STATUS EFFECT HARMFUL NO POTION Present since 1.14 or earlier

Levitation effect in Minecraft

Levitation makes you float straight up, and you cannot stop it. You get it from Shulker bullets in End Cities. The rise rarely hurts; the fall when it ends is what kills players.

At a glance

Type: Harmful
Sources: Shulker
Removed by: Milk, dying

How to get Levitation

Applied byShulker

How to get rid of Levitation

Removed byMilk Bucket

Drink a Milk Bucket: it clears every effect. Dying also removes it.

Command

Give Levitation for 60 seconds/effect →

/effect give @s minecraft:levitation 60 0

Remove Levitation/effect →

/effect clear @s minecraft:levitation

Where Levitation comes from

Shulkers, hidden in the walls of End Cities, fire homing bullets. Each hit sends you up for a while, and more hits keep you in the air longer. You can still steer sideways, but you cannot stop climbing until the effect ends.

How to survive it

Hit the bullets: one hit or one arrow destroys them. A Shield blocks them.
Drink a Potion of Slow Falling before you fight, so you float down gently when Levitation stops.
A Milk Bucket ends Levitation at once, so you drop from wherever you are. Use it close to the ground, not high up.
Feather Falling boots cut the fall damage, and a Water Bucket placed as you land cancels it.
Stay away from island edges. Lifted over the void, you fall to your death when the effect ends.

Using it on purpose

Levitation is also a free elevator. Let a Shulker hit you at the foot of a tower and you reach the upper floors without building stairs. It is worth fighting them anyway: they drop Shulker Shells, the material for shulker boxes, and the best End City loot, the Elytra, sits on the ships.

✓ Checked in Java Edition 26.3 · updated 1 November 2026