Minecraft: How To Make a Lead in Without Slime? (& What Are the Alternatives)

We have a variety of tools at our disposal in Minecraft. Some are used to provide us with protections, some make interactions with the environment easier, and some are used to interact with various mobs in Minecraft’s world. One of those tools that make interactions with mobs easier is a lead. Lead is an extremely useful tool that allows us to leash certain mobs, and while useful, lead is not that easy to acquire due to the specific materials that you need. In today’s guide we’re going to focus on leads, to be more specific we’re going to focus on how to make them. Let’s see how to make a lead in Minecraft without slime and what the alternatives are. 

Leads always require slimeball

Leads are created by combining 4x pieces of strings with 1x slime ball. Unfortunately, crafting leads always call for 1x slime ball. This complicates things as slimeballs are a material dropped by slimes, and slimes inhabit mostly specific areas. 

Most commonly, you will encounter slimes deep underground in so-called “slime chunks.” An alternative to this is to wander swamp biomes at night in hopes of finding slimes since this is the other area where slimes are relatively common.

However, if you have a tough time finding either slime chunks or swamp biomes, this will further complicate the crafting of leads, and lead is essential for controlling certain types of mobs. 

How do I get a lead in Minecraft without slime? 

You can get a lead in Minecraft without slime by taking it from the Wandering trader, but you might not like what comes next. 

Since the Wandering trader comes with two llamas attached to him by leads, this is an opportunity to acquire two leads. There are several ways to acquire leads from him, and some of them are violent and involve either killing him or llamas. 

The following are ways in which you can acquire leads from Wandering Trader:

1. Killing the Wandering trader will cause two leads to attach and drop at the position where the llamas are standing. You can avoid killing the Wandering trader and instead kill llamas; in that case, the leads will also drop to their position as soon as you’ve dealt with them. 
2. You can try separating the Wandering trader and llamas; if enough distance is put between them, the leads will detach and drop at the llama’s position. Putting the llamas in a boat or minecart will cause the leads to detach automatically; you will be able to collect the leads relatively easily without any violence involved.

As you can see, there are peaceful ways to acquire leads without killing the Wandering trader or llamas, but quite frankly, they are harder than just straight up eliminating them. 

Can leads break in Minecraft? 

Yes, leads can break in Minecraft. Lead breaks if it’s stretched over more than 10 blocks. That means that if there are more than 10 blocks between you and the mob you are leading on the leash, the lead will break, and control over the mob will be lost. Lead can also be broken by projectiles.

Are leads reusable in Minecraft? 

Leads are reusable in Minecraft. No matter how the lead was detached from the mob, it will always drop like an item that you can reuse. Detached lead always drops on the location of the mob to which it was attached. There is an exception, however, in Creative mode, where detaching a mob from the lead will not drop the lead on the mob’s location. 

What mobs can you put a lead on? 

There are numerous mobs that lead can be put on. Some are passive, some are neutral, and some of them are even aggressive toward the players but can still be leashed. You can put the lead on the following animals: allay, axolotl, bee, tamed cat, chicken, cow, dolphin, donkey, fox, frog, glow squid, goat, hoglin, horse, iron golem, llama, mooshroom, mule, ocelot, parrot, pig, polar bear, rabbit, sheep, skeleton horse, snow golem, squid, strider, trader llama, tamed wolf, zoglin, zombie horse. 

As you can see, some mobs must be tamed before being leashed. Such is the case with both wolf and cat. To tame a cat, simply offer cod or salmon to a stray cat that you come across in the wilderness. When it comes to wolves, you can tame them by using bones.

Can you put a lead on a villager? 

The only way to put a lead on a villager in Minecraft is to use the map editor or NBT editor. In the game, however, current mechanics do not allow leashing villagers and other monster mobs (except for those listed above).  

How do you stop the lead from breaking in Minecraft? 

You can stop the lead from breaking by staying close to the mob that you are leading at all times. If there are 10 or more blocks of distance between you and the mob, or the mob lead is targeted by a projectile attack, it will break. 

As you can see, lead cannot be crafted without slimeballs, but it can be acquired from a Wandering trader. This can be done by either killing the Wandering trader, killing llamas, or separating llamas from the trader by employing different tactics. Once you acquire lead, you can re-use it even if it breaks due to being hit by a projectile. 

Lead can be stretched a maximum of 10 blocks, so keep that in mind while leading mobs on it. Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!