Even after all these years, Minecraft keeps adding new items and abilities. The Wild Update brought goat horns (among other things), giving you a reason to seek out those screaming mountain goats – at least in multiplayer games.
Not that you cannot get goat horns in a single-player game. It is just that their effect is only useful when playing with other people, whether in a team or competitively. So let’s look at how to get goat horns in Minecraft.
What are Goat Horns and What Do They Do?
Goats have been in Minecraft for a while (both the Java and Bedrock Edition), annoying you by screaming and ramming into stuff. Sure, you could milk them or breed them, but that was all.
With the 1.19 update, however, goats occasionally drop horns when ramming into solid blocks. These horns aren’t purely decorative either, as you can blow the horn to play a unique sound.
The best thing is that the horn can be heard by other players at a very long range (up to 256 blocks), making it the best tool for signaling your teammates in multiplayer mode, except for beacons, of course. Though you cannot just keep using a horn continuously – there is a six-second cooldown before you can play a horn in your inventory again, no matter how many you have.
Where Can You Get Goat Horns in Minecraft?
Contrary to what you might expect, you can not get goat horns by slaying goats. Horns are only dropped when goats ram into a solid block.
You have to wait around a goat – found in mountainous biomes – and pick up the horns as they drop. As they ram stationary blocks frequently, it wouldn’t be long before you find yourself a bunch of them.
The only materials that can snap goat horns are stone, coal ore, copper ore, iron ore, emerald ore, log, and packed ice. Goat horns also spawn in pillager outpost chests, though they can only contain regular horn variants, which is just four of all possible types. More on that in the next section.
Types of Goat Horns
Mojang doesn’t do anything by halves. When they added goat horns, they added a whopping eight types of them.
Each of these variants has its unique sound, allowing a party of eight players to easily distinguish between each member with a different horn. Though you do have to collect all these different types of horns first.
A single goat only drops two horns of the same type. Furthermore, goats themselves have two types – regular goats and “screamers”.
You can tell a goat is a screamer if it, well, screams, and rams more frequently. Screaming goats can drop four types of horns: “Admire”, “Call”, “Yearn”, and “Dream”. Normal goats drop the other four: “Ponder”, “Sing”, “Seek”, and “Feel”.
What Is the Best Way to Get Goat Horns in Minecraft?
The only reliable way of getting horns is to find a group of goats on some snowy slopes and wait for them to ram into solid blocks. They will drop a pair of horns each that you can pick up easily.
If you want to get all goat horn variants, however, be prepared for a long wait. It is hard to find large herds of goats, and there are eight types of horns. Screaming goats are even rarer, and four of these variants can only be dropped by them.
Of course, all of this is made simpler if you were already breeding goats. Just coax them into an enclosed space and watch as they ram the block and drop their horns. If you stand still they will try to ram you as well, so be ready to jump aside.