How to Make Slimeball in Minecraft

Slimeball

Slimeball is a bouncy item dropped only by small slimes, used to craft slime blocks, sticky pistons, and magma cream, and to breed frogs.

Block ID minecraft:slime_ball

Mod Vanilla

Game versions

1.21

Description

Slimeball is a bouncy crafting item dropped by slimes in Minecraft. Small slimes drop 0-2 slimeballs when killed (up to 5 with Looting III), a frog that eats a slime always leaves exactly one behind, and sneezing baby pandas occasionally drop one too. Slimes spawn in specific slime chunks below Y-level 40 and in swamp biomes at night, so a dedicated farm is the most reliable source. Slimeball is the key ingredient for several redstone and utility recipes: combine nine in a crafting grid to make a Slime Block (which crafts back into nine), combine one with a piston to craft a Sticky Piston, and mix one with blaze powder for Magma Cream. Leads have been crafted from five string alone since Java 1.21.6 and Bedrock 1.21.90, so slimeballs are no longer part of that recipe. The item behaves identically in Java and Bedrock Edition; besides redstone uses, slimeballs breed frogs, and feeding one to a tadpole cuts its growth time by 10%.

Block properties

Item ID	`minecraft:slime_ball`
/give command	`/give @p minecraft:slime_ball`
Stackable	Yes (64)
Renewable	Yes

Java & Bedrock Guide

How to get and use a Slimeball in Minecraft

1

Find a slime spawn

Locate a slime chunk below Y-level 40 or hunt slimes in a swamp biome at night, where they spawn naturally.
2

Kill slimes for drops

Defeat the smallest slimes, since only small slimes drop slimeballs; each one drops 0-2, increased by the Looting enchantment.
3

Craft a Slime Block

Fill all nine slots of the crafting grid with slimeballs to compress them into one bouncy slime block.
4

Make a Sticky Piston

Combine a slimeball with a regular piston in the crafting grid to upgrade it into a sticky piston.

Tip

In Java Edition, slime chunks depend on the world seed, while in Bedrock Edition they sit at the same coordinates in every world; swamp slimes spawn on the surface at night at light level 7 or less, most often on a full moon and never on a new moon.