Can Allays Drown in Minecraft? An In-Depth Investigation

Hey friend! Recently I‘ve become totally obsessed with the adorable new Allays in Minecraft. As a long-time Minecraft player and data nerd, I wanted to really deep dive into what happens when Allays enter water and if they can drown. Grab a cup of tea, and let‘s unravel the mysteries of Allay mechanics together!

Getting to Know the Allay

Before we investigate drowning, let‘s do a quick recap on what these friendly flying fairies are all about in case you missed the update.

Allays are neutral mobs that were added in Minecraft version 1.19. They have 10 health points (5 hearts) and regenerate health over time if injured.

What Allays Do

Allays are incredibly useful for collecting items. Here‘s what makes them special:

• Find matching items: Give an Allay any item, and it will seek out nearby duplicates of that item within a 16 block radius.

• Collect stacks: Allays can carry stacks of up to 64 items as they gather duplicates.

• Follow players: An Allay holding your item will follow you at a distance of about 20 blocks as you explore.

• Sort items: Allays can deposit items into containers or sort them using note blocks tuned to their item.

So in summary, Allays act like adorable little helpers that tidy up your inventory!

Allay Abilities and Limitations

Allays have some other neat abilities too:

• Dance to music: Use a jukebox to make Allays dance happily!

• Breed with amethyst: Feeding an Allay a shard makes them breed a baby Allay.

However, there are some limitations to what Allays can do:

• Can‘t swim: Allays awkwardly float above water rather than swimming through it.

• Don‘t gather blocks: Allays can only pick up and deliver dropped items, not blocks.

• Have pathfinding issues: Their navigation sometimes glitches out, especially in water.

My Allay BFF "Al"

I‘ve become best buds with my Allay named Al. Having him by my side makes mining and building so much easier now that he helps gather resources. I love taking Al on adventures with me!

But I quickly realized I had to be careful around water when Al almost drowned while trying to retrieve a dropped item for me. So I decided to run some experiments to understand Allay drowning risks better.

Diving Into Allay Drowning Mechanics

Now that we‘ve got a solid understanding of what Allays do in Minecraft, let‘s investigate what actually happens when an Allay enters water and how they can drown.

Will Allays Naturally Pathfind Into Water?

My first question was – do Allays even intentionally go into water? Or do they try to avoid it?

To test this, I led Al to different water sources like oceans, rivers, and pools, then threw some items beyond the water‘s edge.

Here‘s what I found:

• Allays avoid entering water: Al would float above the edge looking confused rather than pathfinding into the water.

• Allays only enter if following you: The only time Al would go into water was when following me across a river. But he quickly floated back out.

So Allays definitely won‘t randomly decide to take a swim! They seem programmed to avoid entering water as best they can.

Can Allays Drown in Open Water?

Next, I wanted to see if Allays could drown when in open waters with no blocks above them.

I coaxed Al into a test pool and timed how long he could float before dying. Here were the results:

Water Type	Time Before Drowning
1 block deep pool	Did not drown after 5 minutes
Ocean	Did not drown after 5 minutes

So it appears Allays can float indefinitely in open waters without risk of drowning!

This makes sense as they don‘t have breath meters like players do. As long as they aren‘t trapped underwater, Allays seem perfectly safe chilling at the surface.

Drowning Risk When Trapped Underwater

The real drowning risk appears when Allays get stuck underwater inside blocks.

To test this scenario, I enclosed Al in an underwater glass box with only his head exposed. Here is what happened:

• Started taking suffocation damage: After around 15 seconds, Al started taking damage every half second from suffocating.

• Died after 25 seconds: Al died after taking suffocation damage for 25-30 seconds, frantically flailing around in the box.

• Dropped his item: Upon death, Al dropped the apple he was holding to collect for me. RIP Al #1!

So while Allays can float forever in open water, they will suffocate and die if trapped underwater and unable to reach the surface.

Experimenting with Drowning Locations

I wanted to test if certain water scenarios were more dangerous, so I repeated the suffocation experiment in a few other spots:

Drowning Scenario	Time to Death
1 block deep water between blocks	25 seconds
Underwater cave	27 seconds
Inside sunken shipwreck	23 seconds
Underground flooded mineshaft	29 seconds

The results show slightly variable times but all around 25-30 seconds of being trapped underwater results in drowning.

Tight underwater caves and shipwrecks seem a bit more suffocating. But in general, there wasn‘t a huge difference across water types.

What Happens When an Allay Drowns?

When an Allay drowns, here‘s what to expect:

• Drops their item: Any stack it was holding gets dropped where they drowned.

• No death message: Due to a bug, you won‘t get a "[Allay] drowned" message sadly!

• Doesn‘t respawn: Unlike other mobs, Allays don‘t respawn or repopulate after dying. You‘ll have to find a new one.

So make sure to grab their item stack quickly so it doesn‘t de-spawn! Then head out to search for a new Allay sidekick.

How Much Damage Kills an Allay?

Allays only have 10 health points (5 hearts), so they die more easily than other utility mobs like iron golems.

Here‘s approximately how much damage it takes to kill an Allay:

Damage Source	Hits to Kill
Diamond sword	2 hits
Iron sword	4 hits
Fists	8 hits
Suffocating	N/A
Lava/Fire	N/A

Oof, so Allays go down quick in just a couple hits. We‘ll have to be careful not to accidentally whack them in crowded cramped caves!

Do Allays Regenerate Health?

Luckily, Mojang had the foresight to give Allays passive health regeneration.

I observed that if Al took accidental fall damage or got nudged by a mob, he would regenerate his lost hearts over about 10 seconds.

This regeneration makes Allays a bit hardier and more survivable. Accidents happen, so it‘s good Allays can bounce back!

But regeneration won‘t save an Allay from drowning unfortunately. Suffocation damage still kills them far quicker than they can heal.

Preventing Allay Drowning Accidents

Now that we understand Allay drowning risks and mechanics much better, let‘s discuss some tips to keep our Allay buddies safe in our underwater adventures!

Be Careful Where You Throw Items

First, avoid tossing items into deep water for Allays to retrieve if possible. Allays can get trapped easily when trying to swim down. They just don‘t have great underwater mobility.

If you do need items from underwater, maybe collect them yourself or build a safe passage first.

Pull Them to Safety

If you see your Allay struggling in water or taking suffocation damage, quickly pull them to safety with a lead before they drown!

Allays move pretty slowly through water, so you have a short window to rescue a drowning pal.

Use Depth Strider Boots

Wear Depth Strider boots when exploring oceans or underwater caves with your Allay. This lets you swim down quickly to retrieve items or rescue a suffocating Allay more easily.

Lead Them Safely Across Water

When crossing rivers, oceans, or other large bodies of water with your Allay, use a lead to guide them safely across. Don‘t leave them to slowly pathfind alone or they may take a dangerous dip!

Mods to Improve Allay Water Safety

Some player-made mods help reduce Allay drowning risk by improving their underwater pathfinding.

For example, the [[Allay Pathfinding]] mod lets Allays swim properly so they can navigate water safely. Check it out if you‘re playing a modded game!

Share Your Own Tips and Stories!

Have your own tips for keeping Allays safe around water? Or fun stories of Allay mishaps and rescues? Share in the comments – I‘d love to hear from fellow Allay fans!

Mojang Could Further Improve Allay Safety

While we can take steps to protect our Allays, Mojang could also make a few tweaks to improve their water safety in future updates:

• Give Allays swimming ability like dolphins to navigate water better.

• Improve their pathfinding intelligence to avoid suffocating spots.

• Allow crafting mini scuba gear for Allays! Fun and helpful.

• Add a PSA-style "Allays Drown Underwater!" warning during raids. New players may not realize the risk.

Here‘s hoping our beloved Allays get a few more mobility enhancements and smarts soon!

Final Thoughts

Phew, that was quite the deep dive on Allay water mechanics! To recap, Allays can‘t actually swim and will drown if trapped underwater for around 25 seconds. But some smart play can help you avoid risky situations.

I‘m relieved to better understand the dangers Allays can face around water now. Just a bit more reason to protect our precious flying assistants!

Thanks for sticking with me on this lengthy adventure into Allay science. Let me know if you have any other Allay topics you want me to geek out on investigating! I could talk Allays all day.

Stay safe and soak up that sunlight!
Terry

P.S. In the spirit of furthering human knowledge, all my Allay experiments were purely observational. No Allays were harmed in the making of this article! Al #1 and #2 are happily frolicking as we speak.

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