A monster spawner is a cage-like block that can spawn mobs, the type of which being visible within it as a miniature spinning version. It cannot be obtained as an item or moved by a piston, and drops experience orbs when broken.
Obtaining[]
Monster spawners cannot be obtained in Survival, even with Silk Touch.
A monster spawner can be obtained in Creative mode by taking it from Creative inventory, by using the /give command, or by using pick block. It is initially empty and inert, but can be configured to spawn a desired mob by using a spawn egg on the placed block.
A /setblock, /clone or /fill command can also be used to obtain a monster spawner.
Breaking[]
If broken with a pickaxe, a monster spawner drops 15-43 experience. When mined with anything else, it drops nothing.
| Block | Monster Spawner | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 5 | |
| Tool | ||
| Breaking time[A] | ||
| Default | 25 | |
| Wooden | 3.75 | |
| Stone | 1.9 | |
| Iron | 1.25 | |
| Diamond | 0.95 | |
| Netherite | 0.85 | |
| Golden | 0.65 | |
- ↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.
Natural generation[]
Monster spawners can generate naturally in the following places:
- Monster Rooms
- One in the center of the monster room spawning one of the following mobs with the indicated frequency: zombie (50%), skeleton (25%), or spider (25%).
- Mineshafts
- Any number of cave spider monster spawners, densely surrounded by cobwebs, scattered throughout.
- Woodland Mansions
- Optionally one spider monster spawner, densely surrounded by cobwebs, in a rarely generated secret room on the 2nd or 3rd floor. It is sometimes visible through the windows from outside.
- Strongholds
- One silverfish monster spawner in the end portal room.
- Nether Fortresses
- One or two blaze monster spawners on fenced platforms with full-block "stairs" leading up to them. Normally two are generated per fortress, but there can be fewer.
- Bastion Remnants
- One magma cube monster spawner hanging from a chain underneath a bridge in treasure rooms.
Usage[]
The monster spawner spawns mobs in an (at most) 9×3×9 volume (see § Mechanics) around it when the player is within 16 blocks. Suitable spawning locations for the block's mob type are provided in or around the spawning volume. The monster spawner attempts to spawn four mobs around it, then waits from 10 to 39.95 seconds before attempting to spawn more.
In Peaceful difficulty, monster spawners still activate but do not spawn monsters in Bedrock Edition. In Java Edition, zombified piglins, magma cubes, and ghasts do not spawn at all and other hostile mobs disappear immediately after spawning.
Monster spawners are transparent, but they behave like leaves in that they diffuse sky light coming from directly above.
In Bedrock Edition, they have a hitbox slightly smaller than a full block, and therefore, one can walk on the edge of a supporting full block directly below the monster spawner.
Mechanics[]
A monster spawner activates when a player (that's not in Spectator mode) comes within a spherical radius of 16 blocks from the center point of the block; i.e. 15.5 blocks from the monster spawner itself. In Java Edition an active monster spawner attempts to spawn mobs within a 4-block horizontal and 1-block vertical range; that is, in a 9×3×9 volume centered on the monster spawner. In Bedrock Edition, the horizontal spawning range is 4 blocks taxicab distance, creating spawning volume extending 4 blocks in each cardinal horizontal direction from the sides of the monster spawner; its horizontal cross-section is therefore diamond-shaped. Mobs can spawn anywhere in this range that is suitable, with mobs more likely to spawn closer to the monster spawner than farther away.
While mobs are spawned at fractional x and z-coordinates (i.e. not aligned to blocks), they are spawned at an integer y-coordinate. Horizontally, a mob can spawn with its center point anywhere within range, but vertically, mobs spawn with their legs at either the same layer as the monster spawner block, one block above it, or one block below it. (Note that when there are other blocks slightly intersecting the mob's hitbox, they can sometimes glitch further away - often up - but this does not make it a true spawning point.)
The monster spawner attempts to spawn 4 mobs at randomly chosen points within the spawning volume, then waits anywhere from 200 to 799 ticks (10 to 39.95 seconds) before spawning again. As it waits, the mob model inside the block spins faster and faster. Except for the normal solid-block spawning requirement, all the remaining ones must be met (not in a solid block, correct light level, etc.), so the monster spawner often produces fewer than 4 mobs. When it does spawn, it emits a "poof", and more flame particles temporarily appear around it. If the monster spawner fails to spawn any mobs because it did not pick any suitable locations, it repeats this process every tick until it succeeds. It only starts the next wait cycle after successfully spawning at least one mob.
If 6 or more mobs of the monster spawner's type have their hitbox intersecting a 9×9×9 volume centered on the monster spawner block in Java Edition or a 16×10×16 volume centered on the lower northwest corner of the monster spawner block in Bedrock Edition, the monster spawner "poofs" without creating any mobs and then waits for the next cycle. [needs testing in Bedrock Edition] This is checked before each of the four spawn attempts.
Spawner setup. Blue represents minimum space needed around spawner for spawning room
Spawning requirements[]
The monster spawner performs a relaxed version of the ordinary spawning check: the general solid block requirement is removed, but the volume (hitbox of the mob) is kept along with some other checks according to mob specifics. As a result, for some types of mobs to spawn in the outer planes of the spawning volume, some planes outside the volume may also need to be free of solid blocks to conform with the mobs' height, width, or other rules governing their individual spawn volumes. Examples:
- Mobs that are two or more blocks tall such as zombies, skeletons, or blazes to spawn in the top y-layer, the layer above that must contain only a transparent block such as air, glass, leaves, etc.
- In Java Edition, a turtle monster spawner will only spawn turtles on sand blocks less than 4 blocks above sea level (typically at Y=62). In Bedrock Edition no biome/light/height conditions apply for turtles in monster spawners.
- In Bedrock Edition, some animals require light level 7+, e.g. chicken, sheep, cow, rabbit. Others ignore the light level condition given in the spawning rules json files, e.g. parrot, turtle. This suggests that some of the early animals have hard-coded requirements when used in monster spawners.
| Mob type | Required Volume (Java) | Required Volume (Bedrock)[verify] | Vertical alignment | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pig[note 1] | 8.9 × 2.9 × 8.9 |
| ||||||
| Cave Spider | 8.7 × 2.5 × 8.7 |
| ||||||
| Silverfish | 8.4 × 2.3 × 8.4 |
| ||||||
| Zombie | 8.6 × 3.95 × 8.6 | 8.6 × 3.9 × 8.6 |
| |||||
| Skeleton | 8.6 × 3.99 × 8.6 | 8.6 × 3.9 × 8.6 |
| |||||
| Blaze | 8.6 × 3.8 × 8.6 | 8.5 × 3.8 × 8.5 |
| |||||
| Spider | 9.4 × 2.9 × 9.4 |
| ||||||
| Magma Cube | 10.04 × 4.04 × 10.04 | 10.08 × 4.08 × 10.08 |
| |||||
- ↑ Pig monster spawners do not appear naturally in vanilla Minecraft.
For all of the volumes listed in the table, the horizontal plane is centered on the center of the monster spawner block. While the spawning volume for pigs is 8.9×2.9×8.9, the requirement of grass blocks that are necessary for pigs to spawn reduces the actual volume in which they successfully spawn to 8.9×1.0×8.9. Other mobs can spawn in mid-air, ignoring general rules about spawning on solid ground.
The spawn conditions do not include biomes for most mobs. As such, monster spawners can place mobs where they normally wouldn't generate. For example, a mooshroom monster spawner can operate in a plains biome as long as there are mycelium blocks within the spawn area because the mooshroom's spawning code checks only for mycelium. The reason mooshrooms are not actually spawned elsewhere is that the game does not normally try to spawn them in other biomes: only the mushroom field biome has mooshroom on the list of things to spawn.
Disabling[]
Disabling a blaze monster spawner with nine blocks. Glowstone can be replaced with other light sources of light level 15.
Blaze monster spawner disabled by four jack o'Lanterns. This works only in Bedrock Edition in small rooms.
With the clever placement of nine solid blocks, a magma cube monster spawner can be completely disabled. Only the cobblestone is needed, glass is just for distance marking.
The way a monster spawner can be disabled depends on the entity it tries to spawn.
For a monster spawner that generates mobs that spawn only in dark conditions (light level = 0), a torch placed on any side or top of the monster spawner is sufficient to disable it for the whole 9×3×9 volume.
For a blaze or silverfish monster spawner, a light level of 12 is required to prevent spawning. This can be achieved by:
- Laying 9 blocks in the pattern shown on the right using blocks having a luminance value of 15
- Laying a dense 7×7 grid of torches on the monster spawner's Y level
- In Bedrock Edition, placing a light source of level 15 on four surfaces
A monster spawner is also disabled by filling the spawning volume with solid blocks. This is often used to disable magma cube monster spawners, as magma cubes can spawn in any light level. However, since all magma cubes require the space of a large magma cube in order to spawn, a clever placement of as little as 9 solid blocks a layer above the monster spawner (see right image) can completely disable it.
Custom monster spawners[]
A monster spawner in a monster room that produces spiders.
In Java Edition, using commands, monster spawners can be customized:
- They can be made to spawn any kind of entity.
- A single monster spawner can spawn multiple different entities, chosen at random from a list.
- Properties can be set on the spawned entities.
- Various range and timing properties of the monster spawner can be changed.
Detailed technical information about custom monster spawners can be found below.
In Bedrock Edition, monster spawner customization can not be done in the base game (i.e. without addons/behavior packs).
Note blocks[]
Monster spawner can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sounds.
Piston interactivity[]
Monster spawners cannot be pushed by pistons. They also cannot be pushed nor pulled by sticky pistons.
Sounds[]
| Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Block broken | Blocks | Once the block has broken | block | subtitles | 1.0 | 1.2 | 16 | |
| Block placed | Blocks | When the block is placed | block | subtitles | 1.0 | 1.2 | 16 | |
| Block breaking | Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | block | subtitles | 0.25 | 0.75 | 16 | |
| None[sound 1] | Entity-Dependent | Falling on the block with fall damage | block | None[sound 1] | 0.5 | 1.25 | 16 | |
| Footsteps | Entity-Dependent | Walking on the block | block | subtitles | 0.15 | 1.5 | 16 |
| Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blocks | Once the block has broken | dig | 1.0 | 1.1-1.2 | |
| Blocks | When the block is placed | use | 1.0 | 1.2-1.25 | |
| Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | hit | 0.3 | 0.75 | |
| Players | Falling on the block with fall damage | fall | 0.4 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Walking on the block | step | 0.35 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Jumping from the block | jump | 0.12 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Falling on the block without fall damage | land | 0.22 | 1.0 |
Data values[]
ID[]
| Name | Identifier | Form | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monster Spawner | spawner | Block & Item | block.minecraft.spawner |
| Name | Identifier |
|---|---|
| Block entity | mob_spawner |
| Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Form | Item ID[i 1] | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monster Spawner | mob_spawner | 52 | Block & Giveable Item[i 2] | Identical[i 3] | tile.mob_spawner.name |
| Name | Savegame ID |
|---|---|
| Block entity | MobSpawner |
Block data[]
A monster spawner has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.
- Block entity data
- Tags common to all block entities
- Tags common to all spawners
Video[]
Note: This video is outdated, as monster spawners has been added to the Creative inventory in Java Edition 1.19.3.
History[]
| Java Edition Infdev | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20100625-2 |  Added monster spawners.
| |||||||||||
| Monster spawners can be picked up and when placed, spawn pigs. | ||||||||||||
| 20100627 | Monster spawners have been given a unique ID, reducing crashes. | |||||||||||
| Java Edition Alpha | ||||||||||||
| v1.0.1 | Monster spawners can't be picked up anymore. | |||||||||||
| v1.1.0 | Removed rotating model inside of the monster spawner due to some multiplayer issues with it. | |||||||||||
| Java Edition Beta | ||||||||||||
| 1.2 | Monster spawners again show a rotating model inside of what they spawn in singleplayer after being missing for several versions. | |||||||||||
| 1.8 | Pre-release | Added cave spider monster spawners to mineshafts. | ||||||||||
| Java Edition | ||||||||||||
| 1.0.0 | Beta 1.9 Prerelease |  The texture of monster spawners has been changed to a darker color.
| ||||||||||
| Added blaze spawners to nether fortresses. | ||||||||||||
| Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3 | Added natural silverfish monster spawners. | |||||||||||
| Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4 | Monster spawners now drop when mined using a tool enchanted with the new Silk Touch enchantment. | |||||||||||
| Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5 | Squid monster spawners now work only in a narrow elevation range, from 46 to 62. | |||||||||||
| Monster spawners no longer drop when broken using a tool enchanted with Silk Touch. | ||||||||||||
| Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6 | Monster spawners now take much less time to destroy; the breaking time is tier dependent. | |||||||||||
| 1.2.1 | 12w06a | Monster spawners now show the mob they are spawning in multiplayer; previously they would always show a pig. | ||||||||||
| 1.3.1 | 12w21a | Pick block no longer works on monster spawners. | ||||||||||
| 12w22a | Monster spawners now drop experience when destroyed. | |||||||||||
| 12w26a | Monster spawners now support extra data pertaining to what they spawn. | |||||||||||
| 1.8 | 14w18a | Monster spawners with numerical metadata variants 1 through 15, which are inaccessible through normal gameplay, now have no model  rather than appearing identical to monster spawners. | ||||||||||
| 14w26a | Block metadata has been completely removed from this snapshot onwards with the introduction of block states. As this block never used block metadata at all prior to this version, fifteen unused, inaccessible metadata variants of it have been completely removed from the game:
| |||||||||||
| 14w26c | The horizontal spawning range of monster spawners is now calculated from the center of the block rather than the northwest corner. | |||||||||||
| The exclusion zone of monster spawners has been reduced: for a default monster spawner, the 6 mobs must be in a 9×9×9 region rather than 17×9×17 to prevent spawning. | ||||||||||||
| 14w28b | The type of mob spawned from a monster spawner can now be changed by using a spawn egg on it. | |||||||||||
| 1.9 | 16w02a | A monster spawner containing a large mob now scales down the mob to fit inside the monster spawner block. | ||||||||||
| 1.11 | 16w32a | The block entity ID has been changed from MobSpawner to mob_spawner. | ||||||||||
| 16w39a | Spider monster spawners now generate in woodland mansions. | |||||||||||
| 1.13 | 17w47a | "Monster Spawner" has been renamed to simply "Spawner". | ||||||||||
| Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 52. | ||||||||||||
| pre5 | The ID of spawners has been changed to spawner. | |||||||||||
| 1.14 | 18w43a |  The texture of spawners has been changed. | ||||||||||
| 1.16 | 20w16a | Magma cube spawners now generate in bastion remnants. | ||||||||||
| 1.17 | 21w20a | Assigned the "Epic" rarity to spawners, it was "Common". | ||||||||||
| 1.18 | experimental snapshot 2 | Zombie, skeleton, spider, and cave spider spawners now require a light level of 12 to prevent spawning. | ||||||||||
| 21w37a | The light level changes in experimental snapshot 2 have been reverted. | |||||||||||
| 1.19.3 | 22w43a | The spawner is now available in the Creative inventory.[1] | ||||||||||
| 22w44a | "Spawner" has been renamed back to "Monster Spawner". | |||||||||||
| The monster spawner now has the "Common" rarity again, as prior to 21w20a. | ||||||||||||
| Monster spawners no longer have a pig in them and flame particles by default. | ||||||||||||
| Pick block once again works on monster spawners.[2] | ||||||||||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | ||||||||||||
| v0.9.0 | build 1 |  Added monster spawners. | ||||||||||
| build 2 | Added monster spawners to the Creative inventory. | |||||||||||
| The type of mob spawned can now be changed using a spawn egg. | ||||||||||||
| build 9 | Monster spawners now emit light. | |||||||||||
| v0.12.1 | build 1 | Blaze monster spawners now generate in nether fortresses. | ||||||||||
| Monster spawners now drop experience when mined using a pickaxe. | ||||||||||||
| Pocket Edition | ||||||||||||
| 1.1.0 | alpha 1.1.0.0 | Spider monster spawners now generate in woodland mansions. | ||||||||||
| Bedrock Edition | ||||||||||||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 |  The texture of monster spawners has been changed. | ||||||||||
| 1.16.0 | beta 1.16.0.59 | Magma cube monster spawners now generate in bastion remnants. | ||||||||||
| 1.17.30 | beta 1.17.30.21 | Monster spawners no longer emit light. | ||||||||||
| Legacy Console Edition | ||||||||||||
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | Added monster spawners. | |||||||
| TU5 | The texture of monster spawners has been changed. | |||||||||||
| TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | The type of mob spawned from a monster spawner can now be changed by using a spawn egg. | ||||||||
| TU69 | 1.76 | Patch 38 | Monster spawners are now available in the Creative inventory, and can be obtained with pick block. | |||||||||
| 1.90 | The texture of monster spawners has been changed. | |||||||||||
Issues[]
Issues relating to "Monster Spawner" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia[]
- A monster spawner containing zombies can never spawn a zombie villager.[3]
- In Java Edition, monster spawners containing zombies have a small chance to spawn a chicken jockey.
- Monster spawners containing zombies or skeletons have a chance for the mob spinning inside to have armor.
- Monster spawners containing spiders have a small chance to spawn a spider jockey.
- Monster spawners containing Pillagers have a small chance for the mob spinning inside to be a Raid captain in Java Edition.
- Monster spawners containing Pillagers can spawn Raid captains.
- Monster spawners in mushroom fields, the deep dark or the Void biome can function normally, despite those biomes having no hostile mobs spawn naturally.
- It is possible for a pig monster spawner to generate naturally. If a newer world is loaded in an older version of Minecraft, the monster spawner can lose its metadata, causing it to enter its default state, which is a pig monster spawner. Alternatively, if a buried treasure chest generates next to a monster spawner, it duplicates the monster spawner without duplicating the NBT tag, resulting in a natural pig monster spawner.[4] The chest also gets invalid block (monster spawner) data, making it unopenable.
- If a monster room monster spawner overwrites a monster room chest during world generation, the monster spawner does not spawn any mobs. It appears as a pig monster spawner, but placing a hopper underneath it reveals the contents of the chest that should have been there.
Gallery[]
Renders[]
Screenshots[]
A blaze monster spawner in a nether fortress.
A monster room, connected to another monster room, with two monster spawners.
Light required to disable a blaze monster spawner.
A monster spawner that spawns skeletons.
Chickens spawning from multiple monster spawners.
A monster spawner in an older version of Minecraft.
Cave spider monster spawner seen from a chamber.
Spider monster spawner in a woodland mansion.
A magma cube monster spawner inside the Bastion Remnant.
A spider monster spawner connected to a mineshaft.
Two blazes spawned near a blaze monster spawner and a wither skeleton.
Pig monster spawners generating when a buried treasure chest spawns inside a monster spawner (Fixed in 1.17 pre-1).
Amethyst geode with mineshaft and 2 cave spider monster spawners. Check the image for more details, including seed and coordinates.
2 cave spider monster spawners next to each other.
Spider monster spawner generated right next to the village.
Mineshaft and skeleton monster spawner generated at the very bottom of the world.
See also[]
Notes[]
- ↑ Like leaves, this block diffuses sky light only from directly above.
References[]
External Links[]
- Block of the Week: Spawner – Minecraft.net on January 13, 2022