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For the miniboss in Minecraft Dungeons, see MCD:Enderman.

The Enderman is a tall neutral mob found in all three dimensions. Endermen normally ignore players and lazily amble about, but they will swiftly walk to attack those that damage it or look directly at its face. Endermen teleport to avoid water (which harms them), projectiles and some other damage sources, and they occasionally pick up certain blocks. They will also teleport more rapidly in sunlight.

Spawning[]

Purpleenderman

An enderman in the Overworld.

Endermen can spawn on any solid surface that has at least three empty spaces above, at the light level of 0 in the Overworld and the End, or a light level of 7 or less in the Nether. They are the only mobs that spawn in all 3 dimensions.

Overworld[]

Endermen spawn uncommonly in the Overworld in all biomes except mushroom fields and deep dark. They often spawn in groups of two, and rarely in groups of three.

Nether[]

Endermen spawn rarely in soul sand valleys, uncommonly in nether wastes, and most commonly in warped forests.

End[]

Endermen spawn commonly in groups of up to four anywhere in the End dimension.

Drops[]

Endermen drop:

  • 0–1 ender pearl. The maximum is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-4 with Looting III.
  • 5 when killed by a player or a tamed wolf.
  • Any block being held (see § Moving blocks for more information)

Behavior[]

An enderman can be provoked by a player or other mob attacking them. They can also be provoked by a player looking them in the eyes for 5 game ticks (14 second)[1] from up to 64 blocks away. Endermen open their mouths and begin to shake‌[Java Edition only] angrily if provoked; they also make loud and lengthy sounds while being stared at. If the player continues to maintain eye contact, the enderman does not move‌[Java Edition only], although it may teleport away. Once the player stops looking at the enderman, it runs toward the back of the player to attack, although it ceases if hit by another player or mob.[2] An aggravated enderman runs fast and often teleports to the location of a player or mob up to 32 blocks away (orthogonally). Endermen are not provoked by a player viewing it through a transparent block or while wearing a carved pumpkin.

An aggravated enderman pursues the player until it is either killed or distracted by external elements, such as rain or fire. They do not take damage from sunlight like undead mobs, but when at a sufficient light level under the sky during the day they teleport randomly, typically winding up in caves (although certain non-full blocks, such as soul sand and mud, also register as "dark" when the enderman is standing in them).

Endermen can be harmed by melee attacks, water, lava, fire, splash water bottles, or rain. They are not damaged when standing in a filled cauldron[Java Edition only].[3] Endermen teleport away when they take damage from any of natural sources (1♥), continuing to do so until they find a safe location. They also teleport while taking damage from other sources, such as suffocation, Poison, or Wither.

Ranged attacks are largely ineffective against endermen, as they teleport when hit by a projectile instead of taking damage. Endermen that are hit by projectiles do not become hostile.[4] Arrows[Java Edition only] and tridents appear to bounce off an enderman who is unable to teleport. In Bedrock Edition, arrows go straight through endermen that are unable to teleport (but the effect still goes through if it's a tipped arrow).[needs in-game testing]. Rocket crossbows do affect endermen and can trigger endermen hostility toward the shooter.

Endermen can step up one full block without having to jump.

Endermen are hostile to endermites within 64 blocks but are passive to other mobs unless provoked.

An enderman in a player's vicinity prevents the player from sleeping in a bed at night as if any hostile mob were nearby. If the player is already asleep in a bed, it is possible for an enderman to teleport on it and wake players by pushing them off.

The endermen's aggression range for being looked at is reduced when the player is sneaking, or under the Invisibility effect depending on the number of armor pieces currently worn. The detection range in blocks for invisible players is shown in the following table:

Detection range for invisible players
Number of Armor Pieces Sneaking Normal
0 3 4
1 8 11
2 17 22
3 26 33
4 35 44

Teleportation[]

They play a sound exclusively at the teleportation destination.[5]

Each teleportation attempt chooses a random destination 32 blocks along each axis (i.e. a 64×64×64 cube centered on the current position). It then applies the following checks:

  • As long as the selected block is not a made of a movement-blocking material, seek downwards. If the found block is waterlogged, the teleportation attempt fails.
  • Starting again with the originally selected target, seek downwards as long as the block below is not a made of a movement-blocking material. The teleportation attempt succeeds if no liquid or solid blocks prevent them from standing at the destination.

Thus, endermen need at least three non-solid blocks above the destination to successfully teleport, and do not teleport to waterlogged blocks unless the ceiling above is made of a non-waterlogged movement-blocking material.[6]

Blocks that have a large enough collision box but are not made of a movement-blocking material, such as carpet that is not above a block made of a movement-blocking material, snow layers 10 or more deep, and azalea, can be used to prevent teleportation. Endermen always teleport an integer Y distance, so an enderman at Y=70.0 cannot teleport onto a movement-blocking block covered by a single carpet, snow layers only 2 deep, or many other short blocks, while an enderman at Y=70.99 could teleport onto snow layers 8 or 9 deep.

Endermen always attempt to teleport upon taking damage. Most melee attacks are successful, but the enderman usually teleports a few blocks behind the player when hit, if there is space behind the player. Endermen can be attacked with projectiles if they are in a boat or minecart.‌[Java Edition only] If all available blocks within teleport distance are removed or unavailable as a destination, it is possible to hit endermen in Java Edition with a projectile, although arrows may simply bounce off, dealing no damage.[7] When teleporting due to damage, it makes 64 attempts to teleport.

In Java Edition, an enderman cannot teleport while it is in a minecart or boat, although in rain and water it attempts to do so, always teleporting back repeatedly until death. This does not occur in Bedrock Edition.[8]

Moving blocks[]

Unlike any other mobs, which cannot hold blocks except as items, endermen have a unique ability to pick up, carry and set down certain blocks. They silently[9] pick up blocks in a 4×3×4 (xyz) region horizontally centered on the enderman and vertically encompassing it. An enderman cannot pick up blocks in a completely flat area. Endermen drop the block they are holding upon death as an item, although they do not visually let go of the block when dying.[10][11] It does not despawn while holding a block. Endermen cannot place blocks onto bedrock or entities.

Endermen can pick up the following blocks:

Data packs from Java Edition can change this list by modifying the minecraft:enderman_holdable block tag.

Bedrock Edition behavior packs can not modify these as the list is hard-coded behind the minecraft:behavior.enderman_take_block method.

While carrying a block, the enderman sometimes silently[12] places it in a 2×2×2 region horizontally centered on the enderman and vertically at the same level as the enderman itself if the target location is air with a non-air block beneath and the block is allowed to be placed at the target location.

Endermen cannot pick up or place down blocks if the game rule mobGriefing is set to false.

Endermen can randomly breach walls, bridge fences, break redstone circuitry, set off explosions and kill themselves if they place a block of TNT on a power source and even construct golems by removing or placing blocks.

Endermen can pick up or place down blocks even when angry.

In Java Edition, users can summon an enderman holding any block (including the ones not listed above) using the carriedBlockState NBT data. For example, to summon an enderman holding a grass block with no AI where the player is standing:

/summon minecraft:enderman ~ ~ ~ {NoAI:1,carriedBlockState:{Name:"grass_block"}}

Sounds[]

Java Edition:
Endermen use the Hostile Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.

SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
File:Enderman idle1.oggFile:Enderman idle2.oggFile:Enderman idle3.oggFile:Enderman idle4.oggFile:Enderman idle5.oggEnderman vwoopsHostile CreaturesRandomly while passiveentity.enderman.ambientsubtitles.entity.enderman.ambient1.00.8-1.216
File:Enderman scream1.oggFile:Enderman scream2.oggFile:Enderman scream3.oggFile:Enderman scream4.oggEnderman screamsHostile CreaturesRandomly while hostileentity.enderman.screamsubtitles.entity.enderman.scream1.00.8-1.216
File:Enderman death.oggEnderman diesHostile CreaturesWhen an enderman diesentity.enderman.deathsubtitles.entity.enderman.death1.00.8-1.216
File:Enderman hurt1.oggFile:Enderman hurt2.oggFile:Enderman hurt3.oggFile:Enderman hurt4.oggEnderman hurtsHostile CreaturesWhen an enderman is damagedentity.enderman.hurtsubtitles.entity.enderman.hurt1.00.8-1.216
File:Enderman stare.oggEnderman cries outHostile CreaturesWhen an enderman is angered by being stared atentity.enderman.staresubtitles.entity.enderman.stare2.51.016
File:Teleport1.oggFile:Teleport2.oggEnderman teleportsHostile CreaturesWhen an enderman teleportsentity.enderman.teleportsubtitles.entity.enderman.teleport1.01.016

Bedrock Edition:

SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
File:Enderman idle1.oggFile:Enderman idle2.oggFile:Enderman idle3.oggFile:Enderman idle4.oggFile:Enderman idle5.oggHostile CreaturesRandomly while passivemob.endermen.idle1.00.8-1.2
File:Enderman scream1.oggFile:Enderman scream2.oggFile:Enderman scream3.oggFile:Enderman scream4.oggHostile CreaturesRandomly while hostilemob.endermen.scream1.00.8-1.2
File:Enderman death.oggHostile CreaturesWhen an enderman diesmob.endermen.death1.00.8-1.2
File:Enderman hurt1.oggFile:Enderman hurt2.oggFile:Enderman hurt3.oggFile:Enderman hurt4.oggHostile CreaturesWhen an enderman is damagedmob.endermen.hit1.00.8-1.2
File:Enderman stare.oggHostile CreaturesWhen an enderman is angered by being stared atmob.endermen.stare1.01.0
File:Teleport1.oggFile:Teleport2.oggHostile CreaturesWhen an enderman teleportsmob.endermen.portal1.01.0

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierTranslation key
Endermanendermanentity.minecraft.enderman

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID Translation key
Endermanenderman38entity.enderman.name

Entity data[]

Endermen have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.

Java Edition:

Main article: Entity format
  • Entity data
    • Additional fields for mobs that can become angry
    • Tags common to all entities
    • Tags common to all mobs
    •  carriedBlockState: Optional. The block carried by the enderman.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements[]

Icon Achievement In-game description Actual requirements (if different) Gamerscore earned Trophy type (PS4)
PS4 Other
Monster HunterAttack and destroy a monster.Kill a hostile mob or one of the following neutral mobs: an enderman, a piglin, a zombified piglin, a spider, or a cave spider.15GBronze

Advancements[]

Icon Advancement In-game description Parent Actual requirements (if different) Resource location
Advancement-plain-rawAdventure
Adventure, exploration and combat Kill any entity, or be killed by any entity.adventure/root
Advancement-plain-rawMonster Hunter
Kill any hostile monster AdventureKill one of these 34 mobs: Only the riders of the chicken jockeys and skeleton horsemen are counted in this advancement. Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.adventure/kill_a_mob
Advancement-fancy-rawIt Spreads
Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst Monster HunterKill one of these 70 mobs near a sculk catalyst: Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this advancement.adventure/kill_mob_near_sculk_catalyst
Advancement-fancy-rawMonsters Hunted
Kill one of every hostile monster Monster HunterKill each of these 36 mobs: Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement. Only the riders of the chicken jockeys and skeleton horsemen are counted in this advancement.adventure/kill_all_mobs

Video[]

History[]

?Enderman (pre-release) Sometime on or before July 26, 2011, Notch posts an image on his Google+ account showing planned "creepy mobs." Two can be seen holding a grass block and a sand block with their arms far outstretched. [13]
July 28, 2011Notch described that endermen would be peaceful, unless you looked straight at them, then they would rush in to attack whenever you broke the gaze.[14][15][16][17]
July 29, 2011At first, when Notch was still designing the endermen, he thought they were not "creepy" enough, coming with the idea that having a situation that 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, they would have to face a consequence for that action.
August 26, 2011In the Beta 1.8 demo at PAX, endermen dropped diamonds as a placeholder for ender pearls.
Java Edition Beta
1.8Pre-releaseEnderman Revision 1 The enderman has been officially introduced.
Endermen are able to pick up any full block, including bedrock and spawners. The angle of their arms have also been lowered when holding a block.
Endermen have green eyes and emit black smoke. They also have zombie sounds as a placeholder.
Pre-release 2 ;)Enderman The enderman eye color has been changed from green to purple.
Endermen now emit portal particles, rather than smoke.
Endermen no longer pick up unobtainable blocks including bedrock, double slabs, and spawners and also no longer pick up blocks with inventories including chests, dispensers, and furnaces but can still pick up any other full block.
September 20, 2011Notch indicated the block carrying was horrible and needed to be nerfed.
Java Edition
1.0.0Beta 1.9 PrereleaseBefore this update, endermen could be killed with the use of a bow. Now, arrows, snowballs, eggs and other ranged attacks do not hit them due to the fact that they teleport away before impact.
Enderman now teleport away and become neutral if they are in water.
Endermen no longer pick up any block; they are limited to certain blocks.
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3Notch stated "Endermen suck because they're annoying, and because I nerfed them and made them too easy. I shall fix this."[18] Because of this, endermen have been modified in this update to have 20 hearts instead of 10.
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4Endermen now have a realm of their own: the End, where they spawn frequently.
Endermen used to burn in sunlight, but as of this update, they instead randomly teleport around until they find a dark spot or despawn eventually. This makes it extremely hard to get close enough to kill them during daytime.
RC1Before the Sound Update, endermen used the sound effects of zombies as a placeholder. Then, in Beta 1.9, the zombie sounds for the enderman were removed. 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.
1.3.112w22aThe enderman's behavior has been modified slightly. Now, the enderman stops in front of the player. When the player swings their sword, the enderman now teleports behind the player.
Enderman now stalk the player when aggravated.
1.4.212w38aThe Enderman's sound now plays the full length sounds instead of shortened, now if the player looks at them (or they open their jaw), a static sound plays, similar to Slenderman.
1.7.21.7-preEndermen are no longer provoked when attacked by the player in creative mode.
1.814w06aEndermen now pathfind as a result of their update to the new AI system.
Endermen now teleport after being damaged by any damage source, including suffocation damage.
14w11aEndermen now walk slightly faster.
Endermen now spawn endermites when they teleport. The chance of producing one is 15%, minus 1% for each endermite already spawned. This was reverted in 14w28a.
Endermen are naturally aggressive toward endermites.
14w17aEndermen are no longer hostile to non-pearl spawned endermites.
14w28aEndermites are no longer spawned from endermen.
1.915w31aEndermen now remain aggravated toward the player despite being in contact with water.
Endermen now drop the block they are holding when killed.
Endermen now have an animation when attacking.
1.1016w20aEndermen now spawn in the Nether.
Endermen now pick up netherrack.
1.1116w32aThe entity ID has been changed from Enderman to enderman.
16w35aEndermen are now dealt 1♥ damage by splash water bottles.
1.1620w06aThe sounds of endermen are now heard at a shorter range.
Endermen now spawn in soul sand valleys and warped forests.
20w07aEndermen now pick up nylium, roots, and fungi variants.
Endermen no longer pick up netherrack.
20w18aEndermen prevent other endermen from spawning nearby in warped forests.
20w22aEndermen no longer despawn when holding a block.[19]
1.16.2Pre-release 1Endermen no longer place their held blocks onto bedrock blocks.
Pre-release 2Endermen no longer place their held blocks on entities.
Endermen no longer save cactus' age value when picking it up, instead it's always set to 0.
1.1720w46aEndermen are now hostile toward all endermites, instead of just the ones spawned from ender pearls.
21w13aEndermen now pick up rooted dirt, flowering azaleas and flowering azalea leaves.
Pre-release 1Endermen no longer pick up flowering azaleas and flowering azalea leaves.
1.18Experimental Snapshot 1Endermen now only spawn at light level 0.
21w37aEndermen now take damage when hit by a splash water bottle.
1.1922w11aEndermen now pick up mud.
Pre-release 1Endermen now spawn from light level 0 to 11 in the Nether.
1.19.322w46aEndermen now spawn from light level 0 to 7 in the Nether.
Upcoming Java Edition
1.20.223w33aEndermen now have an increased vertical attack reach, spanning the entire height of its hitbox.[20]
The player now needs to be 3 blocks above the ground to avoid endermen attacks, instead of 1.5 blocks.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.9.0build 1Enderman BE Added endermen.
build 2Endermen now have sounds.
Endermen now teleport out of the way of projectiles.
build 8The enderman's attack strength is now the same as in Java.
v0.12.1build 10Endermen now avoid water.
v0.14.0build 1Endermen now drop the block they are holding when killed.
v0.15.0build 1Endermen now spawn in the Nether.
Enderman now pick up netherrack.
v0.16.2Endermen are now quicker, to match the Java and Console versions.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0alpha 0.17.0.1Endermen now drop ender pearls when killed.
Endermen now spawn in the End.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0?Endermen no longer shake with rage while aggravated.
On death, endermen now drop the block they were holding.
1.16.0beta 1.16.0.51Endermen now spawn in soul sand valleys and warped forests.
Endermen now pick up nylium, roots, and fungi variants.
Endermen no longer pick up netherrack.
1.16.220beta 1.16.220.52Endermen now pick up rooted dirt.
1.19.60beta 1.19.60.22Enderman now spawn from light level 0 to 7 in the Nether.
Legacy Console Edition
TU5CU1 1.0 Patch 11.0.1Enderman Added Endermen.
TU14 1.04 Endermen now open their mouths and shake when provoked.
Endermen now stop in front of the player. When the player swings their sword, they now teleport behind the player.
TU43CU33 1.36 Patch 13Endermen now spawn in the Nether, and now pick up netherrack.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0Enderman BE Added Endermen.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Enderman" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

  • The developers have stated that the belief that enderman sounds are backward distortions is just speculation.[21]
  • Notch claimed in public that the enderman 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.[22]
  • Dinnerbone suggested "a haunting of endermen" as the collective noun for Endermen.[23] Additionally, in the third episode of Minecraft: Story Mode, The Last Place You Look, a player is given the option to correct the grammar of other characters by specifying that the collective noun for a group of endermen is "a haunting of Endermen". In the fourth Minecraft novel Minecraft: The End, the collective term used by endermen themselves is "an End of Endermen".
  • Switching to spectator mode and taking an enderman's point of view adds a shader that inverts colors, suggesting that they see the End as an island of blue cobblestone (as end stone is a yellowish version of cobblestone with inverted colors) in a white sky, with white pillars, white endermen with green eyes and a white ender dragon, also with green eyes. They also see cobblestone as end stone.
  • The texture for an enderman's eyes is located in a different texture file than the body, allowing their eyes to glow. Because the two textures do not line up perfectly, forcing an enderman to look straight up causes its eyes to turn blank white.
    • This also causes the enderman's eyes to be visible even when under the Invisibility effect.
  • The enderman teleportation sound also plays when a player teleports using an ender pearl[Bedrock Edition only] or chorus fruit.
  • The enderman is a playable DLC character in the crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an alternate costume for Steve, though with altered proportions to be at Steve's height. Additionally, there is an enderman "spirit" that makes the user vulnerable to damage by water, as are regular endermen.
  • Endermen are trying to bring about the collapse to all dimensions, as revealed in the 2019 book Minecraft Game Design.[24]

Gallery[]

Renders[]

Screenshots[]

In other media[]

Minecraft: Story Mode[]

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]

LEGO Minecraft[]

Minecraft Merchandise[]

Other[]

References[]

  1. MC-258644 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  2. "Did some tweaks to the Endermen, then ran home. Working on Minecraft again is so much fun!"@notch (Markus Persson) on X, September 13, 2011
  3. MC-106813 — resolved as "Won't Fix".
  4. MC-84922 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  5. MC-94481
  6. MC-220319
  7. MC-79556
  8. MCPE-31761
  9. MC-167370
  10. MCPE-30144
  11. MC-221422 — resolved as "Won't Fix".
  12. MC-167369
  13. Original enderman screenshot.png
  14. "at least you can make them stop teleporting by looking directly at them now."@notch (Markus Persson) on X, July 28, 2011
  15. "The Endermen are peaceful. If you look straight at them, they freeze and look at you. When you look away again, they run fast. And teleport"@notch (Markus Persson) on X, July 28, 2011
  16. "They run TOWARDS you, not away. So if you happen to look at one, do not look away."@notch (Markus Persson) on X, July 28, 2011
  17. "(they stop being peaceful if you look straight at them)"@notch (Markus Persson) on X, July 28, 2011
  18. "Endermen suck because they're annoying, and because I nerfed them and made them too easy. I shall fix this."@notch (Markus Persson) on X, September 28, 2011
  19. MC-124812 — resolved as "Fixed".
  20. MC-2310 — "Wrong attack radius calculation damages/kills entities through blocks and corners" — resolved as "Fixed".
  21. "Ask Mojang #5: Enderman jibber-jabber!" – Minecraft on YouTube, December 6, 2019
  22. https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/j09ma/notch_posts_images_of_new_mob/c282dzr?context=1
  23. "@nirufe @notch Let's call it a haunting. A haunting of Endermen."@Dinnerbone (Nathan Adams) on X, March 11, 2014
  24. Minecraft Game Design (2019) : Jens Bergensten : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

External Links[]

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