Minecraft Allay: how to find and befriend these cute new creatures

Looking to make a new friends in Minecraft's Allay mob? These adorable little flying helpers, the love music and collecting items more than anything, and they might also be able to help automate projects for you once you learn how to best use their help.

The Minecraft Allay showed up packed into the 1.19 update next to the mangrove tree swamps and the cute new frog mob that lives in them. While The Wild Update lets you explore the Deep Dark and tiptoe past the Warden mob, the Allay isn't lurking down there. While you won't have to risk the Deep Dark to make friends with an Allay, you should still know that finding one isn't all roses. So lets look at how the Minecraft Allay works, what they do, and what exactly they're useful for.

Here's the quick details on the Allay:

• Can you tame the Allay? Sort of! It will follow you around if you've given it an item.
• Can you breed the Allay? Also sort of; they can be duplicated with amethyst.
• Is the Allay hostile? Nope, and they can be damaged by enemies but not their owner.
• How much does an Allay hold? Allay has one inventory slot, so up to a stack of any item.
• What does the Allay drop? Whatever it was holding in its hand.
• How far will an allay search for items? A radius of 32 blocks around the player.

Where to find and how to tame the Allay in Minecraft

The Allay don't actually have a natural habitat of their own. You'll find them captive in Pillager Outposts and Woodland Mansions, meaning you'll have to embark on a rescue mission to befriend one. At a Pillager Outpost for example, they're kept in wood and fence cages and you'll need to break them out. Give an Allay any item to befriend it and have it follow you home.

How to breed the allay in Minecraft

You can't breed the allay by feeding two of them like other mobs. As of version 1.19.1 you can duplicate them though, which works pretty similarly. Allays really love music, so when they're near a playing jukebox they'll begin to dance. If you give an amethyst shard to a dancing allay, it will duplicate into a second allay.

It makes sense that allays wouldn't reproduce like animal mobs but wow, music really is magic.

What does the Allay do in Minecraft? 

The Allay is a helper mob who loves to collect items. You can hand the Allay an item and it will fly around picking up and collecting any of the same item that it finds lying on the ground. It won't mine blocks on its own, though. So it can't run off to collect ores for you. What it will do is pick up item entities it finds and bring them back to you. The collection radius that an Allay will search is only 34 blocks, not a super huge area, so they're likely best used as mineshaft assistants or other confined areas.

You can take an item back from an Allay by right-clicking on it with an empty hand and give it something new also by right-clicking with that new item in your hand. The Allay has only one inventory slot, so it can hold one sword (but not use it!) for instance, or 64 cobblestone blocks, or 16 eggs. 

The Allay also loves music, and you can use that to your advantage as well. If you place a Note Block on the ground and play it, the Allay will instead bring and deposit its found item stacks there. 

"We imagine that players can maybe use this to make the Allay help you with sorting items or clearing up areas," Mojang explained during Minecraft Live in 2021.