Head

All heads and skulls

Heads (including skulls) are a group of 7 blocks based on the heads of players and 6 different mobs. All heads can be worn as helmets and serve as special note block instruments.

Variants

There are seven types of entity heads:

• Skeleton Skull
• Wither Skeleton Skull
• Zombie Head
• Player Head
• Creeper Head
• Piglin Head
• Dragon Head

Obtaining

Mob loot

The following heads drop when the corresponding mob is killed by a charged creeper's explosion:

• Skeleton skull
• Zombie head
• Creeper head
• Piglin head
• Wither skeleton skull

Dragon heads and player heads have corresponding mobs, but they don't drop when these mobs are killed by a charged creeper.

If multiple mobs are killed by the explosion of a single charged creeper, only one head will drop from a mob randomly chosen from those killed in this explosion.‌^{[Java Edition only]}

A wither skeleton sometimes drops a wither skeleton skull when killed.

Natural generation

• Skeleton skulls generate as part of ancient cities.
• A single dragon head generates at the front of End ships.

Player head

The player head is unobtainable in Survival, and can be obtained only by the Creative inventory, using pick block or executing commands.

Usage

Heads can be broken by fluids, dropping themselves unless destroyed by lava.

Decoration

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 play 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 carved pumpkins or helmets. This overlays the second layer of the player's skin.

Wearing the corresponding 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.

Wearing any head hides the player's waypoint on the locator bar. In Bedrock Edition, wearing any head makes the player invisible to other players on a locator map.

Dispensers

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

Dispensers can place wither skeleton skulls to complete the construction of a wither unless the difficulty is set to peaceful.

Enchantments

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

Name	Max level	Method
Curse of Binding	I	Anvil
Curse of Vanishing	I	Anvil

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.

Sounds

Generic

Java Edition:

v t e stone sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	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​[until: JE 26.4]	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
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.stone.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	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:

v t e stone sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.stone	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	place.stone	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.stone	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.37	0.5
	​Footsteps	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.stone	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.4	1.0
	​Footsteps	Players	Walking on the block	step.stone	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.3	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.stone	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.12	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.stone	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.22	1.0

Unique

Java Edition

Sounds
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Gear equips	Players	When a head is equipped	item.armor.equip_generic	subtitles.item.armor.equip​	1.0	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sounds
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​ ?	Players	When a head 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:

Name	Identifier	Alias ID	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID	Translation key
Skeleton Skull	skeleton_skull	skull / 0	144	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	item.skull.skeleton.name
Wither Skeleton Skull	wither_skeleton_skull	skull / 1	-965	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	item.skull.wither.name
Zombie Head	zombie_head	skull / 2	-966	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	item.skull.zombie.name
Player Head	player_head	skull / 3	-967	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	item.skull.char.name
Creeper Head	creeper_head	skull / 4	-968	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	item.skull.creeper.name
Dragon Head	dragon_head	skull / 5	-969	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	item.skull.dragon.name
Piglin Head	piglin_head	skull / 6	-970	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	item.skull.piglin.name

Name	Savegame ID
Block entity	Skull

Block states

Java Edition:
Floor

Name	Default value	Allowed values	Description
powered	false	true	The block receives a redstone signal.
		false	The block receives no redstone signal.
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
powered	false	true	The block receives a redstone signal.
		false	The block receives no redstone signal.
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	Same as 5, but unobtainable without commands or editing.

Block data

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

Java Edition:

• [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Block entity data
  • Tags common to all block entities see Template:Nbt inherit/blockentity/template
  • [String] custom_name: Optional. The custom name of the head or skull. Represents the minecraft:custom_name component.
  • [String] note_block_sound: Optional. If this block is a player head, this is the sound event produced by the note block that this head is placed on. Does nothing if present on any other head or skull type. Represents the minecraft:note_block_sound component.
  • [String][NBT Compound / JSON Object] profile: Optional. The textures and/or player profile used to render a player head. If specified as a string, it corresponds to [String] name and is always saved as a [NBT Compound / JSON Object] compound. If omitted, a the wide Steve skin is used. Does nothing if present on any other head or skull type. Represents the minecraft:profile component.
    • A player profile and/or textures object see Template:Nbt inherit/profile/template

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.

Achievements

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

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Spooky Scary Skeleton	Obtain a Wither Skeleton's skull	Have a wither skeleton skull in the inventory.
	Withering Heights	Summon the Wither	Be within a 100.9×100.9×103.5 cuboid centered on the wither when it is spawned.

History

Reveal

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.
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."
November 14, 2022							Piglin heads are announced to be added in Java Edition 1.20 on the Minecraft website.

Java Edition

Java Edition
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.
							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.
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				Heads in inventories and held by entities 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 head. The head that drops is chosen randomly.
1.8.4							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 heads now reduces detection range to 37.5% of normal.
			15w36a				The disguise that is given by heads now reduces detection range to 50% of normal again.
			15w39a				Dispensers can now equip heads onto players, mobs and armor stands.
			15w49a				Worn heads no longer turn red when the player or mob takes damage.
1.11			pre1				Heads in the inventory now face backwards.
1.11.1			16w50a				Heads in the inventory now face the right way again.
1.13			17w47a				Dragon heads are now held differently from other heads.
							Heads now play a sound when placed.
							Heads can no longer be placed inside entities.
1.19			Deep Dark Experimental Snapshot 1				Skeleton skulls now generate as part of ancient cities.
1.19.3			22w45a				The texture of the player head has been changed.
1.19.3 Experiment Update 1.20			22w46a				Added piglin heads behind the "Update 1.20" experimental data pack.
1.19.4			23w05a				Heads can now be swapped with other pieces of headgear in the head inventory slot by using them.
1.20			23w12a				Piglin heads are now available without using the "Update 1.20" experimental datapack.
							Heads can now be placed on note blocks to play the respective mob sound.
							Heads can now be placed on top of note blocks without sneaking.
1.20.2			23w35a				No longer check for redstone signals every game tick.
1.21.6 Experiment Locator Bar			25w15a				Will now hide players from the locator bar when worn in the head slot.
1.21.9			25w31a				Mob heads now preserve any custom name when they are placed and then mined again.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.12.0							Added skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, player, and creeper heads.
							Heads are non-solid.
							The skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, player and creeper heads use the Java textures prior to 14w30a.
v0.12.1			build 8				Heads are now solid.
v0.14.0			build 1				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				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.
1.19.60 Experiment Next Major Update			Preview 1.19.60.20				Added piglin heads behind the "Next Major Update" experimental toggle.
			Preview 1.19.60.25				Heads can now be placed on top of note blocks without sneaking.
1.20.0			Preview 1.20.0.21				Piglin heads are now available without using the "Next Major Update" experimental toggle.
1.20.40			Preview 1.20.40.20				Wither skeleton skulls now make their respective step sounds when played by a note block.
1.21.80 Experiment Locator Bar			Preview 1.21.80.20				Will now hide players from the locator bar when worn in the head slot.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU12	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	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	1.12	1.12			Wither skeleton skulls can now be obtained by killing wither skeletons.
							Wither skeleton skulls can now be used to build the wither.
							Any kind of mob head can now be used to craft a firework star with creeper-face effect.
TU24	CU12	1.16	1.16	1.16			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.
TU31	CU19	1.22	1.22	1.22	Patch 3		Heads in inventories and held by mobs/players now display as blocks.
							Skeleton, zombie, and creeper heads are now available in Survival. The player can obtain them by killing the appropriate mob with a charged creeper.
TU32	CU20	1.23	1.23	1.23			Heads now display a cracking animation.
TU34	CU22	1.25	1.25	1.25	Patch 4		Heads can now be swapped with other pieces of headgear in the head inventory slot by using them.
TU43	CU33	1.36	1.36	1.36	Patch 13		Creeper heads and wither skeleton skulls are now used in crafting specific banner patterns.
TU46	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15		Added dragon heads.
TU49	CU39	1.42	1.42	1.42	Patch 18		Heads are now held the same way as on Java Edition in first person.
			1.90				Wither skeleton skulls and creeper heads can now be used to craft banner patterns.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added skeleton, wither skeleton, zombie, player, and creeper heads.
1.7.10							Added dragon heads.

Issues

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

Trivia

• Heads do not have their own textures and take their textures from other objects.
• When breaking any head, the particle effect of breaking it is the same as soul sand.
• Despite there being a default Steve head, heads for the other default 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.

Gallery

Screenshots

• 
  Heads oriented in different directions
• 
  Heads are the same scale as cobblestone wall posts
• 
  A picture of player heads, including some Mojang characters
• 
  Several heads as they appear during a puzzle in the Timeless Trails DLC

Development images

• 
  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 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