. The player could also try flooding the outside of his or her house with water so they cannot get in, though that means that the player needs a door to get in and out and stop flooding from the inside of his or her house. The player must also put blocks around his or her house in order to stop the flooding from spreading too far. This idea also stops creepers from blowing up the player's house, and mobs cannot get inside.

Killing Endermen
Endermen are damaged by attacks, falling, fire, lava, water, and poison. These are one of the most dangerous mobs in the game, in a one on one fight, and they should be respected on that basis.

Ideally you want your back against a wall. If you hit Endermen, they will often teleport behind you. (Only in multiplayer, the enderman will only Teleport somewhere inside a player's view.) Their melee attacks hit sufficiently hard, that you want to avoid being hit by them as much as possible. Get a sword and armor, made from the best material you've got. A flint and steel may also help, as although lighting them on fire is difficult, it will likely still help you kill them, if you can manage it. Focus on hitting their legs, and 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.

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.

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.

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. Because they do not get hurt, projectiles will not cause Endermen to become hostile. 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, they will become hostile to the source of the damage.

Fishing lures will hit an Enderman and "snag" them on the end of the line. However, as the Enderman teleports away when the lure hits them (Possibly behind a wall or into caves) this is only sometimes useful as a tool for killing them.

Hostile Endermen will teleport away after a player hits them, though they may attack first. Similarly, Endermen may teleport away several seconds after attacking. When this happens in a small underground space, the Enderman may teleport into inaccessible caves or to the surface and may or may not teleport back. The Endermen may also teleport behind the player so caution is recommended. Endermen teleportation can be tracked by looking for the glowing teleportation trail they leave behind.

Because of the Endermen's extra height, you can make a roof 2 blocks high (and at least 2 deep) that allows you to walk through, but stops Endermen from walking through due to their height. However, other mobs will have easy access to you so make sure you have your back covered. Obviously they can still hit you if they're right next to you, so make it deep enough that they can't reach you. (For example, a 3&times;3 roof in an open area, as you can always retreat to the middle or far side.)

Another effective way of killing an Enderman is to make a 4-block high pillar underneath yourself, then look at an Enderman. 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 there are no skeletons nearby (within 16 blocks), as they will shoot you off your pillar and make you a vulnerable target.

A very simple way to kill an Enderman is to attack their legs, as they do not teleport when their legs are attacked.

A quick, effective way to kill an Enderman is to quickly run towards one with or without a weapon (and without looking at its head), attack its legs once, and have four or more tamed wolves to finish it off.

One way to get Ender Pearls without the Enderman becoming hostile toward you is to quickly trap the Enderman on a single square and drop gravel or sand on its head, crushing it.

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.

Endermen cannot teleport while falling. Thus an effective way to kill them quickly is to draw them to the edge of a slope and attack them while facing the slope. The attack will knock them backwards, and followup attacks can be performed before the Enderman can teleport away.

Sound is also important to pay attention to, an attentive player with an appropriate sound system can hear where the Enderman teleported to, preventing sneak attacks from behind.

History

 * At first, when Notch was still designing the Endermen, he thought they were not 'creepy' enough, coming with the idea that having a situation which the player would want to avoid could make the Enderman significantly more scary. This gave Notch the idea to implement the staring feature, where aiming the crosshair at the Enderman's face would cause a suspenseful moment in which breaking eye contact would trigger an attack, as well as the Enderman having the ability to teleport so that when the player has stared at the Enderman, he or she would have to face a consequence for that action.
 * In the Beta 1.8 demo at PAX, Endermen dropped diamonds as a placeholder for Ender Pearls.
 * In Beta 1.8 pre1 Endermen were added.
 * In Beta 1.8 pre1&2, Endermen originally had green eyes and emitted black smoke. The release of Beta 1.8 changed the eyes to purple and black smoke has been replaced with purple particles similar to the particles emitted from Nether portals.
 * In Beta 1.8 pre-releases, Endermen were able to pick up any block, including Bedrock.
 * The Enderman was officially introduced in Beta 1.8, part one of the Adventure Update.
 * Before Beta 1.9 pre-release, Endermen could be killed with the use of a bow. Afterwards, arrows, snowballs, and eggs will not hit them due to the fact that they teleport away before impact.
 * Since 1.9 pre-release, if you were to pour water on a hostile Enderman, the Enderman will teleport away and become neutral again.
 * Notch stated "Endermen suck because they're annoying, and because I nerfed them and made them too easy. I shall fix this."
 * Because of this, Endermen were modified in Beta 1.9 pre3 to have 40 hp (instead of 20), requiring 6 hits from a diamond sword to kill, or 40 punches with just a fist. Combined with their teleportation aspect, Endermen are significantly more challenging.
 * As of Beta 1.9 pre4, the Endermen have a realm of their own: the End, where they spawn frequently.
 * Endermen used to burn in sunlight, but as of 1.9 pre-release 4, Endermen won't burn in daylight. They will instead teleport away when the player walks up to them in the daytime, making it extremely hard to get close enough to kill them.
 * Before the Sound Update, Endermen used the sound effects of Zombies as a place holder. On November 13th, 2011 Endermen received their own audio scheme, most notably a long moan overlaid with static for when they are triggered hostile by the player.
 * In 12w22a, its behaviour was modified slightly. Now, it stops in front of the player. When he or she swings his or her sword, it teleports behind him or her.
 * According to Burnie Burns of Rooster Teeth Productions, the Endermen's weakness to water was suggested by Burnie's son when Notch mentioned that he needed to come up with a way to kill a group of Endermen.

Bugs

 * They seem to have limited ability teleporting vertically.
 * Endermen don't take rain damage on halfslabs or stairs.
 * When using a custom texture pack, Endermen will be bright white overlapping their texture. This is caused by the blank spaces of their enderman_eyes.png file. If you create a custom texture pack you must make sure that you only change the 6 pixels actually used by their eyes. An alternative would be to use the original png from the minecraft.jar in your pack. Using the most recent release of MCPatcher also fixes this bug. This can also be avoided by making the enderman_eyes.png translucent, even only slight translucency will fix this.
 * If a hostile Enderman is attacked by another mob and kills the attacker, it resets to being neutral towards the player.
 * If an Enderman picks up a flaming block and then places it again, the block will be extinguished, but the Enderman will be on fire.
 * If you quit a game while being attacked by a hostile Enderman, and re-join the game, the Enderman will return to being neutral.
 * If caught with a fishing rod while neutral, an Enderman will remain neutral even after being pulled in, though the fact that they teleport away when hit with the fishing lure makes this of limited potential use.
 * When an Enderman picks up TNT, the TNT block's texture is inverted (TИT). (Note that this happens in SMP when other players hold TNT.)
 * If you fire an arrow at an Enderman who is in a mine cart, it will teleport away and reappear in the same mine cart. Also, at times it will turn red as if it had taken damage, but it will not die from arrow shots.
 * If seen through the mouth of an enderman you can see underground structures making them a good tool for finding structures such as abandoned mineshafts and caves.
 * When you shoot an Enderman with a bow enchanted with flame, the Enderman teleports, but it is on fire.
 * In SMP, when you look at the eyes/head of the Enderman, it won't turn hostile, if you look at its upper legs/body it will become hostile.
 * When an enderman is stuck in water, taking damage, and cannot teleport away, shooting at it with an arrow will make the enderman deflect it, instead of taking damage.
 * In a superflat world Endermen do not seem to pick up grass or dirt.
 * In SMP, Endermen seem to float for a while when drawn in upwards with a fishing rod.
 * When an Enderman places down a cactus or flower, it is not checked if it is being put on an appropriate block, possibly resulting in plants on unusual blocks.
 * In SSP, if you use a mod or creative mode to fly, you can look through the Enderman's mouth. If you look at water through its mouth, you will see air in its place.
 * If an Enderman is standing on a cobweb, they will not take damage from rain or teleport away.
 * If a hostile Enderman teleports into direct sunlight, it will forget about you.
 * In 1.3.1, if you punch an Enderman from around 5-6 blocks away, it will turn into its hostile state, but will not chase you.

Trivia

 * 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 stare animation will still play while the game is paused.
 * 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).
 * Notch claimed in public that the name "Enderman" is a "(subtle)" reference to "the Slender Man", a similar looking cryptid. However, 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.
 * Endermen sound seems to stem from reverse audios
 * the `idle1` sound is a reversed “here”
 * the `idle2` sound resembles a reversed “higher” (“hy-a”)
 * 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!"(oh no")
 * In their texture, their jaw is separated from their skull. This makes the Enderman the first mob with the ability to physically open their mouths without simply switching to a different texture. Due to the player's perspective, however, the player sees the back of the Enderman's head when it opens its mouth, making it difficult to tell that it is open. If a player is one block higher, they see through the Enderman's open mouth. They open their mouths by moving their skulls higher than their jaw.
 * If an Enderman is hit by a flaming arrow, it will be set on fire, but will not take damage from the arrow itself, nor will it become hostile.
 * An effective, though difficult to achieve, way to gain lots of experience and enderpearls is to go the End, make a 1x1x4 tower, stand on top of it, look at Endermen and have them teleport to you while you slaughter them. They cannot reach you because the tower is too tall. Another way is to create a 3x3 platform at 3 above the ground (leaving 2 blocks space for you to stand under) Endermen are 3 tall, and will not get under the platform while you can still hit them, but you are not in the risk of falling like with a tower.
 * 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.
 * Even though water/rain is harmful to them, it will still put out a burning Enderman.
 * If a Mob Spawner is tweaked to spawn Endermen, the model inside will have it's 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.
 * Enderman 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.
 * There are unused sounds: stare.ogg which is a weird screaming, whistling sound (based on the name, it would be expected to play while the player is staring at them), scream1.ogg - scream4.ogg are monster-like screams.
 * When in third-person front view, if there is an Enderman behind the player, it won't become aggressive if the cursor is placed over it. Turning so that the crosshair would be on the Enderman in first-person will provoke it, despite it not being onscreen.
 * If an Enderman is focusing on another player, a different player can still look at its hostile points without the Enderman attacking the player afterwards. However, if you try shooting an arrow at it, it will ignore the creature it's attacking and focus on the one who shot the arrow.
 * Amusingly, if an Enderman is set on fire, they may try to put it out by teleporting into water, and therefore commiting 'suicide', because they take damage from it.