Minecraft Difficulty Differences: Peaceful vs Easy vs Normal vs Hard

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: On Peaceful, hostile mobs do not spawn and hunger regenerates. On Easy, mobs deal half of Normal damage plus 1, starvation stops at 10 HP, and zombies never convert villagers. On Normal, starvation stops at 1 HP and 50% of villagers killed by zombies become zombie villagers. On Hard, mobs deal 1.5x damage, starvation kills, zombies break wooden doors and call reinforcements, spiders spawn with potion effects, and every villager killed by a zombie turns. Hardcore (Java) is Hard with one life.

What you need

Nothing - difficulty is a world setting you can change any time with /difficulty or in settings

Step by step

Peaceful: no hostile mobs spawn (a few exceptions like the ender dragon and shulkers still exist but deal no damage), hunger does not drain, and health regenerates quickly.
Mob damage scaling: Easy is half of Normal damage plus 1 heart; Normal is the baseline; Hard multiplies Normal damage by 1.5.
Starvation: on Easy it drops you to 10 HP, on Normal to 1 HP, and on Hard it kills you outright.
Zombies and villagers: villagers killed by zombies become zombie villagers 0% of the time on Easy, 50% on Normal and 100% on Hard - Hard doubles your discount pipeline.
Zombies on Hard only: they can break wooden doors and call in reinforcements when hurt.
Ranged mobs get meaner: skeleton inaccuracy is 10/6/2 on Easy/Normal/Hard, with a 3-second attack cooldown on Easy and Normal but 2 seconds on Hard.
Spiders can spawn with random potion effects (speed, strength, regeneration, invisibility) on Hard only, scaling with local difficulty.
Phantoms spawn in bigger packs on Hard (1-4) than Normal (1-3) or Easy (1-2).
Poison and wither effects last longer on Hard: cave spider poison 7s to 15s, bee poison 10s to 18s, wither skulls 10s to 40s.
Regional difficulty: the longer you spend in an area (and the fuller the moon), the tougher local spawns get - more armored and enchanted mobs, whatever the world difficulty above Peaceful.
Hardcore mode (Java only): locked on Hard with a single life - die and the world is over (spectator mode or delete).

Java vs Bedrock

Normal is the intended baseline; Easy is half damage and forgiving hunger; Hard is 1.5x damage with door-breaking, reinforcements and 100% zombie villager conversion.

Versions: Difficulty effects are the same on Java and Bedrock unless noted; Hardcore is Java-only. Current as of 26.x.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Easy, Normal and Hard in Minecraft?

Mob damage (half plus 1, baseline, 1.5x), starvation floor (10 HP, 1 HP, death), zombie villager conversion (0%, 50%, 100%), and Hard-only extras: door breaking, zombie reinforcements, potion-effect spiders and longer poisons.

Does difficulty affect loot or XP?

No - drop tables and XP amounts are the same on every difficulty. Difficulty changes mob damage, spawn gear quality (via regional difficulty), hunger and zombie mechanics.

Can I change difficulty after creating the world?

Yes, any time: use /difficulty peaceful, easy, normal or hard, or the settings menu. Only Hardcore worlds are locked - they cannot leave Hard.