Head
A head or skull is a block modeled after the head of a specific entity.
Variants[edit | edit source]
There are seven types of heads:
Obtaining[edit | edit source]
Mob loot[edit | edit source]
The following heads drops when the corresponding mob gets killed by a charged creeper's explosion:
If several mobs are killed by the explosion of a single charged creeper, only one head will drop from the oldest mob of those killed in said explosion.[Java Edition only]
A wither skeleton sometimes drops a Wither Skeleton Skull when killed.
Natural generation[edit | edit source]
- Skeleton Skulls generate as part of ancient cities.
- A single Dragon Head generates at the front of end ships.
Player head[edit | edit source]
The Player Head is unobtainable in Survival.
Usage[edit | edit source]
Decoration[edit | edit source]
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 can be placed on top of, or beside each other by shift clicking.
When placed and powered by redstone, the piglin and dragon heads play an animation. The piglin head flaps its ears (2 times per second for the right ear and 2.5 times per second for the left ear) while the dragon head opens and closes its mouth repeatedly (2 times per second). 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[edit | edit source]
The player can wear heads, similarly to pumpkins or helmets. This overlays the second layer of the player's skin.
Wearing the corresponding head reduces the detection range for skeletons (but not wither skeletons), creepers, zombies, and piglins 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 head makes the player invisible to other players on a locator map.
Dispensers[edit | edit source]
A dispenser can equip a head on a player, mob, or armor stand with an empty helmet slot, within the block the dispenser is facing.
Dispensers can summon a wither when placing wither skeleton skulls on soul sand.
Crafting ingredient[edit | edit source]
Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
---|---|---|
Creeper Charge Banner Pattern | Paper + Creeper Head |
|
Skull Charge Banner Pattern | Paper + Wither Skeleton Skull |
|
Firework Star | Any Head + Gunpowder + Any Dye |
Enchantments[edit | edit source]
Heads can receive the following enchantments, but only through an anvil.
Name | Max level | Method |
---|---|---|
Curse of Binding | I | Anvil |
Curse of Vanishing | I | Anvil |
Note blocks[edit | edit source]
Placing a head above a note block causes the note block to play the corresponding mob's ambient
sound when activated. The only exception is the creeper head; as creepers don't make ambient
sounds, the note block plays the primed
(hissing) sound instead.
The block below the note block does not affect the mob sound it creates.
Sounds[edit | edit source]
Generic[edit | edit source]
stone sound type | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
Block broken | Blocks | Once the block has broken | block | subtitles | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
Block placed | Blocks | When the block is placed | block | subtitles | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
Block breaking | Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | block | subtitles | 0.25 | 0.5 | 16 | |
Something falls on a block | Entity-Dependent | Falling on the block with fall damage | block | subtitles [upcoming JE 1.21.4] | 0.5 | 0.75 | 16 | |
Footsteps | Entity-Dependent | Walking on the block | block | subtitles | 0.15 | 1.0 | 16 |
stone sound type | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
Blocks | Once the block has broken | dig | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
Blocks | When the block is placed | dig | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | hit | 0.37 | 0.5 | |
Players | Falling on the block with fall damage | fall | 0.4 | 1.0 | |
Players | Walking on the block | step | 0.3 | 1.0 | |
Blocks | Jumping from the block | jump | 0.12 | 1.0 | |
Blocks | Falling on the block without fall damage | land | 0.22 | 1.0 |
Unique[edit | edit source]
Sounds | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
Gear equips | Players | When a head is equipped | item | subtitles | 1.0 | 1.0 | 16 |
Sounds | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
Players | When a head is equipped | armor | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Data values[edit | edit source]
Block states[edit | edit source]
Java Edition:
Floor
Name | Default value | Allowed values | Description |
---|---|---|---|
powered | false
| true | The block receives a redstone signal. |
false | The block receives no redstone signal. | ||
rotation | 0
| 0 | The block is facing south. |
1 | The block is facing south-southwest. | ||
2 | The block is facing southwest. | ||
3 | The block is facing west-southwest. | ||
4 | The block is facing west. | ||
5 | The block is facing west-northwest. | ||
6 | The block is facing northwest. | ||
7 | The block is facing north-northwest. | ||
8 | The block is facing north. | ||
9 | The block is facing north-northeast. | ||
10 | The block is facing northeast. | ||
11 | The block is facing east-northeast. | ||
12 | The block is facing east. | ||
13 | The block is facing east-southeast. | ||
14 | The block is facing southeast. | ||
15 | The block is facing south-southeast. |
Wall
Name | Default value | Allowed values | Description |
---|---|---|---|
powered | false
| true | The block receives a redstone signal. |
false | The block receives no redstone signal. | ||
facing | north | east north south west | The direction the head is facing. Opposite from the direction a player is facing when placing it. |
Name | Metadata Bits | Default value | Allowed values | Values for Metadata Bits |
Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
facing_direction | 0x1 0x2 0x4 | 0
| 1 | 1 | On the floor (rotation is stored in the tile entity) |
2 | 2 | On a wall, facing north | |||
3 | 3 | On a wall, facing south | |||
4 | 4 | On a wall, facing east | |||
5 | 5 | On a wall, facing west | |||
0 | 0 | Unused |
Block data[edit | edit source]
A head has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.
- Block entity data
- Tags common to all block entities
- custom_name: Optional. The custom name of the skull.
- note_block_sound: Optional. The sound event this skull plays when played with a note block.
- profile: Information about the owner of this player head. If defined as a string, corresponds to name.
- name: The name of a player profile, i.e. its username. If this is the only tag provided, it resolves into the other ones below. Optional.
- id: The UUID of the owner. Used to update the other tags when the chunk loads or the holder logs in, in case the owner's name has changed. Optional.
- properties: A list of properties. Optional.
- : A single property.
- name: The name of the property. Can be
textures
. - value: The texture data, encoded in base64.
- signature: The signature. Optional.
- name: The name of the property. Can be
- : A single property.
Achievements[edit | edit source]
Icon | Achievement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) | Gamerscore earned | Trophy type (PS) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PS4 | Other | ||||||
The Beginning?{ "anchor": "", "title": "The Beginning?", "icon": "", "title": "The Beginning?", "description": "Spawn the [[Wither]] ", "requirements": "Be within a 100.9×100.9×103.5 cuboid centered on the Wither when it is spawned. ", "gamerscore": "20G ", "trophytype": "Bronze ", "rewards": "" } | Spawn the Wither | Be within a 100.9×100.9×103.5 cuboid centered on the Wither when it is spawned. | 20G | Bronze | |||
Camouflage{ "anchor": "", "title": "Camouflage", "icon": "", "title": "Camouflage", "description": "Kill a mob while wearing the same type of mob [[head]]. ", "requirements": " ", "gamerscore": "30G ", "trophytype": "Bronze ", "rewards": ""Creeper Costume" outerwear " } | Kill a mob while wearing the same type of mob head. | — | 30G | Bronze |
Advancements[edit | edit source]
Icon | Advancement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) |
---|---|---|---|
Spooky Scary Skeleton | Obtain a Wither Skeleton's skull | Have a wither skeleton skull in the inventory. | |
Withering Heights | Summon the Wither | Be within a 100.9×100.9×103.5 cuboid centered on the wither when it is spawned. |
History[edit | edit source]
For a more in-depth breakdown of changes to textures and models, including a set of renders for each state combination, see /Asset history
Java Edition | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
August 28, 2012 | Jeb released images of the skeleton head, hinting of more types to come. | ||||||
PAX 2012 | At PAX, Dinnerbone revealed that there would be rare drops of these mobs.[1] | ||||||
1.4.2 | 12w36a | Added skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, player, 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. | |||||||
12w37a | Changed item textures. | ||||||
Added as a hidden and disabled feature, player 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.[2] | |||||||
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.[3] | |||||||
November 7, 2012 | Jeb 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." | ||||||
1.4.6 | 12w49a | Any kind of mob head can now be used to craft a firework star with creeper-face effect. | |||||
1.7.2 | 13w36a | Custom heads can now be obtained without third party programs via /give . | |||||
1.8 | 14w03a | Player heads now show the skin's hat layer (this also works when a mob/player wears the head). | |||||
14w29a | Heads now display a cracking animation. | ||||||
14w30a | 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. | |||||||
14w30b | A single charged creeper explosion no longer yields more than one head. The head that drops is chosen randomly. | ||||||
1.8.4 | release | For security reasons, custom heads can now have textures only from mojang.com and minecraft.net. | |||||
1.9 | 15w31a | Added dragon heads. | |||||
Dragon heads are currently available only in creative mode. | |||||||
Mob heads now appear larger in the inventory. | |||||||
15w32a | Creeper, zombie, and skeleton heads can now be worn to reduce detection by the corresponding mobs by 50%. | ||||||
15w32c | Dragon heads now generate on end ships, meaning they are now obtainable in Survival. | ||||||
15w33c | The disguise that is given by heads now reduces detection range to 37.5% of normal. | ||||||
15w36a | The disguise that is given by heads now reduces detection range to 50% of normal again. | ||||||
15w39a | Dispensers can now equip heads onto players, mobs and armor stands. | ||||||
15w49a | Worn heads no longer turn red when the player or mob takes damage.[4] | ||||||
1.11 | pre1 | Heads in the inventory now face backwards.[5] | |||||
1.11.1 | 16w50a | Heads in the inventory now face the right way again. | |||||
1.13 | 17w47a | The 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. | |||||||
Dragon heads are now held differently from other heads. | |||||||
Heads now play a sound when placed. | |||||||
Heads can no longer be placed inside entities.[6] | |||||||
1.19 | Deep Dark Experimental Snapshot 1 | Skeleton skulls now generate as part of ancient cities. | |||||
November 14, 2022 | Piglin heads are announced to be added in Java Edition 1.20 on the Minecraft website. | ||||||
1.19.3 | 22w45a | The texture of the player head has been changed. | |||||
1.19.3 Experiment | 22w46a | Added piglin heads behind the "Update 1.20" experimental data pack. | |||||
1.19.4 Experiment | 23w03a | Heads can now be placed on top of note blocks without sneaking. | |||||
1.19.4 | 23w05a | Heads can now be swapped with other pieces of headgear in the head inventory slot by using them.[7] | |||||
1.20 | 23w12a | Piglin heads are now available without using the "Update 1.20" experimental datapack. | |||||
1.20.2 | 23w35a | Added powered block state. | |||||
No longer check for redstone signals every game tick. | |||||||
Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||||
v0.12.1 | build 1 | Added skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, player, and creeper heads. | |||||
The skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, player and creeper heads use the Java textures prior to 14w30a. | |||||||
v0.14.0 | build 1 | Heads can now be worn as armor. | |||||
v0.16.0 | build 4 | Wither skeleton skulls can now be used to spawn the wither. | |||||
Pocket Edition | |||||||
1.0.0 | alpha 0.17.0.1 | Added dragon heads. | |||||
Dragon heads use a two-dimensional sprite, unlike Java does. | |||||||
Bedrock Edition | |||||||
1.2.0 | beta 1.2.0.2 | 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 1.2.0.11 | Player and mob heads in inventories and when held by mobs/players now display as blocks. | ||||||
1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | Wither skeleton skulls and creeper heads can now be used to craft banner patterns. | |||||
November 14, 2022 | Piglin heads are announced to be added in Bedrock Edition 1.20.0 on the Minecraft website. | ||||||
1.19.60 Experiment | Preview 1.19.60.20 | Added piglin heads behind the "Next Major Update" experimental toggle. | |||||
Preview 1.19.60.25 | Heads can now be placed on top of note blocks without sneaking. | ||||||
1.20.0 | Preview 1.20.0.21 | Piglin heads are now available without using the "Next Major Update" experimental toggle. | |||||
1.20.40 | Preview 1.20.40.20 | Wither skeleton skulls now make their respective step sounds when played by a note block. | |||||
1.21.40 | Preview 1.21.40.20 | The separate and direct item forms of the skull block ID have been merged and its data values have been split up into their own IDs. | |||||
Legacy Console Edition | |||||||
Xbox 360 | Xbox One | PS3 | PS4 | PS Vita | Wii U | Switch | |
TU12 | CU1 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | Added skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, player, and creeper heads to the creative inventory. |
Wither skeleton skulls currently do not have a use. | |||||||
TU19 | CU7 | 1.12 | 1.12 | 1.12 | Wither skeleton skulls can now be obtained by killing wither skeletons. | ||
Wither skeleton skulls can now be used to build the wither. | |||||||
Any kind of mob head can now be used to craft a firework star with creeper-face effect. | |||||||
TU24 | CU12 | 1.16 | 1.16 | 1.16 | 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. | ||
TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | 1.22 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | Heads in inventories and held by mobs/players now display as blocks. | |
Skeleton, zombie, and creeper heads are now available in Survival. The player can obtain them by killing the appropriate mob with a charged creeper. | |||||||
TU32 | CU20 | 1.23 | 1.23 | 1.23 | Heads now display a cracking animation. | ||
TU34 | CU22 | 1.25 | 1.25 | 1.25 | Patch 4 | Heads can now be swapped with other pieces of headgear in the head inventory slot by using them. | |
TU43 | CU33 | 1.36 | 1.36 | 1.36 | Patch 13 | Creeper heads and wither skeleton skulls are now used in crafting specific banner patterns. | |
TU46 | CU36 | 1.38 | 1.38 | 1.38 | Patch 15 | Added dragon heads. | |
TU49 | CU39 | 1.42 | 1.42 | 1.42 | Patch 18 | Heads are now held the same way as on Java Edition in first person. | |
New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||||
0.1.0 | Added skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, player, and creeper heads. | ||||||
1.7.10 | Added dragon heads. |
Skull "item"[edit | edit source]
- The following content is transcluded from Technical blocks/Skull.
Java Edition | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1.4.2 | 12w36a | Heads 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. | |||||||
1.7.2 | 13w37a | The 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 | |||||||
v0.12.1 | build 1 | Skulls exist as an item. | |||||
When a mob head is mined using a tool enchanted with Silk Touch, it drops both its regular item form and the skull block item. | |||||||
The block item places creeper heads that have no collision box and are attached to the side of the block where the head faces away from the player. When the player is facing north, the placed creeper head faces east-northeast instead of north, which is a normally unobtainable block state/NBT combination. Block placement only succeeds if there is a block below where the creeper head is being placed. | |||||||
build 10 | The skull block item now places invisible mob heads instead of creeper heads. Both newly placed heads and previously placed creeper heads now have a collision box. | ||||||
v0.13.0 | build 1 | Skull block items no longer drop from mob heads mined with a Silk Touch tool. |
Appearances[edit | edit source]
Java Edition | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1.4.2 | 12w36a | 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. | |||||
1.5 | 13w02a | Due to major texture storage changes in this version, the skull item no longer has a valid item texture, making it cause a game crash when held in first or third person view, as a dropped item or when in an item frame. | |||||
13w02b | 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. | ||||||
Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||||
v0.12.1 | build 1 | The skull item uses this texture in inventories, when held in first or third person view, or as a dropped item. | |||||
Bedrock Edition | |||||||
1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | Skull items now use this model. |
Names[edit | edit source]
- 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.
- v0.12.1 alpha build 1 - v0.16.0 alpha build 3: skull
- v0.16.0 alpha build 4 - ?: Skeleton Skull
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- Heads 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, heads for the other protagonist skins cannot be obtained without using custom names.
- In Bedrock Edition, the skull variant for the item is stored under the
damage
component, normally used for items with durability.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
Screenshots[edit | edit source]
-
Heads oriented in different directions.
-
Heads are the same scale as cobblestone wall posts.
-
A picture of player heads, including some Mojang characters.
-
Several heads as they appear during a puzzle in the Timeless Trails DLC.
Development images[edit | edit source]
-
First screenshot released of heads.
-
Notch's head in a minecart with chest.
-
First image of held heads rendering as blocks.
-
Second image of held heads rendering as blocks.
-
First image of a head being worn in bedrock edition.
-
Second attempt.
In other media[edit | edit source]
-
Efe placing a zombie head sneakily on the note block.
-
Makena waking up startled at the sound of zombies being played on the note block.
-
Sunny using a piglin head to make noise in a Crimson Forest.[8]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ http://www.twitch.tv/pax2/b/330745811 (at 3:59:00)
- ↑ Snapshot 12w37a
lang/en_US.lang
:item.skull.player.name=%s's Head
- ↑ https://reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/zxn7u/its_apparently_my_cakeday_so_lets_cash_in_this/
- ↑ MC-85756
- ↑ MC-109831
- ↑ MC-2208
- ↑ MC-216270 — resolved as "Fixed".
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Ct7CfOBplrG/