Shulker in Minecraft: Levitation Bullets, Shells and Farming
Shulkers hide in End city walls and fire bullets that make you float for 10 seconds. How to fight them near the edge, shell drop rates, and duplication.
Shulkers are box-shaped mobs that sit on the walls of End cities, disguised as purpur blocks. They shoot slow homing bullets that give you 10 seconds of Levitation, which is harmless on flat ground and deadly near the edge of an End island. Kill them for shulker shells, the material for shulker boxes.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Health | 30 HP (15 hearts) |
| Armor | 20 when closed, 0 when open |
| Bullet damage | 3 / 4 / 6 HP (Easy / Normal / Hard) plus Levitation |
| Spawns | End cities and End ships only |
| Drops | 0-1 shulker shell (50%) |
| XP | 5 |
Reading a shulker
A closed shulker has 20 armor, so hitting it shut is a waste of durability. Wait for the lid to open (it peeks before firing) and hit it then, or shoot it with arrows while it’s open. Below half health it may teleport to another surface nearby, which can put it somewhere awkward, like right behind you.
Bullets follow you slowly and can be destroyed with a hit or an arrow. A shield blocks the damage; on Java it blocks the Levitation too, but on Bedrock you still float.
Surviving the float
Levitation itself does no damage. The fall when it runs out is what kills you. On an End city tower, you can rise thirty blocks and then drop into the void. Bring:
- A Potion of Slow Falling (or a few) to cancel the fall.
- A bucket of milk to clear Levitation the moment it lands.
- Blocks to pillar under you or ceiling-hug, since touching a block above you stops the climb.
Some players use the bullets on purpose to float up the outside of a tower to reach the loot room quickly.
Shells and shulker boxes
Each kill has a 50% chance of one shell. On Java, Looting raises the chance (to about 69% at Looting III) but never above one shell; on Bedrock, Looting raises the maximum instead, up to four. Two shells and a chest craft a shulker box, which holds 27 stacks and keeps them when broken. It’s the best storage upgrade in the game, and the main reason people go back to the End after getting their elytra.
Duplication and farms
Shulkers don’t respawn, but they can duplicate. When a shulker is hit by a shulker bullet while its lid is open, is above half health and teleports successfully, a new shulker can appear. The chance drops by 20% for each other shulker within eight blocks, so it stops once the area is crowded. On Java, shulkers can target each other, and farm designs arrange them so their own bullets keep hitting a shulker that has room to teleport. Bedrock also spawns a duplicate whenever a bullet kills a shulker.
This is how shulker farms work, and with one running you can make as many boxes as you need.
Edition differences
- Java shulkers are immune to fire and lava; Bedrock ones aren’t.
- Bedrock Looting adds extra shells per kill; Java Looting only raises the drop chance.
Head back to the mobs hub for the Ender Dragon and other End mobs.
Common questions
How do you make a shulker box?
Craft two shulker shells with a chest, one shell above and one below. The box keeps its contents when you break it.
How do you counter shulker levitation?
Drink milk to clear it, or keep a Potion of Slow Falling ready so you drift down safely when it wears off. Never fight shulkers next to a long drop without one of these.
Do shulkers respawn?
No. They only generate with End cities. The only way to get more is duplication, where a shulker hit by a shulker bullet can split into two.
Sources & verification
Facts on this page are checked against these references and in-game behavior for the stated edition(s). how we verify.
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