The easiest mob farm that works on both Java and Bedrock is a spawning-platform tower built 100 blocks in the air: four dark platforms where mobs spawn, water channels that carry them to the middle, open trapdoors that trick them off the ledge, and a 23-block drop chamber that ends in hoppers and chests. It needs no redstone and no spawner. Mobs fall the full height of the chamber, so they take one hit to finish.
The build below follows the design and the order of BlazedMC’s popular “easiest mob XP farm” tutorial, so you can build along step by step. Everything else is checked against the Minecraft Wiki for Java 26.3 and Bedrock 26.52.
Quick Answer
- Design: four spawning platforms around a central drop chamber, with eight-block water channels and open trapdoors on the edges.
- Height: build 100 blocks up, away from rivers and at least 100 blocks from the nearest mountain or hill, so your platforms are the only dark spawn spots in range.
- Drop chamber: 23 blocks tall, so every mob takes fall damage and dies to one hit.
- Settings: Easy, Normal or Hard difficulty, simulation distance 4, and a Looting III sword.
- Output: the creator says one layer fills a chest in about an hour and seven layers give over 50 levels an hour.
- Catch: it only works while you stand at the farm. Go mining and it stops.
Mob Farm Designs at a Glance
| Design | How mobs reach the grinder | Good for | Weak point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spawning tower (this guide) | Water channels and open trapdoors push them off a ledge | A general farm for most hostile mobs | Only runs while you are at its height |
| Sinkhole | Mobs wander into holes lined with open trapdoors | Cheap, quick, and works in the Nether | Few mobs find the holes |
| Sunlight farm | Undead seek shade under a roof and fall into a pit | Zombies and skeletons | Attracts only undead |
| Villager lure | Zombies and drowned walk toward trapped villagers | Zombie-only farms | Zombies only |
| One-way doors | Mobs push through doors and cannot come back | Storing mobs for later | Spiders can fail it |
The spawning tower is the one to build first. The wiki describes it as known for high production rates, simplicity, reliability and ease of build.
Where to Build It
Where you build matters more than the design, because mobs only spawn in dark places, and your farm competes with every other dark space within range.
- Not over a river. Mobs cannot spawn in river biomes.
- Away from hills. Stay at least 100 blocks from the nearest mountain or hill.
- High in the sky: the best spawn rates, day and night, because your platforms are the only valid spawn ground. The wiki warns that it is dangerous to build and that the farm stops working when you go underground to mine.
- Over an ocean: a popular choice, because there is no nearby land for mobs to spawn on.
- Not the Nether: water evaporates there, which rules out most designs.
The numbers behind the height: Java’s spawn radius is 128 blocks, and Bedrock’s is roughly 96 blocks for simulation distances above 4, dropping to 44 blocks at simulation distance 4. The tutorial builds 100 blocks up, and another popular one goes 128 up over land.
Materials
- Building blocks, a lot of them (stone, cobblestone or anything solid)
- 2 chests and 4 hoppers
- Slabs
- Several water buckets (you need an infinite water source while you build)
- Trapdoors (a few stacks)
- Torches
- A sword with Looting III
- Optional: carpets for the hoppers, and ladders or scaffolding if you prefer them to water
Step-by-Step Build
Follow these steps in order. Build one layer first, then add more if you want a higher output.
- Choose the location
Do not build over a river, because mobs cannot spawn in river biomes. Stay at least 100 blocks away from the nearest mountain or hill.
- Build 100 blocks up
Pillar 100 blocks into the air with any type of block, so all the mobs spawn in the farm instead of on the ground.
- Make the platform
At the top, build a 4 by 6 platform with any block.
- Add a water bucket
Place a water bucket on the platform so you can get up and down from the farm easily. Ladders and scaffolding also work but cost more.
- Build the collection system
Count back to the third block of the platform and place two chests side by side there. Go around to the back and place four hoppers leading into the chests. Optionally, put carpets on top of the hoppers to stop XP getting stuck.
- Wall in the hoppers
Place two blocks to the left of the hoppers and two to the right. Then go around the back, sneak, and place two more on the edge of the hoppers.
- Set up the attack spot
At the front, place two temporary blocks, then place slabs on top of them. This is where you attack the mobs, and their drops fall into the chests.
- Build the drop chamber
Extend the chamber straight up with the same block until it is 23 blocks tall. Every mob falls the whole height, so each one takes just one hit to kill. You do not need to fill in the corners of the chamber.
- Extend the pathways
At the top of the chamber, extend the four arms outward until each is eight blocks long in total. Build a two-block-tall wall around all of the pathways, and fill in the corners between them so mobs cannot float there and get stuck.
- Add the water
Build an infinite water source off to the side, because you need several buckets (see how to make an infinite water source in Minecraft). Place water at the outer end of each pathway. If everything is right, the water flows in a straight line to the edge of the chamber. If it does not, check that the distance is exactly eight blocks.
- Remove the source and fill the corners
Take away the infinite water source, then fill in all four corners with any solid block.
- Place the trapdoors
Along the edges of each platform, place trapdoors and then open every one of them. Repeat for every edge block. Mobs treat an open trapdoor as a full block, so they walk into the water channel and fall down the chamber.
- Build the outer walls
From the edges of the platforms, build a two-block-high wall around the entire square.
- Stop spiders from spawning
Spiders clog the drop chamber and slow the farm. In the corner of each platform square, place a trapdoor, skip two blocks and place another, and keep going until you have nine trapdoors on that square. Do this on all four squares.
- Add the roof
Build a roof over the top of the entire farm.
- Add layers (optional)
To add layers, dig out the blocks directly above the water chambers and repeat the same steps. You can go from one to seven layers. Line the layers up so you can see straight down to the water, which keeps the farm as efficient as possible.
- Light the top and the bottom
Place torches on the roof so no mobs spawn up there and slow the farm. Place torches down by the chest platform so no mobs spawn next to you and kill you.
- Check your settings
Hold a Looting III sword, set the difficulty to Easy, Normal or Hard, and set simulation distance to 4 chunks.
Settings That Make It Work
- Difficulty: Easy, Normal or Hard. Mobs do not spawn naturally on Peaceful.
- Simulation distance: set it to 4 chunks, as the tutorial recommends. On Bedrock, the wiki says that setting shrinks the spawn radius to 44 blocks, which keeps spawning close to the farm.
- Stand at the farm. The farm only works while you are at its height. Java also freezes mobs that spawn too far from you, so they stand still instead of walking into the channels.
- Clear the chunk. The wiki says the game limits hostile mobs based on loaded chunks. If darkness elsewhere nearby takes spawn slots, your farm gets fewer mobs.
- Use Looting III on the sword you finish mobs with.
What a Mob Farm Drops
What a farm produces depends on how mobs die. Mobs killed by fall damage drop their normal loot, which the hoppers collect. The player-only drops and experience need a kill from you or a tamed wolf, so the usual setup is to let the fall nearly kill the mobs and finish them yourself.
| Mob | Normal drops | Extra drops when you kill it |
|---|---|---|
| Zombie | Rotten flesh | Iron ingot, carrot, potato, iron tools and armor |
| Skeleton | Arrow, bone | Bow and armor |
| Creeper | Gunpowder | None |
| Spider | String | Spider eye |
| Witch | Glass bottle, glowstone dust, redstone dust, spider eye, stick, sugar, gunpowder | Potions |
| Enderman | Ender pearl | None. It teleports away from water, so water farms rarely catch it |
Gunpowder is the one many players want most. See how to get gunpowder in Minecraft. If your mobs are arriving dead and you get no experience, read why zombies die when falling on an XP farm.
Java vs Bedrock
| Detail | Java 26.3 | Bedrock 26.52 |
|---|---|---|
| Build | Same design | Same design |
| Spawn radius | 128 blocks | About 96 blocks, or 44 at simulation distance 4 |
| Mob limits | Hostile cap based on loaded chunks | Population density caps plus a global cap counting every player |
Why Your Mob Farm Is Not Working
- Few or no mobs. You are probably too low, the farm is not dark enough, or there are lit or unlit areas nearby competing for spawns. Build higher, add torches to the roof, and check difficulty and simulation distance.
- Mobs stand still on the platforms. Make sure every platform edge has open trapdoors and the corners are filled in. If mobs float in a corner, they get stuck.
- The chamber clogs. Spiders are the usual cause. Check that the trapdoor pattern is on all four platform squares, with two empty blocks between each one.
- Water does not reach the chamber. The channel must be exactly eight blocks long. Count again, from the water to the edge of the chamber.
- The farm stops when you leave. That is how sky farms work. Stay at the farm’s height to collect loot.
- Mobs spawn on the roof. Place torches across the top.
- A creeper damaged it. The wiki warns that farms where you finish mobs by hand are in constant danger from creepers unless built from obsidian, so use blast-resistant blocks near where mobs end up.
What to Do With the Loot
- Gunpowder makes fireworks and TNT. See how to make fireworks in Minecraft.
- Experience goes into enchanting. For a hands-off option, see the best Minecraft XP farms.
- Iron from zombies is a bonus, but an iron farm is far faster.
- More farms: see the best Minecraft farms for what to build next.
Frequently Asked Questions
Build 100 blocks above the ground, away from rivers and at least 100 blocks from the nearest mountain or hill. Java’s spawn radius is 128 blocks, and some builders go that high over land. Either way, your platforms should be the only valid dark spawn spots in range.
23 blocks. That height means every mob takes fall damage and dies to a single hit from your sword.
No. Hostile mobs do not spawn naturally on Peaceful. Use Easy, Normal or Hard.
The most common causes are building too low, leaving lit or dark areas nearby that compete for spawns, playing on Peaceful, or not standing at the farm’s height. Check each one in that order.
Only if you kill the mobs yourself. Automatic killing prevents experience and certain drops, so this design uses a fall to leave mobs almost dead and a sword to finish them.
On each platform square, place a trapdoor in the corner, skip two blocks and place another, and continue until you have nine trapdoors on that square. Spiders that spawn inside the farm can block the drop chamber.
This design works with one to seven layers. Each new layer adds more spawning platforms and more drops. Line the layers up so you can see straight down to the water.
No. A sky farm only works while you are at its height, and Java freezes mobs that spawn too far from you. Stand at the farm to collect loot.
Not for the spawning tower in this guide. It uses water, trapdoors, hoppers and chests only.
Credit
This build follows the design from BlazedMC’s “EASIEST MOB XP Farm Minecraft Java & Bedrock” tutorial on YouTube, and the screenshots above come from that video. Watch the original here: BlazedMC’s mob XP farm tutorial.
