Minecraft has some of the most diverse and interactive mobs in all of video games. They range from dragons to villagers with jobs. In addition, killing most of these mobs gives us interesting loot and experience points. But that’s only if you have a way to spawn and target those mobs. Fortunately, Minecraft mob generators are the only solution you need for this. For those who don’t know, mob spawners are rare cage-like blocks that spawn endless monsters. So if you know where to find a mob generator for a particular mob, you can get an unlimited supply of that mob. This unlocks an endless array of opportunities, including auto farms, easy loot, and better Minecraft adventure maps. That said, it’s time to stop beating around the bush and dive into the world of Minecraft spawners!
Minecraft Mob Spawners: Explained (2022)
We cover a variety of gameplay mechanics related to Minecraft Mob Generators in this guide. They have some differences in Minecraft Java and Bedrock editions. Be sure to go through this section before trying it out in game.
What are spawners in Minecraft?
Spawners are game blocks in Minecraft that can spawn almost any mob in the game under the right circumstances. Visually, the spawners are cage-like blocks with a fire burning inside. They also have a rotating miniature mob inside this cage structure, indicating the mob the particular spawn spawns. If the spawner is not attached to any mob, it looks like an ordinary cage.
Don’t forget, because spawners usually spawn hostile mobs, they’re called monster spawners in the Bedrock edition. However, things are a bit limited in survival mode, where you can only naturally obtain the following monster spawners:
- Pork
- Spider
- cave spider
- Silver fish
- a cube of magma
- Flambé
- Skeleton
- Zombie
Additionally, these spawners cannot be picked up or moved even with a Silk Pickaxe, Piston, or even a Sticky Piston. If you want to use one in your base or farm, you need to build the structure around it.
Where to find monster spawners
If you are in creative mode, you can get spawners using “/give” command and with your Creative Inventory too if you’re on the Bedrock Edition. By default, the spawner will be empty in Bedrock and will have a Pig on the Java edition. Apart from that, you can simply use a laying egg on the spawner to assign any particular mob to it.
On the other hand, if you play in survival game mode, you can find spawners in the following places:
- Strongholds with silverfish spawners
- Dungeons with a zombie, a spider, and reproductive skeletons
- mine shafts with cave spider keys
- Woodland Mansions with spider spawners
- Remains of the bastion with magma cube spawners
- Nether Fortresses with flame spawners
How to Get Custom Spawners in Survival Minecraft
If the variety of Minecraft mob spawners seems limited in survival mode, you can get custom spawners using this command:
/setblock ~ ~-1 ~ spawner{SpawnData:{entity:{id:wolf}},Timeout: 299} replace
This command converts the block right below your feet into a custom Minecraft mob spawner. You can replace the “wolf” in the command with any monster in the game. But unfortunately this only works on the Java edition with Minecraft 1.18 or later. If you are on the Bedrock edition, you must use the “/give” command or the creative inventory to get spawn eggs and a mob spawner.
Using Spawners in Minecraft Farms
As you’d expect, most Minecraft players use spawners to create mob farms. These farms function as a source of unlimited experience orbs and mob loot. To create them, you must meet the following criteria:
- Mob Spawning Requirements
- A way to kill mobs
- An item collection system
To collect loot from dead monsters, you can set up a hopper or water flow. You can even use Allay to create automatic farms and make sorting easier. As for the killer part, the best Minecraft sword enchantments are more than capable here.
Spawning requirements
A Minecraft mob generator only works if a player is inside 16 blocks of its radius. If the conditions are met, it can spawn mobs within 4 blocks in all open directions on the Bedrock Edition. Meanwhile, it spawns mobs in 4 blocks horizontally and 1 block vertical range on the Java Edition.
The generator aims to spawn 4 random mobs every 40 seconds. But it skips each cycle if there are already 6 or more mobs around the spawner. Moving on to the individual mobs, here are the spawner requirements for each one:
| Crowd | Required area | Failure rate |
|---|---|---|
| Pork | X=8.9, Y=2.9, Z=8.9 | 2.5% |
| cave spider | X=8.7, Y=2.5, Z=8.7 | 1.5% |
| Silver fish | X=8.3, Y=2.7, Z=8.3 | 0.3% |
| Zombie | X=8.6, Y=3.8, Z=8.6 | 1.1% |
| Skeleton | X=8.6, Y=3.8, Z=8.6 | 1.1% |
| Flambé | X=8.6, Y=3.8, Z=8.6 | 1.1% |
| Spider | X=9.4, Y=2.9, Z=9.4 | 6.1% |
| a cube of magma | X=10, Y=4, Z=10 | Unknown |
How to Disable a Mob Spawner
If you don’t want to use a generator right away, you can temporarily disable it. This does not destroy the generator but only renders it non-functional until the restrictions are removed. Almost all natural mob spawners require dark conditions within spawn range to function properly. With that in mind, you can disable a spawner by:
- Place a torch on all sides and on top of the spawner is enough to disable most Minecraft spawners.
- However, to disable a Blaze or Silverfish spawner, a level 12 light is required. You can get it by placing torch grids around the spawner or by placing blocks around it with a light level of 15.
- Finally, you can also place solid blocks around the spawner completely filling the spawn area to disable it. This is a surefire way to disable spawners even if they are unaffected by light.
Try Minecraft Mob Spawners Now
Just like that, you know everything you need to know about mob spawners in Minecraft. You can now use this guide to create farms, reset spawners, and generate custom spawners in Minecraft. Once your spawners are set, you can use them to upgrade the best Minecraft house ideas. However, you will not be able to move them from their natural spawn location. But you can use a Nether Portal to speed up movement in the area a bit. With the correct route set, you can place spawners in each Minecraft biome to get custom mobs in each area. Even with all these features, setting up a spawner is no easy task. So, using the best Minecraft mods might give you an easy way out. That said, what new mob spawner do you want to see in Minecraft 1.19? Tell us in the comments!