Head

A head or skull is a block modeled after the head of a specific entity. There are seven types of heads: player (Steve's head by default), zombie, skeleton, wither skeleton, creeper, piglin, and dragon.

Obtaining[]

Breaking[]

A mob head can be mined using any item,^[1] and drops itself when broken.

Block	Mob Head
Hardness	1
Breaking time (secs)
Default	1.5

If a head is pushed by a piston or comes in contact with water or lava, it breaks off as an item.

When destroyed by an explosion, the head always drops as an item.

Natural generation[]

Dragon heads generate on end ships found in end cities.

Skeleton skulls can generate in ancient cities, which sometimes generate in the deep dark.

Mob loot[]

A wither skeleton has a 2.5% chance of dropping a wither skeleton skull when killed by a player or a tamed wolf. The chance is increased by 1% per level of Looting, for a maximum of 5.5% with Looting III. In Bedrock Edition, the chance is increased by 2% per level of Looting, for a maximum of 8.5% with Looting III.

Skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, creeper and piglin heads are always dropped by the respective mob if it dies due to a charged creeper's explosion. In Bedrock Edition, if multiple mobs are killed by the same charged creeper, all of them drop their heads, however in Java Edition only one mob selected at random drops its head.^[2] If an ender dragon or a player is killed by a charged creeper, it does not drop its head.^[3]

Usage[]

Decoration[]

Mob 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 plays 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[]

The player can wear heads, similarly to pumpkins or helmets. This overlays the second layer of the player's skin.

Disguise[]

Wearing the corresponding mob 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 mob head or carved pumpkin makes the player invisible to other players on a locator map.

Withers[]

Withers can be spawned by placing soul sand or soul soil in a T shape, and putting 3 wither skeleton skulls on top of the T. The T can be horizontal or vertical. The last block placed must be one of the three wither skeleton skulls. A dispenser can also create a wither, by placing the final skull onto soul sand directly in front of and below it.

Dispensers[]

A dispenser can equip a mob head on a player, mob, or armor stand with an empty helmet slot, within the block the dispenser is facing.

Dispensers can also complete the construction of a wither.

Crafting ingredient[]

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe	Description
Banner Pattern Creeper	Paper + Creeper Head		Creeper face
Banner Pattern Skull	Paper + Wither Skeleton Skull		Skeleton skull and crossbones
Firework Star	Any Mob head + Gunpowder + Any Dye		Forms Creeper shape

Enchantments[]

Mob heads can receive the following enchantments, but only through an anvil.

Name	Max Level	Method
Curse of Binding	I
Curse of Vanishing	I

Note blocks[]

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.

Player skins[]

Human heads have an extra usage for map makers, they can be given NBT data so that they appear with the skin of any Minecraft account. This means if a player knows that a specific account has a head that is desired to display, the NBT data can be edited to make it appear.

The command to give the player a head with the skin of another player is /give @s minecraft:player_head{SkullOwner:"<PlayerName>"}. Commonly, this kind of head is called a custom head.

Another command to give the player a head with another player's skin is /give @s minecraft:player_head{SkullOwner:{Id:"<PlayerUUID>",Properties:{textures:[{Value:"<SkinURL>"}]} } }. SkinURL is a string encoded in Base64 containing the URL of the player's skin.^[4] A player head saves the skin of the player from the time it was created, meaning if the player changes their skin, the head still displays the original texture.^[5]

Note that it is therefore necessary to be connected to the internet to load the texture of a skin, whatever the property used. When they are loaded for the first time by the client, the skins textures are cached in .minecraft\assets\skins\(subfolders)\(files). If the client does not have access to the internet when it first loads, the player's head displays a regular head (Steve's skin) which is also cached. Afterwards, even if the client reconnects to the internet, in order to display the skin correctly, it is necessary to clear the cache manually by deleting the recently created files in .minecraft\assets\skins\(subfolder), then restarting the game.

When NBT-customized heads (with names and lores) are placed on the ground, they lose their names and given lores upon picking up. Therefore, using Ctrl + pick block on a custom player head gives the player a head that still retains its textures, but with no lores and its name is reset to either [PlayerName]'s Head (heads obtained by MHF-Marc's Head Format or existing players in the world) or Player Head (heads obtained by using skin URLs).

Marc's Head Format[]

Marc Watson created a number of accounts with specific skins so map makers could use common heads without the risk of someone changing their skins.^[6] Nowadays, since heads do not update the skin if a player changes their skin, this is not something map-makers need to worry about, though these skins are still useful. These accounts have names in the format MHF_<Name>, for example MHF_PigZombie is the name of a Minecraft user with a zombified piglin head. MHF stands for "Marc's Head Format".^[7] There are also a few blocks and "bonus" heads, for more variety. These player heads have not been updated in compliance with the Texture Update, and are outdated.

Because these are names of player accounts, these heads are obtained or placed using the SkullOwner tag, for instance: /give @s minecraft:player_head{SkullOwner:"MHF_<Name>"}.

The following names/heads have been made available:^[8]

Mobs

Blocks

Bonus

Sounds[]

Generic[]

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.stone.break	subtitles.block.generic.break	1.0	0.8	16
	Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.stone.place	subtitles.block.generic.place	1.0	0.8	16
	Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.stone.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit	0.25	0.5	16
	None[sound 1]	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.stone.fall	None[sound 1]	0.5	0.75	16
	Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.stone.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.stone	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	dig.stone	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.stone	0.37	0.5
	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.stone	0.4	1.0
	Players	Walking on the block	step.stone	0.3	1.0
	Players	Jumping from the block	jump.stone	0.12	1.0
	Players	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.stone	0.22	1.0

Unique[]

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Zombie groans	Jukebox/Note Blocks	When a zombie head is played using a note block	block.note_block.imitate.zombie	subtitles.entity.zombie.ambient	3.0	1.0	16
	Skeleton rattles	Jukebox/Note Blocks	When a skeleton skull is played using a note block	block.note_block.imitate.skeleton	subtitles.entity.skeleton.ambient	3.0	1.0	16
	Creeper hisses	Jukebox/Note Blocks	When a creeper head is played using a note block	block.note_block.imitate.creeper	subtitles.entity.creeper.primed	3.0	0.5	16
	Dragon roars	Jukebox/Note Blocks	When an ender dragon head is played using a note block	block.note_block.imitate.ender_dragon	subtitles.entity.ender_dragon.ambient	3.0	1.0	16
	Wither Skeleton rattles	Jukebox/Note Blocks	When a wither skeleton skull is played using a note block	block.note_block.imitate.wither_skeleton	subtitles.entity.wither_skeleton.ambient	3.0	1.0	16
	Piglin snorts	Jukebox/Note Blocks	When a piglin head is played using a note block	block.note_block.imitate.piglin	subtitles.entity.piglin.ambient	1.98	1.0	16
	Gear equips	Players	When a carved pumpkin is equipped	item.armor.equip_generic	subtitles.item.armor.equip	1.0	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Jukebox/Note Blocks	When a zombie head is played using a note block	note.zombie	?	0.84 [sound 1]
	Jukebox/Note Blocks	When a skeleton skull is played using a note block[sound 2]	note.skeleton	?	0.84 [sound 1]
	Jukebox/Note Blocks	When a creeper head is played using a note block[sound 2]	note.creeper	?	0.84 [sound 1]
	Jukebox/Note Blocks	When a dragon head is played using a note block	note.enderdragon	?	0.84 [sound 1]
	Jukebox/Note Blocks	When a wither skeleton skull is played using a note block‌[until BE 1.20.40][sound 2]	note.witherskeleton	?	0.84 [sound 1]
	Jukebox/Note Blocks	When a wither skeleton skull is played using a note block‌[upcoming: BE 1.20.40][sound 2]	note.witherskeleton	?	0.84 [sound 1]
	Jukebox/Note Blocks	When a piglin head is played using a note block[sound 3]	note.piglin	?	0.84 [sound 1]
	Players	When a carved pumpkin is equipped	armor.equip_generic	1.0	1.0

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Translation key
Skeleton Skull	skeleton_skull	Block & Item	block.minecraft.skeleton_skull
Wither Skeleton Skull	wither_skeleton_skull	Block & Item	block.minecraft.wither_skeleton_skull
Zombie Head	zombie_head	Block & Item	block.minecraft.zombie_head
Player Head	player_head	Block & Item	block.minecraft.player_head
Creeper Head	creeper_head	Block & Item	block.minecraft.creeper_head
Dragon Head	dragon_head	Block & Item	block.minecraft.dragon_head
Piglin Head	piglin_head	Block & Item	block.minecraft.piglin_head
Skeleton Wall Skull	skeleton_wall_skull	Block	block.minecraft.skeleton_wall_skull
Wither Skeleton Wall Skull	wither_skeleton_wall_skull	Block	block.minecraft.wither_skeleton_wall_skull
Zombie Wall Head	zombie_wall_head	Block	block.minecraft.zombie_wall_head
Player Wall Head	player_wall_head	Block	block.minecraft.player_wall_head
Creeper Wall Head	creeper_wall_head	Block	block.minecraft.creeper_wall_head
Dragon Wall Head	dragon_wall_head	Block	block.minecraft.dragon_wall_head
Piglin Wall Head	piglin_wall_head	Block & Item	block.minecraft.piglin_wall_head

Name	Identifier
Block entity	skull

Bedrock Edition:

Head	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Translation key
Block	skull	144	Block & Ungiveable Item[i 2]	item.skull	—
Item	skull	516	Item	—	item.skull.skeleton.name item.skull.wither.name item.skull.zombie.name item.skull.char.name item.skull.creeper.name item.skull.dragon.name item.skull.piglin.name

Name	Savegame ID
Block entity	Skull

Metadata[]

In Bedrock Edition, mob heads use the following data values: For the item and for the tile entity, data values determine the skull type:

	DV	Description
	0	Skeleton Skull
	1	Wither Skeleton Skull
	2	Zombie Head
	3	Head
	4	Creeper Head
	5	Dragon Head

Item data[]

Java Edition:

Player heads use item NBT to save the owner.

Bedrock Edition:

In Bedrock Edition, heads have no additional item tag.

See Bedrock Edition level format/Item format.

Block states[]

Java Edition:
Floor

Name	Default value	Allowed values	Description
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
facing	north	east north south west	The direction the head is facing. Opposite from the direction a player is facing when placing it.

Bedrock Edition:

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
nodrop_bit	0x8	false	false true	0 1	If true, the skull does not drop as an item.

Block data[]

A mob head has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.

Achievements[]

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
PS4	Other
		The Beginning?	Spawn the Wither	Be within a 100.9×100.9×103.5 cuboid centered on the Wither when it is spawned.	20G	Bronze
		Camouflage	Kill a mob while wearing the same type of mob head.	—	30G	Bronze

Advancements[]

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	Spooky Scary Skeleton	Obtain a Wither Skeleton's skull	A Terrible Fortress	Have a wither skeleton skull in your inventory.	nether/get_wither_skull
	Withering Heights	Summon the Wither	Spooky Scary Skeleton	Be within a 100.9×100.9×103.5 cuboid centered on the wither when it is spawned.	nether/summon_wither

History[]

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.[9]
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.[10]
					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.[11]
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			Player and mob 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 mob head. The mob 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 mob heads now reduces detection range to 37.5% of normal.
		15w36a			The disguise that is given by mob heads now reduces detection range to 50% of normal again.
		15w39a			Dispensers can now equip mob heads onto players, mobs and armor stands.
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.
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.
1.20 (Experimental)		22w46a			Added piglin heads behind the Update 1.20 experimental datapack.
		23w03a			Heads can now be placed on top of note blocks without sneaking.
1.20		23w12a			Piglin heads are now available without using the "Update 1.20" experimental datapack.
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			Mob 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			Mob 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.
Next Major Update (Experimental)		beta 1.19.60.20			Added piglin heads behind the "Next Major Update" experimental toggle.
		beta 1.19.60.25			Heads can now be placed on top of note blocks without sneaking.
1.20.0		beta 1.20.0.21			Piglin heads are now available without using the "Next Major Update" experimental toggle.
1.20.40		beta 1.20.40.20			Wither skeleton skulls now make their respective step sounds when played by a note block.
Legacy Console Edition
TU12	CU1	1.0	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			Wither skeleton skulls can now be obtained by killing wither skeletons.
					Wither skeleton skulls can now be used to build the wither.
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3		Skeleton, zombie, and creeper heads are now available in survival. The player can obtain them by killing the appropriate mob with a charged creeper.
TU46	CU36	1.38	Patch 15		Added dragon heads.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, player, and creeper heads.
1.7.10					Added dragon heads.

Skull "item"[]

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
?					Skulls exist as an item.

Appearances[]

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			The skull item is now completely invisible in inventories.
					The skull item causes a game crash when held in first or third person view, as a dropped item or when in an item frame.
					This is due to major texture storage changes in this version.
		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.

Names[]

Java Edition

• 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.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Head" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

• 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.
• The head item's model when wore on a player is slightly larger than its placed block counterpart in the world, which in turn is also slightly larger than the actual player's head. Therefore, a player who wears their own head appears with a larger head.

Gallery[]

Renders[]

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

  An animation of the dragon head when redstone power is supplied.

Screenshots[]

• 

  All of the heads.

• 

  Heads oriented in different directions.

• 

  Heads are the same scale as cobblestone wall posts.

• 

  A picture of player heads, including some Mojang characters.

• 

  A dragon head found at the bow of an end ship.

Development[]

• 

  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.

• 

  First attempt to fix MC-91869 by Xilefian.

• 

  Second attempt.

In other media[]

• 

  Efe looking at Makena napping on a Note block

• 

  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.^[12]

References[]