TL;DR: Endermen are the tall, quiet neutral mobs that turn up in three Nether biomes — most often in the Warped Forest, sometimes in the Nether Wastes, and rarely in the Soul Sand Valley. They leave you alone unless you hit them or stare at their face, so the easy habit is to just not look one in the eye. If one does get upset, stepping into a spot with a low roof keeps it from reaching you until it loses interest. When defeated, they have a chance to drop an ender pearl — and since the Warped Forest has the most endermen of any Nether biome, it's a handy place to pick one or two up. (This guide follows Java Edition.)
Where Endermen live in the Nether
Endermen are unusual because they spawn in all three dimensions, and the Nether is no exception. Inside the Nether, they only appear where the light level is 7 or lower, and they show up in three biomes at very different rates: most commonly in the Warped Forest, uncommonly in the Nether Wastes, and rarely in a Soul Sand Valley.
The Warped Forest is worth knowing by name for this reason. Hostile mobs don't spawn there naturally at all (except inside a fortress or bastion that happens to sit in it) — the only other mob that shows up on its own is the strider — which makes an enderman sighting there feel a lot less overwhelming than, say, a Nether Wastes full of piglins and magma cubes. It's one of the calmer biomes to explore for that reason; see why the Nether isn't as scary as it looks for more on that.
Endermen are neutral — here's what that means
"Neutral" means an enderman won't bother you first. It only turns hostile if:
- You (or another mob) hit it, or
- You look directly at its face from within about 64 blocks for roughly a quarter of a second, without anything blocking your view.
Looking at any part of its head counts, even from behind, so the simplest habit is to keep your eyes on its feet or just look away when one is nearby. An angered enderman has a surprising amount of health for a Nether mob — around 20 hearts — and hits fairly hard on higher difficulties, so treating "don't provoke it" as the whole plan is a much easier win than treating it as a fight to prepare for.
Avoiding the stare — it's just good manners
Since a stare is the main way endermen get upset, avoiding it is really just a courtesy, the same way you'd avoid staring at someone on a bus. A few ways to keep things calm:
- Wear a carved pumpkin on your head. It blocks the stare trigger completely — an enderman won't react to your gaze at all while you're wearing one, which is why some players keep one handy for calmer travel through pearl-rich areas.
- Give them space rather than walking straight at one to get a closer look.
- Don't bother trying to shoot one from a distance. Endermen teleport away from arrows and other projectiles before they even land, so a bow doesn't work on them the way it does on other mobs — another reason there's no upside to picking a fight.
If one does get upset
If an enderman does notice you, it opens its mouth, starts shaking, and comes after you. Don't panic — a few calm options work well:
- Break line of sight. Get out of sight behind a wall or around a corner. An angry enderman can keep looking for you for up to about 40 seconds before it gives up, so stay put and stay calm.
- Get somewhere small. Endermen stand almost three blocks tall and need at least three blocks of open space above them to move into or teleport to a spot. Backing into a low gap — a short tunnel, a doorway with a low roof, anywhere exactly two blocks tall — and step a couple of blocks inside, not just at the opening. That puts you somewhere it simply can't follow.
That's really it. No special gear, no big showdown — just turn a corner or duck low, and the moment passes.
What Endermen drop
When an enderman is defeated, it has a chance to drop an ender pearl. Usually that means zero or one, though a sword with Looting can raise the most it can drop by one per level. Ender pearls are useful for teleporting short distances and for crafting eyes of ender later on, so they're worth picking up when you find one.
Endermen in the Nether also occasionally wander around carrying a block — usually crimson or warped fungus, crimson or warped roots, or a bit of nylium they've picked up off the ground. If you defeat one while it's holding something, that block drops too. It's a small detail, but it's part of why endermen in the Warped Forest sometimes look like they're carrying a little piece of the forest with them.
Because the Warped Forest is the Nether biome where you'll run into the most endermen, it naturally ends up being the easiest spot in the Nether to gather a pearl or two, without needing to go looking anywhere else. For a full rundown of what other Nether mobs leave behind, see what Nether mobs drop.
Common mistakes
- Glancing back out of curiosity when an enderman turns toward you — that glance is often the stare that sets it off
- Trying to fight one with a bow, expecting arrows to land the way they do on other mobs
- Assuming endermen are everywhere in the Nether, when really the Warped Forest is where you'll see the most
- Running in a panic instead of calmly ducking into a low, tight space
Related
Warped Forest · Soul Sand Valley · Nether Not Scary · Nether Mob Drops · Complete Nether Guide · Walk the World
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