Creeper Farm
Intermediate Java + Bedrock
Produces: Gunpowder (0-2 per creeper, +1 with Looting) and music discs if you route skeletons to the kill
Quick answer: A creeper farm is a mob farm tuned so only creepers can spawn: trapdoors on the ceiling make the spawning space 1.7 blocks tall (too short for zombies and skeletons), and carpets break up spider spawns. Cats scare the creepers into the drop chute.
How it works
- Creepers are 1.7 blocks tall - placing trapdoors on the ceiling of each spawning layer leaves a space zombies and skeletons (both around 2 blocks) cannot spawn in, while creepers still can.
- Spiders would still fit, so scatter carpets or buttons on the floor to break up the 3x3 area spiders need to spawn.
- Creepers flee from cats within a 6-block radius - a cat sitting in the middle of each layer scares creepers off the platform and into the collection chute far faster than waiting for them to wander.
- Like any mob farm, build it high above the ocean or light up every cave in a 128-block radius so the mob cap fills only inside your farm.
- Bonus: if you ever want music discs, a creeper killed by a skeleton's arrow drops one of 12 discs - a separate trapped-skeleton setup handles that.
Materials
- ~1,000 building blocks (slabs and trapdoors multiply fast)
- A stack or more of trapdoors per layer (any wood)
- 1-3 tamed cats in minecart-proof spots
- Carpets or buttons (spider-proofing)
- Hoppers, chests and a kill or drop system
Build steps
- Pick a spot: high over a deep ocean is the lazy option - no caves to light. Otherwise slab or torch every cave within 128 blocks.
- Build the spawning tower: dark layers of at least 10x10, each 2 blocks of air high, with open trapdoors lining the ceiling so the effective height is 1.7 blocks.
- Spider-proof the floors: a checkerboard of carpets every third block leaves creepers room but denies spiders their 3x3 spawn area.
- Seat the cats: one cat per layer in a safe alcove at the center - creepers within 6 blocks panic and run straight off the edges.
- Add the drop: water streams or open edges funnel creepers into a central chute - a 22-block drop leaves them one hit from death, or let the fall finish them.
- Collect with hoppers into chests; wear Looting III if you kill by hand for up to 3 gunpowder per creeper.
- AFK at the right spot: 24+ blocks from the nearest spawning space and under 128 from the furthest, so mobs spawn but do not despawn.
- Scale it: more layers and a perimeter (spawn-proofing the ground below) multiply rates fast.
Rates
Output depends on the design, the version and how much of it you build, so we do not quote an hourly figure. Build the layout below, time it for a few minutes in your own world and scale from there.
Tips
- Use any wood trapdoors - they are only there to shave height off the spawning space.
- Build over deep ocean first; lighting 128 blocks of caves is the slowest part of any mob farm.
- Keep the cats safe: a loose cat wanders off, and a dead cat turns your farm into a waiting room.
- Pair it with a sugarcane farm and you have infinite rockets for your elytra.