Enderman

Enderman


An enderman is a neutral mob found in all three dimensions. Endermen can teleport and pick up blocks.





pawning

An enderman in the Overworld.

Endermen can spawn on any solid surface that has at least three empty spaces above, at the light level of 0 in the Overworld and the End, or a light level of 11 or less in the Nether. They are the only mob that spawns in all 3 dimensions.

Overworld

Endermen spawn uncommonly in the Overworld, in all biomes except mushroom fields and deep dark. They often spawn in groups of two, and rarely in groups of three.

Nether

Endermen spawn rarely in soul sand valleys, uncommonly in nether wastes and most commonly in warped forests.

End

Endermen spawn commonly in groups of up to four, anywhere in the End dimension.


Behavior
An enderman can be provoked by a player or other mob attacking them. They can also be provoked by a player looking them in the eyes from up to 64 blocks then looking away. Endermen open their mouths and begin to shake‌[Java Edition only] angrily if provoked; they also make loud and lengthy sounds while being stared at. If the player continues to maintain eye contact, the enderman does not move, although it may teleport away. Once the player stops looking at the enderman, it runs toward the back of the player to attack, although it ceases if hit by another player or mob. An aggravated enderman runs fast and often teleports to the location of a player or mob up to 32 blocks away (orthogonally). Endermen are not provoked by a player viewing it through a transparent block or while wearing a carved pumpkin.

An aggravated enderman pursues the player until it is either killed or distracted by external elements, such as rain or fire. They do not take damage from sunlight like undead mobs, but teleport randomly around until finding a dark spot if not already pursuing a player. During rain or daybreak, they teleport away to underground locations, such as caves.

Endermen can be harmed by melee attacks, water, lava, fire, splash water bottles, or rain. They are not damaged when standing in a filled cauldron‌[Java Edition only]. Endermen teleport away when they take damage from any of natural sources (1♥), continuing to do so until they find a dry location. They also teleport while taking damage from other sources, such as suffocation, poison, or wither.

Ranged attacks are ineffective against endermen, as they teleport when hit by a projectile instead of taking damage. Arrows‌[Java Edition only] and tridents appear to bounce off an enderman who is unable to teleport. In Bedrock Edition, arrows go straight through endermen that are unable to teleport (but the effect still goes through if it's a tipped arrow).[needs in-game testing].

Endermen can step up one full block without having to jump.

Endermen are hostile to endermites within 64 blocks but are passive with other mobs unless provoked.

An enderman in a player's vicinity prevents the player from sleeping in a bed at night as if any hostile mob were nearby. If the player is already asleep in a bed, it is possible for an enderman to teleport on it and wake players.

The endermen's aggression range for being looked at is reduced when the player is sneaking, or under the Invisibility effect depending on the number of armor pieces currently worn. The detection range in blocks for invisible players is shown in the following table:


Teleportation

Endermen do not teleport in the daytime if on soul sand unless they are damaged.

They play a sound exclusively at the teleportation destination.

Each teleportation attempt chooses a random destination 32 blocks along each axis (i.e. a 64×64×64 cube centered on the current position). It then seeks downward from the chosen destination until the block below is made of a movement-blocking material. Exceptions exist such as carpet that is not above a block made of a movement-blocking material, lily pads, and snow layers stacked 10 blocks deep or more as their materials are not flagged as blocking movement even though the blocks themselves do. The teleportation attempt succeeds if no liquid or solid blocks prevent them from standing at the destination. Thus, endermen need at least three non-solid blocks above the destination to successfully teleport. Endermen do not teleport to waterlogged blocks unless there is a ceiling with a liquid above it.


Endermen always attempt to teleport upon taking damage. Most melee attacks are successful, but the enderman usually teleports a few blocks behind the player when hit, if there is space behind the player. Endermen can be attacked with projectiles if they are in a boat or minecart.‌[Java Edition only] If all available blocks within teleport distance are removed or unavailable as a destination, it is possible to hit endermen in Java Edition with a projectile, although arrows may simply bounce off, dealing no damage.[5] When teleporting due to damage, it makes 64 attempts to teleport.

In Java Edition, an enderman cannot teleport while it is in a minecart or boat, although in rain and water it attempts to do so, always teleporting back repeatedly until death. This does not occur in Bedrock Edition.

Moving blocks

Unlike any other mobs, which cannot hold blocks except as items, endermen have a unique ability to pick up, carry and set down certain blocks. They silently pick up blocks in a 4×3×4 (xyz) region horizontally centered on the enderman and vertically encompassing it. An enderman cannot pick up blocks in a completely flat area. Endermen drop the block they are holding upon death as an item, although they do not visually let go of the block when dying. It does not despawn while holding a block. Endermen cannot place blocks onto bedrock or entities.

Endermen pick up the following blocks:

Cactus
Clay
Coarse Dirt
Rooted Dirt
Dirt
Flowers (short)
Fungi
Roots
Grass Block
Gravel
Melon
Moss Block
Mud
Mushrooms
Mycelium
Nylium
Podzol
Pumpkins
Red Sand
Sand
TNT


While carrying a block, the enderman sometimes silently place it in a 2×2×2 region horizontally centered on the enderman and vertically at the same level as the enderman itself if the target location is air with a non-air block beneath and the block is allowed to be placed at the target location.

Endermen can randomly breach walls, bridge fences, break redstone circuitry, set off explosions and kill themselves if they place a block of TNT on a power source and even construct golems by removing or placing blocks.

Endermen can pick up blocks even when angry.


Trivia
The developers have stated that the belief that enderman sounds are backward distortions is just speculation.

Notch claimed in public that the enderman is a "subtle reference" to the Slenderman, a similar-looking monster with a similar name. Given the later development of the End, it is possible he already had the name in mind, and did not choose it because of the Reddit thread in which their name was revealed.

Dinnerbone suggested "a haunting of endermen" as the collective noun for Endermen. Additionally, in the third episode of Minecraft: Story Mode, The Last Place You Look, a player is given the option to correct the grammar of other characters by specifying that the collective noun for a group of endermen is "a haunting of Endermen". In the fourth Minecraft novel Minecraft: The End, the collective term used by endermen themselves is "an End of Endermen".

Switching to spectator mode and taking an enderman's point of view adds a shader that inverts colors, suggesting that they see the End as an island of blue cobblestone (as end stone is a yellowish version of cobblestone with inverted colors) in a white sky, with white pillars, white endermen with green eyes and a white ender dragon, also with green eyes. They also see cobblestone as end stone.

The texture for an enderman's eyes is located in a different texture file than the body, allowing their eyes to glow. Because the two textures do not line up perfectly, forcing an enderman to look straight up causes its eyes to turn blank white.

This also causes the enderman's eyes to be visible even when under the Invisibility effect.
The enderman teleportation sound also plays when a player teleports using an ender pearl‌[Bedrock Edition only] or chorus fruit.

The enderman is a playable DLC character in the crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an alternate costume for Steve, though with altered proportions to be at Steve's height. Additionally, there is an enderman "spirit" that makes the user vulnerable to damage by water, as are regular endermen.