The Minecraft allay was added to the game with 1.19, The Wild Update. The adorable blue fairy-like creature is unique to any other mob in the game – and is undeniably the most complex.
Minecraft mobs come in all different shapes, sizes, and personalities. Hostile mobs like the Minecraft Phantom and Creepers are out to kill you, while passive farm animals like cows and pigs provide you with a much-needed food source. Wolves have your back in a skeleton fight and you can tame them to get your own pet dog, and the upcoming Minecraft camel can be ridden across the desert. Simple right? Well, no wonder you’re seeking information about the Minecraft allay, because despite being in the game since June 2022, the flying critter is still a bit of a mystery, it’s rare, and its uses and behaviours are somewhat complicated for one of the best PC games.
Minecraft allay mob guide
First off, the important stuff… look how cute it is! *heart eyes emoji*
Okay, so it might look a little like the fiendish Vex, but the Minecraft allay doesn’t act like one. In fact, quite the opposite. The allay is a very helpful mob to have by your side, spurred on by its loyalty to you. You see, if the allay wasn’t cute enough at face value, it’s actually the most unique Minecraft mob in that it has a kind of in-game storyline – involving you.
Where to find the allay in Minecraft
The Minecraft allay is only found in Pillager Outpost cages or Woodland Mansion cage rooms. They can duplicate, which we’ll get to in a bit, but in order to befriend your first one you’ll need to find a rare Pillager Outpost or the even more sporadic Woodland Mansion. To make sure you and your new friends stay safe, you should rid the outpost of it’s hostile residents first (though if you’re killing them in their home, pretty sure that makes you the hostile one).
Break the allays’ cages and set them free, with the adorable aforementioned backstory being that allays become loyal to you as thanks for saving them from their cruel prison. Give the allay an item to carry and it will follow you within 60 blocks, so, once freed, you can bring the cute mob back to your base, or have it accompany you around the overworld.
What does a Minecraft allay do?
Finding the allay is the (somewhat) easy bit – understanding and utilising their mechanics is a bit harder, as they are one of the most complicated mobs in the sandbox game.
Item collection
The main use for the allay is its ability to collect resources and items. Give an allay an item by using the ‘interact’ button on it with the item in hand and the mob will begin to carry that item. It’ll toddle off on its own and gather up any of the same item up to one full stack (plus the original gifted item), and return to you. If you’ve ever been surrounded by cobblestone while mining with a full inventory, you’ll start to see why this might be useful.
If you then give the allay a way to drop the item off, or give multiple allays the same thing, you can even collect and sort non-stackable items in a way previously unavailable, which is a great help to your base’s storage system and your inventory capacity.
Note Blocks and Jukeboxes
Another part of the allay’s backstory is its love for music and sounds. The most useful feature here being that, instead of returning collected items to you, allays can return items to a Note Block. This does make for a slightly more complicated sorting system than you might be used to as an allay will drop items near their favourite Note Block for only 30 seconds after hearing it make a sound. Therefore, if you are leaving, you need to set up a redstone repeater to ensure the Note Block plays at least every 30 seconds. Set up a system with Note Blocks, hoppers, and chests and your buddies will drop items straight into your storage system.
Similarly, due to their love of music, allays will dance to any music disc played on a jukebox. While this is just straight up adorable (can you sense a theme yet), it’s also useful, as you can use it to duplicate your baby blue buddy. More on that further down.
Health
The allay, like all Minecraft mobs, has its own health level and can be attacked. However, thanks to the mob’s behaviours, it works in a new way. Mainly, once befriended, you cannot hurt the allay. According to a minecraft.net blog post, this is because developers didn’t want you to accidentally injure or even kill an allay when it’s following you around. However, it will lose health when attacked by another mob, i.e. accidentally intercepting an arrow. To counter this, an allay can regenerate health on its own, so it should be rare that your new blue friend will take enough damage to die.
How to tame a Minecraft allay?
Technically, and unfortunately, you cannot tame allays in the same way that you might Minecraft horses or cats. They will follow and return to you when you give them an item, but otherwise they can just fly away at will. I mean, you didn’t save them from captivity to return them to it, right? Having said that, you can use a lead on them, but let’s say you’d do that to save them from getting lost as opposed to an ownership thing.
The fact that you can use a lead on them, though, also means that you /can’t/ give them a lead for gathering more of the same. Same goes for name tags since using this on the allay will instead consume the item. Additionally, since they’re not tamed, if another player gives an allay an item it will start following them instead.
Can you breed allays?
Alongside the question of taming Minecraft mobs comes the question of breeding them. Again, this is an area in which the allay has a mechanic all of its own. Rather than breeding them, this fantastical creature can duplicate itself, but that in itself requires a few special items. As we’ve mentioned above, allays just love music and will dance to any track on the jukebox (even 11, for some reason). Use an amethyst shard on an allay while it’s dancing away (even if it’s holding another item) and it will instantly duplicate. After a five-minute wait, both will be able to duplicate again.
Phew, we made it. Sorry that’s quite a long one, but we’re sure you can agree the allay is one of the most complex mobs in Minecraft. It’s totally worth the effort, though, once you see them swaying and spinning to the sounds of the music disc ‘strad’. Now you’ve got all the tools to go and gather up some allay friends and create a musical sorting system – or just chuck some allays and parrots in a room and have a rave. If you /are/ heading off in search of a Woodland Mansion or Pillager Outpost, make sure you’re fully equipped for the adventure with tools and armour made with the finest Minecraft diamond or Minecraft Netherite, and kitted out with some good Minecraft enchantments to ensure your best chance of survival.
