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A head is a decorative block. There are six types of heads: player, zombie, skeleton, wither skeleton, creeper, and dragon.

Obtaining

Breaking

A mob head can be broken using anything and drops itself when broken.

Block Mob Head
Hardness 1
Breaking time (secs)
Default 1.5

If a head is pushed by a piston or comes in contact with water or lava, it breaks off as an item.

Natural generation

Dragon heads generate on end ships found in end cities.

Mob loot

A wither skeleton has a 2.5% chance of dropping a wither skeleton skull when killed by a player or tamed wolf. The chance is increased by 1% per level of Looting, for a maximum of 5.5% with Looting III.

In Bedrock Edition, the chance is increased by 2% per level of Looting, for a maximum of 8.5% with Looting III.

Skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, and creeper heads are also always dropped by the respective mob if it dies due to a charged creeper's explosion. If an ender dragon or the player is killed by a charged creeper, it does not drop its head.

Usage

Decoration

Mob heads can be oriented in 16 different directions on top of a block, and 4 directions on the sides of blocks, similar to signs. They cannot be placed on top of each other, but they don't require a supporting block.

The dragon head opens and closes its mouth repeatedly like the ender dragon when placed and powered by redstone. The same animation occurs when worn by a (horizontally) moving player, zombie, skeleton, or armor stand (note: the animation does not play if the NoGravity tag is set to 1)

Wearing

Steve wearing Skeleton SkullSteve wearing Wither Skeleton SkullSteve wearing Creeper HeadSteve wearing Zombie HeadSteve wearing Dragon HeadAlex wearing Skeleton SkullAlex wearing Wither Skeleton SkullAlex wearing Creeper HeadAlex wearing Zombie HeadAlex wearing Dragon Head

The player can wear heads, similarly to pumpkins or helmets. This overlays the second layer of the player's skin.

Disguise

Wearing the corresponding mob head reduces the detection range for skeletons (but not wither skeletons), creepers, and zombies to 50% of the normal range. This is similar to (and stacks with) the reductions in detection range from sneaking and from the Invisibility status effect.

In Bedrock Edition, wearing any mob head or carved pumpkin makes the player invisible to other players on a locator map.

Withers

Wither build configuration

Withers can be created by placing soul sand or soul soil in a T shape, and putting 3 wither skeleton skulls on top of the three upper blocks. The last block placed must be one of the three wither skeleton skulls. A dispenser can also create a wither, by placing the final skull onto soul sand directly in front of and below it.

Dispensers

A dispenser can equip a mob head on a player, mob, or armor stand with an empty helmet slot, within the block the dispenser is facing.

Dispenser can also complete the construction of a wither.

Crafting ingredient

Name Ingredients Crafting recipe Description
Banner Pattern Creeper Paper +
Creeper Head


Creeper face
Banner Pattern Skull Paper +
Wither Skeleton Skull


Skeleton skull and crossbones
Firework Star Any Mob head +
Gunpowder +
Any Dye


Forms Creeper shape

Enchantments

Mob heads can receive the following enchantments, but only through an anvil.

Name Max Level Method
Curse of Binding I
Curse of Vanishing I

Player skins

Information icon
This feature is exclusive to Java Edition. 

Human heads have an extra usage for map makers, they can be given NBT data so that they appear with the skin of any Minecraft account. This means if a player knows that a specific account has a head that is desired to display, the NBT data can be edited to make it appear.

The command to give the player a head skinned as another player is /give @p minecraft:player_head{SkullOwner:"<PlayerName>"}. Commonly, this kind of head is called player head.

Another command to give the player a head with another player's skin is /give @p minecraft:player_head{SkullOwner:{Id:"<PlayerUUID>",Properties:{textures:[{Value:"<SkinURL>"}]} } }. SkinURL is a string encoded in Base64 containing the URL of the player's skin.[1] A player head saves the skin of the player from the time it was created, meaning if the player changes their skin, the head still displays the original texture.[2] This kind of head is generally called custom head.

Marc's Head Format

Allmobheads

Most of the MHF mob heads provided by Mojang.

Information icon
This feature is exclusive to Java Edition. 

Marc Watson created a number of accounts with specific skins so map makers could use common heads without the risk of someone changing their skins.[3] Nowadays, since heads do not update the skin if a player changes their skin, this is not something map-makers need to worry about, though these skins are still useful. These accounts have names in the format MHF_<Name>, for example MHF_PigZombie is the name of a Minecraft user with a zombie pigman head. MHF stands for "Marc's Head Format".[4] There are also a few blocks and "bonus" heads, for more variety.

Because these are names of player accounts, these heads are obtained or placed using the SkullOwner tag, for instance: /give @s minecraft:player_head{SkullOwner:"MHF_<Name>"}.

The following names/heads have been made available:[5]

Mobs
  • MHF_Alex
  • MHF_Blaze
  • MHF_CaveSpider
  • MHF_Chicken
  • MHF_Cow
  • MHF_Creeper
  • MHF_Enderman

MHF_Ghast

  • MHF_Golem
  • MHF_Herobrine
  • MHF_LavaSlime
  • MHF_MushroomCow
  • MHF_Ocelot
  • MHF_Pig
  • MHF_PigZombie
  • MHF_Sheep
  • MHF_Skeleton

MHF_Slime

  • MHF_Spider
  • MHF_Squid
  • MHF_Steve
  • MHF_Villager

MHF_WSkeleton

  • MHF_Zombie
Blocks
  • MHF_Cactus
  • MHF_Cake
  • MHF_Chest
  • MHF_CoconutB

MHF_CoconutG

MHF_Melon

  • MHF_OakLog
  • MHF_Present1

MHF_Present2

MHF_Pumpkin

  • MHF_TNT
  • MHF_TNT2
Bonus
  • MHF_ArrowUp
  • MHF_ArrowDown
  • MHF_ArrowLeft
  • MHF_ArrowRight
  • MHF_Exclamation
  • MHF_Question

Sounds

Java Edition:

SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
Block brokenBlocksOnce the block has brokenblock.stone.breaksubtitles.block.generic.break1.00.816
Block placedBlocksWhen the block is placedblock.stone.placesubtitles.block.generic.place1.00.816
Block breakingBlocksWhile the block is in the process of being brokenblock.stone.hitsubtitles.block.generic.hit0.250.516
None[sound 1]Entity-DependentFalling on the block with fall damageblock.stone.fallNone[sound 1]0.50.7516
FootstepsEntity-DependentWalking on the blockblock.stone.stepsubtitles.block.generic.footsteps0.151.016
  1. a b MC-177082

Bedrock Edition:

SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
BlocksOnce the block has brokendig.stone1.00.8-1.0
BlocksWhen the block is placeddig.stone1.00.8-1.0
BlocksWhile the block is in the process of being brokenhit.stone0.370.5
PlayersFalling on the block with fall damagefall.stone0.41.0
PlayersWalking on the blockstep.stone0.31.0
PlayersJumping from the blockjump.stone0.121.0
PlayersFalling on the block without fall damageland.stone0.221.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierFormTranslation key
Skeleton Skullskeleton_skullBlock & Itemblock.minecraft.skeleton_skull
Wither Skeleton Skullwither_skeleton_skullBlock & Itemblock.minecraft.wither_skeleton_skull
Zombie Headzombie_headBlock & Itemblock.minecraft.zombie_head
Player Headplayer_headBlock & Itemblock.minecraft.player_head
Creeper Headcreeper_headBlock & Itemblock.minecraft.creeper_head
Dragon Headdragon_headBlock & Itemblock.minecraft.dragon_head
Skeleton Wall Skullskeleton_wall_skullBlockblock.minecraft.skeleton_wall_skull
Wither Skeleton Wall Skullwither_skeleton_wall_skullBlockblock.minecraft.wither_skeleton_wall_skull
Zombie Wall Headzombie_wall_headBlockblock.minecraft.zombie_wall_head
Player Wall Headplayer_wall_headBlockblock.minecraft.player_wall_head
Creeper Wall Headcreeper_wall_headBlockblock.minecraft.creeper_wall_head
Dragon Wall Headdragon_wall_headBlockblock.minecraft.dragon_wall_head
NameIdentifier
Block entityskull

Bedrock Edition:

HeadIdentifierNumeric ID FormTranslation key
Blockskull144Block & Ungiveable Item[i 1]tile.skull.name
Itemskull397Itemitem.skull.skeleton.name
item.skull.wither.name
item.skull.zombie.name
item.skull.char.name
item.skull.creeper.name
item.skull.dragon.name
  1. Unavailable with /give command
NameSavegame ID
Block entitySkull

Metadata

See also: Data values

In Bedrock Edition, mob heads use the following data values: For the item and for the tile entity, data values determine the skull type:

DV Description
0 Skeleton Skull
1 Wither Skeleton Skull
2 Zombie Head
3 Head
4 Creeper Head
5 Dragon Head

Item data

Player heads use item NBT to save the owner.

  •  tag: The item's tag tag.
    •  SkullOwner: The username of the player this is a skull of. This gets converted to the compound version on almost any action.
    •  SkullOwner: Different definition for the skull's owner.
      •  Id: UUID of owner, stored as four ints. Optional. Used to update the other tags when the chunk loads or the holder logs in, in case the owner's name has changed.
      •  Name: Username of owner. If missing or empty, the head appears as a Steve head. Otherwise, used to store or retrieve the downloaded skin in the cache. Need not be a valid player name, but must not be all spaces.
      •  Properties
        •  textures
          • : An individual texture.
            •  Value: A Base64-encoded JSON object.
              •  isPublic: Optional.
              •  signatureRequired
              •  profileId: Optional: The hexadecimal text form of the player's UUID, without hyphens.
              •  profileName: Optional: Player name.
              •  textures
                •  CAPE: Optional.
                  •  url: URL of a player cape (64x32 PNG).
                •  SKIN
                  •  url: URL of a player skin on textures.minecraft.net.
                  •  metadata
                    •  model: The model of the player skin. Can be "classic" or "slim".
              •  timestamp: Optional: Unix time in milliseconds.
            •  Signature: Optional.


Block states

See also: Block states

Java Edition:
Floor

Name Default value Allowed values Description
rotation0 0The block is facing south.
1The block is facing south-southwest.
2The block is facing southwest.
3The block is facing west-southwest.
4The block is facing west.
5The block is facing west-northwest.
6The block is facing northwest.
7The block is facing north-northwest.
8The block is facing north.
9The block is facing north-northeast.
10The block is facing northeast.
11The block is facing east-northeast.
12The block is facing east.
13The block is facing east-southeast.
14The block is facing southeast.
15The block is facing south-southeast.

Wall

Name Default value Allowed values Description
facingnortheast
north
south
west
The direction the head is facing.
Opposite from the direction a player is facing when placing it.

Bedrock Edition:

NameMetadata Bits Default value Allowed valuesValues for
Metadata Bits
Description
facing_direction0x1
0x2
0x4
0 11On the floor (rotation is stored in the tile entity)
22On a wall, facing north
33On a wall, facing south
44On a wall, facing east
55On a wall, facing west
00Unused
nodrop_bit0x8false false
true
0
1
If true, the skull does not drop as an item.

Block data

A mob head has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

  • Block entity data
    • Tags common to all block entities
    •  note_block_sound: Optional. The sound event this skull plays when played with a note block.
    •  ExtraType: Name of the player this is a skull of. This tag is converted to SkullOwner below upon loading the NBT. When loaded sets the name to the value and the UUID to null.
    •  SkullOwner: The definition of the skull's owner. When this is a player_head or player_wall_head, shows this player's skin; if missing, shows the head of the default Steve skin.
      •  Id: UUID of owner, stored as four ints. Optional. Used to update the other tags when the chunk loads or the holder logs in, in case the owner's name has changed.
      •  Name: Username of owner. If missing or empty, the head appears as a Steve head. Otherwise, used to store or retrieve the downloaded skin in the cache. Need not be a valid player name, but must not be all spaces.
      •  Properties
        •  textures
          • : An individual texture.
            •  Value: A Base64-encoded JSON object.
              •  isPublic: Optional.
              •  signatureRequired
              •  profileId: Optional: The hexadecimal text form of the player's UUID, without hyphens.
              •  profileName: Optional: Player name.
              •  textures
                •  CAPE: Optional.
                  •  url: URL of a player cape (64x32 PNG).
                •  SKIN
                  •  url: URL of a player skin on textures.minecraft.net.
                  •  metadata
                    •  model: The model of the player skin. Can be "classic" or "slim".
              •  timestamp: Optional: Unix time in milliseconds.
            •  Signature: Optional.

Achievements

Icon Achievement In-game description Actual requirements (if different) Gamerscore earned Trophy type (PS4)
PS4 Other
The Beginning?Spawn the WitherBe within a 100.9×100.9×103.5 cuboid centered on the Wither when it is spawned.20GBronze
CamouflageKill a mob while wearing the same type of mob head.30GBronze

Advancements

Icon Advancement In-game description Parent Actual requirements (if different) Resource location
Advancement-plain-rawSpooky Scary Skeleton
Obtain a Wither Skeleton's skull A Terrible FortressHave a wither skeleton skull in your inventory.nether/get_wither_skull
Advancement-plain-rawInvicon Nether StarWithering Heights
Summon the Wither Spooky Scary SkeletonBe within a 100.9×100.9×103.5 cuboid centered on the wither when it is spawned.nether/summon_wither

History

Missing Model JE3
This section would benefit from the addition of more images. 
Please remove this notice once you've added suitable images to the article.
The specific instructions are: Add all block revisions of every head
Java Edition
August 28, 2012Jeb released images of the skeleton head, hinting of more types to come.
PAX 2012At PAX, Dinnerbone revealed that there would be rare drops of these mobs.[6]
1.4.212w36aSkeleton Skull (item) JE1 BE1 Wither Skeleton Skull (item) JE1 BE1 Zombie Head (item) JE1 BE1 Player Head (item) JE1 BE1 Creeper Head (item) JE1 BE1 Added skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, human, and creeper heads.
Wither skeleton skulls are rarely dropped by the wither skeleton upon death (2.5% chance), while the other four are obtainable only from the creative inventory.
12w37aAdded as a hidden and disabled feature, human heads can now have the skin of a specific player. A line in the language file implies that there either used to be, or in a future update, the possibility of obtaining a specific player's head.[7]
Player heads do not drop in vanilla, but mapmakers/modders/etc. can make them by adding an NBT string tag {"SkullOwner":"player_name"} on the skull items.[8]
November 7, 2012Jeb states that the official opinion is that "[dropping] player heads [on player kills] are a bit too gory for Minecraft, so it's better suited for a plugin or mod."
1.4.612w49aAny kind of mob head can now be used to craft a firework star with creeper-face effect.
1.7.213w36aCustom heads can now be obtained without third party programs via /give.
1.814w03aPlayer heads now show the skin's hat layer (this also works when a mob/player wears the head).
14w29aHeads now display a cracking animation.
14w30aSkeleton Skull (item) JE2 Wither Skeleton Skull (item) JE2 Zombie Head (item) JE2 Player Head (item) JE2 Creeper Head (item) JE2 Player and mob heads in inventories and held by mobs/players now display as blocks.
Skulls worn by mobs and players are now displayed on the armor layer. Previously, the skull replaced the mob/player's head texture; the hat layer appeared over the skull.
Skeleton, zombie, and creeper heads are now available in survival. The player can obtain them by killing the appropriate mob with a charged creeper.
Creeper heads and wither skeleton skulls are now used in crafting specific banner patterns.
14w30bA single charged creeper explosion no longer yields more than one mob head. The mob head that drops is chosen randomly.
1.8.4releaseFor security reasons, custom heads can now have textures only from mojang.com and minecraft.net.
1.915w31aDragon Head (item) JE1 Added dragon heads.
Dragon heads are currently available only in creative mode.
Mob heads now appear larger in the inventory.
15w32aCreeper, zombie, and skeleton heads can now be worn to reduce detection by the corresponding mobs by 50%.
15w32cDragon heads now generate on end ships, meaning they are now obtainable in survival.
15w33cThe disguise that is given by mob heads now reduces detection range to 37.5% of normal.
15w36aThe disguise that is given by mob heads now reduces detection range to 50% of normal again.
15w39aDispensers can now equip mob heads onto players, mobs and armor stands.
1.1317w47aThe ID of heads have been split into 12; one of each available standard head, as well as a wall counterpart of each.
skeleton_skull, wither_skeleton_skull, player_head, zombie_head, creeper_head and dragon_head are now available as items and placed blocks with a rotation block state of 0-15.
skeleton_wall_skull, wither_skeleton_wall_skull, player_wall_head, zombie_wall_head, creeper_wall_head and dragon_wall_head are available only as placed blocks with a facing block state of north, south, east or west.
Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 144, and the item's 397.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.12.1build 1Skeleton Skull (item) JE1 BE1 Wither Skeleton Skull (item) JE1 BE1 Zombie Head (item) JE1 BE1 Player Head (item) JE1 BE1 Creeper Head (item) JE1 BE1 Added skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, human, and creeper heads.
The skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, human and creeper heads use the Java textures prior to 14w30a.
v0.14.0build 1Mob heads can now be worn as armor.
v0.16.0build 4Wither skeleton skulls can now be used to spawn the wither.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0alpha 0.17.0.1Dragon Head (item) BE1 Added dragon heads.
Dragon heads use a two-dimensional sprite, unlike Java does.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0beta 1.2.0.2Mob heads can now be used to craft firework stars.
Creeper heads and wither skeleton skulls are now used to craft specific patterns on banners.
beta 1.2.0.11Skeleton Skull (item) BE2 Wither Skeleton Skull (item) BE2 Zombie Head (item) BE2 Head (item) BE2 Creeper Head (item) BE2 Dragon Head (item) BE2 Player and mob heads in inventories and when held by mobs/players now display as blocks.
1.10.0beta 1.10.0.3Wither skeleton skulls and creeper heads can now be used to craft banner patterns.
Legacy Console Edition
TU12CU1 1.0 Patch 11.0.1Skeleton Skull (item) JE1 BE1 Wither Skeleton Skull (item) JE1 BE1 Zombie Head (item) JE1 BE1 Player Head (item) JE1 BE1 Creeper Head (item) JE1 BE1 Added skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, human, and creeper heads to the creative inventory.
Wither skeleton skulls currently do not have a use.
TU19CU7 1.12 Wither skeleton skulls can now be obtained by killing wither skeletons.
Wither skeleton skulls can now be used to build the wither.
TU31CU19 1.22 Patch 3Skeleton, zombie, and creeper heads are now available in survival. The player can obtain them by killing the appropriate mob with a charged creeper.
TU46CU36 1.38 Patch 15Dragon Head (item) JE1 Added dragon heads.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0Skeleton Skull (item) JE1 BE1 Wither Skeleton Skull (item) JE1 BE1 Zombie Head (item) JE1 BE1 Player Head (item) JE1 BE1 Creeper Head (item) JE1 BE1 Added skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, human, and creeper heads.
1.7.10Dragon Head (item) BE1 Added dragon heads.

Skull "item"

The following content is transcluded from Technical blocks/Skull.
Java Edition
1.4.212w36aHeads have an extra, unobtainable item form corresponding to its block ID. It can be obtained via the /give command or inventory editors with numeric item ID 144.
Unlike the proper head items at the time, it had a placement sound, and was capable of directly replacing replaceable blocks. (The proper head items could only replace them indirectly, i.e. they could be placed against the side of a block which would result in it replacing snow, however could not replace snow if the snow itself was targeted.)
The head item, if placed by a player facing north, east, south or west would result in the placement of a skull block with metadata 0, 1, 2 and 3, which were, in order, an east-facing skull visually wall attached but with a floor hitbox, a north-facing floor skull, a north-facing wall skull and a south-facing wall skull.
1.7.213w37aThe direct item form of heads has been removed from the game. It can no longer exist as an item in any way, only as a placed block.
Pocket Edition Alpha
?Skulls exist as an item.

Appearances

Java Edition
1.4.212w36aSoul Sand (texture) JE1 BE1 The skull item uses this texture in inventories, when held in first or third person view, as a dropped item or when in an item frame.
1.513w02aBlank The skull item is now completely invisible in inventories.
The skull item causes a game crash when held in first or third person view, as a dropped item or when in an item frame.
This is due to major texture storage changes in this version.
13w02bSkeleton Skull (item) JE1 BE1 The skull item now uses this texture in inventories, when held in first or third person view, as a dropped item or when in an item frame.

Names

Java Edition
  • 12w36a - 13w25b: [Has no defined name, rendering a minimum-length text box if highlighted]
  • 13w25c - 14w21b: tile.skull.name

When given using the /give command, it is announced as tile.skull.name.

Issues

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

Trivia

  • When destroyed by an explosion, the block always drops as an item.
  • Heads are one of the few blocks that do not have their own textures and take their textures from other objects.
  • When breaking any head, the particle effect of breaking it is the same as soul sand.
  • Despite there being a default Steve head, an Alex head cannot be obtained without using custom names.

Gallery

References

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