Block of the Month: Sculk shrieker

Sculk shriekers were added to Minecraft in the Wild Update in June 2022, at the same time as the rest of the deep dark. Thankfully they’re rarely seen in most of the biome, but if you stumble into an ancient city then you’ll want to be much more careful because they’re far more common there. 

These blocks serve one purpose – to alert wardens to the presence of interlopers. They’re linked to sculk sensors in the vicinity, and if any of those sensors, or the block itself, is activated then it’ll let out a ghastly shriek - lasting about five seconds. Too many shrieks from a naturally-generated shrieker and you’ll attract the interest of a warden. One placed by a player will still shriek but not summon anything.

There’s one way you can avoid the shrieking – by dampening your sounds using a soft material like wool. Place a block of wool between the sensor and the shrieker, and it’ll block the alarm signal, allowing you to be noisier. For best results, surround the shrieker entirely with wool, but be very quiet and careful, so that you don’t accidentally summon a warden in the process.

People exploring caves in the real world have not yet managed to dig deep enough to find wardens or the deep dark (or at least if they have, they haven’t returned alive), so we’ve got no idea if sculk shriekers exist on planet Earth. They probably don’t exist. Probably.

But similar alarm systems have long been used by property owners to detect unauthorized intruders. The earliest were animals – dogs, livestock, or even geese were kept near an entrance and raised the alarm if a person came near. Later, people began using magnets that completed a circuit if a window or door opened.

Today, the state of the art in alarm systems include motion sensors, infrared cameras, and even live video systems that send property owners alerts on their phone with a video feed of what’s happening. It’s impressive!

In Minecraft, it’s probably easier to rig up a redstone alarm than it is to dig down to the deep dark, grab a sculk shrieker, and bring it up to your home. But hey – if that sounds like a fun time, then you do you!