Overview
The creeper is the reason Minecraft players build walls. It is a hostile mob with 20 health, no ranged attack and no melee attack at all: its only move is to walk within roughly three blocks of you, hiss for about 1.5 seconds, and detonate. The blast does up to 49 damage at point-blank range on Normal difficulty and destroys terrain, which is what makes it different from every other hostile mob in the game. A skeleton costs you hearts; a creeper costs you the wall you spent an hour building. It spawns in the dark in the Overworld like other hostile mobs, but unlike zombies and skeletons it does not burn in daylight, so a creeper that wandered into a cave overnight is still standing at noon. That single fact is why players find them inside their own bases in the morning. Two things reliably stop it. The fuse can be interrupted by breaking line of sight or by knocking it back, and a creeper struck by lightning becomes charged, doubling its blast and making it the only practical way to collect a mob head. Cats and ocelots frighten them off entirely, which is the cheapest creeper-proofing in the game.
Killing creepers is the only renewable source of gunpowder, which every firework, every TNT block and every splash potion depends on, and a charged creeper's blast is the only way to get a mob head in survival.
A creeper closes silently, then hisses and detonates 1.5 seconds later for up to 49 damage at point blank on Normal, destroying blocks and any chest contents caught in the blast. It does not burn in daylight, so it survives the morning under trees and in caves. Hit it and back off to interrupt the fuse, or use a shield, or keep a cat nearby, since creepers flee from cats and ocelots. A creeper struck by lightning becomes charged and its explosion drops mob heads.
Creeper is a hostile mob in Minecraft Java Edition 1.21.4. You will need to deal 20 damage — 10 hearts — to kill one. It is worth 5 XP.
Properties
Creeper has 20 health, which is 10 hearts. It drops up to 5 experience when a player kills it. Its hitbox is 0.6 blocks wide and 1.7 tall, which is what decides whether it fits through a gap or a one-block-high opening.
- Health
- 20 (10 ♥)
- Experience dropped
- 5
- Size
- 0.6 × 1.7
- Dimension
- Overworld
- Added in
- 1.0.0
Spawns in
Spawns in darkness anywhere in the Overworld, above or below ground.
It has no biome restriction, so anywhere in the Overworld that meets the light and space conditions is a valid spawn.
- Dimension
- Overworld
- Light level
- 0
- Added in
- 1.0.0
Dimension: Overworld · Added in 1.0.0
Drops
Killing Creeper drops Gunpowder and Music Disc — 13, plus up to 5 experience. Looting raises the maximum on most of these by one per level.
- Gunpowder: 0–2
- Music Disc — 13: 1 — Only if the creeper is killed by a skeleton, stray or bogged. One of the 12 discs droppable this way: 13, cat, blocks, chirp, far, mall, mellohi, stal, strad, ward, 11, wait.
How it behaves
The Creeper attacks on sight within its detection range, so light, walls and distance are all valid answers. Most hostile mobs notice you inside about sixteen blocks, though a few — ghasts especially — see very much further.
Killed by a player it drops up to 5 experience; killed any other way it drops none.
Command
In a world with cheats on, this spawns one Creeper where you are standing.
Summon
/summon minecraft:creeper ~ ~ ~Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
How much health does a creeper have?
20 health points, which is 10 hearts — the same as a zombie or a player at full health.
How do you stop a creeper exploding?
Break its line of sight or knock it back before the fuse finishes. The fuse takes about 1.5 seconds and resets if the creeper loses you.
Do creepers burn in daylight?
No. Unlike zombies and skeletons they survive the day, so one that spawned overnight is still a threat in the morning.
What drops from a creeper?
0 to 2 gunpowder, up to 5 with Looting III, and 5 experience. A creeper killed by a skeleton's arrow also drops a music disc.
How much health does the Creeper have in Minecraft?
The Creeper has 20 health points, which is 10 hearts.
What does the Creeper drop?
It drops Gunpowder and Music Disc — 13, plus 5 experience when killed by a player.
Where does the Creeper spawn?
Spawns in darkness anywhere in the Overworld, above or below ground.
Related pages
How to get it
Creepers spawn naturally at light level 0 in the Overworld, in groups of up to 4. A creeper spawn egg or the command /summon minecraft:creeper places one directly.
Tips
- Hit it once and step back immediately: the knockback resets the fuse, and a sword with Knockback II makes this almost free.
- Keep a cat or a tamed ocelot near anything you care about — creepers actively flee from them and will not approach the building.
- Light every surface inside your walls, including the roof and any cave opening within about 24 blocks of where you sleep.
- Use a bow if there is any doubt: three fully drawn shots kill a creeper before it closes the last three blocks.
- For a mob head, lure a creeper under a lightning strike during a thunderstorm, then have a second creeper kill it.