Shulker

Shulker

• Open
• Closed

View all renders

Health points	30HP × 15
Armor points	20 ( × 10) when closed, 0 () when opened
Behavior	Hostile
Mob type	Golem, Monster
Attack strength	Easy: 3HP Normal: 4HP Hard: 6HP Levitation: Levitation for 10 seconds
Hitbox size	Closed: Height: 1 block Width: 1 block Peeking: Height: 1.2 blocks Width: 1 block Open: Height: 2 blocks Width: 1 block
Speed	0.7
Spawn	End city
Usable items	Dye ‌

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A shulker is a box-shaped hostile mob found in end cities. It hides in its shell to protect itself and blend in with its surroundings, and attacks by shooting homing bullets that inflict Levitation. It is the only source of shulker shells, which are used to craft shulker boxes.

Spawning

Natural generation

Shulkers spawn during the generation of end cities, which are located on the outer islands of the End. They usually spawn on the walls of the city and on end ships. They do not despawn naturally, even in Peaceful difficulty.

Post-generation

There is a chance for a new shulker of the same color to spawn when a shulker is hit with a shulker bullet (including one of its own).

The following conditions need to be met:

• When the shulker gets hit and then has less than half its health remaining, there is a 25% chance for it to attempt teleportation without spawning a new shulker instead of checking the conditions below.
• The hit shulker must have its lid open.
• The hit shulker needs to find somewhere to teleport. For this, it takes a random block in a 17×17×17 cuboid centered on the shulker and then checks if the block has a valid face to teleport to. If not it proceeds to try this up to 4 more times. If no valid face is found, the attempt fails.
• Each other shulker within 8 blocks of the hit shulker decreases the odds of success by 20%. When five or more other shulkers are nearby, no shulkers spawn, but the hit shulker still teleports.

If the attempt succeeds a new shulker spawns where the old shulker was before it teleported.

Drops

On death

Item		Roll Chance	Quantity (Roll Chance)
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Shulker Shell(JE)	50%–68.75%	1 (50%)	1 (56.25%)	1 (62.5%)	1 (68.75%)
	Shulker Shell(BE)	100%	0–1	0–2	0–3	0–4

Shulkers also drop 5XP when killed by a player or a tamed wolf.

Behavior

A shulker's shell is similar in color to a purpur block. Inside the shell is a small yellow head with two eyes. Shulkers can be spawned with other colors using the /summon command, as detailed below.

Shulkers generally remain stationary, attached to an adjacent block with a full face. However, if the block the shulker occupies becomes something other than air or the shulker finds itself not adjacent to any full face, or the shell cannot fully open (due to solid blocks or entities such as boats or other shulkers), it attempts to teleport (5 attempts per tick) to an air block within a 17×17×17 cube centered on the shulker where the shulker can attach to a full face and open. If it does not find a valid position to teleport onto, it does not move.

Shulkers evaluate the collision box of scaffolding based on their current position, which can result in the shulker teleporting to a position only to find it invalid and teleport again.

Shulkers occasionally open their shell for 1–3 seconds. When a target comes within about 16 blocks, it opens fully and shoots guided projectiles that follow its target, called shulker bullets, moving only along the X, Y, or Z axes and leaving trails of white particles. The projectiles can be destroyed by attacking them or blocking them with a shield. If the projectile hits an entity, it does 4HP damage and inflicts the Levitation status effect for 10 seconds. This status effect has no effect underwater‌ or while riding a mob. The shulker continues firing every 1–5.5 seconds while the target remains in range. If the shulker's target dies with projectiles still in flight, they fall to the ground.

Shulkers can attack each other, in which case they shoot fully guided bullets at each other, but are unaffected by Levitation when hit. The normal teleportation habits apply during these battles, and is likely to result in the duplication of more shulkers.

When its shell is closed, a shulker has 20 ( × 10) armor points and deflects arrows. When the shell opens, it loses this natural armor and takes damage as normal. When at less than half health, a shulker has a 25% chance of teleporting (as described above) after taking damage. When a shulker is attacked, other shulkers in the area target the attacker as well.

Shulkers do not take burning damage from lava or fire. They drown in water, but try to teleport away when water or lava flows into the block they occupy.

In Peaceful difficulty, shulkers still spawn but do not attack, like piglins and hoglins in Bedrock Edition.

Shulkers are treated differently than true blocks. For example, mobs are unable to pathfind around or jump over them, and falling on them from a height does not produce particles. Their spawn egg also does not destroy blocks such as grass.

Despite having a full block hitbox, their collision box is not a full block, allowing players to stand on the edge of a block with a shulker on top.

Gravity-affected blocks break when falling onto a shulker.

Shulker bullet

Shulker bullet

Hitbox size	Height: 0.3125 blocks Width: 0.3125 blocks

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A shulker bullet is a guided projectile that is launched from shulkers. Its shape is similar to a Conduit's power structure, with end stone white coloring on the outside and purple mottling on the inside. As the bullet flies towards its target it spins randomly. It follows the targeted entity along the X, Y, or Z axis and leaves trails of white particles. A shulker bullet that hits a mob or player deals damage and affects it with Levitation for ten seconds. If a shulker bullet hits a neutral or hostile mob by accident, it retaliates against the shulker after its Levitation effect is removed.

The shulker's projectiles also have entity data that control its movement.

The bullet can be destroyed when it is hit with any item, shot with an arrow, or blocked with a shield. It is also destroyed upon contact with a block or lava.

Coloring

In Bedrock Edition, shulkers can be dyed in a similar fashion to sheep. Using a dye on a shulker gives it the color of the dye. They can be dyed only in Creative mode.

In Java Edition, the color of a shulker can be changed through commands using the color byte tag.

Transportation

A shulker is transported in the Overworld by boat. A piston raises the boat uphill. Note that this can also be done by pulling the boat with a lead.

Shulkers can be moved by boats or minecarts; pushing a boat/minecart into a shulker causes it to board. A boat's sides block some of a shulker's projectiles.

Shulkers can be teleported through end gateways. In Java Edition, they can be transported through the gateway and arrive on the obsidian platform while in a boat or a minecart. In Bedrock Edition, shulkers in a boat or a minecart cannot go through an end gateway, so they have to be dismounted before being teleported through.

A shulker that enters the exit portal in the End gets transported to the world spawn point in the Overworld. In Java Edition, entities with passengers can pass through the exit portal, so shulkers can be directly teleported to the Overworld while in a boat or a minecart.

In Bedrock Edition, entities with passengers cannot pass through the exit portal; therefore, the shulker has to be dismounted from the boat or minecart it is transported in. Since shulkers teleport when not adjacent to a solid block, they must be pushed down the central pillar of the exit portal (or a manually placed block directly above the portal) with a piston. Alternatively, if a shulker is in a boat that has been ridden into the exit portal, it is possible to break the boat with an arrow shot at the boat. This causes the shulker to go through the exit portal.

Sounds

Shulker

Java Edition:

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Shulker lurks	Hostile Creatures	Randomly	entity.shulker.ambient	subtitles.entity.shulker.ambient​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	​Shulker closes	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker's shell closes	entity.shulker.close	subtitles.entity.shulker.close​	1.0	1.0	16
	​Shulker opens	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker's shell opens	entity.shulker.open	subtitles.entity.shulker.open​	1.0	1.0	16
	​Shulker dies	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker dies	entity.shulker.death	subtitles.entity.shulker.death​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	​Shulker hurts	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker is damaged with its shell closed	entity.shulker.hurt_closed	subtitles.entity.shulker.hurt​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	​Shulker hurts	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker is damaged with its shell open	entity.shulker.hurt	subtitles.entity.shulker.hurt​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	​Shulker shoots	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker shoots a bullet	entity.shulker.shoot	subtitles.entity.shulker.shoot​	2.0	0.8-1.2	16
	​Shulker teleports	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker teleports	entity.shulker.teleport	subtitles.entity.shulker.teleport​	1.0	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Hostile Creatures	Randomly	mob.shulker.ambient	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker's shell closes	mob.shulker.close	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker's shell opens	mob.shulker.open	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker dies	mob.shulker.death	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker is damaged	mob.shulker.hurt	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker shoots a bullet	mob.shulker.shoot	2.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker teleports	mob.shulker.teleport	1.0	1.0

Shulker bullet

Java Edition:
Shulker bullets use the Hostile Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Shulker bullet explodes	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker bullet collides with a block	entity.shulker_bullet.hit	subtitles.entity.shulker_bullet.hit​	1.0	1.0	16
	​Shulker bullet breaks	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker bullet is killed	entity.shulker_bullet.hurt	subtitles.entity.shulker_bullet.hurt​	1.0	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Hostile Creatures	When a shulker bullet collides with something	mob.shulker.bullet.hit	1.0	1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Entity tags	[hide]Translation key
Shulker	shulker	fall_damage_immune	entity.minecraft.shulker
Shulker Bullet	shulker_bullet	None	entity.minecraft.shulker_bullet

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	[hide]Translation key
Shulker	shulker	54	entity.shulker.name
Shulker Bullet	shulker_bullet	76	entity.shulker_bullet.name

Entity data

Java Edition:

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

• [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Entity data
  • Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template[show]
  • Tags common to all mobs see Template:Nbt inherit/mob/template[show]
  • [Byte] AttachFace: Which face of its block the shulker is attached to. The shulker also opens up in the direction going from the center of the block to that face. 0b means the top face. 1b means the bottom face. 2b means the north face. 3b means the south face. 4b means the west face. 5b means the east face.
  • [Byte] Color: The color of the shulker. Default is 0. Shulkers spawned by eggs or as part of End cities have value 16.
  • [Byte] Peek: "Height" of the head of the shulker.
    • This "height" is measured in pixels from the bottom of the shulker, where 1 pixel = 1/16th of a block.​
    • This "height" goes in the direction that the shulker is facing according to AttachFace.​

Shulker color[show][edit]

Shulker bullets have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.

• [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Entity data
  • Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template[show]
  • Tags common to all projectiles see Template:Nbt inherit/projectile/template[show]
  • [Int] Steps: How many "steps" it takes to attack to the target. The higher it is, the further out of the way the bullet travels to get to the target. If set to 0, it makes no attempt to attack the target and instead uses TXD/TYD/TZD in a straight line.
  • [Int Array] Target: The UUID of the target of this shulker bullet, stored as four ints. Is not preserved when removed.
  • [Double] TXD: The offset in the X direction to travel in accordance with its target. Is not preserved when removed.
  • [Double] TYD: The offset in the Y direction to travel in accordance with its target. Is not preserved when removed.
  • [Double] TZD: The offset in the Z direction to travel in accordance with its target. Is not preserved when removed.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements

[hide]
Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Great View From Up Here	Levitate up 50 blocks from the attacks of a Shulker	Ascend at least 50 blocks while under the levitation effect from a shulker	20	Bronze
		It Spreads	Kill a mob next to a catalyst	—	10	Bronze
		Monster Hunter	Attack and destroy a monster.	Kill a hostile mob or one of the following neutral mobs: an enderman, a piglin, a zombified piglin, a spider, or a cave spider.	15	Bronze
		Overkill	Deal nine hearts of damage in a single hit.	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have nine hearts of health overall.	30	Bronze
		Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	—	20	Silver

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	A Throwaway Joke	Throw a Trident at something. Note: Throwing away your only weapon is not a good idea.	Hit a mob with a thrown trident.
	Adventure	Adventure, exploration and combat	Kill any mob, or be killed by any living entity.
	Arbalistic	Kill five unique mobs with one crossbow shot	Armor Stand also counts for this advancement. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.
	Great View From Up Here	Levitate up 50 blocks from the attacks of a Shulker	Move a distance of 50 blocks vertically with the Levitation effect applied, regardless of direction or whether it is caused by the effect.
	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. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.
	It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Kill one of these 73 mobs near a sculk catalyst:[show] Mobs that drop no experience as well as the ender dragon are ignored for this advancement.
	Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Kill one of these 37 mobs:[hide] Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.
	Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Kill each of these 37 mobs:[hide] Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.
	Not Today, Thank You	Deflect a projectile with a Shield	Block any projectile with a shield.
	Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	–
	Take Aim	Shoot something with an Arrow	Using a bow or a crossbow, shoot a mob with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.

History

[hide]Java Edition
1.9			15w31a				Added shulkers.
			15w32b				Shulkers no longer teleport by themselves if NoAI is set to 1.
							Shulkers can now be teleported using /tp or /spreadplayers.
			15w37a				Shulker bullets can now be blocked by shields, also preventing the player from getting the Levitation effect.
			15w40a				Shulkers no longer target players or attack in Peaceful difficulty.
							Shulker bullets now despawn in Peaceful.
			15w45a				Added sounds for shulkers being damaged.
							Shulkers now only push entities if their hitbox intersects with the shulker's hitbox. Previously they also pushed entities that were very close.
			15w47a				Shulkers now drop experience.
			15w47b				Added ambient, aggravated and death sounds for shulkers, and added sounds for their bullets dealing and taking damage.
1.11			16w39a				Shulkers now drop shulker shells.
							The color of a shulker can now be changed through commands using a new byte tag Color.
			16w39c				Shulkers can now be spawned on the sides and bottoms of blocks through the usage of spawn eggs.
1.12			17w16a				Shulkers have been retextured, none of them are now like purpur blocks.
			17w17a				The purple shulker's color has been reverted to the previous color.
1.13			18w10b				Added a default shulker.
							The purple shulker texture has been changed to the one used in 17w16a.
1.17			20w45a				New shulkers now have a chance to spawn when one shulker hits another shulker with a shulker bullet.
			21w03a				Shulkers mounting boats and minecarts now sit upright if previousely attached to blocks sideways or upside down.
1.20.5			23w51a				Shulkers are no longer able to destroy armor stands.
1.21.2			24w33a				Shulkers under Invisibility effect are now completely invisible. Previously, only their shells become invisible.
			24w34a				Shulker bullets no longer go through the world border if hit.
[hide]Pocket Edition
1.0.0			alpha 0.17.0.1				Added shulkers.
							Shulkers can now be dyed in Creative mode by long-tapping any dye on a shulker, or through an interact button.
			alpha 1.0.0.1				Shulkers now drop shulker shells.
1.0.4			alpha 1.0.4.0				The shulker's models can now be edited using add-ons.
1.1.0			alpha 1.1.0.9				The shulkers' textures have been changed.
			?				The purple shulker's color has been reverted to the previous color.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.2.0			beta 1.2.0.2				Added a default shulker.
							The purple shulker color has been changed to the new palette.
1.18.30			Preview 1.18.30.23				New shulkers now have a chance to spawn when one shulker hits another shulker with a shulker bullet.
1.19.0			Preview 1.19.0.29				Shulkers no longer take burning damage from fire or lava.
1.19.10			Preview 1.19.10.23				Shulker bullets now give Levitation I instead of II.
[hide]Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU46	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15		Added shulkers and spawn eggs for the shulkers.
TU53	CU43	1.49	1.50	1.49	Patch 23	1.0.3	Shulkers now drop shulker shells.
			1.90				Added shields, which can block shulker bullets and prevent players from getting the Levitation effect.
[hide]New Nintendo 3DS Edition
1.7.10							Added shulkers.

Data history

[hide]Java Edition
1.11			16w32a				The [entity]] ID of shulkers has been changed from Shulker to shulker.
							The bullet's entity ID is changed from ShulkerBullet to shulker_bullet.
1.13			17w47a				Numeric IDs for entities were presumably deprecated in this version.​

Issues

Issues relating to "Shulker" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• Originally, shulkers were going to fully camouflage to look exactly like a nearby block. However, Jeb decided this was too difficult to code, so instead, they were simply made to be a similar shade of purple to purpur.
• The word "shulker" is a portmanteau of "shell lurker".
• A shulker named 'Dinnerbone' or 'Grumm' flips upside-down. This appears to also lift the shulker by the same height as a pressure plate.
• By using commands, they can be made to be part of a team to attack other teams and can be used as defense mobs. In that case, it does not attack its teammates but targets most hostile mobs without provocation.
• Walking toward a shulker at the same level as a player's head pushes the player down to the one-block crawling position if there is space beneath.
• In the game's texture files, the shulker bullet is named spark.png.
  • The shulker's texture file was named endergolem.png in version 1.9.4 and the shulker still extends AbstractGolem in the current game files.
• If a shulker in a boat or minecart is dropped into the void, the vehicle breaks but the shulker floats just above the void, taking no damage.
• While the scale attribute of a shulker can be set as high as 16, its actual size increases only up to 3 times its original size.

Gallery

Renders

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Screenshots

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  A shulker firing a bullet.

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  Close-up of the projectile shot by a shulker.

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  A shulker inside an end city. It is difficult to spot against the purpur blocks.

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  A shulker attacking another shulker.

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  The bottom of a shulker.

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  A shulker with Invisibility effect.

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  All 16 shulker colors from before Java Edition 1.16.4.

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  2 shulkers guarding entrance to the end city.

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  2 shulkers on end ship.

Mojang screenshots

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  An image released by Jeb_ of shulkers appearing to attack blazes in the Nether.

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  A player avoiding a shulker by using the Invisibility effect.

Textures

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  Shulker texture file.

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  White shulker texture file.

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  Light gray shulker texture file.

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  Gray shulker texture file.

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  Black shulker texture file.

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  Brown shulker texture file.

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  Red shulker texture file.

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  Orange shulker texture file.

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  Yellow shulker texture file.

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  Lime shulker texture file.

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  Green shulker texture file.

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  Cyan shulker texture file.

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  Light blue shulker texture file.

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  Blue shulker texture file.

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  Purple shulker texture file.

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  Magenta shulker texture file.

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  Pink shulker texture file.

In other media

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  Lego Minecraft shulker.

External links

• Meet the Shulker – Minecraft.net on January 30, 2017