What does Sniffer do in Minecraft 1.20 Trails & Tales update

A sniffer in the game (Image via Mojang)
A sniffer in the game (Image via Mojang)

Minecraft mobs are entities that spawn in different regions of the world, and each of them has unique characteristics. The winner of the mob vote that took place during Minecraft Live 2022, the sniffer, is an ancient mob that will be added to Minecraft with the 1.20 Trails & Tales update.

The developers announced the sniffer as an ancient mob that can only be brought back by hatching its rare eggs.

Initially, players only had access to limited information about the sniffer from its Mob Vote videos, but Mojang has since been revealing more details over time.


Sniffer in Minecraft 1.20 Trails & Tales update

youtube-cover

Despite its intimidating size, the sniffer is a passive creature that will never act aggressively towards players. With its vibrant colors and distinctive animations, it stands out among other mobs in the game.

What does it do?

Sniffer sniffing for seeds (Image via Mojang)
Sniffer sniffing for seeds (Image via Mojang)

After being summoned, the sniffer will begin to sniff around and then randomly start digging for the seeds of a forthcoming flower known as the torchflower.

It is worth noting that the torchflower, like the sniffer, is an ancient entity that will be added to the game with the 1.20 update.

It can dig through most variants of dirt blocks, excluding farmlands, and once it has found torchflower seeds, it will leave them on the ground and move to find more seeds.


How to spawn it

Sniffer spawn eggs can be obtained in creative mode (Image via Mojang)
Sniffer spawn eggs can be obtained in creative mode (Image via Mojang)

The sniffer does not spawn naturally in the current betas and snapshots, and its eggs are yet to be added. Once the update drops, players will be able to find sniffer eggs in the loot chests of ocean ruins.

Players will also be able to acquire their eggs by taking advantage of the upcoming archeology feature. If the player gets lucky, they can get sniffer eggs by using a brush on suspicious sand blocks.

Players are expecting a new hatching process to be added, as hatching sniffer eggs will most likely be different than hatching chicken eggs.

If the player wishes to see the sniffer in a beta or snapshot version, then they can summon it using the "/summon minecraft:sniffer" command or use a sniffer spawn egg in creative mode.


How to enable experimental features

To utilize the latest 1.20 features, including the sniffer, players must enable experimental features before creating a new world in the latest snapshots, or Minecraft 1.19.4.

They can do so by following these steps:

Step 1: Press on the "Create New World"

Step 2: Navigate to "More"

Step 3: Select the "Experiments" option

Experimental features available in Minecraft 1.19.4 (Image via Mojang)
Experimental features available in Minecraft 1.19.4 (Image via Mojang)

Step 4: Enable "Update 1.20"

While the world generated will include the latest features, it's important to note that attempting to access it in different versions may result in crashes or create a corrupted world.

Quick Links