The Shulker Mimic is a miniboss that sleeps at the top of the Shulker Tower disguised as a 
Shulker Box. It’s got 200 health and 15 armor, it caps every hit you land at 21, and it fights with Shulker bullets that lift you off the floor. On an outer island, that lift is how most players lose to it.
Kill it and you get the 
Large Shulker Shell, which is the only route to the 
Shulker Shield and the 
Shulker Helmet. The helmet cancels Levitation the moment it lands, so the second Mimic you meet is a far easier fight than the first.
Location
The Shulker Mimic lives only inside the Shulker Tower, a tall End Stone Brick and Purpur tower on the outer End islands, and you won’t find one anywhere else. It sits on the upper floor about two thirds of the way up, level with the second ring of 
Chests and under the loft holding the two real Shulker Boxes.
You won’t need to search blind, as the 
Eye Of Shulker flies toward the nearest tower within 100 chunks. It’s 4 
End Stone around an 
Ender Pearl, and like an Eye of Ender it usually drops back down after the flight, though about one in five breaks, so craft a couple before you head out. It’s the only way to find a tower without cheats.
With cheats on, the locate command below finds the nearest tower and gives you its coordinates. It only searches the dimension you’re standing in, so run it once you’re through the gateway to the outer islands rather than from the Overworld.
Finding the tower gives the advancement There Is No Gravity Here!, which is a fair warning about the floor plan. Eight vanilla 
Shulkers cling to the lower floors, four near the base and four about halfway up, and each one lifts you for 10 seconds on a hit. Clear them on the way up, because a Levitation stack near an open window ends in the void.
It looks exactly like a Shulker Box while it sleeps, and nothing you do to it registers until it wakes. Walk within about 7 blocks and it unfolds over 2 seconds, and that’s your window to get off the stairs and onto the flat floor. The two Shulker Boxes above it are real, and both hold End City treasure.
Behavior
Awake, the Shulker Mimic is a floating brawler that swaps between bullets and lunges, and it never gets pushed back by anything you do. Its bullets do modest damage that ignores armor, and every one puts Levitation II on you for 1.5 to 3 seconds, which is the whole problem. It also disables your 
Shield for 5 seconds with most melee hits, so blocking buys you little.
Attacks
Everything it throws is aimed at where you stand, so keep moving sideways rather than backing straight off. The table gives the numbers on Normal difficulty, and every melee hit below also cuts your Shield out for a few seconds.
| Attack | Reach | Damage | What to Know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bite Lunge | 4 blocks | 11 | Dashes in and launches you, Shield off 5 seconds |
| Double Slash | 4.5 blocks | 13, twice | Two low sweeps, only used when you’re level with it or below |
| Backstep Charge | 4 blocks | 15 | Hops back then charges through you in a line, launches you |
| Repel Slam | 5 blocks | 15 | Shield off 7 seconds, throws a line of blocks and shoves you 14 blocks |
| Bullet Volley | 12 blocks | 5 to 8 each | Ignores armor, Levitation II for 1.5 to 3 seconds per bullet |
| Gravity Bullets | 12 blocks | 5 each | Gravity Pull II for 5 seconds on top of the Levitation |
| Firework Grab | 3.5 blocks | None | Grabs you, holds you for a second, then rockets you 10 blocks up |
The Firework Grab is the one that kills people, because the drop is 10 blocks and nothing about the fall is padded. It only tries it about a third of the time it’s in range, with a 5 second cooldown, and the grab goes straight through a raised Shield. Feather Falling turns the landing into a scratch, so wear it.
The Gravity Bullets stack Gravity Pull II on top of Levitation II, so you float up and then fall more than twice as fast as normal once the lift ends. Deaths from it look like you’ve Levitated for too long, and a 
Potion of Slow Falling switches the extra gravity off completely.
The Repel Slam is the other one to respect, as the 7 second Shield lockout is longer than any gap in its pattern. It tears a line of blocks out of the floor toward you as well, then shoves everything in front of it away for a full second, which is how it puts you through a window.
Phases
The Mimic’s shell cracks as it loses health, and the cracks are the phase markers. Below 100 health it moves to phase 2, and below 50 it moves to phase 3, each time with a crack you’ll hear over the fight.
Phase 1 fires bullets in pairs, a small one then a medium one, and its only backstep is the charge. Phase 2 switches to three-bullet volleys ending in the big 3 second Levitation bullet, fired every couple of seconds, and adds a short hop back that does no damage. Phase 3 adds a blink, teleporting to your side partway through a volley to finish it from a new angle.
It’s untouchable and invisible for the blink itself, which lasts a fraction of a second, so a swing timed on the teleport simply misses. It can’t be knocked back at any stage, and none of the melee changes between phases, so the fight gets busier rather than harder to read.
Special Mechanics
A few rules shape the fight more than any single attack does. Every hit you land is capped at 21, so a fast sword with Sharpness beats one huge swing, and its 15 armor takes a bigger bite out of weak weapons than strong ones.
It’ll ignore every projectile, so 
Arrows, 
Tridents and 
Snowballs do nothing, while thrown Potions and melee land as normal. It’s also invulnerable whenever you stand more than 4 blocks above or below it, so pillaring up or dropping to the floor below turns your hits off. Fall damage never touches it either, so knocking it off a ledge does nothing.
Leave it alone for 3 seconds and it starts healing 20 health every three quarters of a second until it’s full. A phase 3 Mimic slides back to phase 2 as it heals, but it never returns to phase 1, so running out to eat costs you the whole fight rather than part of it.
Drops
The Shulker Mimic drops one Large Shulker Shell every time, plus 3 to 10 ordinary 
Shulker Shells, and it’s worth 20 experience. The kill also gives the advancement Spooky Scary Shulker Box. The Chests on its floor and the two Shulker Boxes above pull from the End City treasure table, so clear them before you leave.
Shulker Mimic Drops
Large Shulker Shell 
Shulker Shell The Large Shulker Shell is the only ingredient that matters in two recipes. Five End Stone around it make the Shulker Shield, which carries 450 durability and a 60% chance to put Levitation II on whatever hits you while you block. Five 
Diamonds around it make the Shulker Helmet, 3 armor with 2 toughness and 286 durability, which strips Levitation off you every tick.
Both repair with ordinary Shulker Shells, which is what the 3 to 10 extra shells are for. The helmet is the one to build first, because it turns every Shulker in the End into a mob that just does a little damage.
Strategy
Go in with Feather Falling IV, a Potion of Slow Falling ready and a fast sword with Sharpness V, because the damage cap makes attack speed worth more than raw damage. Clear the eight Shulkers first, then fight the Mimic on the flat upper floor with your back to the stairs rather than a window. Milk clears Levitation and Gravity Pull together if a volley lands.
Stay level with it and inside its bite range, since you can’t hurt it from a ledge and it can’t be shot. Circle to its sides during the melee, as the bite, slashes and slam only cover the front half, and step out when it winds up the Repel Slam so the shove pushes air. Keep hitting through the phase changes, because once it’s lost you it’ll start healing.
Block the windows with 
Cobblestone before you wake it if the room worries you, as the Repel Slam’s shove is 14 blocks and the outer islands don’t forgive it. When it blinks in phase 3, hold your swing until it reappears beside you, then turn and go straight back in.
FAQ
Craft an Eye Of Shulker from 4 End Stone and an Ender Pearl and throw it on the outer End islands, where it flies toward the nearest Shulker Tower within about 100 chunks. The tower only generates in End Highlands and End Midlands, and the Mimic sleeps on the upper floor looking like a Shulker Box. Better End adds a few of its own biomes to the list.
Four different things switch its damage off during the fight. It can’t be hurt while it sleeps, it ignores every projectile, it’s invulnerable for the fraction of a second it spends teleporting in phase 3, and it takes nothing while you stand more than 4 blocks above or below it. Get level with it and use a sword.
One Large Shulker Shell every kill, along with 3 to 10 ordinary Shulker Shells and 20 experience. The Large Shulker Shell crafts either the Shulker Shield, with 5 End Stone, or the Shulker Helmet, with 5 Diamonds, and both repair with the ordinary shells.
Yes, it removes Levitation every tick, so the bullets are reduced to 5 to 8 armor-piercing damage each. It does nothing about Gravity Pull from the Gravity Bullets or the Firework Grab, so you still want Feather Falling and a Potion of Slow Falling for those.
