Fighting Mobs is a big part of Minecraft. Whether you are hunting for Cows or Pigs or simply fighting the Zombies and Skeletons that are invading your space, it’s a very rewarding part of the game.
Most Mobs drop Loot and Experience when killed, which can in turn be used in Crafting, Brewing, and Enchanting.
Though, searching the world for Mobs or waiting for them to simply spawn can be a long task. That’s when you should start looking into building a Mob farm to help you stock up.
Which Mobs Should You Farm?
Like we said before, each Mob has its own properties and Loot that it drops when killed.
If you are merely looking to stock up on food and basic crafting items such as Leather or Feathers, you will want to consider an automatic Cow or Chicken farm.
If you’re more interested in some of the harder to get items and Experience, a Mob farm made specifically for Mobs such as Skeletons, Spiders, Zombies or other is what you will need.
Some of the best XP farms in Minecraft can require a lot of work and building, but will certainly be rewarding. Take a good look at what you need and decide from there.
The easiest and best Mob farm is the standard one meant for farming regular hostile Cave Mobs: Spiders, Skeletons, Zombies, and Creepers. This is the kind of Mob farm we will be building today.
It’s simple and can be built virtually anywhere.
Building the Classic Mob Farm
To start off pick your location. For any kind of Mob farm you will want it to actually be close to your base, if not inside it. The reason for this is that the area has to be loaded in order for Mobs to spawn and be farmed.
If you have to build your Mob farm farther from your base, there’s ways to keep chunks loaded in Minecraft even when you are farther away from them.
Once you have picked out your spot, it is time to start building.
For the classic Mob farm you will want to build upwards (or down if you want the farm within terrain). The way this Mob farm will be killing off the hostile Mobs is by forcing them to essentially drop to their death.
For that the farm has to be built at least at 23 blocks of height or higher. This is the minimal height required to instantly kill a Mob.
Once you build up or dig down to the desired height you can work on building. Start off by building a “plus” shape, with each line being 2×8 blocks wide and a minimal 2×2 gap between them in the center. These will be your Water canals.
Make sure to build a 2 block tall wall around each canal, because this is where Mobs will be dropping into.
Once your walls are up, at the very ends add 2 Buckets of Water. The Water will flow to the very edge, but won’t spill over.
Then it’s time to build the platform. Connect one end to the other to create a large square shape. This is going to be the area where the Mobs will be spawning and from which they will fall into the Water.
In the image below you can see the Water canals and platforms perfectly.
As Mobs walk around the area they will fall into the canals, which will then simply push them to the hole in the center from where they will drop to their death.
Now, the last thing needed is to make sure that the Mobs actually have the conditions to spawn. They already have enough space, but now you have to make it dark enough for them.
Hostile Mobs spawn only when there is no light present, at light level 0. For the Mob farm you will mainly have to build a ceiling (at least 3 blocks above the floor) in order to block out the sunlight. In Minecraft sunlight only shines vertically.
You will still need some kind of walls around the farm in order to prevent Mobs like Spiders from crawling out or Skeletons shooting at you from up high.
I made my walls from Glass blocks, but the best material would be a solid block to completely blackout the room.
Now the only thing left is to wait. Mobs will walk around the area and fall into the Water on their own which will push them to the drop. Simply coming to the bottom will allow you to collect the Loot and Experience.
Of course, this design can be expanded.
At the very end of the drop you can place down Hoppers and Chests to catch the Loot if you aren’t nearby to collect it immediately.
Making the farm bigger could also allow you to climb up to it and use yourself as bait to lure the Mobs to the Water faster. You can even build multiple floors one on top of the other, creating a Mob farm tower.
You can also accelerate the process by using mob spawners.
Though, all in all this is the most basic Mob farm you can make, and if you’re building it into terrain it is even easier.
