How to Tame an Allay in Minecraft (Find, Use & Duplicate Guide)

TL;DR

• Allays cannot be tamed with food — give them any item to make them follow you.
• Find allays in dark oak cages at pillager outposts or jail cells in woodland mansions.
• Each location has a 50% chance of spawning 1 to 3 allays.
• The allay follows you up to 64 blocks away and collects matching items within 32 blocks.
• Use a note block to set a drop-off point for collected items.
• Duplicate allays by giving one an amethyst shard while it dances near a jukebox.
• After duplication, both allays have a 5-minute cooldown before they can duplicate again.

How to tame an allay in Minecraft is simpler than most players expect — but it works nothing like taming a wolf or a horse. The allay is a small blue flying mob added in the 1.19 Wild Update. It is completely passive, never attacks anything, and glows faintly in the dark. Its main purpose is to collect items for you automatically. You give it one item, and it will fly around picking up every matching item it finds on the ground and bring them back to you. This guide covers where to find the allay, how to get it to follow you, how to use it for item collection and farm automation, and how to duplicate it so you can build a whole team of helpers. You can use all of these features in both Java and Bedrock editions of Minecraft.

Can You Actually Tame an Allay in Minecraft?

Technically, the allay cannot be tamed the way wolves or cats are. There is no food you can feed it to make it permanently loyal. Instead, you give it an item — any item — and it starts following you and collecting that item. Take the item back and it stops following. It is more like activating it than taming it. That said, most players refer to this as taming, and for practical purposes, the effect is the same: the allay stays with you, collects items, and can be directed using a lead.

How to Tame an Allay in Minecraft

Where to Find an Allay in Minecraft

Allays do not spawn freely in the wild. They only appear in two specific structures, always as captives:

Pillager Outposts

This is the most common and safest place to find allays. Pillager outposts are tall dark oak towers that generate in most biomes. Around the base of the tower, you will sometimes find small dark oak cages. Allays have a 50% chance of spawning inside these cages, in groups of 1 to 3. The outpost is guarded by pillagers, so clear the area first before you try to free any allays. Once the area is safe, simply break open the cage. The allay will fly out freely.

Pillager outposts are far more common than woodland mansions and much easier to deal with, so this is where most players get their first allay. If you need help tackling the outpost, check out our guide on how to get a totem of undying in Minecraft — evokers at raids and mansions drop them, and having one is great insurance during a fight.

Woodland Mansions

Woodland mansions are very rare structures that generate in dark forest biomes. Inside these massive buildings, you can find jail-cell style rooms with cobblestone bars. Allays also have a 50% chance of spawning in these cells, again in groups of 1 to 3. Mansions are full of dangerous mobs — vindicators and evokers — so come well prepared before exploring one. Check out our full guide to finding a woodland mansion in Minecraft before you head in.

How to Tame (Activate) an Allay in Minecraft

Once you have found and freed an allay, taming it is incredibly easy. Here are the steps:

1. Hold any item in your hand. It does not matter what it is — a stick, a piece of wheat, a button, even a diamond works.
2. Right-click the allay (Java) or press the use button (Bedrock) while holding the item.
3. The allay will take the item from you, hold it in front of itself, and begin following you.
4. It now searches for dropped versions of that same item within about 32 blocks of your location.
5. When it finds matching items, it picks them up and delivers them to you.

That is all there is to it. The allay follows you from up to 64 blocks away even if it cannot see you. After it delivers a batch of items, there is a short 3-second delay before it can start seeking again.

To stop the allay from following you, simply right-click it with an empty hand. It will give the item back and go back to wandering on its own. You can then give it a different item to change what it collects, or attach a lead to keep it in one place.

How to Use an Allay Effectively

Basic Item Collection

The simplest use is having the allay collect a specific resource for you. For example, if you are mining and drop iron ore accidentally, give the allay a piece of iron ore and it will fly around picking up any iron ore it finds on the ground nearby. This works for nearly any item type. The allay holds up to a full stack (64 items) in addition to the item you gave it.

Note that the allay does not distinguish enchantments or custom item names. If you give it an enchanted sword, it will pick up any sword — enchanted or not — that matches the base item type.

Using Note Blocks for Item Sorting

This is where the allay becomes seriously powerful. When a note block plays within 16 blocks of the allay while it is carrying items, it changes its delivery destination from you to the note block. It then spends 30 seconds dropping items at the note block location and seeking more items around it. After 30 seconds, it returns to following you again.

By placing a hopper and chest underneath the note block, items the allay drops fall into the hopper and get stored automatically. This is the foundation of allay-based item sorter farms. Assign each allay a different item and a different note block over a different chest, and you can build a fully automated sorting system. For more redstone inspiration, our Minecraft redstone basics guide is a great starting point.

One important detail: the allay and the note block communicate through vibration particles. If you place wool between the allay and the note block, it blocks the vibration and the allay will not lock on to it. Keep that in mind when designing sorting systems.

Using Allays on Farms

Allays are incredibly useful on automated farms. Here are some of the best setups:

• Raid farms — Assign an allay to collect totems of undying dropped by evokers. Read our raid farm guide for the full setup.
• Crop farms — Use allays to collect dropped wheat, melons, or pumpkins from your farm. Combine with our melon and pumpkin farm guide for a smooth automated harvest.
• XP farms — Allays can collect items dropped by mobs in your XP mob farm and sort them automatically.
• Iron farms — Let allays collect iron ingots from your iron golem farm without you needing to stand there.

Leading an Allay Back to Your Base

After you free an allay and give it an item, you can also attach a lead to it. This is useful for bringing it back to your base without it wandering off. Just right-click the allay with a lead in hand. You can then walk it home like any other mob on a lead.

How to Duplicate an Allay in Minecraft

You only need one allay to make more. The duplication process involves a jukebox and an amethyst shard. Here is how it works step by step:

What You Need

• 1 Jukebox — Crafted with 8 wooden planks of any type and 1 diamond in the center.
• 1 Music Disc — Any disc works. Found in dungeon chests, dropped by creepers killed by skeletons, or found in various loot chests. Our music disc location guide can help you track one down.
• 1 Amethyst Shard — Obtained by breaking amethyst cluster blocks found inside amethyst geodes underground.

How to Duplicate Step by Step

1. Place your jukebox near the allay — within 10 blocks of it.
2. Insert a music disc into the jukebox to start playing music.
3. The allay will hear the music and begin a dancing animation around the jukebox.
4. While the allay is dancing, right-click (Java) or use the button (Bedrock) on it while holding an amethyst shard.
5. The allay will produce hearts, play a sound, and split into two allays.

After duplication, both allays share a 5-minute cooldown before either one can be duplicated again. You only need one allay to start — you do not need a pair. Each split creates a brand new allay in the same location. Repeat the process to build up as many allays as you want.

Amethyst shards are the only resource consumed in this process. Stock up on them by visiting amethyst geodes underground before you start a duplication session. You do not lose the music disc or the jukebox.

Allay Tips and Tricks

• Allays never despawn — Once you free and activate an allay, it will not despawn like other passive mobs. Keep it safe and it will be with you indefinitely.
• Allays can fly through water — They are not blocked by water and will pick up items floating in or under it.
• They ignore enchantments — Give an allay an enchanted pickaxe and it will pick up any pickaxe, regardless of enchantment. Keep this in mind when sorting valuable tools.
• MobGriefing must be on — If the game rule /gamerule mobGriefing is set to false, the allay cannot pick up any dropped items. You can still hand it items manually, but it will not collect on its own.
• Use a name tag to keep track — If you have multiple allays each assigned to a different item, use a name tag to label each one. Our name tag guide shows you how to get and use them.
• Wool blocks vibrations — Place wool between a note block and an allay to stop the allay from locking onto that note block. Useful for more complex sorting designs.
• Allays are fragile — They have only 10 hearts of health and will panic and fly around erratically if hurt. Keep them away from hostile mobs, lava, and combat zones.
• You can swap items — Right-click the allay with a different item to change what it collects without stopping and restarting. It will immediately focus on the new item.

Allay vs Other Utility Mobs

The allay fills a role no other mob can. Here is how it compares:

• Iron Golem — Defends your base and villagers. Cannot collect items. Our iron golem farm guide covers everything about building with them.
• Wolf — Fights mobs for you. Cannot collect items. Good for combat, not utility.
• Allay — Cannot fight at all but is the only mob in the game that automatically collects specific items for you. Irreplaceable for farms and sorting systems.
• Sniffer — Digs up rare ancient seeds. Does not collect dropped items. If you want to get one, read our guide on how to find a sniffer in Minecraft.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ending Note

The allay is one of the most useful companions in Minecraft, and most players seriously underuse it. A single allay can automate item collection on any farm. A group of allays, each holding a different item and parked over a note block and hopper, can build you a fully automated sorting system with almost no redstone involved. The best part is that you only need to find one to get started — then duplicate it as many times as you want using amethyst shards and a jukebox.

Start by raiding a pillager outpost, free a couple of allays, and bring them home on leads. From there, the possibilities are wide open. If you are building out a serious base, also check out our automatic farm guide and our tips on how to make a villager trading hall in Minecraft to keep the resources flowing. You can explore everything Minecraft has to offer on Android or Xbox and the allay works the same way across all platforms.