Renewable |
Yes |
---|---|
Stackable |
Yes (64) |
Tool | |
Blast resistance |
3 |
Hardness |
3 |
Luminant |
No |
Transparent |
No |
Flammable |
No |
Catches fire from lava |
No |
A sculk shrieker is a sculk block found in the deep dark biome that produces a "shrieking" noise when a player is detected nearby. Shriekers found in the deep dark can summon the warden when they are triggered.
Obtaining[]
Natural generation[]
Sculk shriekers can be found within the deep dark biome. These shriekers can summon the warden.
Breaking[]
Sculk shriekers can be mined with any tool, but hoes are the quickest. It drops 5 experience when mined without Silk Touch. When a sculk shrieker is broken it loses the ability to summon the warden and cause Darkness, even if mined with Silk Touch.
Block | Sculk Shrieker | |
---|---|---|
Hardness | 3 | |
Tool | ||
Breaking time[A] | ||
Default | 4.5 | |
Wooden | 2.25 | |
Stone | 1.15 | |
Iron | 0.75 | |
Diamond | 0.6 | |
Netherite | 0.5 | |
Golden | 0.4 |
- ↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.
Post-generation[]
A sculk catalyst has a 1% chance of generating a sculk shrieker on top of a sculk block. These shriekers do not summon the warden or cause Darkness.
Usage[]

The shriek particle.
Sculk shriekers can "shriek" after being activated, which can happen by a player stepping on it, being hit by a projectile, or by triggering a nearby sculk sensor. It does not itself detect vibrations in the absence of nearby sensors, and can be prevented from detecting sensors by placing wool blocks in between. The shrieker shrieks for exactly 90 game ticks (4.5 seconds).
Spawning wardens[]

A set of shriek particles emitted by a sculk shrieker.
Sculk shriekers that naturally generate in the deep dark biome are capable of inflicting the Darkness effect upon players and summoning wardens. If a sculk shrieker is placed by a player or generated via a sculk catalyst, the tag can_summon
is set to false
, and therefore a warden is not summoned and Darkness is not inflicted by that sculk shrieker[1]. Each time a naturally generated sculk shrieker is activated, it adds 1 to a "warning" level to alert the warden. The warning level is specific to each player, not each sculk shrieker, meaning that the same player can activate a different sculk shrieker for each of the four times, and a warden still spawns on the fourth activation, even though any particular shrieker had been activated once. If a player does not activate any sculk shrieker, the warning level decreases by 1 every 10 minutes (12000 ticks). After the shrieking ends, all players in Survival mode within 40 blocks are given the Darkness effect for 12 seconds. After a warden is summoned, a player's warning level does not reset back to 0.
Naturally generated sculk shriekers have a 10-second cooldown per player. This means that if a player triggers one shrieker, they are completely unable to trigger any other shrieker within 10 seconds. The cooldown period includes the 4.5-second shrieking, which means 5.5 seconds after the previous shrieking ends, the player can activate sculk shriekers again.
When a player's warning level reaches level 4, the sculk shrieker attempts to spawn a warden after its shrieking ends. Up to 20 attempts are made to spawn a warden within an 11×13×11 box centered on the shrieker. If there isn't another warden within 24 blocks, a warden emerges from the ground. The warden will always spawn at the highest available block.
If the player that triggered the sculk shrieker is outside the shrieker's range when the shrieking ends, the sculk shrieker does not apply the Darkness effect to any player. The player's warning level still increases by 1.
It is possible to make a warden spawn from a distance, by shooting a projectile into the direction of known sensors that are near shriekers.
The warnings have unique subtitles at different levels of warning: 1) "Warden approaches." 2) "Warden advances." 3) "Warden draws close."
Sounds[]
Generic[]
Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Block broken | Blocks | Once the block has broken | block.sculk_shrieker.break | subtitles.block.generic.break | 0.9 | 1.0 | 16 | |
None[sound 1] | Blocks | Falling on the block with fall damage | block.sculk_shrieker.fall | None[sound 1] | 1.0 | 1.0 | 16 | |
Block breaking | Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | block.sculk_shrieker.hit | subtitles.block.generic.hit | 1.0 | 1.0 | 16 | |
Block placed | Blocks | When the block is placed | block.sculk_shrieker.place | subtitles.block.generic.place | 0.9 | 1.0 | 16 | |
Sculk Shrieker shrieks | Blocks | Sculk shrieker is activated | block.sculk_shrieker.shriek | subtitles.block.sculk_shrieker.shriek | 0.9 | 1.0 | 16 | |
Footsteps | Blocks | Walking on the block | block.sculk_shrieker.step | subtitles.block.generic.footsteps | 1.0 | 1.0 | 16 |
Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blocks | Once the block has broken | break.sculk_shrieker | 1.0 | 0.8 | |
Blocks | Falling on the block with fall damage | step.sculk_shrieker | 0.4 | 1.0 | |
Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | step.sculk_shrieker | 0.3 | 0.5 | |
Blocks | Jumping from the block | step.sculk_shrieker | 0.12 | 1.0 | |
Blocks | Falling on the block without fall damage | step.sculk_shrieker | 0.14 | 1.0 | |
Blocks | Walking on the block | step.sculk_shrieker | 0.17 | 1.0 | |
Blocks | When the block is placed | place.sculk_shrieker | 1.0 | 0.8 | |
Blocks | When the shrieker shrieks | shriek.sculk_shrieker | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Data values[]
ID[]
Name | Identifier | Form | Translation key |
---|---|---|---|
Sculk Shrieker | sculk_shrieker | Block & Item | block.minecraft.sculk_shrieker |
ID[]
Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Form | Item ID[i 1] | Translation key |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sculk Shrieker | sculk_shrieker | 716 | Block & Giveable Item[i 2] | Identical[i 3] | tile.sculk_shrieker.name |
Block states[]
Name | Default value | Allowed values | Description |
---|---|---|---|
can_summon | false | false true | If true, the sculk shrieker can summon the warden. |
shrieking | false | false true | Whether the sculk shrieker is shrieking or not. |
waterlogged | false | false true | Whether or not there's water in the same place as this sculk shrieker. |
Name | Metadata Bits | Default value | Allowed values | Values for Metadata Bits |
Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
active | Not Supported | 0 | 0 1 | Unsupported | Whether the sculk shrieker is shrieking or not. |
can_summon | Not Supported | false | true false | Unsupported | If true, the sculk shrieker can summon the warden. |
History[]
October 16, 2021 | ![]() | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Java Edition | |||||
1.19 | Deep Dark Experimental Snapshot 1 | ![]() | |||
22w11a | Implemented sculk shriekers into normal snapshot. | ||||
Sculk shriekers no longer drop when mined with Silk Touch. | |||||
Sculk shriekers can't be activated in this snapshot, as wardens and darkness are not added in this snapshot. | |||||
22w12a | Readded functionality to the sculk shrieker. | ||||
Sculk shriekers are no longer generated by sculk catalysts. | |||||
22w13a | Sculk shriekers are once again obtainable with Silk Touch and once again spawn from sculk catalysts. | ||||
There’s now a new can_summon tag for sculk shriekers that controls whether or not they can spawn a warden, it is set to true for naturally generated shriekers and false for ones that were placed by a player or spawned by a sculk catalyst. | |||||
![]() can_summon tag is set to false, it has another texture. | |||||
22w15a | ![]() ![]() | ||||
Sculk shriekers can no longer be triggered by redstone activation.[2] | |||||
22w19a | Sculk shriekers now need to be activated four times to summon the warden. | ||||
Bedrock Edition | |||||
1.17.30 | beta 1.17.30.22 | "Sculk Shrieker" was mentioned in the Bedrock Beta documentation. | |||
beta 1.17.30.23 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||
Vanilla Experiments (experimental) | beta 1.18.0.22 | ![]() | |||
It uses an outdated model.[3] | |||||
It can be activated with a redstone signal, or by stepping on it. | |||||
Wild Update (experimental) | beta 1.18.10.21 | Moved sculk shriekers to the "Wild Update" experimental toggle. | |||
beta 1.18.30.20 | Sculk shriekers now listen to sculk sensor tendril clicking. | ||||
The threat level that causes the warden to spawn in the future now decreases over time. | |||||
beta 1.18.30.22 | ![]() | ||||
Revamped the sculk spreading mechanics to match Java Edition. | |||||
beta 1.18.30.28 | Sculk shriekers no longer drop when mined with Silk Touch.[4] | ||||
beta 1.18.30.32 | Sculk shriekers can now summon the warden. | ||||
1.19.0 | beta 1.19.0.20 | Sculk shriekers are now available without enabling experimental gameplay. | |||
beta 1.19.0.24 | Sculk shriekers can be obtained again with Silk Touch. | ||||
There’s now a new can_summon tag for sculk shriekers that controls whether or not they can spawn a warden, it is set to true for naturally generated shriekers and false for ones that were placed by a player or spawned by a sculk catalyst. | |||||
![]() can_summon tag is set to false, it has another texture. | |||||
Sculk shriekers can no longer be triggered by redstone activation. | |||||
beta 1.19.0.26 | ![]() ![]() |
Issues[]
Issues relating to "Sculk Shrieker" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia[]
- The sculk shrieker's design was inspired by the human larynx.[5]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ MC-250137 – resolved as "Works As Intended"
- ↑ MC-250200 – resolved as "Works As Intended"
- ↑ "Oh and Sculk Shrieker model is outdated" – @kingbdogz on Twitter, October 21, 2021
- ↑ MCPE-153359
- ↑ "Minecraft Live 2021 @ 1:52:36" – Minecraft on YouTube, October 15, 2021