The armor stand in Minecraft lets you decorate your base using the old armors. You can place the armor stands and go for an aesthetic Batman’s Cave look or show off your Netherite armor to your friends.
It’s easy to craft an armor stand as it only requires some sticks and a smooth stone slab. Let’s look at the detailed crafting process and how to use it.
How to Craft an Armor Stand?
You will need six sticks and one smooth stone slab to create an armor stand using a crafting table.
Gathering Resources for Armor Stand
- Cut a tree to gather logs. Then change the logs into wood using the crafting GUI.
- Use the crafting GUI to turn the wood into sticks.
- Next, gather some cobblestone by mining.
- Use the furnace for smelting the cobblestone into stone and smelting it further to get the smooth stone.
- Now, use the crafting table and turn the smooth stone into smooth stone slabs.
Crafting Armor Stand
- Open the crafting GUI.
- Place one smooth stone slab in the middle space of the bottom row.
- Place one stick on either side of the slab.
- Now, add one stick on the middle row and column’s center space.
- Fill the top row with a stick in each space.
- You can then grab the armor stand from the right side of the GUI.
Placing the Armor Stand
You can right-click an empty space holding the armor stand to place it. The armor stand does not follow only four directions. Thus, you can put it facing any direction such as north-east. If you place it in such a way, the armor stand will face its back in the same direction you are facing.
How to Use the Armor Stand?
All you have to do is hold the armor you want to place in the stand first, and right-click on the stand. The armor stand will equip your armor.
Sadly, the Java version of Minecraft does not have hands in Vanilla. Therefore, it cannot hold any items.
However, the Bedrock Edition of the game does have hands. So, you can give the stand the holdable items such as a sword, ax, stone blocks, etc. You can also give shields or torches on its off-hand to give it a more player-like look.
Another interesting feature of the armor stand is that you can equip it with different heads. They can include a Wither Skeleton head, Zombie head, Creeper head, Carved Pumpkin, Skeleton head, Dragon’s head, and a Player’s head.
Can the Armor Stand Hold Items?
As mentioned above, you can only make a stand hold the items in bedrock items since the Java version does not have any arms. However, you can use command cheats and give the armor stand arms which, in turn, lets you equip the stand with items.
Of course, to use the commands, you will need to allow cheats while creating your world. You can also enable cheats while enabling LAN multiplayer mode on your world.
Making the Armor Stand Change Pose
Again, this is a Bedrock Edition-exclusive feature. The armor stand has thirteen different poses in its Bedrock version. You can change these poses by crouching and right-clicking on the stand. The poses cycle with each click.
Additionally, you can also change the pose using the Redstone pulse. Each time you send a pulse, the stand changes its pose. You can use a button, Redstone torch, pressure plate, Redstone block, sunlight detector, etc., to send Redstone pulses to the armor stand.
How to Make the Armor Stand Dance?
Using the posing mechanic mentioned above, you can make the armor stand dance using continuous pulses from comparators.
- Dig one block down and make a 2×4 hole in the ground.
- Place a block on the second block of the hole (Second from the longer side) and place the armor stand above it.
- Attach a Redstone torch on the block sideways facing the shorter side of the hole.
- Place a comparator facing the block opposite the Redstone torch.
- Add another comparator next to the first comparator.
- Join the circuit with Redstone dust. Your circuit should look like the picture below.
- Your armor should constantly change poses. It should look like it is dancing.
In conclusion, the armor stands are very handy in Minecraft, especially if you want to decorate your base. But the Java version’s stand is limited compared to the Bedrock Edition. However, you can use different data packs and cheat commands to make the armor stands more aesthetic.
For instance, you can use commands to make the armor stand invisible or summon an armor stand in a seated position.
