Ender Dragon

Ender Dragon

Health points	200HP × 100
Behavior	Hostile
Mob type	Monster
Attack strength	Melee: Peaceful: 0HP (but still performs attack animation) Easy: 6HP Normal: 10HP Hard: 15HP × 7.5 Wings: Easy: 3.5HP × 1.75 Normal: 5HP Hard: 7.5HP × 3.75 Dragon's breath: 3HP per second Dragon fireball: 6HP per second
Hitbox size	Height: 8 blocks Width: 16 blocks
Speed	0.7
Spawn	The End: When the dimension is entered for the first time. When the ender dragon is resummoned.

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The ender dragon is a flying hostile boss mob that spawns on the central island of the End when the player first enters the dimension. It is the largest naturally spawning mob in the game. Its attacks include charging at the player and launching fireballs, which create damaging area effect clouds. Its initial defeat drops 12000XP experience.

Defeating the ender dragon activates the exit portal, allowing the player to safely return to the Overworld, and generates an End gateway that provides access to the outer End islands. Each subsequent defeat generates another End gateway, up to a maximum of 20. The ender dragon can be resummoned by placing four End crystals around the exit portal, one on each side.

Spawning

Initial spawning

The ender dragon spawns 20 game ticks (1 second) after an entity first arrives in the End, along with the bedrock frame for the exit portal.

Re-summoning

The arrangement of end crystals to respawn the ender dragon. In Bedrock Edition, the end crystals must be in the center of each side of the exit portal.

Players can re-summon the dragon by placing four End crystals on the edges of the exit portal, one on each side. If parts of the exit portal are ever destroyed, End crystals can be placed on obsidian blocks placed where the bedrock of the original exit portal once stood. In Bedrock Edition, the crystals can be placed one block outward, in all or either of the four directions.

• 
  The End crystals do not need to be aligned to the central pillar.​^{[more information needed]}
• 
  The End crystals may be placed on obsidian instead of bedrock.

When the respawn sequence begins, the four End crystals around the exit portal emit beams toward the top of each End spike in clockwise order. Each spike is regenerated along with its obsidian, iron bars (if present), and End crystal. Any blocks occupying the regenerating area are removed, and an explosion occurs at the top of each spike. After all ten spikes have been regenerated, the four crystals around the exit portal and the crystals on every spike redirect their beams to the coordinates (0, 128, 0), where the ender dragon spawns. Ender dragon roars can be heard for a moment, and the crystals around the exit portal then explode as the dragon spawns. The entire sequence lasts 604 ticks (30.2 seconds).

Destroying any of the four summoning crystals before the sequence is complete cancels the respawn. End crystals generated on the End spikes during the sequence are invulnerable until the dragon respawns.

If the dragon egg is still present when the respawn sequence begins, it disappears.

Death and drops

After the ender dragon is slain for the first time, the following events take place:

• First, it moves to the highest dragon-immune block in the (0,0) column, which is typically the top of the exit portal. During this final move, the dragon can still damage other entities, despite being "dead".
• Once it reaches (0,0), it changes model and slowly ascends,‌^{[Java Edition only]} its wings and body becoming more tattered until it disappears in beams of light erupting from its center. A loud sound, Ender dragon death.ogg is played. This takes 10 seconds. During this ascension, the following occurs:
  • Starting 7.7 seconds (154 game ticks) after the dragon begins ascending, a total of 12000XP experience points (ten drops of 960 and one drop of 2400) appear out of the dragon's body (one by one, per tick) — enough to bring a player from no experience all the way up to level 68. Some of the experience orbs can drop into the exit portal and can then be retrieved in the Overworld.
  • Shortly thereafter, exactly 10 seconds (200 game ticks) into the animation, the following occurs:
    • The bedrock structure fills in with End portal blocks to become the exit portal, enabling the player to transport back to the Overworld and respawn at their spawn point, or at world spawn if they didn't set a spawn point. If the exit portal doesn't exist at the expected location (for example, if it was destroyed in Creative Mode), a new one is created there.
    • A dragon egg appears above the island's central bedrock structure. If a block exists right above the center of the central bedrock structure, then the dragon egg spawns 1 block above the highest block at (0,0). If the highest block is at the height limit, then the dragon egg does not spawn.
    • An End gateway portal is generated 96 blocks away from the exit portal always floating at Y=75.

When a re-summoned ender dragon is slain, the same events occur, except that only 500XP experience points are dropped, and if there are already 20 End gateway portals, no more are generated. In Java Edition, the dragon egg appears only the first time the ender dragon is slain; in Bedrock Edition, it appears the first and second time.

Behavior

During the battle with the ender dragon, unique music called "Boss" plays, the edges of the screen darken, black fog appears, and chunks around the exit portal are constantly loaded regardless of simulation distance. These happen as long as there is at least one player within a Euclidean distance of 192 blocks from (0.0, 128, 0.0).

The ender dragon has a light purple health bar that appears at the top of the player's screen. Its health is restored by nearby End crystals at the rate of 1HP every 10 game ticks (0.5 seconds), indicated by a white beam connecting the dragon and the crystal. Destroying an End crystal that is actively healing the dragon causes 10HP damage to it.

The ender dragon only takes damage from explosions and players (including commands). The ender dragon is immune to fire, falling, drowning, freezing, poisoning, lightning, and the void; when perched, it is also immune to arrows and thrown tridents (but not firework rockets shot from a crossbow). The dragon is immune to all status effects, except for Instant Damage coming from a player (via a thrown splash or lingering potion of Harming).

It also reduces all incoming damage to it by ~75% unless the attack is hitting its head, giving it an effective 800HP × 400 if no attacks are dealt against its head. This uses the formula $\frac{\text{original damage}}{4}+\min (1,\text{original damage})$, which adjusts the value toward ⁴⁄₃ (HP × 0.667). In Bedrock Edition, this damage reduction is temporarily removed when a projectile hits its head. The ender dragon's hitbox, especially its wings, is larger than the ender dragon itself. This causes players to be knocked back even when not standing too close. The damage modification is applied to all damage types the dragon takes, including starvation and void damage, which are only possible with /damage.

In Java Edition, the ender dragon is immune to critical hits, since it can be applied only to living entities. While the ender dragon is a living entity, the parts that are damaged are actually non-mob entities. Suffocation is completely non-applicable, as it either phases through or immediately destroys any block it touches.

The green hitboxes of the ender dragon.

By using the F3 + B shortcut, the dragon's bounding box appears.‌^{[Java Edition only]} However, it cannot be damaged at just any spot in this large volume: eight green sub-hitboxes are also shown, which indicate the locations where the dragon can take damage: the tail (three hitboxes), body, head, neck, and right and left wings.

Name tags cannot be used on an ender dragon, because it is not possible to interact directly with it, only with its parts (green hitboxes), which are not living entities.

Ender dragons killed by /kill‌^{[Java Edition only]} or from damage belonging to the type self_destruct, and was not spawned from the player‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}, will skip their death animation and the exit portal will immediately open; in Bedrock Edition, if the dragon was killed by /kill it will stay in the same place and play its death animation there instead of flying to the exit portal.

The purple eyes and mouth of the ender dragon are emissive with Vibrant Visuals enabled.

Movement

The ender dragon is a flying mob and cannot stand on the ground. It flies around the End's main island.

The dragon can pass through all blocks and destroys most of them, but it can still be affected by flowing water, lava, and bubble columns. Blocks not destroyed are those that naturally generate on the central End island, such as End stone, and those that are intended to be indestructible, such as reinforced deepslate.

The following blocks will not be destroyed if the ender dragon passes through them:

• Barrier
• Bedrock
• Command blocks
• Crying obsidian
• End stone
• End portal
• End portal frame
• End gateway
• Fire
• Iron bars
• Jigsaw
• Light block
• Moving piston
• Obsidian
• Reinforced deepslate
• Respawn anchor
• Soul fire
• Structure block
• Test blocks‌^{[JE only]}
• Test instance block‌^{[JE only]}
• Allow‌^{[BE only]}
• Deny‌^{[BE only]}
• Border‌^{[BE only]}

In Java Edition, these blocks are marked under the dragon_immune tag, with the exception of light blocks and fire, which are marked as dragon_transparent.

Destroyed blocks are not dropped, but containers other than shulker boxes and ender chests drop their contents.

Attacking

The dragon performing its toxic breath attack.

Arrows indicate possible phase transitions in Java Edition. Circles are triggered by external events and will override the current phase.

The dragon never targets any entity but the player, although other mobs may turn hostile to the dragon when hit, and the dragon may sometimes retaliate against other mobs if it takes damage to a projectile. Any entities hit by its wings are dealt 5HP damage (or 10HP damage if hit by its head), and in Java Edition, are thrown into the air, sometimes to fatal heights or off the island. Neither of these effects is applied for ¹⁄₂ second after the dragon takes damage.

The ender dragon has four main states of behavior:

Guarding

• The dragon begins in this state, circling the ring of obsidian pillars on either the outside if there are still End crystals or the inside if the crystals are destroyed.
• With each crystal's destruction, it takes damage and there is an increased chance of the dragon switching states.

Targeting

• Whenever the dragon finds itself less than 10 blocks or more than 150 blocks from its current target, it attempts to choose a new target. When damaged it targets a point just behind itself, causing it to turn away and choose a new target.

Strafing

• Upon the destruction of an End crystal, the dragon switches to strafing. As soon as it is within 64 blocks, it shoots a fireball at the player.
• The dragon resumes circling after this state.

Diving‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

• The dragon dives onto the target player's position, taken at the start of the dive. The dragon never seems to perform this attack mid-flight in game, it only seems to do it when exiting the portal.
• The dragon resumes circling after this state, whether or not it actually hit the player.
• Does not happen on Java Edition due to a bug.

Perching

• While guarding and the dragon has reached the end of the path, it has 1 in (3 + crystals alive) chance (~7.7% up to 33%)​^{[more information needed for Bedrock Edition]} to go to the exit portal structure (approaching from the side opposite the player if possible) and lands on the highest block of the coordinates (X=0, Z=0), up to (Y=101).‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} The dragon circles above the exit structure while slowly descending in Java Edition, or dive from the obsidian pillars in Bedrock Edition. If there is no block in (X=0, Z=0) the dragon flies down to (Y=0) and "perches" there in Java Edition, or freezes right when it switches to perching in Bedrock Edition. The dragon is immune to arrows and thrown tridents in this state; they catch fire and bounce off.

Dragon's breath

• After 1.25 seconds, if a player is within 20 blocks of the exit portal structure, the dragon roars and use its 3-second breath attack, damaging players similarly to a lingering potion of Harming. This does not happen on Peaceful difficulty in Java Edition. An area of visible particles in the shape of a horizontal disc one block tall and 5 to 6 blocks in diameter appears where the breath attack strikes, either on the ground or floating in the air, at whatever point the breath attack struck a block. The harming effect zone where the player takes damage is confined to a smaller area in the center this visible cloud, covering about 3 to 4 blocks.
• The harming effect portion of the purple clouds emitted from the dragon's breath attack can be collected in a glass bottle to obtain dragon's breath. Each bottle of dragon's breath collected removes one block from the lingering damage zone of the breath attack. The visible clouds remain for 3 seconds whether the dragons breath is bottled or not. By rapidly collecting all of the harmful blocks, usually around three, even a direct hit from the breath attack can be mostly and even entirely negated before the player suffers any damage.

Charge

• If the player is not near the portal within 5 seconds of the dragon's landing, it charges at the closest player within 150 blocks with a line of sight from the dragon's head.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} In Java Edition line of sight is not required.

Take-off

• After four consecutive breath attacks, or if the dragon fails to locate a player within 150 blocks, it takes off from its perch. In Java Edition, it always takes off in Peaceful difficulty, making it difficult to land melee hits.
• The dragon resumes circling after this state.

Escape

• If cumulative damage taken while perched exceeds 50HP × 25, the dragon takes off and resets the damage accumulator. The accumulator is not reset if it does not take enough damage.
• The dragon resumes circling after this state.

When the dragon takes a fatal blow, it flies toward the exit portal structure before dying, unless it cannot find it within 150 blocks, or it is inside blocks.

Dragon Fireball

Dragon Fireball

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Hitbox size	Height: 1 block Width: 1 block

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Dragon fireballs are special fireballs that the ender dragon fires. The ender dragon always fires one dragon fireball for each End crystal destroyed by the player, and also fires them periodically. Unlike ghast fireballs, they cannot be deflected and do not deal any damage or knockback on impact with an entity. Instead, they deposit purple effect clouds across the ground that damage entities the same way a lingering potion of Harming II does. This means that the ender dragon's fireballs deal magic damage, which ignores any damage reduction from the player's armor. However, its damage is reduced by the Protection enchantment. The purple effect cloud's hitbox slowly grows larger in diameter until it disappears.

As with its close-ranged breath attack, the purple clouds can be bottled to obtain the dragon's breath.

Unlike lingering potions of Harming, the effect cloud does not shrink when affecting mobs.

Sounds

Java Edition:

Sounds
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Dragon roars	Hostile Mobs	Randomly	entity.ender_dragon.ambient	subtitles.entity.ender_dragon.ambient​	5.0	0.8–1.2	16
	​Dragon growls	Hostile Mobs	While an ender dragon is on its perch	entity.ender_dragon.growl	subtitles.entity.ender_dragon.growl​	2.5	0.8–1.1	16
	​Dragon growls	Hostile Mobs	While an ender dragon is being resummoned	entity.ender_dragon.growl	subtitles.entity.ender_dragon.growl​	64.0	0.8–1.1	16
	​Dragon dies	Hostile Mobs	When an ender dragon dies	entity.ender_dragon.death	subtitles.entity.ender_dragon.death​	5.0	1.0	16 (technical) / ∞ (effective)
	​Dragon flaps	Hostile Mobs	Periodically depending on the ender dragon's speed	entity.ender_dragon.flap	subtitles.entity.ender_dragon.flap​	5.0	0.8–1.1	16
	​Dragon hurts​[until: JE 26.4]	Hostile Mobs	When an ender dragon is damaged	entity.ender_dragon.hurt	subtitles.entity.ender_dragon.hurt​	5.0	0.8–1.2	16
	​Dragon shoots	Hostile Mobs	When an ender dragon shoots a fireball	entity.ender_dragon.shoot	subtitles.entity.ender_dragon.shoot​	10.0	0.8–1.2	16
	​Explosion	Hostile Mobs	When a dragon fireball impacts	entity.dragon_fireball.explode	subtitles.entity.generic.explode​	1.0	0.9–1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sounds
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​Dragon roars	Hostile Mobs	Randomly and randomly while being resummoned, except while the pillars are being recharged	mob.enderdragon.growl	subtitles.entity.ender_dragon.growl​	640.0	0.8–1.2
	​Dragon dies	Hostile Mobs	When an ender dragon dies	mob.enderdragon.death	subtitles.entity.ender_dragon.death​	640.0	0.8–1.2
	​Dragon hurts	Hostile Mobs	When an ender dragon is damaged	mob.enderdragon.hit	subtitles.entity.ender_dragon.hurt​	560.0	0.8–1.2
	​Dragon flaps	Hostile Mobs	Periodically depending on if the ender dragon is perching	mob.enderdragon.flap	subtitles.entity.ender_dragon.flap​	400.0	0.8–1.2
	​Explosion	Blocks	When a dragon fireball impacts	random.explode	subtitles.entity.generic.explode​	4.0	1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Entity tags	Translation key
Ender Dragon	ender_dragon	None	entity.minecraft.ender_dragon
Dragon Fireball	dragon_fireball	impact_projectiles	entity.minecraft.dragon_fireball

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Family	Translation key
Ender Dragon	ender_dragon	53	dragon mob	entity.ender_dragon.name
Dragon Fireball	dragon_fireball	79	None	entity.dragon_fireball.name

Entity data

Ender dragons have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Java Edition:

• [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Entity data
  • Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template
  • Tags common to all mobs see Template:Nbt inherit/mob/template
  • [Int] DragonDeathTime: Number of ticks the dragon has been dead for. At 150, the dragon begins spawning experience orbs every 5 ticks (first drop at 155). Removes dragon at values 200 and higher. 0 when alive.
  • [Int] DragonPhase: A number indicating the dragon's current state. 0 means circling. 1 means strafing (preparing to shoot a fireball). 2 means flying to the portal to land (part of transition to landed state). 3 means landing on the portal (part of transition to landed state). 4 means taking off from the portal (part of transition out of landed state). 5 means landed, performing breath attack. 6 means landed, looking for a player for breath attack. 7 means landed, roar before beginning breath attack. 8 means charging player. 9 means flying to portal to die. 10 means hovering (flapping wings while pacing around a fixed point) (default when using the /summon command).
  • [Float] sitting_damage_recieved: The amount of damage the dragon has received while perched. When this value would become 50 or higher, it is reset to 0 and the dragon ends its perch.

Dragon fireballs have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

• [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Entity data
  • Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template
  • Tags common to all fireballs see Template:Nbt inherit/fireball/template
  • Tags common to all projectiles see Template:Nbt inherit/projectile/template

Command details

A dragon fireball spawned by a command (left) and the damage from the explosion it caused (right).

In Java Edition, the /summon ender_dragon command, by default, summons a harmless ender dragon that hovers in place. Setting the DragonPhase tag (by issuing either the /summon ender_dragon ~ ~ ~ {DragonPhase:0} or the /data merge entity <selector> {DragonPhase:0} commands) starts the ender dragon's ordinary behavior, although the health bar does not appear because it is managed by the ender dragon fight status rather than by the dragon entity itself. If spawned away from the center of the map (x=0, z=0), it flies to the center then resumes normal behavior (see #Behavior).

Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Monster Hunter	Attack and destroy a monster.	Kill one of these 41 monsters: Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this achievement.	15	Bronze
		The End	Kill the Ender Dragon	Enter the end exit portal.	40	Gold
		You Need a Mint	Collect dragons [sic] breath in a glass bottle	Have a dragon's breath bottle in your inventory.	30	Silver
		The End... Again...	Respawn the Ender Dragon	—	30	Silver

Achievements that apply to all mobs:

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		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	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have 50 hearts of health overall.	20	Silver
		Mob Kabob	Hit five mobs in the same Charge attack using the Spear	Armor stands and players also count for this achievement as they are technically mobs.	10	Bronze

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Free the End	Good luck	Kill the ender dragon. Kill credit is given if the dragon receives damage attributed to the player in the last 5 seconds before its death. If multiple players are involved in the dragon fight, only the player that deals the final blow to the dragon receives the advancement.
	The Next Generation	Hold the Dragon Egg	Have a dragon egg in the inventory.
	The End... Again...	Respawn the Ender Dragon	Be within a 192-block radius from the coordinates (0.0, 128, 0.0) when an ender dragon is summoned using End crystals.
	You Need a Mint	Collect Dragon's Breath in a Glass Bottle	Have a bottle of dragon's breath in the inventory.
	Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Kill one of these 41​[until: Fourth Drop 2026]/42​[upcoming] monsters: Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.
	Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Kill each of these 41​[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026]/42​[upcoming] monsters: Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.
	Is It a Plane?	Look at the Ender Dragon through a Spyglass	—

Advancements that apply to all mobs:

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Adventure	Adventure, exploration and combat	Kill any mob, or be killed by any living entity.
	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.
	Take Aim	Shoot something with an Arrow	Using a bow or a crossbow, shoot a mob with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.
	Mob Kabob	Hit five mobs in the same Charge attack using the Spear	Armor Stand and Mannequin also count for this advancement.
	Arbalistic	Kill five unique mobs with one crossbow shot	Armor Stand and Mannequin also count 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.
	Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have 50 hearts of health overall.

History

Announcement

June 14, 2009							Notch believed that Survival mode should have some sort of goal, which he had not yet formulated: "While it could be fun to just see how long you can survive in survival mode, I believe there might be a need for some kind of goal. Make the most money in a month? Kill a big evil mob in the shortest time? I don’t know yet."
June 30, 2010							In a video called "Minecraft Flight" posted by Notch on YouTube, he mentioned that dragon lairs may be an addition in the video description.
August 31, 2010							Later in an interview on MinecraftCon 2010, Notch hinted at dragons as a possible planned mob. Then, for about one year, there was no more mention of it and dragons solely remained a potential work-in-progress.
June 18, 2011							Notch has stated in the past that if dragons are added, they would not be mountable as it would put too much pressure on multiplayer servers.
September 1, 2011							Notch stated that "dragons will be added eventually".
October 6, 2011							The name "ender dragon" was first made known through a tweet by Notch reading "raqreqentba", which could be decoded using the ROT13 cipher, translating to "enderdragon".
October 7, 2011							Notch reveals a screenshot of the "progress so far" on the ender dragon: the dragon flying through the skies of the End. He also shared an album of images of the ender dragon in flight through the Overworld, showcasing its animation.
October 9, 2011							Notch tweets an example of a "texture packer tool" he wrote for the purpose of giving the ender dragon its skin. He shared his progress midway through designing the skin, later announced when the base texture was done, and posted when he had enlarged the wings.
October 10, 2011							Notch released a video showing a small clip of the End that also shows the ender dragon fly into the top of the frame.
October 12, 2011							In a Reddit post Notch also said, "They will be different dragons. The Ender Dragon will probably become larger, and the ones in the main world will be this size, won't go through terrain, and will be red because dragons are red."
							Notch stated in a Twitter post that "Dragons have 6 limbs", consisting of 2 wings, and 4 legs.

Java Edition

Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4				Added the ender dragon.
							The ender dragon currently exists in the game, but does not yet spawn. If hacked into the game using external tools or mods, it draws its hitboxes as solid white boxes on top of the normal dragon model.
							It cannot be damaged, but if its health is forced to zero through external tools, it will simply tip over and die like a regular mob.
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5				Added the ability for the ender dragon to take damage and die, which now has a unique animation. It still does not spawn naturally however.
							The ender dragon's health has been temporarily changed to 1HP to test its new death animation.
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6				The ender dragon has been officially implemented into the game. This includes a single ender dragon as a boss battle, spawning naturally when the player first enters the End.
April 28, 2012							Jeb mentioned that he wouldn't be adding any more boss mobs until he makes the ender dragon "more fun first".
1.3.1			12w24a				The bug in which the ender dragon would be unable to damage the player after the player was attacked once has been fixed.
							The experience drop of ender dragons has been reduced from 20,000 to 12,000.
1.4.2			12w34b				The boss bar label has been changed from "Boss health" to "Ender Dragon".
			1.4				Before this update, ender dragons used the same damage sound as the player. Ender dragons now have their own sound.
							The wither was added, despite jeb saying he would not add another boss until the ender dragon was revamped.
1.5			13w09c				A bug where swords take no damage when used on the ender dragon has been fixed.
1.5.1			13w11a				The mobGriefing gamerule now prevents the ender dragon from destroying blocks when it flies through them.
2013 Music Update							A music track now accompanies the ender dragon boss fight.
1.8			14w20a				The ender dragon no longer breaks barriers.
1.9			15w31a				The ender dragon boss fight has been revamped to be similar to the Legacy Console Edition.
							The ender dragon can now be respawned. As a placeholder, this involves placing clay in a creeper face pattern in the End.
							The ender dragon no longer destroys iron bars.
							The ender dragon can now produce a fireball during its attack.
			15w32a				The ender dragon's fireballs now give off ender acid particles upon exploding and no longer light ground on fire.
							The ender dragon's charge/knockback attack has now returned.
							The ender dragon's wings now damage the player, prevent side and back melee attacks when the dragon lands on the exit portal.
							Dragon breath from the ender dragon now shoots out farther.
							The ender dragon now immediately charges at the player after finishing the ender acid attack.
							The ender dragon's ender acid attack now goes around the whole exit portal.
							The ender dragon no longer stops attacking from single hits.
							The ender dragon now flies back to portal before finishing the death animation.
							The ender dragon no longer takes damage from snowballs, eggs, or other attacks that normally do no damage.
			15w32b				When fatally damaged, the ender dragon now flies to the exit portal and dies rather than resetting to 1HP and landing.
			15w33a				The ender dragon's wings no longer deal damage while the ender dragon is landed.
							The ender dragon is now immune to arrows while landed.
							The ender dragon no longer destroys End portal blocks, End portal frame blocks, or End gateway blocks.
							The ender dragon's breath attack now lasts longer.
							The ender dragon's fireball attack is now more or less equivalent to a lingering potion of Harming II.
			15w33c				Respawned ender dragons now drop 500 experience.
							Respawning the dragon also respawns the End spikes and End crystals.
			15w44a				Respawning ender dragons now requires placing 4 End crystals near the exit portal.
			15w49a				The ender dragon no longer travels through portals.
							The ender dragon no longer rides rideable entities such as minecarts or boats.
							The ender dragon is no longer affected by status effects.
1.11			16w35a				Hitboxes of the damageable portions of the ender dragon are now visible using F3 + B.
			16w43a				The ender dragon is now able to draw from its own loot table.
1.14			19w08a				Target selectors for the ender dragon (@e[type=minecraft:ender_dragon]) now target a total of 9 entities per dragon.
			19w08b				The ender dragon no longer dives straight down to the fountain, instead it slowly descends.
							The AI of the ender dragon's phases has been broken due to a typo in the dragon's vertical velocity while flying
			19w12a				Due to the rewriting of the sound system the ender dragon's death sound now always plays at full volume even if the player moves while it is playing.
1.15			19w39a				The ender dragon no longer has a separate texture for the bottom of its wing anymore.
			19w41a				A black dot on transparent parts of wing texture has been removed from ender dragons.
							A texture for part of wing bottom in the exploding ender dragon has been removed.
			19w46a				The texture of the dragon fireball has been changed.
1.17			20w45a				Target selectors for the ender dragon target 1 entity per dragon once again.
1.19.3			22w44a				Added spawn eggs for ender dragons, which can be obtained only with commands as to avoid potential destruction of Creative builds.
1.21.2			24w34a				Dragon fireballs no longer go through the world border if hit.
1.21.4			24w44a				The ender dragon now takes reduced damage from hits dealt to its head hitbox.
1.21.5			25w08a				The texture of ender dragon spawn eggs has been changed.
26.1			snap6				The ender dragon fight can now be activated in other dimensions.
26.2			snap5				Added geysers which push the ender dragon up when the ender dragon is in it.
			pre4				The ender dragon is no longer affected by geysers.
26.3			snap4				The ender dragon once again takes the full damage from hits dealt to its head hitbox.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition
1.0.0			alpha 0.17.0.1				Added the ender dragon.
							The ender dragon produces a fireball during its attack.
			alpha 1.0.0.2				The ender dragon now goes to the nearest End crystal.
?							Dragon fireballs no longer make a glass sound on impact.
1.1.0			alpha 1.1.0.0				The entity ID of the ender dragon has been changed from dragon to ender_dragon.
Bedrock Edition
1.6.0			beta 1.6.0.6				The ender dragon no longer travels through portals.
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The texture of the dragon fireball has been changed.
1.19.20			Preview 1.19.20.22				Ender dragons can no longer destroy crying obsidian, respawn anchors, light blocks, allow, deny, borders, and jigsaw blocks.
1.19.60			Preview 1.19.60.20				Added spawn eggs for the ender dragon.
1.21.70			Preview 1.21.70.24				The texture of ender dragon spawn eggs has been changed.
26.40			Preview 26.40.26				The ender dragon can now deflect projectiles while perched.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU9	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added the ender dragon with new attacks (dragon's breath and ender charges).
							The ender dragon produces a fireball during its attack.
TU10							Before this update, ender dragons used the same damage sound as the player. Ender dragons now have their own sound.
TU14		1.04					The title of the ender dragon's health bar has been changed from "Enderdragon" to "Ender Dragon".
TU19	CU7	1.12	1.12	1.12			Ender dragons now share their spawn limit category with the wither, meaning that the wither cannot be spawned in the End when the ender dragon is alive.
TU46	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15		The ender dragon no longer takes damage from snowballs, eggs, or other attacks that normally do no damage.[is this the correct version?]
							Dragon fireballs now create dragon's breath on impact. Previously dragon's breath was only created by the ender dragon above the exit portal.
							Dragon's breath now only deals damage every second instead of every half second.
							Dragon's breath now deals knockback away from the ender dragon.
							Dragon's breath can now be collected with a glass bottle.
TU54	CU44	1.52	1.52	1.52	Patch 24	1.0.4	The spawn limit for boss mobs has been increased, meaning up to 4 withers can now be spawned in the End while the ender dragon is alive.
TU60	CU51	1.64	1.64	1.64	Patch 30	1.0.11	The texture of the dragon fireball has been changed to match Java Edition.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
1.7.10							Added the ender dragon.
							The ender dragon produces a fireball during its attack.

Data history

Java Edition
1.11			16w32a				The entity ID of the ender dragon has been changed from EnderDragon to ender_dragon.
							The fireball's entity ID has been changed from DragonFireball to dragon_fireball.
			16w40a				The tags xTile, yTile, zTile, inTile and inGround have been removed from the dragon fireball entity data.
							The life tag of ender dragons is no longer used for anything, but still saved/read.
1.13			17w47a				Numeric IDs for entities were presumably deprecated in this version.​[more information needed]
26.1			snap6				The tags NeedsStateScanning, DragonKilled, PreviouslyKilled, Dragon, ExitPortalLocation and Gateways have been renamed to needs_state_scanning, dragon_killed, previously_killed, dragon_uuid, exit_portal_location and gateways respectively.
							Added tags respawn_time and respawn_crystals.
							Replaced tag IsRespawning with respawn_stage.

Issues

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

Trivia

• If the dragon is killed in the Overworld or the Nether, it does not create the exit portal or a dragon egg, unless the dimension has has_ender_dragon_fight set to true in the dimension type.‌^{[Java Edition only]}
• In Spectator mode, the player cannot view the perspective of the ender dragon, unlike any other mob. However, it is possible through the use of commands (like /spectate). When this happens, the player's camera appears about 1 block over the dragon's body.
• In Legacy Console Edition, the ender dragon's death sound is bass-boosted.^[verify]
• Also in Legacy Console Edition, it is possible to see the ender dragon from the end island. However, two players will be needed, as doing so requires killing the ender dragon to unlock the end island in the first place. The same can be said with the end crystal explosion particles.
• Using F3 + B‌^{[JE only]} to show hitboxes reveals that the ender dragon's head rotation faces in the opposite direction to where its real head faces. This is also why the ender dragon faces the wrong way when set in a monster spawner.
• When an ender dragon is spawned in the Overworld, it flies to coordinates X=0 and Z=0 and dives at the ground or does the same behavior as if in the End. If End crystals are placed in the Overworld, they heal the dragon as normal, but it does not perch anywhere and continues to fly around forever.
• In Bedrock Edition, there is an unused texture file for a dragon fireball item.
• In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, one of the spirits that comes with the Steve/Alex DLC is the Ender Dragon. It appears as a Legend-class "spirit" that makes the user breathe fire for a long time at the start of each battle.
• If commands or Creative mode are used to get End portal frames and eyes of ender, a player can skip to the End Poem.
  • If a player destroys End crystals or even hurts the dragon and then uses a player-made portal, upon returning, the player will retain their progress.‌^{[BE only]}
• There is a death message that reads "<player> was roasted in dragon's breath", for getting killed by the dragon fireball, that is currently unsendable due to a bug.
• The ender dragon was originally meant to play a large part in A Minecraft Movie, but would still be mentioned in I Feel Alive as a past adversary of Steve.
• In the New Nintendo 3DS Edition's e-manual, the fireballs the ender dragon spits are referred to as "Ender Acid", and its breath is referred to as "Acid breath".
• While working on Minecraft: Volume 1, Sfé R. Monster had difficulty drawing the ender dragon and tried to make the illustrations as game accurate as possible.

Notch-related

• On Reddit, Notch suggested the ender dragon's name to be "Jean?" in the same manner he called the player "Steve?".
  • Dinnerbone later stated that he thinks the name is officially "Jean?".
  • Despite this, an article on Minecraft.net states that "uttering its true name would unleash a destructive force that would obliterate not only the End, but the Nether and the Overworld at the same time."
• Also on Reddit, Notch referred to the ender dragon as a she, and the Xbox avatar item Ender Dragon Pet purporting to be her brother has the description "A cuter, friendlier version of his bigger, less playful Minecraft sister"; however, it has been later confirmed by Notch, Brandon Pearce and Jeb that all mobs in Minecraft have no gender, which includes the ender dragon.
  • Despite this, the ender dragon continues to be referred with feminine pronouns in Bedrock Edition's in-game encyclopedia. In addition, certain universe canons still refer to the ender dragon with feminine pronouns.
• Before it was textured, Notch reported that he was afraid to texture the ender dragon as it was a complicated model. In the end, the dragon model was so complex Notch stated that he gave up making the texture manually and wrote a texture packer tool to aid him in adding the texture to the model. Notch also uploaded the code for the tool so others could use the pack. (Link to the texture packer)
  • Notch joked about how Minecraft was "going next-gen" when deadmau5 mentioned this.
• Notch has uploaded a video showing why ender dragons do not spawn in the main world, as they would destroy any block they touch.
  • On Reddit, Notch explained that ender dragons destroy Overworld matter because "trying to make an AI to properly navigate arbitrary terrain before the code freeze next tuesday [sic] isn't feasible".

Gallery

Screenshots

• 
  The ender dragon after defeat
• 
  The ender dragon being healed by an End crystal
• 
  The ender dragon flying over the End
• 
  The ender dragon attacks a player while being healed.
• 
  Dozens of player-spawned ender dragons and withers fighting each other
• 
  More ender dragons fighting withers
• 
  The ender dragon dying from the explosion of the End crystal it was using
• 
  The dragon perching on the exit portal
• 
  Ditto
• 
  The dragon firing a fireball at the player
• 
  The dying dragon quickly charging toward the exit portal to roost. A pool of dragon's breath lies in the foreground
• 
  The green hitboxes, visible when F3 + B is toggled
• 
  Four End crystals placed at the exit portal to respawn the ender dragon
• 
  Comparison between the ender dragon and the wither
• 
  Screenshot of a possible glitch resulting in the spawning of two ender dragons

Mojang screenshots

• 
  The ender dragon with the Glowing effect‌^{[Java Edition only]}
• 
  The ender dragon dying as seen when the player has Night Vision
• 
  Ender dragon above the exit portal
• 
  T-posing ender dragon
• 
  An ender dragon taking damage in the Overworld

Textures

• 
  Ender Dragon texture file
• 
  Ender Dragon eyes texture file
• 
  Ender Dragon exploding texture file

Development images

• 
  The first screenshot of the ender dragon
• 
  The same screenshot, only brighter
• 
  The ender dragon before being textured
• 
  The ender dragon before being textured
• 
  The ender dragon before being textured
• 
  The ender dragon before being textured
• 
  The ender dragon before being textured
• 
  The first ender dragon texture
• 
  The ender dragon with its first texture
• 
  The ender dragon's texture taking shape
• 
  The ender dragon with its first semi-complete texture
• 
  The ender dragon's texture at this stage
• 
  The ender dragon with wings more closely resembling their modern form
• 
  The ender dragon's texture at this stage
• 
  The ender dragon's head and neck were lowered to make it look more "evil".
• 
  The ender dragon flying over the Overworld
• 
  The first screenshot of the ender dragon in Xbox 360 Edition
• 
  T-posing rendering glitch during Vibrant Visuals development

In other media

• 
  The ender dragon in promotional artwork for the Ender Update
• 
  Ender dragon artwork used on the Minecraft.net
• 
  Artwork for Realms Stories depicting Ari and Sunny defeating the Ender Dragon
• 
  The ender dragon pictured in the Mobestiary
• 
  The ender dragon spirit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• 
  The Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ender dragon spirit
• 
  The ender dragon as it appears in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
• 
  Concept art for the ender dragon in A Minecraft Movie
• 
  A Acid image ender dragon found in an official T shirt
• 
  The ender dragon as it appears in Minecraft: Story Mode

Merchandise

• 
  LEGO Ender Dragon micromob ("Micro World - The End")
• 
  LEGO Ender Dragon minifigure ("The Ender Dragon")
• 
  LEGO Ender Dragon minifigure ("The End Battle")
• 
  LEGO Ender Dragon minifigure ("The Ender Dragon and End Ship")
• 
  An early, humanoid ender dragon plush
• 
  An unboxed ender dragon plush
• 
  Official T-shirt artwork "Enderdragon" featuring Steve fighting the ender dragon made by JINX
• 
  Official T-shirt artwork "Heroes Crest" featuring an iron golem and an ender dragon made by JINX
• 
  Official T-shirt artwork "Battle" featuring a creeper, an enderman, Steve, a ghast, and either an ender dragon or a red dragon made by SamCube
• 
  Official T-shirt artwork "The End is Nigh" made by JINX
• 
  A newer version of "The End is Nigh." The text is the Standard Galactic Alphabet, which translates to its title
• 
  Ender dragon plush made by JINX
• 
  An officially licensed ender dragon headlight
• 
  Nerf ender dragon blaster

External links

• "Mob Menagerie: Ender Dragon" by Duncan Geere – Minecraft.net, August 21, 2025.