Armadillo
passiveBreedableOurs, not the game's own: how an armadillo behaves. Bedrock v1.26.40.05 differs: spawn weight 6 on most Java biome lists (it runs from 6 to 10) against 10 on Bedrock; groups of 1 to 2 on Java against 2 to 3 on Bedrock. Checked 2026-08-22, and here is how we check.
Added InOverview
In Minecraft, the Armadillo is classified as a passive mob: it will never attack a player and simply goes about its own behaviour.
Armadillos make their home in the Overworld, turning up in Savanna and Badlands.
Its defining trait is simple: rolls into a ball when threatened by sprinting players, undead mobs, or spiders.
With 12 HP (6 hearts) on its bar, killing one rewards 1 to 3 experience.
Players have been encountering the Armadillo since the 1.20.5 update.
A useful detail many players miss: Armadillo Scutes are used to craft Wolf Armor.
Even without combat or loot to speak of, the Armadillo adds character to the worlds it lives in and often plays a quiet supporting role in the wider ecosystem.
Spawning
In the wild, the Armadillo is generated in Savanna and Badlands.
Because it appears across 6 different biomes, it is one of the easier mobs to track down, and heading to any of them should turn one up before long.
Spawns on grass blocks in savanna and badlands biomes.
Naturally spawned armadillos will despawn over time when no player is nearby; naming one with a name tag or leading it away on a lead keeps it permanent.
With no attack to worry about, the Armadillo is something you gather or farm rather than fight.
Where the Armadillo spawns
Savanna and Windswept Savanna are where it stands strongest: weight 10 on the creature list and 19.2% of it, arriving 1 to 3 at a time. There it shares the list with Sheep at 12, Chicken at 10, Pig at 10, Cow at 8 and Donkey at 1 and 1 more, 52 weight together, of which 10 is armadillo. The other 4 biomes on its list run from 14.7% down to 12.5%.
| Biome | Weight | Share | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
 Savanna | 10 | 19.2% | 2 to 3 |
 Windswept Savanna | 10 | 19.2% | 2 to 3 |
 Savanna Plateau | 10 | 14.7% | 2 to 3 |
 Badlands | 6 | 13% | 1 to 2 |
 Eroded Badlands | 6 | 13% | 1 to 2 |
 Wooded Badlands | 6 | 12.5% | 1 to 2 |
Drops
When killed, the Armadillo drops no items at all; its only reward is experience.
The value of the Armadillo is in what it does while alive, its behaviour and the role it plays in the world, rather than anything you collect by killing it, so there is little reason to hunt one for materials.
If you are after specific items, the Armadillo is not your source for them; look to mobs with populated drop tables or to mining and trading instead.
You also collect 1 to 3 experience for every Armadillo you defeat.
Since there is nothing to pick up, you do not need to worry about a hopper or collection system for armadillos; they leave the ground exactly as they found it.
Because the Armadillo is harmless and breeds, the efficient long-term approach is a small enclosed pen where a breeding pair keeps replacing what you harvest, rather than hunting wild ones down one by one.
The game rolls nothing for it when it dies, so it leaves nothing behind at all.
Armadillo attributes
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
 Size | 0.7 x 0.65 blocks |
 Eye height | 0.26 blocks |
 Tracking range | 10 chunks |
 Movement speed | 0.14 |
| Follow range | 16 blocks |
 Health | 12 points |
 Experience | 1 to 3 |
Where the Armadillo lands, it has company: the cave spider on the same 12 health and the panda, whose 0.15 movement speed has nothing we list nearer than this 0.14.
Armadillo: 1.39% of its category, rank 28 of 52
On 6 of the 66 biome lists (6 spawn entries in total), and 1.39% of every spawn the game puts in its creature group is an armadillo.
| Weapon | Attack damage | Full swings |
|---|---|---|
 golden sword, wooden sword | 4 | 3 |
 stone sword | 5 | 3 |
 iron sword | 6 | 2 |
 diamond sword, golden axe, wooden axe | 7 | 2 |
 netherite sword | 8 | 2 |
 diamond axe, iron axe, stone axe | 9 | 2 |
 netherite axe | 10 | 2 |
Behavior & Combat
Rolls into a ball when threatened by sprinting players, undead mobs, or spiders. Periodically drops Armadillo Scutes.
At 0.14 it is 67th of 72 for speed, just below the panda at 0.15.
It is completely harmless and deals no damage, so the only risk it poses is wandering into lava, cacti or a long fall.
Armadillos can be bred with Spider Eye; feed it to two adults and they produce a baby that grows up over about twenty minutes.
All told, the Armadillo is a low-risk part of the world that rewards patience more than aggression.
Armadillo commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| /summon minecraft:armadillo | Puts an armadillo on the block you are standing on. |
| /give @p minecraft:armadillo_spawn_egg | Hands you the armadillo spawn egg, so you can place armadillos where you want them. |
| /kill @e[type=minecraft:armadillo] | Removes every armadillo that is loaded around you. |
Entity id minecraft:armadillo, spawn egg minecraft:armadillo_spawn_egg.
Armadillo farm
Everything about a armadillo farm follows the armadillo spawn rule. Spawns on grass blocks in savanna and badlands biomes.
Savanna is where the armadillo has the biggest slice of the roll, 19.2% across the 6 lists the armadillo appears on, and that is the biome to build a armadillo farm in.
The game puts 1 to 3 armadillos down per roll, so a wide armadillo floor beats a tall one.
Breeding beats waiting on spawns here: spider eye given to two adults produces a baby, and the pen keeps working in a lit, walled space where nothing new would ever spawn.
1 to 3 experience per killSavanna at 19.2%Armadillo version history
The armadillo was added in Minecraft 1.20.5, which came out on 23 April 2024, so the armadillo has been in the game for 2 years.
No other mob on this site arrived in 1.20.5, so the armadillo is the only page here that carries that version. 77 of our 88 mobs are older than the armadillo, 10 are younger.
The armadillo numbers here come from Java 26.2, the version running now, and not from the one that introduced it.
What Armadillo sounds like
Turn subtitles on and every armadillo sound names itself in the corner of the screen. These are the 12 lines a armadillo can put there, and you can play any of them yourself with /playsound minecraft:entity.armadillo.ambient master @p.
| Sound | What you hear |
|---|---|
| entity.armadillo.ambient |  Armadillo grunts |
| entity.armadillo.hurt | Armadillo hurts |
| entity.armadillo.death | Armadillo dies |
| entity.armadillo.brush | Scute is brushed off |
| entity.armadillo.eat | Armadillo eats |
| entity.armadillo.hurt_reduced | Armadillo shields itself |
| entity.armadillo.land | Armadillo lands |
| entity.armadillo.peek | Armadillo peeks |
| entity.armadillo.roll | Armadillo rolls up |
| entity.armadillo.scute_drop | Armadillo sheds scute |
| entity.armadillo.unroll_finish | Armadillo unrolls |
| entity.armadillo.unroll_start | Armadillo peeks |
Advancements that need Armadillo
2 advancements ask for armadillo by name, 1 of them about the armadillo alone.
Isn't It Scute?Get Armadillo Scutes from an Armadillo using a Brush
Two by TwoBreed all the animals!
