Sculk Shrieker
Renewable |
Non Warden-Summoning: Yes |
---|---|
Stackable |
Yes (64) |
Tool | |
Blast resistance |
3 |
Hardness |
3 |
Luminous |
No |
Transparent | |
Waterloggable |
Yes |
Flammable |
No |
Catches fire from lava |
No |
Map color (Java) |
|
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A sculk shrieker is a sculk block found in the deep dark that produces a "shrieking" noise when triggered. It can only be triggered by a player, either by standing on it (even while sneaking) or by triggering a nearby sculk sensor. Natural sculk shriekers also inflict Darkness and may summon a warden when triggered, but those placed by players or sculk catalysts are inert and unable to summon wardens or inflict Darkness under any circumstance.
Obtaining[edit | edit source]
Breaking[edit | edit source]
A sculk shrieker can be mined with any tool, but hoes are the quickest. It drops itself only if mined with any tool enchanted with Silk Touch. If mined with a non-Silk Touch tool, it drops 5 experience instead. When a sculk shrieker is broken it loses the ability to summon wardens, even if mined with Silk Touch.
Block | ![]() | |
---|---|---|
Hardness | 3 | |
Tool | ![]() | |
Breaking time (sec)[A] | ||
Default | 4.5 | |
![]() |
2.25 | |
![]() |
1.15 | |
![]() |
0.75 | |
![]() |
0.6 | |
![]() |
0.5 | |
![]() |
0.4 |
- incorrect tool, drops nothing
- correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
- correct tool, drops the block itself
- italicized can be instant mined
- ↑ These durations ignore other influential factors (e.g. Mining Fatigue), and are measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.
Natural generation[edit | edit source]
Sculk shriekers can be found infrequently within the deep dark biome, and they are much more common within ancient cities. All naturally generated shriekers can summon wardens.
Post-generation[edit | edit source]
A sculk catalyst has a 1% chance of generating a sculk shrieker on top of a sculk block. These shriekers do not summon wardens.
Usage[edit | edit source]

Sculk shriekers "shriek" after being activated. A sculk shrieker activates when any player stands on the black part in the center of the block, even when sneaking. Sculk shriekers are also activated by any sculk sensor triggered within an 8-block spherical radius of itself, but only if the vibration was caused by a player. However, a sculk sensor cannot activate the sculk shrieker if the line between the two contains a wool block. The shrieker shrieks for 90 game ticks (4.5 seconds).
Spawning wardens[edit | edit source]

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 cannot be summoned and Darkness cannot be inflicted by that sculk shrieker[1]. Each time a naturally generated sculk shrieker is activated, it adds 1 to a "warning" level to alert a 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 or Adventure 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, meaning multiple wardens can be summoned.
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. If the shrieker is broken before it ends shrieking, a warden spawns immediately. 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 always spawns at the highest available block. If all 20 spawning attempts fail, a loud roaring sound is played.
In Peaceful difficulty or in Java Edition, if the game rule doWardenSpawning
is set to false
, naturally generated sculk shriekers behave as if they are placed by a player: they do shriek, but there is no shrieking cooldown, the player's warning level does not increase, no Darkness effect is inflicted, and no warden spawns.
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:
- Warden approaches
- Warden advances
- Warden draws close
Vibration filter[edit | edit source]

Since sculk shriekers only activate in response to vibrations caused by a player, it has the potential be used for systems that require player-only vibrations. Activated sculk shriekers can also be detected by an observer, making it useful for sending a pulse to redstone components.
Sounds[edit | edit source]
Generic[edit | edit source]
[hide]![]() sculk_shrieker sound type | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
Block broken | Blocks | Once the block has broken | block | subtitles | 0.9 | 0.8 | 16 | |
Block placed | Blocks | When the block is placed | block | subtitles | 0.9 | 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 | 0.5 | 0.75 | 16 | |
Footsteps | Entity-Dependent | Walking on the block | block | subtitles | 0.15 | 1.0 | 16 |
[hide]![]() sculk_shrieker sound type | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
Blocks | Once the block has broken | break | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
Blocks | When the block is placed [sound 1] | break | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | step | 0.3 | 0.5 | |
Blocks | Falling on the block with fall damage | step | 0.4 | 1.0 | |
Blocks | Walking on the block | step | 0.17 | 1.0 | |
Blocks | Jumping from the block | step | 0.12 | 1.0 | |
Blocks | Falling on the block without fall damage | step | 0.14 | 1.0 |
Unique[edit | edit source]
[hide]Sounds | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
Sculk Shrieker shrieks | Blocks | When a sculk shrieker is activated | block | subtitles | 1.7 | 0.6-1.0 | 16 | |
Warden approaches | Hostile Creatures | When a sculk shrieker calls a warden once | entity | subtitles | 5.0 | 1.0 | 16 | |
Warden advances | Hostile Creatures | When a sculk shrieker calls a warden twice | entity | subtitles | 5.0 | 1.0 | 16 | |
Warden draws close | Hostile Creatures | When a sculk shrieker calls a warden thrice | entity | subtitles | 5.0 | 1.0 | 16 | |
Warden groans angrily | Hostile Creatures | When a warden fails to spawn underwater | entity | subtitles | 5.0 | 1.0 | 16 | |
Warden takes notice angrily | Hostile Creatures | When all of a warden's spawn attempts fail | entity | subtitles | 5.0 | 1.0 | 16 |
[hide]Sounds | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
Blocks | When a sculk shrieker shrieks | shriek | 1.7 | 0.6-1.0 | |
Hostile Creatures | When a sculk shrieker calls a warden once | mob | 5.0 | 0.8-1.2 | |
Hostile Creatures | When a sculk shrieker calls a warden twice | mob | 5.0 | 0.8-1.2 | |
Hostile Creatures | When a sculk shrieker calls a warden thrice | mob | 5.0 | 0.8-1.2 | |
Hostile Creatures | When all of a warden's spawn attempts fail [more information needed] | mob | 10.0 [verify] | 0.8-1.2 [verify] |
Data values[edit | edit source]
ID[edit | edit source]
Name | Identifier | Form | [hide]Translation key |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | sculk_shrieker | Block & Item | block |
Name | [hide]Identifier |
---|---|
![]() | sculk_shrieker |
Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Form | Item ID[i 1] | [hide]Translation key |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | sculk_shrieker | 716 | Block & Giveable Item[i 2] | Identical[i 3] (Numeric: -461 ) | tile |
Name | [hide]Savegame ID |
---|---|
![]() | SculkShrieker |
Block states[edit | edit source]
Name | Default value | Allowed values | [hide]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 |
[hide]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. |
Block data[edit | edit source]
A sculk shrieker has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.
- [NBT Compound / JSON Object]: The block entity's root tag.
- [NBT Compound / JSON Object] VibrationListener: The vibration event listener of the sculk shrieker, sculk sensor, and calibrated sculk sensor.
- [Int] event: Unknown.
- [NBT Compound / JSON Object] pending: Unknown.
- [Float] distance: Unknown.
- [Long] source: Unknown.
- [Int] vibration: Unknown.
- [Int] x: Unknown.
- [Int] y: Unknown.
- [Int] z: Unknown.
- [NBT Compound / JSON Object] selector: Unknown.
- [Int] ticks: Unknown.
- [NBT Compound / JSON Object] VibrationListener: The vibration event listener of the sculk shrieker, sculk sensor, and calibrated sculk sensor.
Advancements[edit | edit source]
Icon | Advancement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) |
---|---|---|---|
![]() ![]() | How Did We Get Here? | Have every effect applied at the same time | Have all of these 33 status effects applied to the player at the same time:[hide]
The source of the effects is irrelevant for the purposes of this advancement. Other status effects may be applied to the player, but are ignored for this advancement. |
History[edit | edit source]
October 16, 2021 | ![]() | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
[hide]Java Edition | |||||||
1.19 | Deep Dark Experimental Snapshot 1 | ![]() | |||||
22w11a | Sculk shriekers no longer drop when mined with Silk Touch. | ||||||
Sculk shriekers can't be activated in this snapshot, as wardens and the Darkness effect is not added in this snapshot. | |||||||
22w12a | Readded functionality to the sculk shrieker. | ||||||
Sculk shriekers are no longer generated by sculk catalysts.[2] | |||||||
22w13a | Sculk shriekers are once again obtainable with Silk Touch and once again spawn from sculk catalysts. | ||||||
Introduced a new can_summon block state for sculk shriekers that determines 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 block state is set to false. | |||||||
22w15a | ![]() ![]() | ||||||
Sculk shriekers can no longer be triggered by redstone activation.[3] | |||||||
22w19a | Sculk shriekers now need to be activated four times to summon the warden. | ||||||
1.19.3 | 22w42a | The warning level for sculk shriekers is no longer reset upon a player's death.[4] | |||||
1.20 | 23w14a | Waterlogged sculk shriekers are now silenced. | |||||
Sculk shriekers are now located in the "Redstone Blocks" tab in Creative inventory. | |||||||
1.20 | 23w16a | If a vibration is scheduled to be received by a sculk shrieker, it remains queued until all adjacent chunks are loaded and ticking. This prevents vibration resonance setups from breaking when unloading their chunks from a distance. | |||||
[hide]Bedrock Edition | |||||||
1.17.30 | beta 1.17.30.22 | "Sculk Shrieker" was mentioned in the Bedrock Beta documentation. | |||||
beta 1.17.30.23 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||||
1.18.0 Experiment | beta 1.18.0.22 | ![]() | |||||
It uses an outdated model.[5] | |||||||
It can be activated with a redstone signal, or by stepping on it. | |||||||
1.18.10 Experiment | beta 1.18.10.21 | Moved sculk shriekers to the "Wild Update" experimental toggle. | |||||
1.18.30 Experiment | Preview 1.18.30.21 | 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. | |||||||
Preview 1.18.30.23 | ![]() | ||||||
Revamped the sculk spreading mechanics to match Java Edition. | |||||||
Preview 1.18.30.29 | Sculk shriekers no longer drop when mined with Silk Touch.[6] | ||||||
Preview 1.18.30.33 | Sculk shriekers can now summon the warden. | ||||||
1.19.0 | Preview 1.19.0.21 | Sculk shriekers are now available without enabling experimental gameplay. | |||||
Preview 1.19.0.25 | Sculk shriekers can be obtained again with Silk Touch. | ||||||
There’s now a new can_summon tag for sculk shriekers that control 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. | |||||||
Preview 1.19.0.27 | ![]() ![]() | ||||||
1.20.30 | Preview 1.20.20.21 | Increased the blast resistance of sculk shriekers from 1.8 to 3. |
Issues[edit | edit source]
Issues relating to "Sculk Shrieker" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- The sculk shrieker's design was inspired by the human larynx.[7]
- The old trypophobia shrieker was a combination of the modern day shrieker and scrapped sculk jaw as it would both scream and show teeth.[8]
Gallery[edit | edit source]
Screenshots[edit | edit source]
-
A player steps on a sculk shrieker and activates it.
-
A sculk shrieker getting activated.
-
A sculk shrieker summoning a warden.
-
A warden summoned by a sculk shrieker.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ MC-250137 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
- ↑ MC-249437
- ↑ MC-250200 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
- ↑ MC-255164 — resolved as "Fixed".
- ↑ "Oh and Sculk Shrieker model is outdated" – @kingbdogz on X (formerly Twitter), October 21, 2021
- ↑ MCPE-153359
- ↑ "Minecraft Live 2021 @ 1:52:36" – Minecraft on YouTube, October 15, 2021
- ↑ "The old shreiker didn't have lights" – @CagilMartin on X (formerly Twitter), July 23, 2022
External links[edit | edit source]
- Block of the Month: Sculk Shrieker – Minecraft.net on May 2, 2024
- Block of the Week: Sculk Shrieker – Minecraft.net on June 20, 2024