Sulfur Spike

This article is about the block and item. For the feature in sulfur caves, see Sulfur Spike (feature).

For the dripstone variant, see Pointed Dripstone.

For the upcoming ice variant, see Icicle.

Sulfur Spike

Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	3
Hardness	1.5
Luminous	No
Transparent	Yes
Waterloggable	Yes
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No
Map color	18 COLOR_YELLOW
Note block instrument	Bass Drum

Sulfur spikes are blocks found in sulfur caves that form stalactites and stalagmites.

The stalactites (which point downward) hang from the bottom face of blocks and grow over time when attached underneath sulfur. When their supporting block is removed, they fall and deal damage to entities that they hit.

The stalagmites (which point upward) sit on the top face of blocks. Unlike other stalagmite blocks, they do not multiply the fall damage to players and mobs that land on them.

Obtaining

Breaking

Sulfur spikes drop when mined by any tool or hand, but pickaxes are the quickest. Sulfur spikes break instantly when hit by a thrown trident. However, it cannot be broken with any other projectile.

Block	Sulfur Spike
Hardness	1.5
Tool
Breaking time (sec)[A]
Default	12.25 (JE) 2.25 (BE)
Wooden	11.15 (JE) 1.15 (BE)
Stone	10.6 (JE) 0.6 (BE)
Copper	10.45 (JE) 0.45 (BE)
Iron	10.4 (JE) 0.4 (BE)
Diamond	10.3 (JE) 0.3 (BE)
Netherite	10.25 (JE) 0.25 (BE)
Golden	10.2 (JE) 0.2 (BE)
Options
Efficiency	000
Haste	001 1JEBE

Legend

• incorrect tool, drops nothing
• correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
• correct tool, drops the block itself
• italicized can be instant mined

Natural generation

Sulfur spikes generate in sulfur caves in cluster formations. Sulfur spike stalagmites can also be found around sulfur springs.

Trading

Villager		Probability		Villager wants	Player receives	Trades in stock	Villager experience	Price multiplier
		JE	BE
Wandering Trader	Ordinary	6%	6%	Emerald	2 × Sulfur Spike	5	—	—

Mob loot

In Bedrock Edition, wandering traders have a chance of 25% (increased by 1% per level of Looting) to drop 2 sulfur spikes when killed while showing the item as trade offer, if the player holds an emerald.

Post-generation

A sulfur spike can grow only if it is hanging directly under a sulfur block. It grows downward, forming a stalactite with a maximum length of 3 blocks. In addition, if there is a block with a full solid top surface less than 11 blocks below the tip of the stalactite, a stalagmite can grow on that block toward the stalactite. This does not occur if the stalactite is 3 or more blocks long. Neither stalactites nor stalagmites can grow if their tip is waterlogged.

Sulfur spikes grow slowly, with an average time of 5 in-game days (100 minutes) for every single growth step. More precisely, every time the tip of a stalactite receives a random tick, there is a small chance of 1.138% (⁶⁴⁄₅₆₂₅) for it or the stalagmite below to grow one block. If the game tries to grow the stalagmite and there is no valid surface below, it will fail instead of growing the stalactite.

Usage

Sulfur spikes come in two different forms, stalactites and stalagmites. Placing a sulfur spike between a stalagmite and stalactite without sneaking connects them. It can be waterlogged. Mobs can jump up pointed dripstone as long as its height does not exceed four blocks. Horses and other similar mobs can travel up the same pointed dripstone as if they were stairs.

Stalactites

Stalactites are created when sulfur spikes are placed beneath a block.

If the block supporting a stalactite or any block of the stalactite is broken, all of the unsupported sulfur spike below the broken block drops, causing damage to any player and mobs standing beneath it, similar to a falling anvil. When a player dies by a stalactite falling on them, the death message "<player> was skewered by a falling stalactite" appears.

In Bedrock Edition, gray dust particles fall from stalactites.

Stalagmites

Stalagmites are created when sulfur spikes are placed on the ground.

Unlike other stalagmite blocks, falling on a sulfur stalagmite does not affect the amount of fall damage taken.^[1] Dying by falling onto a sulfur spike stalagmite treats the death as standard fall damage, meaning the death message "<player> was impaled on a stalagmite" is not displayed.

It is possible to climb up portions of stalagmites entirely composed of differently sized parts because of the different collision box sizes of the sulfur spikes from which it is composed.

Columns

Sulfur spike columns can be found naturally in sulfur caves, and are formed when stalactites and stalagmites join together in mid-air. When grown, they stop where they join (unlike in real life).

Columns can be created manually by stacking sulfur spikes on either the stalactite or the stalagmite or both until they join together, the last sulfur spikes placed being the most slender part of the whole column. Based on the direction of the last block placed, the shape of the column's slender part can vary.

Crafting ingredient

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Sulfur	Sulfur Spike

Sounds

Generic

Java Edition:

sulfur sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.sulfur.break	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	1.0	16
	​Block placed​[until: JE 26.4]	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.sulfur.place	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	1.0	16
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.sulfur.hit	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	1.0	1.0	16
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.sulfur.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	1.0	1.0	16
	​Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.sulfur.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	1.0	10	16

Bedrock Edition:

sulfur sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.sulfur.break	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8
	​Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.sulfur.place	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.sulfur.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.3	0.5
	​Something falls on a block	Blocks	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.sulfur.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	1.0	0.75
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Walking on the block	block.sulfur.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.3	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Jumping from the block	block.sulfur.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.4	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	block.sulfur.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.4	1.0

Unique

Java Edition:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Translation key
Sulfur Spike	sulfur_spike	Block & Item	happy_ghast_avoids mineable/pickaxe speleothems	block.minecraft.sulfur_spike

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Block tags	Translation key
Sulfur Spike	sulfur_spike	1380	Block & Giveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3] (Numeric: -1125)	minecraft:is_pickaxe_item_destructible	tile.sulfur_spike.name

Block states

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

History

Announcement

April 14, 2026							Sulfur spikes are shown on social media posts using a different texture.

Java Edition

Java Edition
26.2			snap3				Added sulfur spikes.
							Wandering traders are intended to sell sulfur spikes, but currently do not.[2]
			snap5				Sulfur spikes now have unique sounds when falling rather than reusing pointed dripstone sounds.
			snap6				Wandering traders can now sell sulfur spikes.[2]
							The map color for sulfur spikes is now  18 COLOR_YELLOW instead of  48 TERRACOTTA_BROWN.[3]
							The damage dealt by falling sulfur spikes has been increased.[4]
26.3			snap3				The texture of up tip merge sulfur spikes has been changed.

Bedrock Edition

Bedrock Edition
26.30			Preview 26.30.20				Added sulfur spikes.
			Preview 26.30.25				Added sulfur spikes to the Creative inventory.
							Wandering traders can now sell sulfur spikes.
							Four sulfur spikes can now be used to craft one sulfur block.
26.40			Preview 26.40.20				Sulfur spikes now have their own unique sounds.
			Preview 26.40.26				Limited how long spikes can grow.
			Preview 26.40.30				The texture of up tip merge sulfur spikes has been changed.

Issues

Issues relating to "Sulfur Spike" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Gallery

Mojang screenshots

• 
  A sulfur cave with sulfur spikes
• 
  Ari in a sulfur cave looking up and observing a sulfur spike hanging from the ceiling. A sulfur cube to the right eagerly watches.

References