Slimes only spawn at levels below 40 above bedrock, although in swamp biomes they can spawn at levels 51 to 69.

(You can check the light level by turning on the debug screen.

Hostile mobs only spawn at a light level of 7 or less, and the darker the better.

This can make it difficult to see exactly what is happening inside a spawner unless you have cheats enabled and switch to Spectator mode by typing in the command /gamemode spectator.

Mobs can only spawn on opaque blocks, ruling out the use of glass platforms.

There are ways to control spawning with mods, but I’ll focus on the default behaviors here.

Mobs only spawn when the player is nearby, within an area of 240×240 blocks, so you’ll need to be close to the farm for it to operate.

Spawning Mob Mayhemīecause even the simplest spawner requires significant resources, it’s best to plan it out carefully if you’re playing on Survival. Large-scale mob farms can spawn hundreds of mobs per minute, grind them up like so much raw meat, and deliver their drops through an automated collection system into a bundle of chests. The grinder kills the mobs outright or, through fall damage, harms them enough that they can be killed with a single blow, thus quickly accruing you experience points. The spawner is usually a darkened room designed to encourage mobs to spring into existence and then wander or be driven to a central point that feeds into the grinder. Mob farms are composed of two parts: spawning and grinding. Mob farms that focus on the hostile game entities can deliver all of this and more (see Figure 4.1).įigure 4.1 Mobs gathered at the base of a mob farm, ready to be attacked from a tunnel below. It will make a huge difference in giving you the resources you need to go crazy with TNT, quickly grow crops, provide countless arrows for long-range combat, and so much more.

Once you know how, it’s really quite easy, and putting together a mob farm, especially when playing on Survival, is incredibly satisfying-not for the build, so much, but for the results. You’ll quickly amass a fortune in useful resources, from gunpowder to string, arrows, and more, and also gather weapons, armor, iron, and even the occasional edible. Had enough of running around the countryside slaughtering hostile mobs just to get a few measly items? Ever fancied earning an unlimited number of experience points to use in enchanting? Take control of the mayhem with a mob farm: the equivalent of a factory for zombies, spiders, creepers, and skeletons.

Gather a host of useful items and resources.

Minecraft will mobs spawn in water