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[]

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 (¹⁄₄ 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, 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:

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.

Bedrock Edition:

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Entity data[]

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

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements[]

Advancements[]

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	Adventure	Adventure, exploration and combat	—	Kill any entity, or be killed by any entity.	adventure/root
	Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Adventure	Kill one of these 34 mobs: Blaze Cave Spider Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin 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
	It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Monster Hunter	Kill one of these 70 mobs near a sculk catalyst: Axolotl Bee Blaze Camel Cat Cave Spider Chicken Chicken Jockey Cod Cow Creeper Donkey Dolphin Drowned Elder Guardian Enderman Endermite Evoker Fox Frog Ghast Goat Glow Squid Guardian Hoglin Horse Husk Llama Magma Cube Mooshroom Ocelot Panda Parrot Phantom Pig Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Polar Bear Pufferfish Rabbit Ravager Salmon Sheep Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Skeleton Horse Skeleton Horseman Slime Sniffer Stray Spider Spider Jockey Squid Strider Trader Llama Tropical Fish Turtle Vex Vindicator Warden Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Wolf Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this advancement.	adventure/kill_mob_near_sculk_catalyst
	Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Monster Hunter	Kill each of these 34 mobs: Blaze Cave Spider Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin 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[]

?					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, 2011					Notch 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, 2011					At 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, 2011					In the Beta 1.8 demo at PAX, endermen dropped diamonds as a placeholder for ender pearls.
Java Edition Beta
1.8		Pre-release			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 ;)			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, 2011			Notch indicated the block carrying was horrible and needed to be nerfed.
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease			Before 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 3			Notch 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 4			Endermen 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.
		RC1			Before 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.
1.3.1		12w22a			The 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.
1.4.2		12w38a			The 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.
1.7.2		1.7-pre			Endermen are no longer provoked when attacked by the player in creative mode.
1.8		14w06a			Endermen 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.
		14w11a			Endermen 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.
		14w17a			Endermen are no longer hostile to non-pearl spawned endermites.
		14w28a			Endermites are no longer spawned from endermen.
1.9		15w31a			Endermen 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.
1.10		16w20a			Endermen now spawn in the Nether.
					Endermen now pick up netherrack.
1.11		16w32a			The entity ID has been changed from Enderman to enderman.
		16w35a			Endermen are now dealt 1 damage by splash water bottles.
1.16		20w06a			The sounds of endermen are now heard at a shorter range.
					Endermen now spawn in soul sand valleys and warped forests.
		20w07a			Endermen now pick up nylium, roots, and fungi variants.
					Endermen no longer pick up netherrack.
		20w18a			Endermen prevent other endermen from spawning nearby in warped forests.
		20w22a			Endermen no longer despawn when holding a block.[19]
1.16.2		Pre-release 1			Endermen no longer place their held blocks onto bedrock blocks.
		Pre-release 2			Endermen 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.
1.17		20w46a			Endermen are now hostile toward all endermites, instead of just the ones spawned from ender pearls.
		21w13a			Endermen now pick up rooted dirt, flowering azaleas and flowering azalea leaves.
		Pre-release 1			Endermen no longer pick up flowering azaleas and flowering azalea leaves.
1.18		Experimental Snapshot 1			Endermen now only spawn at light level 0.
		21w37a			Endermen now take damage when hit by a splash water bottle.
1.19		22w11a			Endermen now pick up mud.
		Pre-release 1			Endermen now spawn from light level 0 to 11 in the Nether.
1.19.3		22w46a			Endermen now spawn from light level 0 to 7 in the Nether.
Upcoming Java Edition
1.20.2		23w33a			Endermen 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
v0.9.0		build 1			Added endermen.
		build 2			Endermen now have sounds.
					Endermen now teleport out of the way of projectiles.
		build 8			The enderman's attack strength is now the same as in Java.
v0.12.1		build 10			Endermen now avoid water.
v0.14.0		build 1			Endermen now drop the block they are holding when killed.
v0.15.0		build 1			Endermen now spawn in the Nether.
					Enderman now pick up netherrack.
v0.16.2					Endermen are now quicker, to match the Java and Console versions.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0		alpha 0.17.0.1			Endermen 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.
1.16.0		beta 1.16.0.51			Endermen now spawn in soul sand valleys and warped forests.
					Endermen now pick up nylium, roots, and fungi variants.
					Endermen no longer pick up netherrack.
1.16.220		beta 1.16.220.52			Endermen now pick up rooted dirt.
1.19.60		beta 1.19.60.22			Enderman now spawn from light level 0 to 7 in the Nether.
Legacy Console Edition
TU5	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	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.
TU43	CU33	1.36	Patch 13		Endermen now spawn in the Nether, and now pick up netherrack.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added Endermen.

• 

  First image.

• 

  First image but brightened.

• 

  Second image. Endermen near village prototype.

• 

  Second image but brightened.

• 

  A green-eyed enderman from the adventure update trailer.

• 

  A green-eyed enderman looking at the player.

• 

  A green-eyed enderman at night.

• 

  A green-eyed enderman at dawn.

• 

  An enderman in pocket edition alpha.

• 

  First screenshot of an enderman in the nether.

• 

  A preview of a group of endermen on the nether fortress next to a warped forest biome.

• 

  A preview of an enderman holding a warped nylium in the warped forest.

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[]

• 

  Enderman holding a grass block

• 

  Enderman holding sand

• 

  Enderman holding a cactus

• 

  Enderman holding TNT

• 

  Enderman holding a dandelion

• 

  Enderman in the agitated state.

Screenshots[]

• 

  A group of endermen in a desert biome.

• 

  Three endermen in a village.

• 

  A group of endermen attacking a player.

• 

  Endermen in the End.

• 

  An enderman under the effects of invisibility.

• 

  Through the eyes of the enderman. Note that the "invert" shader is being used.

• 

  Enderman riding in a minecart.

• 

  As long as user's cursor does not land on an enderman's torso, a user can get fairly close to the enderman without damage.

• 

  Group of endermen in a plains biome during the day.

In other media[]

Minecraft: Story Mode[]

• 

  A haunting of endermen.

• 

  Jesse disguised as an enderman.

• 

  Endermen damaged by water.

• 

  The Giant Enderman, a unique variation exclusive to the game.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]

• 

  Official enderman render from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

• 

  Enderman Spirit from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

LEGO Minecraft[]

• 

  Enderman micromobs.

• 

  Enderman minifigure.

• 

  A set featuring a haunting of Endermen.

Minecraft Merchandise[]

• 

  An official enderman action figure sold by JINX.

• 

  An official enderman head cosmetic sold by JINX.

• 

  Official T-shirt artwork "Enderman Moving Company" by JINX.

• 

  "Acid Enderman," a T-Shirt design featured on Minecraft.net.

• 

  "Don't Look!" an official T-Shirt design.

• 

  Another official T-Shirt labeled "Don't Look," this time in a Warped Forest.

• 

  "Enderman Gifts," a Christmas themed design featured on several items.

• 

  Another T-Shirt design, simply labeled "Enderman."

• 

  "Enderman Eyes," an official hoodie design.

• 

  Another official enderman hoodie.

• 

  An enderman plush sold by JINX. The design depicts a pre-release version of the enderman.

• 

  A baby enderman plush.

• 

  A deck of cards with an Enderman face.

• 

  An officially licensed dog scarf depicting the face of an Enderman.

• 

  Enderman medical band.

Other[]

• 

  An enderman in promotional artwork for the Combat Update.

• 

  An Enderman in promotional artwork for the second Caves & Cliffs update.

• 

  Artwork of an enderman.

• 

  The enderman's entry in the Minecraft Mobestiary book.

• 

  An enderman as it appears on the cover of Minecraft: The Crash.

• 

  Endermen on the cover of Minecraft Annual 2024.

References[]

External Links[]

• Meet the Enderman – Minecraft.net on March 20, 2017