Spawner XP Farm (Zombie/Skeleton)
Beginner Different design per edition
Produces: XP levels 0-30 in minutes, plus rotten flesh, bones, arrows, bows and occasional armor
Quick answer: Find a monster room with a zombie or skeleton spawner, dig out a 9x9 room around it, add a water channel that pushes mobs to a drop chute, and soften them with a 22-block fall so they die in one punch. Stand within 16 blocks and the spawner does the rest - the classic first XP farm in any world.
How it works
- A spawner activates with a player within 16 blocks (spherical radius, measured at foot level) and attempts to spawn 4 mobs, then waits 10 to 39.95 seconds before trying again.
- In Java it spawns mobs in a volume of at most 9x3x9 centered on the spawner (4 blocks horizontally, 1 vertically); Bedrock uses a different volume.
- If 6 or more mobs of its type intersect a 9x9x9 volume (Java) around it, the spawner spawns nothing that cycle: your system must move mobs away.
- Monster spawners cannot be obtained in Survival, even with Silk Touch; broken with a pickaxe they drop 15-43 experience, and nothing with any other tool.
- A monster room spawner holds a zombie (50%), skeleton (25%) or spider (25%).
Materials
- Water buckets (2-4) for the collection stream
- Building blocks to dig and wall the 9x9x5 room
- Torches to control spawning while you work
- Hoppers + chests at the kill spot
- Signs or trapdoors for water control in the drop chute
Build steps
- Find a monster room (cobblestone and mossy cobblestone cube with a spawner in the centre) while caving.
- Light the spawner with torches immediately so nothing spawns while you build.
- Clear the room out to 4 blocks on each side of the spawner, inside its spawn volume.
- Place water in the back corners so the flow pushes every mob to one corner, then down a 1x1 chute.
- Build a drop tube from the chute to carry mobs to your kill spot.
- Remove the torches, stand within 16 blocks, and punch away - collect XP, bones, flesh and arrows at the hoppers.
Rates
A well-built single-spawner farm gives level 30 in about 15-20 minutes of active killing. Double-spawner setups (two rooms within 16 blocks of one AFK spot) roughly double it.
Tips
- If mobs stop spawning, you may have hit the 6-mob cap: widen the kill zone or move mobs away faster.
- Keep a torch handy to switch the spawner off quickly when you repair gear.
- Source: minecraft.wiki Monster Spawner.