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Horse tied to a fence with a lead in Minecraft

How to craft a Lead in Minecraft (2021)

If you want to get your animals to a certain spot then using a lead is a good way to do that in Minecraft!
This article is over 4 years old and may contain outdated information

The lead is a useful tool for leashing up various mobs and animals that you'd like to bring to a certain place. This is especially the case for things that can't be tamed, because they will not follow you! So, we'll be taking a detailed look at how to create a lead/leash with this step-by-step tutorial.

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A lead can be created in every platform of the game, including PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Java, Pocket Edition (PE/Mobile), iPad, Bedrock, and Nintendo Switch editions!

How to Craft a Lead

To make a lead in Minecraft, you will need to get 4 string and 1 slimeball for the recipe. Making the lead requires that you place three of the string in the top left corner slots, slimeball in the middle, and the fourth string to the bottom right corner of the Crafting Table. You can get the ingredients by hunting down Spiders and Slime.

Minecraft lead recipe

Step-by-Step Guide to Making a Lead

1. Get String

String can be fairly easy to find, but you will usually have to engage in a bit of combat to get it! I've detailed some of the ways to obtain it below.

Find Cobwebs in Mines

If you are near a deserted Mine, then it's possible to find a whole bunch in there. Mines will usually have quite a bit of cobwebs in them, and these can be harvested by hitting them with a sword! If you have a badlands/savanna biome nearby, then you can pretty much always find at least one mine in the area! You will want to be careful though, cave spiders have spawners in caves, so be on the lookout for those!

Slay Spiders for String

The most traditional way you're going to find string is by smacking some spiders around and having them drop it as loot. Wait for night time and look around for them. Their bright red eyes are usually pretty noticeable. Make sure you have a sword with you, and wack them a few times with it and hope for some string!

Cobwebs in a mesa mine in Minecraft

2. Get a Slimeball

Now we're going to need to locate some Slime mobs. These can be pretty hard to find, because they will only spawn in swamp biomes or deep underground in areas called slime chunks! Swamps are going to be way easier to find, so I recommend looking for those. The slime chunks are difficult to locate, and you'll just have to be lucky to run into one. There's also one other way to find a slimeball... and that's to have a bamboo jungle biome with pandas in it. Baby pandas have a chance of dropping a slimeball when sneezing! So, that could be another possibility for you.

Slime in swamp biome in Minecraft

3. Craft the Lead

We should now have all of the ingredients we need to create the lead! Place them in the Crafting Table like shown below and you will receive two leads for your troubles!

Crafting recipe for a lead

Leads are quite useful when you're looking to get mobs or animals into certain areas. You can use these on bees, cats, chicken, cow, dolphins, donkey, foxes, hoglin, horses, iron golem, llama, mooshrooms, mules, ocelots, parrots, pigs, polar bears, rabbits, sheep, snow golems, squid, striders, wolves, and zoglin! Once you have your animal on a leash, you can bring them over to a fence and connect them to it.

Another way to get a lead

If you can't find Swamp biome to slaughter Slimes, then you do you have an alternative to get a Lead. If you find the Wandering Trader, who you might randomly encounter, he has two llamas that are tied with leads. If you kill the traders or the llamas then the leads will drop and you can get them that way! This is obviously a bit mean, but if you need a Lead desperately, it's another way to get them.

Can you use a lead on a villager?

No, you can't use a lead on a villager, so you won't be able to pull them to a new location with them. If you want to move a villager, you can use a mine cart or a boat to get the job done.

Do leads break in Minecraft?

Yes, they can be broken by pressing the use button on the target you have on a leash, by hitting the knot, or breaking the fence post where the lead has been attached. They can also be broken if they are hit by an arrow!

Can you use a lead on a Ghast?

No, you can't attach a lead to a Ghast! It probably wouldn't be a very good idea even if you could, although you might be able to use them as a helium balloon to float you around. You might get hit by a burning ball of doom before you can get very far though.

List of animals you can leash

  • Bee
  • Cat
  • Chicken
  • Cow
  • Dolphin
  • Donkey
  • Fox
  • Hoglin
  • Horse (Zombie Horse and Skeleton Horse)
  • Iron Golem
  • Llama & Trader llama
  • Mooshroom
  • Mule
  • Ocelot
  • Parrot
  • Pig
  • Polar Bear
  • Rabbit
  • Sheep
  • Snow Golem
  • Squid (Bedrock Only)
  • Strider
  • Wolf
  • Zoglin‌

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Author
Image of Jean-Pierre van Wyk
Jean-Pierre van Wyk
J.P van Wyk is the Head of Roblox Content at GAMURS, dedicated to delivering you the best new info for your favorite games across the whole platform. While he's known for his relentless pursuit of the newest Roblox codes and guides, he finds solace in the thrilling escapades of horror games, balancing his professional zeal with a passion for gaming's chilling delights. Find him on X to chat about the latest Roblox experiences, especially Anime titles.
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