Shulker

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. It attacks by shooting homing bullets at the player which 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 that a new shulker of the same color will 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 it will try to teleport 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 will spawn, but the hit shulker still teleports.

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

Drops[]

In Bedrock Edition, shulkers drop 0–1 shulker shells. The maximum can be increased by 1 per level of Looting, which is 0–4 shells with Looting III.

In Java Edition, shulkers have a 50% chance of dropping a shulker shell when killed. This is increased by 6.25% per level of Looting, for a maximum of 68.75% with Looting III.

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

Behavior[]

The shell of the mob looks similar to a purpur block, blending in to its natural surroundings. Inside the shell of the mob is a small yellow head with two eyes. Shulkers are uncolored by default when using spawn eggs, while white is the default when using /summon or spawners. Spawning shulkers with other colors can be done using the /summon command, as detailed below.

Shulkers generally remain stationary, attached to an adjacent block with a full face.^[1] 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 finds no valid position to teleport onto it does not move.

Shulkers evaluate the collision box of scaffolding based on their current position,^[2] 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 the player, 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 blocked with a shield. If the projectile hits an entity, it does 4 of damage and inflicts the Levitation status effect for 10 seconds, this status effect has no effect underwater^[3]‌^{[Java Edition only]}, 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 don't 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 exist within the world, but do not attack,^[4] like vindicators ,evokers and piglin brutes in Bedrock Edition.

Shulkers are treated differently than true blocks. For example, mobs are unable to pathfind around^[5] or jump over them,^[6] and falling on them from a height does not produce particles.^[7] Their spawn egg also does not destroy blocks such as grass.^[8]

In Bedrock Edition, they apply Levitation II instead of I.

Shulkers spawned as part of a team using /summon attack most hostile mobs without provocation. They never attack their teammates intentionally and do not retaliate even when being hit, however the shulkers will still target players without a team or in another team.

Shulker bullet[]

A shulker bullet is a guided projectile that is shot from shulkers, and they follow the targeted entity along the X, Y, or Z axis and leave trails of white particles. A shulker bullet that hits a mob or player deals damage and affects them with Levitation for ten seconds.

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

The bullet can be destroyed by hitting it with any item, shooting it with an arrow, or blocking it with a shield. It explodes upon contact with a block. The explosion does not destroy any blocks and does not damage nearby mobs or players.

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.

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

Transportation[]

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

A shulker pushed through the exit portal gets transported to the world spawn point in the Overworld. 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.

Sounds[]

Shulker[]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Shulker bullet[]

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

Bedrock Edition:

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Entity data[]

Java Edition:

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

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

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements[]

Advancements[]

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	Not Today, Thank You	Deflect a projectile with a Shield	Suit Up	Block any projectile with a shield.	story/deflect_arrow
	How Did We Get Here?	Have every effect applied at the same time	A Furious Cocktail	Have all of these 27 status effects applied to the player at the same time: Absorption Bad Omen Blindness Conduit Power Darkness Dolphin's Grace Fire Resistance Glowing Haste Hero of the Village Hunger Invisibility Jump Boost Levitation Mining Fatigue Nausea Night Vision Poison Regeneration Resistance Slow Falling Slowness Speed Strength Water Breathing Weakness Wither 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.	nether/all_effects
	Great View From Up Here	Levitate up 50 blocks from the attacks of a Shulker	The City at the End of the Game	Move a distance of 50 blocks vertically with the Levitation effect applied, regardless of direction or whether it is caused by the effect.	end/levitate
	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

History[]

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.
		15w40a			Shulkers no longer target players or attack in Peaceful difficulty.
					Shulker bullets now despawn in Peaceful.
		15w45a			Added sounds for shulkers being damaged.
		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		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.
		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.
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.
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		beta 1.18.30.22			New shulkers now have a chance to spawn when one shulker hits another shulker with a shulker bullet.
1.19.0		beta 1.19.0.28			Shulkers will no longer take burning damage from fire or lava.
Legacy Console Edition
TU46	CU36	1.38	Patch 15		Added shulkers and spawn eggs for the shulkers.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
1.7.10					Added shulkers.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Shulker" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues 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.^[9]
• The word "shulker" is a portmanteau of "shell lurker".^[10][11]
• A shulker named 'Dinnerbone' or 'Grumm' flips upside-down. This appears to also lift the shulker by the same height as a pressure plate.
• Walking toward a shulker at the same level as the player's head pushes the player down to the one-block crawling position if there is space beneath.
• If given the Invisibility effect, only the shulker's shell becomes invisible.
• Gravity blocks break when dropped on a shulker.
• In the game's texture files, the shulker bullet is named spark.png.

Gallery[]

Renders[]

Screenshots[]

• 

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

• 

  A shulker attacking the player.

• 

  Close-up of the projectile shot by a shulker.

• 

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

• 

  A shulker attacking another shulker.

• 

  The bottom of a shulker.

• 

  A shulker with Invisibility effect.

• 

  All 16 shulker colors from before Java Edition 1.16.4.

• 

  2 shulkers guarding entrance to the end city.

• 

  2 shulkers on end ship.

• 

  A player avoiding a shulker by using the Invisibility effect.

In other media[]

• 

  Lego Minecraft shulker

References[]

External links[]

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