How to Get a Creeper Head in Minecraft

Besides becoming one with the mobs, you can use a Creeper Head in Minecraft for a few different functions. Specifically, your head-hunting ventures can let you create macabre decorations and other aesthetic items to flex your Creeper-killing prowess. To do so, you’ll need to ride the lightning…

How Creeper Heads Are Dropped by Creepers In Minecraft

Creeper Heads in Minecraft are dropped when a Creeper dies in the explosion created when a Charged Creeper explodes. The Charged Creeper itself does not drop a Creeper Head when it explodes. Therefore, you need two Creepers to get a Creeper Head—a regular one and a charged one.

Tip

The same is true for most other mobs: they need to die in a Charged Creeper explosion to drop their heads.

How to Find a Charged Creeper

A Charged Creeper is created when lightning strikes within four blocks of a regular ol’ Creeper. The lightning does not need to directly hit the Creeper. Thankfully, there are a few ways you can set this up. Here are the three main ways to get lighting to strike a Creeper:

1. Wait for a thunderstorm then wander around at night and hope for the best
2. Throw a Trident with Channeling at a Creeper during a thunderstorm
3. Trap a Creeper near a Lightning Rod during a thunderstorm

Obviously, the first method is not recommended, as it’s the least efficient way to create a Charged Creeper. With that said, we’ll go into more detail about the other two methods.

Using a Trident With Channeling to Create a Charged Creeper

The first step in this Charged Creeper-creating method is to obtain a Trident. Sadly, you can’t craft a Trident yourself—you need to find one. After getting a Trident, you’ll need to put the Channeling Enchantment on it (if it doesn’t already have it).

Then, you should trap two Creepers outside (five blocks away from each other) and wait for a thunderstorm. Use Wooden Fences to trap the Creepers, as they don’t block explosion damage and because you can see through them easily.

Note

Thunderstorms happen randomly. You just have to wait for one to occur—there’s no way around this unless you use Commands in Creative Mode.

Once a thunderstorm begins, throw your Trident enchanted with Channeling at one of the trapped Creepers.

Tip

Make sure your trapped Creepers are more than four blocks apart so that the lightning doesn’t turn both of them into Charged Creepers. However, the regular Creeper needs to be within six blocks of the Charged Creeper to get hit by its explosion.

Afterward, stand close enough to the Charged Creeper for it to explode. Equip and raise a Shield to block the damage created by the Charged Creeper’s explosion. Following this, the regular Creeper nearby dies and drops its precious loot. Bam! You’ve now got yourself a Creeper Head in Minecraft.

How to Get a Trident in Minecraft

You can only get a Trident from a Drowned mob in Minecraft. In the Java Edition, Drowned has a 6.25% chance to spawn with a Trident. Out of this 6.25%, the drop chance of a Trident from these mobs is 8.5%.

Getting a Trident is much easier in the Bedrock Edition, as there’s a 15% chance for Drowned to spawn holding one. On top of that, these Trident-wielding mobs have a 25% chance to drop their weapon upon death.

Alternatively, you can drop a Nautilus Shell near a Drowned wielding a Trident to get it to drop its weapon (Bedrock Edition-only). This only works if the Drowned is not hostile. Drowned won’t be hostile toward you during the day if you aren’t touching water.

Drowned spawn in a light level of zero within the following biomes:

• River
• Frozen River
• Cold Ocean
• Deep Cold Ocean
• Frozen Ocean
• Deep Frozen Ocean
• Lukewarm Ocean
• Deep Lukewarm Ocean
• Ocean
• Deep Ocean
• Warm Ocean
• Dripstone Caves

However, Zombies that drown (have their heads submerged in water for more than 30 seconds) turn into Drowned. As such, you can easily create a Drowned farm by dropping a load of Zombies into a two-block-deep pit full of water. This can be done by placing an opening floor below a Zombie-farming setup above a watery pit.

How to Get Channeling on a Trident

You can enchant a non-enchanted Trident on an Enchanting Table. Since there are only five possible Enchantments that can go on a Trident, your odds of getting Channeling are relatively high. However, if you don’t get Channeling, you can place the enchanted Trident into a Grindstone to remove the enchantment (disenchanting) without destroying the Trident. Rinse and repeat this process until you get Channeling on your Trident.

Tip

Disenchanting items on a Grindstone gives you some Experience, which you can put towards enchanting.

To make a Grindstone, you’ll need two Wooden Planks, two Sticks, and one Stone Slab. On a Crafting Table, place the two Wooden Planks in the middle-left and middle-right slots. Then, place the Sticks above each Wooden Plank. Lastly, plop the Stone Slab in the top-middle slot.

Using a Lightning Rod to Create a Charged Creeper

This method is similar to the Trident technique mentioned above. You still need to trap two Creepers five blocks apart (using Wooden Fences is recommended here as well) and wait for a thunderstorm to roll in. The difference is that you’re using a Lightning Rod to get lightning to strike one of your two trapped Creepers. While less direct, this is still an efficient manner of getting a Creeper Head in Minecraft.

After crafting a Lightning Rod, merely place it within four blocks of the Creeper you want to change into a Charged Creeper. Once lightning strikes and the Creeper conversion occurs, stand close to it while you have a Shield equipped and raised. Following the explosion, the close by regular Creeper dies and drops a Creeper Head.

How to Craft a Lightning Rod

All you need to craft a Lightning Rod is three Copper Ingots and a Crafting Table. The three Copper Ingots must be placed in a vertical line on a Crafting Table to get you a Lightning Rod. Copper Ore smelts into Copper Ingots at a one-to-one ratio; three lumps of Raw Copper give you three Copper Ingots once smelted. Furthermore, Copper Ore is easy to find, as it spawns frequently around sea level in most biomes of the overworld.

The Uses of a Creeper Head in Minecraft

Now that you’ve acquired the rare and rather disgusting mob drop, you can use it for the following deeds.

Wearing a Creeper Head

Similar to wearing a Carved Pumpkin on your head, you can wear a Creeper Head as if it’s a helmet…if you don’t mind getting Creeper germs all over your face. Doing so lets you get twice as close to Creepers before they realize you aren’t one of their kind. This stacks with the detection-lowering effects of sneaking and invisibility.

Note

Despite being as wearable as a helmet, you cannot enchant a Creeper Head with any beneficial Enchantments—only Curses.

You can also hide from other players by wearing a mob head (or Carved Pumpkin), as it makes you invisible on a Locator Map (Bedrock Edition-only). Time for a sneak attack! Appropriate, given where you got your Creeper Head from.

Crafting Recipes That Use Creeper Heads

There are only two crafting recipes in Minecraft that use a Creeper Head as an ingredient. The first is the Creeper Banner Pattern. Simply combine one piece of Paper with a Creeper Head to get the Creeper Banner Pattern.

Next is the Creeper-shaped Firework Star. On a Crafting Table, combine one Gunpowder, one Creeper Head, and one Dye of any kind to make a Firework Star that produces a Creeper face-shaped explosion when launched into the sky. The color of the Firework Star depends on which Dye you use in its crafting.

The true end game of Minecraft is to obtain as many beautiful decorations as possible—so getting a Creeper Head is worth the effort if you’re a fan of monstrous design motifs. On that note, while you’re seeking mobs for rare loot, keep your eyes peeled for Smithing Templates, as they let you beautify your armor!