Monster Spawner

A monster spawner is a type of spawner found in a variety of structures. It contains a miniature mob, and constantly spawns instances of that mob as long as a player is nearby and, if applicable for the mob it spawns, if there are valid dark areas nearby. It cannot be obtained as an item in survival mode or moved by a piston, and it drops only experience orbs when broken.

Monster Spawner

View all renders

Rarity tier	Common
Renewable	No
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	5
Hardness	5
Luminous	No
Transparent	JE: Partial BE: Yes
Waterloggable	JE: No BE: Yes
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No
Map color (Java)	11 STONE

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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 (sec)
Default	25
Wooden	3.75
Stone	1.9
Iron	1.25
Diamond	0.95
Netherite	0.85
Golden	0.65
Options
Efficiency	0
Haste	0 JEBE

Legend

• incorrect tool, drops nothing
• correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
• correct tool, drops the block itself
• italicized can be instant mined

Natural generation

Monster spawners can generate naturally in the following places:

Monster room

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%).

Mineshaft

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.

Stronghold

One silverfish monster spawner in the end portal room.

Nether fortress

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 remnant

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.

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. The player's presence is determined by coordinates at their foot level, meaning that a player standing exactly 15.5 blocks below the spawner doesn't activate it, even though their head is in range. 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 starts the next wait cycle only 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. This is checked before each of the four spawn attempts.

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:

• For 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 can spawn turtles only 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.

Summary of maximum spawn volumes for common monster spawners

Mob type	Required Volume (Java)	Required Volume (Bedrock)	Vertical alignment
Pig	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

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 cannot 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

Java Edition:

[hide] v t e spawner sound type
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.spawner.break	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.spawner.place	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.spawner.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.25	0.5	16
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.spawner.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	0.5	0.75	16
	​Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.spawner.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

[hide] v t e mob_spawner sound type
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.mob_spawner.break	1.0	0.8
	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.mob_spawner.break	1.0	0.8
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.mob_spawner.step	0.4	0.5
	Blocks	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.mob_spawner.step	1.0	1.0
	Blocks	Walking on the block	block.mob_spawner.step	0.2	1.0
	Blocks	Jumping from the block	block.mob_spawner.step	0.12	1.1
	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	block.mob_spawner.step	1.0	1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	[hide]Translation key
Monster Spawner	spawner	Block & Item	block.minecraft.spawner

Name	[hide]Identifier
Block entity	mob_spawner

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID	[hide]Translation key
Monster Spawner	mob_spawner	52	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	tile.mob_spawner.name

Name	[hide]Savegame ID
Block entity	MobSpawner

Block data

A monster spawner has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

Java Edition:

• [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Block entity data
  • Tags common to all block entities see Template:Nbt inherit/blockentity/template[show]
  • Tags common to monster spawner and minecart with monster spawner see Template:Nbt inherit/spawner/template[show]

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.

Video

Note: This video is outdated, as monster spawners has been added to the Creative inventory in Java Edition 1.19.3.

History

[hide]Java Edition Infdev
20100625-1917							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.
[hide]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.
[hide]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.
[hide]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			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			16w39a				Spider monster spawners now generate in woodland mansions.
1.13			17w47a				"Monster Spawner" has been renamed to simply "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, prior to this snapshot, 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.
			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.
1.20.3			23w45a				Monster spawners now render the inner faces.
1.20.5			24w13a				Custom monster spawners can now specify a loot table to use as equipment of spawned mobs.
1.21.2			24w33a				Added unique placing, breaking, and stepping sounds to monster spawners.
[hide]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.
[hide]Pocket Edition
1.1.0			alpha 1.1.0.0				Spider monster spawners now generate in woodland mansions.
[hide]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.
1.21.20			Preview 1.21.10.23				Monster spawners now have new sounds.
[hide]Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU1	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added monster spawners.
TU3							The texture of monster spawners has been changed.
TU31	CU19	1.22	1.22	1.22	Patch 3		The type of mob spawned from a monster spawner can now be changed by using a spawn egg.
TU48	CU38	1.41	1.41	1.41	Patch 17		Added a particle effect and sound effect when a monster spawner fails to spawn due to spawn limits.
TU54	CU44	1.52	1.52	1.52	Patch 24	1.0.4	Pig spawners now generate in woodland mansions.
TU56	CU48	1.55	1.55	1.55	Patch 26	1.0.6	Spider spawners now generate in woodland mansions instead of pig spawners.
TU69		1.76	1.76	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.
[hide]New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added monster spawners.

Data history

[hide]Java Edition
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 onward 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: DV [hide]Description 0 Monster Spawner 1-15 Inaccessible "boring" variants of monster spawners
1.11			16w32a				The block entity ID has been changed from MobSpawner to mob_spawner.
1.13			17w47a				Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 52.
			pre5				The ID of spawners has been changed to spawner.

Issues

Issues relating to "Monster Spawner" or "Spawner" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Java Edition

• MC-268371 – Trial Spawners registering mobs converting as deaths
• MC-282449 – Entities rendering inside spawners spin very quickly back to their initial rotation when their animation loop ends
• MC-275135 – Ominous Item Spawner doesn't work with /item or /loot replace
• MC-296111 – Tipped arrows from ominous trial spawners use standard potion duration instead of tipped arrow duration
• MC-208619 – Axolotls don't spawn with spawners outside of water
• MC-264187 – Spawners with spawn rule light value less than 15 don't spawn mobs under night sky
• MC-265371 – Dungeons can generate without a spawner if intersecting another structure
• MC-266463 – The interior north and south faces of spawners and trial spawners are culled incorrectly
• MC-266470 – Spawners placed together don't cull each other's faces
• MC-266473 – Spawners' inventory icon is too cluttered
• And 57 other open issues.

Bedrock Edition

• MCPE-58999 – Most items can't be used when aiming at a mob spawner
• MCPE-183671 – Monsters spawned by a Trial Spawner placed by a player rarely have any equipment
• MCPE-42315 – Lava/water doesn't render under mob spawners
• MCPE-92752 – Zombie villagers spawned from spawners are treated as cured zombie villagers by nearby villagers
• MCPE-113305 – Grass blocks underneath mob spawners turn into dirt
• MCPE-123726 – Some mobs are too small and do not rotate correctly in the spawner
• MCPE-129620 – No mob cap on converted drowned from zombie spawner
• MCPE-139214 – Placing leaves and spawners side by side creates z-fighting
• MCPE-158234 – Lava does not disable monster spawner
• MCPE-164674 – Models of the Wither and Iron Golem in spawners do not correspond to the Java
• And 18 other open issues.

Trivia

• Monster spawners containing zombies can never spawn a zombie villager.
• 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.
• In Java Edition, monster spawners containing pillagers have a small chance for the mob spinning inside to be a raid captain.
• In Bedrock Edition, the iron golem inside an iron golem spawner is apparently on very low health, visible by the cracks.
• 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 an empty monster spawner to generate naturally. If a newer world is loaded in an older version of Minecraft, the monster spawner can lose its block entity data, causing it to enter its default state, which is an empty 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 empty monster spawner. The chest also gets invalid block (monster spawner) data, making it unopenable.
• A monster spawner does not preserve its NBT data when placed in Survival mode. It requires the player to be in Creative mode and have permission level greater than or equal to 2.

Gallery

Renders

Spawner

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Structure

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  A blaze monster spawner in a nether fortress.

• 

  Spider monster spawner in a woodland mansion.

Screenshots

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  A monster room, connected to another monster room, with two monster spawners.

• 

  A monster spawner edited to spawn zombies wearing enchanted diamond armor.

• 

  Light required to disable a blaze monster spawner.

• 

  A monster spawner that spawns skeletons.

• 

  A spider monster spawner that generated on the surface. The monster spawner is located roughly in the middle of the picture, underneath a cobweb.

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  Chickens spawning from multiple monster spawners.

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  A monster spawner in an older version of Minecraft.

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  Cave spider monster spawner seen from a chamber.

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  A magma cube monster spawner inside the bastion remnant.

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  A spider monster spawner connected to a mineshaft.

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  Two blazes spawned near a blaze monster spawner and a wither skeleton.

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  Pig monster spawners generating when a buried treasure chest spawns inside a monster spawner (Fixed in 1.17 pre-1).

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  Amethyst geode with mineshaft and 2 cave spider monster spawners. Check the image for more details, including seed and coordinates.

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  2 cave spider monster spawners next to each other.

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  Spider monster spawner generated right next to the village.

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  Mineshaft and skeleton monster spawner generated at the bottom of the world.

• 

  A close-up view of am iron golem spawner, with visible cracks in the golem.

See also

• Minecart with Monster Spawner
• Monster spawner traps
• Trial Spawner

External links

• Block of the Week: Spawner – Minecraft.net on January 13, 2022