You’re standing in front of an enchantment table, staring at a Diamond Sword. You need Level 30. You’re at Level 14 because a Creeper decided to end your career in a ravine ten minutes ago. It’s the classic Minecraft struggle. Honestly, manual grinding—hunting zombies in a dark forest or poking endermen in the face—is a waste of your time. If you want to actually enjoy the late game, you need to know how to make xp farm in minecraft that does the heavy lifting while you're grabbing a snack.
Experience points are the literal currency of power in this game. Without them, your Mending books are useless and your gear is destined to break. But here’s the thing: not all farms are created equal. Some take ten hours to build and give you mediocre results, while others are basically "set it and forget it" machines that flood your bar with green orbs in seconds. We aren't just talking about a hole in the ground here. We're talking about real efficiency.
The Spawner Classic: Your First Real Farm
If you’ve stumbled upon a mossy cobblestone room underground, you’ve found a goldmine. Don't break that cage! A Dungeon spawner is the easiest way to start when you’re figuring out how to make xp farm in minecraft. Skeleton spawners are the holy grail because they provide bones and arrows, but Zombies work too.
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The mechanics are pretty straightforward. Mobs spawn in a 9x9x9 area centered on the spawner. You want to dig out that room so they have nowhere to stand but the air. Then, you use water streams to push them into a single-file line. Most players make the mistake of just killing them at the bottom of a hole. Don't do that. You want a "water elevator." By using Soul Sand at the bottom of a vertical column of water source blocks, you create bubbles that launch the mobs upward. Why? Because fall damage is your best friend.
Drop them exactly 21 or 22 blocks. This leaves them with half a heart of health. You can literally punch them to death with your bare hands. It's satisfying. It’s fast. More importantly, it’s safe. You're behind a half-slab, and they can’t touch you. If it’s a Zombie spawner, just watch out for the occasional baby zombie—those little monsters are fast and can ruin your day if they slip through the gap.
Why Mob Caps and Light Levels Actually Matter
Most people build a farm and wonder why it sucks. "I built the platform, why aren't they spawning?" It's usually the caves. Minecraft has a mob cap. If there are 70 zombies hanging out in unlit caves 20 blocks below your farm, the game won't spawn any more in your trap. It’s basic math.
To make an efficient farm, you have to be the "lighting police." Grab a few stacks of torches and light up every single cave within a 128-block radius of your AFK spot. If you’re playing on a server, this is even harder because other players are taking up the mob cap elsewhere. This is why many high-level players build their farms high up in the sky over an ocean. If you stand at Y-level 200, the only place the game can possibly put a mob is inside your farm. Problem solved.
The Gold Farm: The King of Mid-Game XP
If you’ve moved past the "scared of the Nether" phase, you need a Gold Farm. Specifically, a Pigman (Zombified Piglin) farm. This is widely considered the best way to handle how to make xp farm in minecraft for players who want to hit Level 100 effortlessly.
The logic is hilarious. You build a series of platforms in the Nether roof (the flat bedrock area above the main dimension). You stand in the middle, shoot one Zombified Piglin with an arrow, and suddenly the entire population within a 40-block radius wants you dead. You lead them into a killing floor. Because they are "angry" at you, the game considers their deaths "player kills" even if they die to fall damage or a swinging sword.
- The Aggro Loop: Once one is mad, they alert others. It's a chain reaction.
- The Loot: You get gold nuggets and ingots. You can trade these with regular Piglins for Ender Pearls, Fire Resistance potions, and Obsidian.
- The XP: It is relentless. You will see levels flying into your character so fast the sound effect starts to glitch out.
IanXOFour, a well-known technical Minecraft creator, has a "simple" gold farm design that uses nothing but some scaffolding and a few stacks of blocks. It proves you don't need a PhD in Redstone to get elite results. You just need to understand how the mobs think.
Enderman Farms: The End-Game Powerhouse
Eventually, you’ll kill the Ender Dragon. Once that’s done, the End becomes your playground. An Enderman farm—often called an "Ender Ender"—is arguably the fastest XP in the game. Endermen give a massive amount of experience per kill compared to a standard skeleton.
The trick here is the Endermite. If you throw enough Ender Pearls, an Endermite will eventually spawn. Endermen hate them. They will sprint toward an Endermite with terrifying speed. You place the mite in a minecart over a deep hole, and the Endermen will literally walk off the edge to try and reach it. They fall, they hit the bottom, and you one-tap them.
One warning: build this at least 128 blocks away from the main End island. You want the farm to be the only valid spawning spot in the entire dimension. If you do it right, the spawn rates are so high that your game might actually lag from the sheer amount of XP orbs on the floor.
The Zero-Effort Kelp Smelter (Bedrock Edition Only)
If you are on Bedrock Edition (Console, Mobile, Windows 10), there is a "glitchy" but effective way to get XP that Java players can't use. It involves kelp and furnaces. When you smell something in a furnace, the furnace "stores" the XP. If you set up a system where a hopper pulls the items out, the XP stays locked in the furnace.
If you let that furnace run for hours, smelting thousands of pieces of kelp, it accumulates a massive bank of experience. When you finally pull a single item out manually, the game gives you all the stored XP at once. People have gone from Level 0 to Level 50 in one click. It feels like cheating, but it’s just how the Bedrock engine handles container data.
Managing Your Expectations
Look, you don't need a world-eating machine. If you’re just playing a casual survival world with friends, a simple Dark Oak box in the sky with some water canals is plenty. It’ll give you enough levels to keep your gear repaired.
But if you’re trying to enchant a full set of Netherite armor with Protection IV, Unbreaking III, and Mending? You need the heavy hitters. Don't waste time on "automated" cactus farms or berry bushes. They are too slow. Focus on mob-based mechanics. The game is designed to reward you for defeating enemies, so use that to your advantage.
Actionable Setup Checklist
To get started right now, follow these steps to ensure your farm actually works:
- Check your simulation distance. If it's too low, mobs won't spawn far enough away. If it's too high, they might wander off before reaching your trap. 4 to 6 chunks is usually the "sweet spot" for most farm designs.
- Use slabs, not full blocks. Mobs can't spawn on bottom-half slabs. Use this to "spawn-proof" the areas around your farm so you don't have to use a million torches.
- The AFK Spot is key. You need to be between 24 and 128 blocks away from the spawning platform. Stand too close (under 24 blocks), and nothing spawns. Stand too far (over 128), and they despawn instantly.
- Clear your inventory. XP farms produce a lot of junk. If your inventory is full of rotten flesh or string, you might miss the actual experience orbs or rare drops like enchanted bows.
- Sweep, don't just click. If you're on Java Edition, use a sword with Sweeping Edge III. It allows you to hit 20 mobs at once, which is vital for clearing out a cramped kill chamber.
Building these structures is one of the most rewarding parts of the game. It’s the transition from "surviving" to "dominating." Once you have a reliable source of XP, the fear of death in Minecraft almost disappears because you know you can replace your gear in thirty minutes. Grab some cobblestone, find a high Y-level, and start building. Your Level 30 enchantments are waiting.
Next Steps for Efficiency:
- Craft a Grindstone to disenchant any "junk" enchanted gear you get from the farm for extra XP.
- Carry a Bucket of Milk when working with Endermites or Cave Spiders to clear poison or levitation effects.
- Prioritize getting Mending on your pickaxe first so you can repair it while you stand at the farm.