You’re wandering through a dark forest, your sword is losing durability, and then you hear it. A high-pitched, musical chime. It sounds like a flute being played underwater. If you’ve stumbled upon a Pillager Outpost or a Woodland Mansion, you’ve likely found an Allay. But here is the thing: most players think you can just feed it something like a wolf or a cat to make it yours. You can't.
Actually, the concept of how to tame an Allay in Minecraft is a bit of a misnomer. These little blue sprites aren't "tamed" in the traditional sense of hearts popping up over their heads. Instead, you enter into a sort of item-based contract with them. They are spirits of collection, not pets that sit on command.
Where These Blue Spirits Actually Hide
Finding them is the hardest part. Allays don't just spawn in the wild like pigs or sheep. They are prisoners. You’ll find them trapped in dark oak cages outside of Pillager Outposts—usually one to three per cage—or locked in jail cells on the ground floor of Woodland Mansions. Honestly, the mansions are a nightmare to clear just for a helper, so I always recommend scouting for outposts first.
Don't just rush the cage. If you’re playing on a higher difficulty, those crossbow-wielding Pillagers will turn you into a pincushion before you can break a single wooden plank. Clear the area. Or, if you're feeling brave, use an invisibility potion to sneak in and break the cage door. Once they are free, they won't run away immediately, but they also won't follow you yet. They’re just... vibing.
The Secret to How to Tame an Allay in Minecraft
To get an Allay to follow you, you have to give it an item. Any item. If you hand an Allay a dirt block, it becomes obsessed with that dirt block. It will follow you up to 64 blocks away just because it recognizes you as its "person."
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This is the core mechanic. Once it’s holding an item, it will actively search for dropped versions of that same item within a 32-block radius. If you're mining and your inventory is full of cobblestone, give the Allay a piece of cobble. It will hover around, vacuuming up every loose stone you leave behind and bringing it back to you. It’s basically a flying hopper with a cute face.
The Note Block Connection
There is a layer of complexity here that most people ignore until they realize their Allay is throwing items into a lava pit by accident. Allays love music. If a Note Block plays nearby, the Allay will be "tethered" to that block for 30 seconds. Instead of bringing items to you, it will toss them at the Note Block.
This is how you automate farms. You can set up a simple redstone clock to hit a Note Block every 20 seconds, put a hopper under it, and the Allay will dutifully deliver the harvest without you ever touching a button. It’s brilliant, really.
Keeping Your Allay Alive (and Sane)
Allays have 20 health points (10 hearts). They also have a natural health regeneration of 2 points per second. That sounds like a lot, but they are fragile. They don't take damage from their "owner," which is a massive relief for those of us who swing swords wildly during a creeper ambush. However, they can still be shot by skeletons or burned in fire.
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If your Allay looks a bit ragged, you can't feed it. You just have to keep it out of harm's way while its natural regen kicks in.
Duplicating Your New Friend
Once you’ve figured out how to tame an Allay in Minecraft, you’ll probably want more than one. Collecting them from mansions is a pain. Instead, wait for a thunderstorm or find a jukebox.
- Play a music disc. Any disc works, even the creepy "5" or "11" ones.
- The Allay will start to dance. It’s a literal wiggle that is genuinely the cutest thing in the game.
- While it's dancing, give it an Amethyst Shard.
- The Allay will "split," and you’ll suddenly have two.
There is a five-minute cooldown on this. Don't spam your shards; it won't work. Also, they have to be actively dancing. If the music stops, the duplication window closes.
Common Mistakes People Make
I see this constantly: players give an Allay a valuable item like a Diamond Pickaxe and then lose the Allay. If an Allay is holding a tool, it will look for other dropped tools of that type. It won't mine for you. It only picks up what is already on the ground.
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Another thing? Leads. You can actually use a lead on an Allay. If you're traveling across an ocean biome and you're worried about it getting distracted by a random dropped drowned item, just leash it. It feels a bit cruel given they were just in cages, but it’s better than losing your helper in the middle of the sea.
Practical Next Steps for Your Allay
Now that you have your Allay following you, don't just let it float around aimlessly.
First, go to an Amethyst Geode and mine a stack of shards so you can double your population every five minutes. Second, set up a simple "sorting" station in your base. Place a Note Block with a hopper leading into a chest. Give your Allay a specific item you always have too much of—like seeds or rotten flesh—and let it clean up your mob grinder or wheat farm.
If you want to get really advanced, use them for sorting non-stackable items. Hoppers are terrible at sorting things like potions or enchanted books, but an Allay doesn't care. If you give it a Potion of Healing, it will only pick up Potions of Healing. It’s the only way to create a truly "smart" sorting system in vanilla Minecraft without a doctorate in redstone engineering.
Keep your jukeboxes ready and your Note Blocks tuned. You’ve officially moved beyond basic survival and into the realm of magical automation.