EASY AUTOMATIC MOB FARM | 1100+ DROPS Per HOUR
TL;DR
A multi-layer automatic mob farm using scare mechanics from villagers, cats, and dogs to funnel hostile mobs into a kill chamber. Can be stacked multiple times for increased rates, and optionally upgraded with a soul sand elevator for an AFK XP farm. ---
Key Concepts
Scare mechanic
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Mobs (creepers, zombies, skeletons) are frightened by cats and dogs, causing them to move toward the kill chamber
Mob spawning cap
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Mobs spawn within 128 blocks of the player; AFKing 128+ blocks above the lowest chest pushes the cap toward the farm and away from caves
Stackable design
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Each floor is identical — the roof of one layer becomes the floor of the next; double resources per additional layer
Carpet spider-blocking
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A carpet prevents spiders from spawning within a 2-block radius; placement in a "V" pattern rather than corners is more effective
Notes
§Required Materials (Per Layer)
- 2 stacks + 10 of any builder block
- 44 slabs (any type)
- 24 trapdoors
- 6 carpets
- 2 water buckets
- 2 villagers, 2 cats, 2 dogs (tamed/sitting; no name tags required)
- 4 signs, 1 lava bucket, 2 hoppers, 2 chests, light sources
- 10 stacks of slabs (craft with stonecutter: 5 stacks of blocks → 10 stacks of slabs)
- 9.5 stacks of builder blocks
- 1 water bucket + 2 stacks of kelp
- ~half stack of filter blocks (prevents zombie burning)
- 3 trapdoors, 3 hoppers, 2 chests
§Building the Lower Villager Pod
- Dig a 3×2 trench, 2 blocks deep
- On one corner of the pit, dig down 2 blocks on each side — this is the villager's standing spot
- Build angled walls outward (diagonal 1-2-3, then a 3-wide back wall) on both sides
- Enclose the back with a solid wall
- Raise the villager's platform to 2 blocks high
- Line the entire interior top with slabs
- Place trapdoors on the lower half of the top block (not upper half) to contain the villager without blocking mob sight lines
- Use a minecart rail to deliver the villager into the pod
§Placing Cats and Dogs
- Dog: place behind the central back wall using 3 trapdoors arranged in a circle; close all trapdoors to secure
- Cat: placed in its own enclosure similarly using trapdoors
- Both must be in sitting mode
§Carpets (Spider Prevention)
- Place carpets in the 4 outer corners + 1–2 front corners
- If spiders still spawn in the center, switch from corner placement to a "V" pattern
- Carpets block spider spawns in a 2-block radius
§Upper Villager Pod (Second Layer)
- Build sidewalls 3 blocks high from the lower roof
- Roof the lower villager creates the floor for the upper farm level
- Upper villager pod is 3 blocks offset from center, 2 blocks wide, with a back wall
- Trapdoor placement mirrors the lower level
- Fill in the floor, add slabs on top, then repeat entity placement (villager, cat, dog via minecart)
§Stacking
- Stack as many layers as desired — each additional layer doubles required resources
- Creator reports running 8–9 layers in a test world with strong results
§Kill Chamber
- Located beneath the farm
- Dig out: 7-block run → drop 1 block → 6-block run → drop 1 block → 6-block run
- At the end, dig out a working room, drop 1–2 blocks more
- Place chest to the outside with a hopper feeding into it
- Use a transparent block (glass, stairs) above the chest for access
- Place signs on either side of the hopper, then 1 block out and 1 block up for the next signs — lava sits on these signs
- Place a solid block above the lava to prevent mobs from swimming up
- Add water source at the front to flush mobs toward the lava
§Roof Construction
- Come 6 blocks out from each corner of the farm
- Build up to the correct Y-level (2 blocks above the top of the farm)
- Fill entire area with lower-half slabs to create a dark spawning surface
§Lighting the Surroundings
- Place torches 8 blocks back from each corner of the farm on both sides
- Place 2 torches under the bottom slab edge
- This raises ambient light level enough to prevent mobs spawning outside the farm while keeping the farm interior dark (light level 6–7)
§AFK XP Upgrade (Soul Sand Elevator)
- Build down into the ground from the kill chamber area
- Create a small "cat chamber" at the base with soul sand and water flowing out the back to pull mobs in
- Run a soul sand elevator up to the AFK platform
- AFK platform should be ~120–128 blocks above the lowest chest
- Mobs are funneled up and into a confined area for the player to kill manually for XP
§Efficiency Tip — Corner Sight Lines
- Zombies spawning in corners may not detect the villager quickly
- Fix: replace corner blocks with slabs or outward-facing stairs
- This gives mobs a clear line of sight to the villager immediately upon spawning
§Creeper Farm Compatibility
- Adding trapdoors in specific spots converts sections to creeper-only spawning
- Creator runs 3 creeper-only sections alongside general mob sections in the same structure
Actionable Takeaways
- Use a stonecutter to convert 5 stacks of blocks into 10 stacks of slabs for the roof — saves significant resources
- AFK at least 128 blocks above your lowest chest to maximize spawns inside the farm
- Place torches 8 blocks from each farm corner to suppress outside spawning without lighting up the farm interior
- Replace corner floor blocks with slabs or outward-facing stairs to immediately give spawned mobs line-of-sight to the villager
- Test carpet placement in a "V" configuration (not just corners) if spiders keep spawning in the center
- Stack layers using double resources per additional floor for dramatically higher drop rates
Quotes Worth Keeping
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Any mobs will spawn within a 128-block radius of the player — if you go up 128 blocks above your lowest chest, you have a better chance of all your mobs spawning in the farm as opposed to all the caves and everything else around it.
“
At least within the snapshot... creepers are still afraid of cats.