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When players first come across a deep dark biome, they’ll want to play very carefully and they’ll also need to know what all these different blocks do. Knowing this will help them avoid an unnecessary and unprepared encounter with the Warden, which is one of the strongest enemies in Minecraft after the Ender Dragon. Here’s what all the sculk blocks do.
Sculk Vein
Starting off with the most harmless of the bunch is the sculk vein. This isn’t exactly a block but is more like carpeting or a set of vines that will grow on top of other blocks that are not sculk blocks. In the deep dark biome, the sculk vein is usually found at the edges of the biome, attached to deep slate or even covering ores.
Breaking the sculk vein doesn’t yield anything unless the player uses a Silk Touch pickaxe. It’s also possible to create more sculk veins by triggering a sculk catalyst, which is a unique sculk block that will be discussed further below. Interestingly, using a hoe to break the sculk vein is the quickest way to destroy it.
Sculk
Sculk is sort of the default block of the deep dark biome and is distinguished by its deep turquoise color with lighter dots that are animated but don’t provide any light. It makes an almost squishy, fungal sound when players walk on it.
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What’s cool about this block is that if the player breaks it, it actually gives them a bit of XP. It’s only 1 XP point, but it’s something regardless. Just like sculk veins, sculk itself can generate naturally when a sculk catalyst is triggered, which means that technically, players could generate an infinite amount of sculk and farm it. In order to avoid destroying it, once more, getting a Silk Touch tool is essential.
Sculk Sensor
Now on to the more nefarious blocks. Sculk sensors are a new “wireless” redstone block that sends a redstone signal after detecting a sound nearby. If a sound is made within 9 blocks of the sensor, it will emit a sound and light up, and pass the signal onwards. These blocks are particularly dangerous if they’re nearby a sculk shrieker, as they can trigger a Warden to spawn.
Luckily, players can avoid being heard by a sculk sensor if they encase the sensor in wool or they sneak or walk on wool. Players can break sculk sensors as well, but in order for it to actually drop, they will need a Silk Touch enchanted tool, with hoes being the best tool of choice once more. Keep an eye out on these sensors, since they have a surprisingly good range, even from above, and if enemy items drop on them, they will activate.
Sculk Catalyst
Earlier, sculk catalysts were mentioned as a key block that can create sculk veins and sculk when triggered. The catalyst is identified by its white details on the sides. While it can’t be triggered by a sound, meaning it’s a relatively safe block to approach, it can trigger if a mob dies in its vicinity.
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When a mob dies, the sculk catalyst activates and spreads more sculk around itself. Typically, the terrain will consist of sculk and sculk veins, but there’s also a small chance that this newly generated area will contain a sculk sensor, so be careful when experimenting with the sculk catalyst. In fact, it also has a very small chance of generating a sculk shrieker. Like the other sculk blocks, players will need to mine it out with a Silk Touch tool to avoid breaking it entirely.
Sculk Shrieker
If players spot this block nearby a bunch of sculk sensors, they best avoid making any noise. The sculk shrieker is the most dangerous block out of all sculk blocks, as it has the power to summon the Warden after a while. The sculk shrieker has four raised pillars jutting from its top and a warping, animated center area at the top. The best course of action to mine it and keep it is to use a Silk Touch pickaxe, but otherwise, when destroyed it drops 5 XP to players. Note that mining a shrieker with a Silk Touch makes it unable to trigger a Warden spawn.
The sculk shrieker is usually triggered by sculk sensors that detect sounds from nearby and send a redstone signal to any sculk shriekers nearby. However, if there are no sculk sensors nearby, it’s also possible to trigger it in other ways. Walking on it or shooting it will also cause the shrieker to emit a shrieking sound and signal, as well as inflict the player with Darkness.
Players can trigger a sculk shrieker a maximum of three times. On the fourth time, a Warden will spawn near the shrieker.
Minecraft is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS, and many other devices.
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