How to build the ideal Minecraft XP farm

Josh Tyler
Minecraft XP farm thumbnail

If you want some easy XP in Minecraft, you’ll want to build an XP farm. Here are the best methods we’ve found to building a quick and easy setup.

XP, otherwise known as experience points, is a valuable feature in an ever changing game like Minecraft. After all, it’s vital to collect if you want to enchant your weapons, armor, or equipment, so it’s always useful to keep a large amount on you.

However, with XP primarily coming from killing mobs, mining and smelting ores, or trading, it can be a little challenging to create a reliable stream of XP.

So, with that in mind, we’ve put together three of the best Minecraft XP farms so you can get to finding those new mobs, or creating the perfect house in your fantastic world, without needing to worry about XP.

How to build a traditional Minecraft XP farm

Most Minecraft players are aware of how to build the traditional XP farm, which features a dark room built far above the player where mobs can spawn and drop down to the killing floor to be farmed.

The latest version of this farm for Minecraft version 1.19 was explained in a video from YouTuber Voltrox.

The video goes into full detail of the build, but the gist is that players will need to build a large room (16×16) with a four-block funnel in the middle.

Using trapdoors and water-logged blocks, players can trick the mobs into falling into the funnel where they will take a 22-high drop that will put them right in front of the player, one hit from death. This lets players go AFK while the funnel fills with hundreds of mobs to easily farm tons of XP (and loot).

Players will need the following materials to build this farm:

  • 704 solid blocks of any kind (11 stacks of 64)
  • 916 slab blocks of any kind (just under 15 stacks of 64)
  • 240 trap doors (just under 4 stacks of 64)
  • 2 water buckets
  • 4 ladders
  • 4 hoppers
  • 4 chests
  • 128 scaffolds (2 stacks of 64)
  • 1 stack of torches (no exact number, these are just to spawn-proof as you build).

The farm will be at its most efficient when it is built high in the sky, limiting the number of other mobs that can spawn around you. However, it can work when built at ground level so long as there aren’t dark areas within the spawning radius.

The benefit of this traditional farm is that it can be built at just about any point in the game, and doesn’t require any redstone or exotic blocks. The downside is that it requires a lot of blocks to build the spawning room.

How to build a Nether XP farm

The second farm that Minecraft players can build is based around Zombie Piglins, which are found in the Nether.

Instead of creating a spawning room for mobs that will fall into a killing chamber, however, this farm takes advantage of the Piglin’s logic where they will pursue and attack a player who attacks any nearby Piglin.

Voltrox, again, provides a blueprint for the farm.

Instead of building a high platform, players will simply build a small pit (3x4x4) with trapdoors that they can lure Piglins into. Just like with the traditional XP farm, the trapdoors will trick Piglins into falling into the inescapable pit where the player can go down and safely kill them all.

Here are the materials needed for the Nether XP farm:

  • 32 solids blocks
  • 6 trapdoors
  • 6 slab blocks
  • 5 ladders
  • 3 hoppers
  • 1-2 chests

While Voltrox’s build advises players build something of a mound to stand on where the Piglins will chase them, you can also simply build a small hut or enclosure to shield yourself from them (but make sure the Piglins can still see you).

The benefits of this XP farm are that the material costs are very limited and you don’t have to wait and go AFK for mobs to spawn before you kill them. The downsides, though, are that you need to be able to get to the Nether and you’ll need a large flat area so the maximum amount of Piglins can see you.

How to build an XP farm around a mob spawner

If you’re lucky enough to find a mob spawner, you’re in luck because that can be easily turned into an XP farm.

To do so, all you’ll need to do is to dig out a 9-block area all around the spawner build a funnel system similar to that in the traditional spawner, and sit in the killing room waiting for mobs to drop in.

Minecraft YouTuber Jumper explains how to turn a zombie or skeleton spawner into an XP farm.

Simply build the room around the spawner, fill the corners with water buckets so that any spawning mobs get washed towards the center. There, you’ll dig down 22 levels to build a killing platform where you’ll wait for mobs to arrive one hit from death.

The materials you’ll need include:

  • 64 solid blocks
  • 2 hoppers
  • 2 chests
  • 5 slab blocks
  • 64 torches (for lighting the room as you dig it out)
  • 22 ladders
  • 4 buckets of water (or just two to make an infinite water source)

Another alternative to building the spawner to drop mobs straight down to the killing floor is to situate the water so it pushes all the mobs to a central spot at the front of the room where they will drop down. This gives you a way into and out of the spawning room should you need to repair something.

The advantage to this XP farm is that it is also very cheap in terms of resources needed and you don’t have to build an AFK spot to stand in high in the sky. The drawback is that you’ll need to find a spawner and you will have to build the farm in that location.

Those are the three best XP farms in Minecraft. While waiting for the experience to flow in, take a look at some of our other handy Minecraft guides:

How to make a grindstone in Minecraft | Best Minecraft servers | Best Minecraft seeds | Best Minecraft house ideas |  How to make a beehive in Minecraft | All Minecraft cheats and commands | How to make a grindstone in Minecraft | How to install the best Bedrock shaders in Minecraft | How to get Honeycomb in Minecraft | How to make Lanterns in Minecraft | How to breed horses in Minecraft & tame them | Minecraft teleporting guide | Minecraft Villager jobs guide | How to make paper in Minecraft | How to make a lead in Minecraft

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About The Author

Josh Tyler is Dexerto's US Editor, focused on TV and movies as well as all things gaming. Formerly of Fansided and Screen Rant. Tips welcome at josh.tyler@dexerto.com