Iron Golem

An iron golem is a buildable neutral mob that attacks monsters with its arms, knocking them into the air. Iron golems created by villagers or spawned in villages patrol their village, and may attack players that attack it or have a low popularity or reputation with their village.

Iron Golem

• Not cracked
• Cracked low
• Cracked medium
• Cracked high

Health points	100HP × 50
Behavior	Neutral (naturally spawning, or summoned by commands or its spawn egg) Hostile (when the player has -15 village popularity or below, and/or -100 villager reputation or below) Passive (player-built)
Mob type	Golem
Attack strength	Easy: 4.75HP × 2.375 – 11.75HP × 5.875 Normal: 7.5HP × 3.75 – 21.5HP × 10.75 Hard: 11.25HP × 5.625 – 32.25HP × 16.125
Hitbox size	In Java Edition: Height: 2.7 blocks Width: 1.4 blocks In Bedrock Edition: Height: 2.9 blocks Width: 1.4 blocks
Speed	0.25
Knockback resistance	1.0
Spawn	Near a pillager outpost In villages When built by the player
Usable items	Iron Ingot Lead

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Spawning

Villages

Java Edition

In Java Edition, villagers can summon iron golems, either when they are gossiping or panicking and the following criteria are met:

1. The villager has slept in the last 20 minutes
2. The villager has not detected an iron golem in the last 30 seconds
   • An iron golem is detected when it is within 16 blocks of the villager (±16X ±16Z ±16Y axis), and the villager scans for golems once every 10 seconds
3. The villager has not been near a summoning in the last 30 seconds, and a villager is near a summoning when it is within 10 blocks of a villager (±10X ±10Z ±10Y axis) who successfully summons an iron golem
4. There are enough participants within 10 blocks of the villager, including the villager itself; participating villagers need to fulfill the previous 3 conditions: When gossiping, 5 or more participants are needed. When panicking, 3 or more are needed
5. A valid spawn point for the golem is found

Iron golems still spawn even when the game rule doMobSpawning is set to false.

To find a valid spawn point, up to 10 attempts are made to spawn a golem within a 17×13×17 box centered on the villager (villager block position ±8 blocks along x/z axes and ±6 blocks along y axis). A random y column is picked and then the topmost block in that column is selected that is air or liquid and has a "solid-blocking" block underneath.

The target location is then checked whether the block underneath has a solid top surface (which is not the same as "solid-blocking"). The target block and 2 blocks above must not be a full block, nor be redstone-powered, nor be rails, and the two blocks above must not be water. This means the iron golem can spawn inside 1-deep water or inside blocks like slabs, fences, and carpets (if other checks pass). Adjacent blocks are irrelevant, so golems can spawn partially inside adjacent solid blocks. However, the spawning iron golem still must not collide with any existing entities.

Bedrock Edition

In Bedrock Edition, an iron golem can spawn naturally when a village first generates in the world. Iron golems also spawn in villages having at least 20 beds and 10 villagers. The golem attempts to spawn in a 17×13×17 volume, ±8 blocks horizontal and ±6 blocks vertical from the village's center block, which can be (but isn't necessarily) a bed pillow or a bell.

First, X and Z coordinates are randomly chosen within the spawn volume. Next, the highest block at those coordinates within the spawn volume is found. If it is a block with a full top surface — including glass, upside-down stairs, top slabs, hoppers (though this has varied with version), and even water (including source blocks) — and there is no obstruction above it by a block above the spawn volume, then the golem spawns there. Otherwise, the spawn attempt is canceled.

For a village to spawn iron golems, 75% of its villagers must have been able to work (reach their linked work block during a working period) in the past day , and 100% of them must be linked to a bed. Additionally, the village center must be within a player's simulation distance volume.

The maximum distance the player can be from the village for iron golems to spawn can be calculated with the following formulas. These are approximate because they yield a cuboid volume, but the simulation distance volume is an octahedral shape based on taxicab distance.

$\mathsf{H}\mathsf{o}\mathsf{r}\mathsf{i}\mathsf{z}\mathsf{o}\mathsf{n}\mathsf{t}\mathsf{a}\mathsf{l}=8\times \mathsf{S}\mathsf{i}\mathsf{m}\mathsf{u}\mathsf{l}\mathsf{a}\mathsf{t}\mathsf{i}\mathsf{o}\mathsf{n}\mathsf{D}\mathsf{i}\mathsf{s}\mathsf{t}\mathsf{a}\mathsf{n}\mathsf{c}\mathsf{e}+32$

$\mathsf{V}\mathsf{e}\mathsf{r}\mathsf{t}\mathsf{i}\mathsf{c}\mathsf{a}\mathsf{l}=8\times \mathsf{S}\mathsf{i}\mathsf{m}\mathsf{u}\mathsf{l}\mathsf{a}\mathsf{t}\mathsf{i}\mathsf{o}\mathsf{n}\mathsf{D}\mathsf{i}\mathsf{s}\mathsf{t}\mathsf{a}\mathsf{n}\mathsf{c}\mathsf{e}+12$

If the village's original iron golem is killed, a new one cannot spawn unless all of the conditions are met. Therefore, a small village does not regenerate an iron golem unless the village is expanded.

If the spawn conditions are met, then the chance of attempting a spawn is ¹⁄₇₀₀ per game tick, which averages to one spawn attempt every 35 seconds. Iron golems can spawn provided the 2×3×2 space above the spawn point (that is, horizontally centered on the northwest corner of the block it spawns on) contains only non-full blocks, and the block it spawns on is solid-blocking.

An additional iron golem spawns for each additional 10 villagers beyond the initial population requirement, provided that the other requirements are met.

Creation

Iron Golem build configuration.

Iron Golem build configuration 2.

Iron golems are created by placing four iron blocks in a T shape (as shown in the image), and then placing a carved pumpkin or jack o'lantern on top of the center upper block. The pumpkin may be placed by the player, a dispenser or an enderman, but it must be placed last. It needs at least one block of space around the bottom iron block to be able to spawn and cannot spawn in a confined area; even grass can prevent an iron golem from spawning. Alternatively, the blocks can be placed in any order with an uncarved pumpkin; the player can shear the pumpkin to spawn the golem. When successfully transformed, it is naturally passive toward all players under all circumstances. It can, however, attack the player’s tamed wolves, if punched accidentally, but it never directly attacks the player. The constructed golem attacks hostile mobs like a naturally spawned iron golem.

The block arrangement can be placed upright, lying down, or upside-down. The four empty spaces in the diagram (above and below each of the arms) must be air blocks. Any non-air block (including blocks such as snow layers, grass, and water) present in any of the empty spaces prevent the golem from spawning.

In Java Edition, the player can place a pumpkin on the four blocks of iron, then shear the pumpkin. The iron golem still spawns like normal.

Like other constructed mobs, iron golems always spawn facing south. Their large size may cause them to take suffocation damage from nearby solid blocks at the level of their head.

Dropping a pumpkin on the correct arrangement of iron blocks does not spawn a iron golem.

Pillager outposts

An iron golem found within one of the cages surrounding a pillager outpost.

Iron golems can also be found surrounding pillager outposts, confined inside dark oak cages. When freed, they can help the player by attacking any nearby pillagers. Pillagers do not attack iron golems in cages.

Drops

On death

Item		Roll Chance	Quantity (Roll Chance)
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Poppy	100%	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2
	Iron Ingot	100%	3–5	3–5	3–5	3–5

In Bedrock Edition, trading prices are unaffected by the killing of iron golems; however, village popularity decreases by 10, affecting village iron golem behavior if the popularity ranges below -15.

Behavior

An iron golem offering a poppy.

Iron golems wander around a village in a patrol-like fashion, staying close to buildings and other structures. Like villagers, iron golems do not wander away from a village, regardless of how they were spawned, but sometimes stand at the border of the village.

An iron golem sometimes faces a villager as if they are conversing. Iron golems can spawn poppies in their hands and offer them to villagers, symbolizing the friendly relationship between villagers and iron golems. Baby villagers accept the poppy offered by the iron golem.‌ Attacking an iron golem that is not player-built while the iron golem is holding out a poppy causes it to take back the poppy and attack the player instead. If the iron golem sees a target while it is offering the poppy, it runs toward the target and kills the target instead.

In Bedrock Edition, iron golems completely ignore villagers, pushing them aside while walking if a villager is in the iron golem's path, but they still offer poppies if possible.

If not within a village, iron golems slowly wander around attacking hostile mobs, (skeletons, zombies, etc.) usually making their way to a nearby village. If in that village, the iron golem doesn't leave.

Iron golems can walk up a full block height without jumping and walk over a 1 block wide hole without falling in. They avoid water, lava, fire, and cactus. Iron golems are immune to both drowning and fall damage. When in water, they sink, but can still move freely.

When an iron golem's health reduces to 75%, cracks appear on its surface. An iron golem can be healed when the player right-clicks the chest of the iron golem with an iron ingot. This action consumes the ingot.

As with most passive and neutral mobs, iron golems can be leashed. The leashed iron golem does not try to break from the lead when it sees a hostile mob. Instead, it looks at the mob while moving. An iron golem that is leashed in mid-air moves its arms and legs while moving. If an iron golem is leashed to a fence, it attacks the hostile mob but does not follow the mob if the hostile mob goes out the attack range, as the iron golem cannot break free from fence leads.

In Java Edition, when iron golems move when provoked, they look like if they're taking strides toward the mob. Iron golems that aren't provoked move slower in Java Edition. Iron golems move faster in Bedrock Edition, as it walks like its normal walking speed, either when provoked or not provoked.

Iron golems cannot pick up weapons or armor, but the player can use NBT commands in Java Edition or the /replaceitem command in Bedrock Edition to give the iron golem weapons or armor, although the armor or weapons are not visible.

Attacking

When attacking, an iron golem moves quickly toward its target and swings its arms up violently to attack, flinging the target into the air, and dealing 7.5HP × 3.75 to 21.5HP × 10.75 damage in Normal difficulty. When an iron golem attacks, it also deals a long knockback range. Iron golems cannot attack targets that are four blocks high above the same ground level as the golem.

It is possible for multiple golems to hit the same target simultaneously, flinging the victim to a height proportional to the number of golems that attacked. The mob/player flung can die from fall damage.

If an iron golem attacks a group of zombies, for example, it targets one zombie to attack until that zombie dies before it attacks a different zombie, even while other zombies are attacking at the same time. The iron golem attacks hostile mobs that attack it in order.

If the mob is flung out of sight, the iron golem attacks the next mob that attacks it. Sometimes, the iron golem might attack the nearest hostile mob if they are in groups.

When an iron golem kills any mob, the player can obtain items dropped by the mob, but no experience orbs. An iron golem that kills a raid mob in Bedrock Edition also causes the mob to drop its raid loot, even when the mob wasn't attacked by the player before it was killed.

Iron golems never attack each other, as iron golems cannot "accidentally" hit another iron golem when attacking.

Provocation by players

An iron golem built by a player never attacks players, even when hit or when the player attacks another villager or another golem in front of the player-built golem. A player-built golem attacks the player's tamed wolf if the wolf attacks the golem.

A naturally-spawned iron golem becomes hostile toward a player who attacks a villager near an iron golem. Also, if a player has -15 popularity or less in a village, or has -100 or lower reputation with any nearby villager, naturally-spawned iron golems become hostile to that player until the player's popularity climbs above -15 and reputation with all nearby villagers goes above -100.

A village iron golem retaliates when attacked by a player. Even throwing an ender pearl or snowball at an iron golem provokes it. If a village has more than one naturally-spawned iron golems and a player attacks one in front of the other(s), all iron golems of that type may become hostile to the player.

Iron golems are not provoked by players who attack wandering traders.

Throwing a positive splash potion or a positive lingering potion does not anger iron golems.

Provocation by other mobs

Although they are guardians of villages, iron golems are not actually provoked when a mob attacks a nearby villager (in contrast to a player attacking a villager). With the exception of creepers and goats, they are provoked when attacked by any mobs, and by the presence of nearby monsters. Even if a witch accidentally throws a positive splash potion at an iron golem during a raid, this does not stop the iron golem from attacking the witch. Iron golems are ineffective against flying hostile mobs that don't venture into the iron golem's reach, such as ghasts and phantoms.

The list below contains mobs that can have hostile interactions with iron golems. The iron golem also attacks neutral mobs or hostile mobs that attack the player such as piglins or zombified piglins.

Entity	Iron golem actively attacks the mob?	Actively attacks the iron golem?	Notes
Blaze	Yes	No	Blaze retaliates.
Bogged	Yes	Yes
Breeze	Yes	Yes
Creaking	Yes	No
Creeper	No	No	Creepers can still unintentionally damage the iron golem.
Drowned	Yes	Partial	Drowned do not attack any mob that is not touching water during daytime.
Ender Dragon	Yes	No
Enderman	Yes	No	Enderman retaliates.
Endermite	Yes	No	Endermite retaliates.
Evoker	Yes	Yes
Fox	No	No	In Bedrock Edition, trusting foxes attack the iron golem if it attacks its owner. When attacked by the fox, the golem retaliates.
Ghast	Yes	No
Giant‌	Yes	N/A	Giants do not have any AI.
Goat	No	Randomly
Guardian Elder Guardian	Yes	No	Guardians can still damage iron golems with their spikes defense.
Hoglin	Yes	No	Hoglin retaliates.
Husk Zombie Zombie Villager	Yes	Yes
Illusioner‌	Yes	Yes
Llama Trader Llama	No	No	An iron golem attacks a llama that accidentally hits the golem with its spit. After being hit by the golem, the llama deliberately attacks the golem.
Magma Cube	Yes	Yes
Phantom	Yes	No
Pillager	Yes	Yes
Piglin	Yes	No	Piglin retaliates.
Piglin Brute	Yes	No	Piglin brute retaliates.
Pufferfish	No	No	Iron golems attack pufferfish only if damaged by the pufferfish's defense.
Ravager	Yes	Yes
Shulker	Yes	No	Shulker retaliates.
Silverfish	Yes	Yes‌ No‌	Silverfish retaliates in Java Edition.
Skeleton Stray Wither Skeleton	Yes	Yes
Slime	Yes	Yes
Snow Golem	No	No	The iron golem retaliates only if a snow golem accidentally hits it with a snowball.
Spider Cave Spider	Yes	Partial	Spiders are hostile toward iron golems when light level is below 12. Otherwise, they retaliate only if attacked.
Vex	Yes	Partial	A vex attacks an iron golem rarely when the vex is near to golem. It attacks immediately when an evoker summons three vexes.
Villager	No	No
Vindicator	Yes	Yes
Warden	Yes	Yes
Witch	Yes	Yes‌ Partial‌	In Java Edition, witches attack iron golems if patrolling in an illager patrol.
Wither	Yes	Yes	Iron golems attempt to attack the wither during its spawn animation, but are unable to do so.
Wolf	No	No	Tamed wolves attack the iron golem only if it attacks its owner, or the owner attacks the golem. When attacked by the wolf, the golem retaliates. A player-built iron golem attacks the player's wolves if attacked by the wolf. Iron golems and untamed wolves never attack one another.
Zoglin	Yes	Yes
Zombified Piglin	Yes	No	Zombified piglins retaliate.
All other mobs	No	No

An iron golem looks down at a husk, but cannot attack the husk.

A naturally-spawned iron golem knows where raiding illager locations are from behind solid walls and from underground and attempts to move toward them. An iron golem created by the player or summoned by a command cannot detect raiders through obstructions. Iron golems also looks down or looks up if the hostile mob is above or below the iron golem.

Being attacked

Zombies (and variants), zoglins, skeletons (and variants), spiders, cave spiders, slimes, magma cubes, withers, ravagers and illagers naturally attack iron golems on sight and may cause major damage, especially if the mobs attack in groups. In Bedrock Edition, silverfish and witches also naturally attack iron golems without provocation.

Iron golems have 100% knockback resistance from normal attacks. However, they can be knocked back by wind charges and the Wind Burst enchantment.

Cracking

Iron golems have different stages of being cracked to show their health. When their health is above 74HP × 37, they do not have any cracks. When their health is between 50HP × 25 and 74HP × 37, some cracks appear. When their health is between 25HP × 12.5 and 49HP × 24.5, they appear more cracked. When their health is lower than 25HP × 12.5, many cracks are visible.

• 

  No deterioration
  (75% of health remaining or more)

• 

  Low deterioration
  (Between 74% and 50% remaining)

• 

  Average deterioration
  (Between 49% and 25% remaining)

• 

  Strong deterioration
  (Less than 25% remaining)

Healing

Using an iron ingot on an iron golem removes one deterioration level, or in other words, adds 25HP × 12.5 to its health.

Preferred path

Like villagers, iron golems in Bedrock Edition use a strategy of pathfinding that prioritizes walking on certain "low-cost" blocks.

Iron golems attempt to walk on a one-block-wide path, despite them being two blocks wide. An iron golem favors a wider path if it sees one.

Climbing

Iron golems can climb ladders or vines if the ladder or vine is in its path, or if pushed onto a ladder or vine.

Sounds

Java Edition:
Iron golems use the Friendly Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Iron Golem attacks	Friendly Creatures	When an iron golem attacks something	entity.iron_golem.attack	subtitles.entity.iron_golem.attack​	1.0	1.0	16
	​Iron Golem breaks	Friendly Creatures	When an iron golem cracks	entity.iron_golem.damage	subtitles.entity.iron_golem.damage​	0.8	varies	16
	​Iron Golem dies	Friendly Creatures	When an iron golem dies	entity.iron_golem.death	subtitles.entity.iron_golem.death​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	​Iron Golem hurts	Friendly Creatures	When an iron golem is damaged	entity.iron_golem.hurt	subtitles.entity.iron_golem.hurt​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	​Footsteps	Friendly Creatures	While an iron golem is walking	entity.iron_golem.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	1.0	1.0	16
	​Iron Golem repaired	Friendly Creatures	When an iron golem is repaired with an iron ingot	entity.iron_golem.repair	subtitles.entity.iron_golem.repair​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16

Bedrock Edition:

[hide]Sounds
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
None	None	Unused sound event	mob.irongolem.say	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Friendly Creatures	When an iron golem attacks something	mob.irongolem.throw	1.0	1.0
	Friendly Creatures	When an iron golem cracks	mob.irongolem.crack	0.8	0.8/0.64-1.0/0.8
	Friendly Creatures	When an iron golem dies	mob.irongolem.death	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Friendly Creatures	When an iron golem is damaged	mob.irongolem.hit	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Friendly Creatures	While an iron golem is walking	mob.irongolem.walk	1.0	1.0
	Friendly Creatures	When an iron golem is repaired with an iron ingot	mob.irongolem.repair	1.0	0.8-1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Entity tags	[hide]Translation key
Iron Golem	iron_golem	fall_damage_immune	entity.minecraft.iron_golem

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	[hide]Translation key
Iron Golem	iron_golem	20	entity.iron_golem.name

Entity data

Iron golems have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

Java Edition:

• [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Entity data
  • Additional fields for mobs that can become angry see Template:Nbt inherit/angerable/template[show]
  • Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template[show]
  • Tags common to all mobs see Template:Nbt inherit/mob/template[show]
  • [Byte] PlayerCreated: 1 or 0 (true/false) - if true, this golem is player-created and never attacks players.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements

[hide]
Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Body Guard	Create an Iron Golem	—	20	Bronze
		Overkill	Deal nine hearts of damage in a single hit.	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have nine hearts of health overall.	30	Bronze
		Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	—	20	Silver

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	A Throwaway Joke	Throw a Trident at something. Note: Throwing away your only weapon is not a good idea.	Hit a mob with a thrown trident.
	Acquire Hardware	Smelt an Iron Ingot	Have an iron ingot in the inventory.
	Adventure	Adventure, exploration and combat	Kill any mob, or be killed by any living entity.
	Arbalistic	Kill five unique mobs with one crossbow shot	Armor Stand also counts for this advancement. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.
	Hired Help	Summon an Iron Golem to help defend a village	Summon an iron golem.
	Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	–
	Take Aim	Shoot something with an Arrow	Using a bow or a crossbow, shoot a mob with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.

Video

The Iron Guardian We (Don't?) Deserve

History

[hide]Java Edition
1.2.1			12w08a				Added iron golems.
							One iron golem may spawn in a village for every 16 villagers.
			1.2				Mechanical and stomping sounds have been added for the iron golem.
1.4.2			12w32a				Iron golems now attack slimes and magma cubes.
			?				One iron golem can now spawn for every 10 villagers in a village.
1.7.2			13w36a				Because roses have been replaced with poppies, the iron golem's drop has been changed.
1.8			14w03a				Iron golems now drop only iron ingots when killed by the player, either through combat, potions, or player-activated mechanisms such as manually lit TNT. If killed without player intervention, they now drop only poppies.
			14w04a				The previous change has been reverted; iron golems always drop iron ingots again.
							Iron golems can now be spawned by dispensing a pumpkin.
			14w25a				Iron golems can now be built sideways and upside-down instead of just upright and require air blocks in the corners of the area.
			14w26c				Jack o'lanterns can no longer be used to build iron golems.
			14w33a				Zombies, skeletons, spiders, cave spiders, slimes, magma cubes and blazes now attack iron golems, without provocation.
1.8.1			pre1				Jack o'lanterns can now be used to build iron golems again.
							Creepers no longer attack iron golems.
1.9			15w39a				Iron golems are now slightly shorter (2.7 blocks tall rather than 2.9).
			15w46a				Iron golems now spawn with 100% knockback resistance. Iron golems from previous versions continue to take knockback.
1.13			17w47a				Iron golems can now also​ use a carved pumpkin to be created.
1.14			18w43a				The texture of iron golems has been updated.
			18w47a				Iron golems now spawn in cages next to pillager outposts.
			19w08a				A single iron golem now always spawns as part of a village.
							The texture of the iron golem has been tweaked. The bottom of the left arm is now the same as the right arm. The part of the under of the head and the under of the waist has been changed.
							Iron golems are now able to step up 1 block just like horses and some other mobs.
1.14.3			pre1				Panicking villagers now have a higher chance of spawning iron golems.
1.15			19w41a				Iron golems now crack as they take damage.
							Iron golems can now be healed with iron ingots.
			19w44a				Iron golem's damage progress is now based on the ratio of current health to max health.
1.16			20w10a				Firework damage now provokes iron golems.
			20w19a				Villagers can now spawn iron golems regardless of their profession status or latest working time.
1.19			22w12a				Spawning area changed from 16×13×16 to 17×13×17.
							Iron golems now spawn every 35 seconds instead of 30 seconds due to a bug.
			22w19a				Iron golems can now spawn on any block with a full top surface.
			pre1				Iron golems now spawn only on blocks with a full top surface and a movement-blocking material.
1.19.3			22w44a				Added spawn eggs for iron golems.
1.20.2			23w31a				Iron golems now spawn every 30 seconds again.
			23w33a				Iron golems now have a lower attack range. They can no longer attack through one-block-thick walls.
[hide]Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.12.1			build 1				Added iron golems.
v0.16.0			build 4				Iron golems now damage players in Peaceful difficulty.
[hide]Pocket Edition
1.0.0			alpha 0.17.0.2				Iron golems now spawn with 100% knockback resistance.
			alpha 1.0.0.0				Iron golems no longer attack players in Peaceful difficulty.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				The texture of iron golems has been updated.
							Iron golems now spawn in cages next to pillager outposts.
							Skeletons once again attack iron golems.
1.11.0			beta 1.11.0.1				A single iron golem now always spawns as part of a village.
1.16.100			beta 1.16.100.54				Iron golems now attack hoglins.
							Iron golems now immediately attack zoglins instead of attacking only when the zoglin attacked first.
1.18.10			beta 1.18.10.26				Iron golems now crack as they take damage.
							Iron golems can now be healed with iron ingots.
1.19.60			Preview 1.19.60.20				Added spawn eggs for iron golems.
1.20.40			Preview 1.20.40.22				Iron golems now produce a crumbling particle effect when constructed.
1.21.30			Preview 1.21.30.21				Iron golems can no longer be created with un-carved pumpkins.
[hide]Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU12	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added iron golems.
TU31	CU19	1.22	1.22	1.22	Patch 3		Because roses have been replaced with poppies, the iron golem's drop has been changed.
							Iron golems can now be spawned by dispensing a pumpkin.
							Iron golems can now be built sideways and upside-down instead of just upright.
TU46	CU36	1.38	1.38	1.38	Patch 15		Iron golems now spawn with 100% knockback resistance. Iron golems from previous versions continue to take knockback.
TU57	CU49	1.57	1.56	1.56	Patch 27	1.0.7	Skeletons no longer attack iron golems.
			1.91				Iron golems now spawn in cages next to pillager outposts.
							A single iron golem now always spawn as part of a village.
							Panicking villagers now have a higher chance of spawning iron golems.
[hide]New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added iron golems.

Data history

[hide]Java Edition
1.11			16w32a				The entity ID of the iron golem has been changed from VillagerGolem to villager_golem.
1.13			17w47a				Numeric IDs for entities were presumably deprecated in this version.​
			pre5				The entity ID of the iron golem has been changed from villager_golem to iron_golem.
[hide]Pocket Edition
1.1.0			alpha 1.1.0.0				The entity ID of the iron golem has been changed from irongolem to iron_golem.

Issues

Issues relating to "Iron Golem" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

Robot from Laputa: Castle in the Sky

• The iron golem's holding out flowers to villagers is a reference to the ancient robots in Hayao Miyazaki's animated film Laputa: Castle in the Sky. When baby villagers notice the poppy in its hand, they slowly approach, and take the flower eventually. Iron golems do not actually pick up poppies; they spawn them in their hands.
• Another inspiration was The Iron Giant, about an extraterrestrial war machine that crash landed on Earth and found a new life as a pacifist, motivated by Superman.
• Iron golems do not get into boats or minecarts on their own, although in Bedrock Edition, pushing a minecart on rails into a golem forces it into the minecart.
• It is possible for an enderman to cause an iron golem to spawn by placing a pumpkin in the correct position on an arrangement of iron blocks previously placed by the player.
• The iron golem is a purchasable avatar item on the Xbox 360 Marketplace.
• It is impossible to spawn an iron golem holding a poppy using a command (such as summon or data). Its NBT matches with a naturally generated golem (HandItems:[{id:"minecraft:poppy",Count:1b},{}]), but does not visually update.

Gallery

Screenshots

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  Creation of an iron golem.

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  An iron golem offers a villager a poppy.

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  An iron golem offers a poppy to several villager children.

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  An iron golem attacking a spider by throwing it into the air.

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  An iron golem attacking a witch.

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  An iron golem attacking the player.

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  Iron golems acting strangely in a player-created village, by attempting to cross in a two-block-high gap.

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  Two iron golems bump their heads in Bedrock Edition.

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  A cracked iron golem.

Development images

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  First image of iron golem.

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  Iron Golem (texture no alpha)

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  A recreation of the unused iron golem on the hidden pixels of the old iron golem texture revealed by disabling the alpha channel.

Textures

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  Iron golem texture file.

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  Low crackiness texture file.

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  Medium crackiness texture file.

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  High crackiness texture file.

In other media

• 

  An iron golem in promotional artwork for the Horse Update.

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  An iron golem in promotional artwork for Minecon 2015.

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  Iron golems in promotional artwork for the Village and Pillage Update.

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  Official iron golem artwork.

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  Another official iron golem artwork.

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  An iron golem alone in the rain.

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  Villager and Iron Golem Spirit from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

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  Artwork of an iron golem running, from the website for Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue.

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  An iron golem lifting up Sunny to catch a snowball.

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  The Secret Iron Golem, featured in the Trails & Tales Event.

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  Tiny iron golem.
  

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  Lego Minecraft iron golem.

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  Official T-shirt artwork made by JINX.

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  Official T-shirt artwork "Minecraft Heroes Crest" which depicts an iron golem and an ender dragon. Made by JINX.

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  Iron golem concept art for the A Minecraft Movie.

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  Iron golem security guard featured in 15 Year Journey.

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  Iron golem in Minecraft Dungeons

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  Iron golem in Minecraft: Story Mode

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  Iron golem minifigure by Mattel.

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  An iron golem Easter Egg in Java Edition 22w13oneBlockAtATime snapshot

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  Skin of humanoid iron golem in 1st Birthday Skin Pack

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  Skin of humanoid iron golem in Skin Pack 4

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  An iron golem in A Minecraft Movie.

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  LEGO minifigure of Iron Golem.

External links

• "Meet the Iron Golem" by Tom Stone – Minecraft.net, February 27, 2017.
• "Meet the Iron Golem" by Duncan Geere – Minecraft.net, September 12, 2024.