How do you get a Minecraft cape? You've heard rumors, whispers of a mythical piece of cloth that adorns the shoulders of the most elite Minecraft players. Word on the block (sigh) is that capes also modify the appearance of Minecraft Elytra, the magical wings found in end ships, as they occupy the same space on a player's back. Needless to say, Minecraft capes are highly coveted, but they aren't easy to get.
An almost endless amount of customization options make Minecraft one of the Minecraft capes is much harder than it seems. Here's how to get your very own Minecraft cape, and how to equip them when you finally get your hands on one.
How to get a Minecraft cape
Since a Minecraft cape is usually a commemorative item, they can be earned during events, Minecraft Live conventions, or as a reward for carrying out a specific task, such as migrating your Mojang .
Here are ways to get a Minecraft cape:
The Minecraft Movie capes
Two new exclusive Minecraft capes have been added to Bedrock edition to celebrate the release of The Minecraft Movie. One of these could be earned via Twitch drops, while the other was available by watching TikTok content. Both campaigns were live between March 18 and April 6. Find out more details on how to claim your new Minecraft capes here.
Migrating your Mojang
Back in 2020, Mojang announced that it would be migrating all Minecraft Java edition s from Mojang to Microsoft. This is a mandatory change, and you should have been prompted to do so by now if you have a legacy Mojang .
If you have done so already – or once you do – you'll unlock a shiny new cape. New Minecraft s are automatically set up with Microsoft, and unfortunately won't have a way to obtain the Migrator cape.
Own the game
In 2022, Minecraft Java Edition and Bedrock Edition were merged into the same launcher, alongside every other Minecraft game like Dungeons and Legends. To celebrate the merger, players who owned both the Java and Bedrock editions on the same were awarded the Vanilla cape in both versions. Sadly, if you don't already have it, you'll no longer be able to get it, but if you find it sitting in your collection, now you know why!
Play Bedrock Edition
The pan cape, as seen further up, is given to all players on Bedrock edition, and can be equipped from the 'Capes' tab of the Bedrock dressing room. When equipped with an elytra, the 'pan cape' looks like a pancake with butter and maple syrup – geddit now?
There may be other capes that will be given to Bedrock players, as the Founder's Cape is another exclusive cape given to existing players of the game in 2019.
Exclusive capes
Those who ventured to any Minecon event before Minecon Earth 2017 received capes. The capes were given out each year, featuring a unique design each time. Even rarer still are the personal capes gifted to lucky individuals in recognition of their achievements, such as Reddit billyk, who got a personal turtle cape for suggesting Mojang should add turtles to Minecraft.
Minecraft Anniversary Capes
For Minecraft's 15th birthday in May 2024, two new capes became available for players: the Purple Heart Cape and the TikTok cape. Between May 15 and June 1, 2024, viewing a Minecraft Twitch streamer for just 15 minutes granted the Purple Heart Cape. Similarly, watching reward-enabled Minecraft streams on TikTok until June 18 gave the chance to obtain the TikTok cape.
MCC Anniversary cape
MCC, or Minecraft Championships, are a popular and long-running series of competitive Minecraft streams featuring some of the top Minecraft YouTubers and content creators. For Minecraft's 15th anniversary, Mojang officially partnered with Noxcrew, the creators of MCC, to bring the show to Bedrock.
Alongside the usual celebrations, Bedrock players have a chance to participate in MCC challenges on a new Bedrock server – Java players can always the official MCC Island Minecraft server. The new Bedrock server featured numerous challenges for the two-week period between July 22 and August 4, 2024, and completing 15 challenges rewarded players with the special MC Champs cap shown above.
Mods
You can obtain any of the coveted capes in the game – or even better, any cape you can conceive of – using mods like the Advanced Capes Mod. There's a caveat: other players you meet on multiplayer servers won't be able to see your cape unless they also have the same mods installed. So the only way to get capes that everyone can see is by waiting for official capes to be gifted to you from Mojang as it migrates your .
How to equip Minecraft capes
It's worth noting that, if you play both Java and Bedrock edition of the game, your capes are exclusive to the version, so your Java capes won't appear in your Bedrock dressing room and vice versa.
Java Edition
If you have an official Minecraft cape in Java Edition, it can be found in the skins section of the Minecraft launcher. Head to the skins tab, select the skin you'd like to add your cape to, then click 'Duplicate' or 'Edit'. From there, choose the cape you'd like to add and save this down as a new skin selection.
It's best to keep your cape equipped, as you can then turn it off in-game. To take off your cape, head to the options menu, select 'Skin Customization', and toggle cape to 'Off.'
Bedrock Edition
For the Bedrock version, launch the game. Next, click the tab on the left of the screen with a red cape with the Mojang logo. This will show all of your available capes, so choose one and click equip.
Equip your cape to your elytra
You don't need to do anything to equip your cape to your elytra. On the contrary, if you have a cape on when you equip an eltyra, your wings will automatically take on the appearance of your cape! Cool!
That's everything you need to know about getting yourself a cool Minecraft cape. If you're looking to complete your ensemble, here are the best Minecraft seeds for 1.20 and 1.21.