Minecraft: Here’s What Blocks Iron Golems Cannot Spawn On

Iron Golems are one of the greatest allies a player can have in Minecraft. They can however become the enemy if you anger them and hit a villager. Over the years, players have found that Iron Golems can serve a greater purpose than just protecting villagers. Some use them to kill Withers; others use them in more cruel ways to get iron. Iron Golems need to spawn like any other mob in the game, so what blocks can Iron Golems not generate on?

Can Iron Golems spawn on slabs?

Iron golems can and can’t spawn on slabs. Since a slab is halfway to a full block, you can have two variants of slabs. It can either be a bottom or a top slab. In the case of the bottom slab, the Iron Golem can’t spawn on it, but in the case of the top slab, it can. The block on which the Iron Golem spawns needs to have a solid top.

Iron Golems can, however, spawn inside slabs. Since the Iron Golem is three blocks tall, when it spawns, the blocks above can’t be full blocks, nor can they be red stone powered and rail. Another condition is that the two blocks above can’t be water. But Iron Golems can still spawn in 1 block deep water.

But it’s also true that mobs(including Iron Golems) will not spawn naturally on transparent blocks, but some exceptions do apply in lava or on half blocks, which are slabs. So what’s the truth? The truth lies in my own testing of the matter, so how did I do it?

I had an old Iron Farm lying around that utilizes Iron Golems and the mechanics of how they spawn. I tried covering the area where it usually spawns with bottom slabs, and it still spawned; it’s just that it spawned in a different location, and when I tried to cover it with top slabs, I got the same results, so the conclusion is that Iron Golems can’t spawn on slabs.

Can Golems spawn on glass?

Even though glass is transparent, as a block, it’s still considered a solid block, so yes, technically, Iron Golems can spawn on glass, but I decided to test it out as well. This time, I simply switched out the ground for glass, and as it turns out, the Iron Golem spawned like it always did.

The rules of how Iron Golems spawn are this: The location that is chosen to spawn an Iron Golem if all conditions are met, has to have a block of air or water and a solid blocking block underneath it, after which the target location is checked for whether the block underneath has a solid surface and glass does.

I couldn’t, for the life of me, explain to you what a solid blocking block is, but I can give you a list of blocks that are:

Now that you know which blocks are solid blocking, I’ll explain the definition of spawning rules for Iron Golems further. When a location is chosen for the Iron Golem to spawn, the block (solid blocking block) is checked for whether its top is solid. This means that a top slab would have a solid surface, but a bottom slab wouldn’t since a bottom slab is missing the top slab part that’s filled with air.

Can Iron Golems Spawn on Scaffolding?

Scaffolding is a semi-solid block in Minecraft, which makes matter confusing. A solid block is considered any block that players or other entities can’t pass through without receiving damage and scaffolding; by the looks of it, it is a solid block but in function, it is not. The better question would be if mobs can use scaffolding just like a player can, and another question would be if the top surface of scaffolding is considered solid.

To answer the question in the easiest way possible, mobs can’t spawn on scaffolding which includes Iron Golems as well, but some exceptions to the rule do apply. In Java Edition, very small mobs can spawn in scaffolding if the block underneath the scaffolding is spawnable. This, however, does not apply to Iron Golems.

Types of Iron Golems

There are two types of Iron Golems in a Minecraft world: the ones that spawn to protect villagers and the ones that players can spawn themselves. Although they look and act the same, they are not. This makes it so that the Iron Golem is one of the few mobs in the games that can be built and spawned.

The two Iron Golem types are not the same because one can attack the player, and the other doesn’t under any and all circumstances. The ones that spawn for villagers will protect the villagers, but this is not the case with player-built Iron Golems.

To build your iron Golem, you’ll need four blocks of iron (1 block of iron consists of 9 iron ingots) and a carved pumpkin or jack-o’ lantern. If you’re a Bedrock Edition player, you can also use a regular pumpkin. Position the blocks of iron in the shape of the letter T and place the pumpkin in the middle. The pumpkin must always be placed last. Otherwise, it will not work.

The build-your-own Iron Golem method will not work if there is a block underneath the bottom block of the build. Even something as minuscule as a grass block can prevent the Golem from spawning, so it’s best to do it in a cleared area. It also won’t generate in confined spaces, so the rules of spawning these golems are a bit different.

Iron Golem farms

Iron Golem farms use the mechanics of how Iron Golems usually spawn perfectly, and you can learn a lot about it just by making one such farm. So if you’re interested in making one yourself, follow these steps:

1. To build this farm, it will be easiest to make it work in a village so before you start building, make sure you find a village.
2. Next, find a flat area that has no caves under it (this is optional but preferred)
3. Start by removing every bed in the village.
4. You’ll need 6 beds, 5 torches, 3 trapdoors, 2 slabs, 2 water, 1 boat, 1 hopper, and 1 chest.
5. Dig out a 3-block wide hole and make it 7 blocks deep.
6. Now, expand the room you ended up in. The room should end up being 3 blocks high and 3 blocks wide
7. Place the slabs on the outer blocks in the center. Make sure they are placed as bottom slabs.
8. In the middle of the two slabs, place a trap door.
9. Then, place three beds next to each other facing the wall that you put the slabs and trapdoor on.
10. Press use on the trapdoor, enter the area, and close it again.
11. Now mine out a 2-block high and 3-block wide area behind the slabs and trapdoor.
12. Next, mine out two blocks above you in the center and after you’re done, place a boat in the middle of the room.
13. Dig your way out of the hole starting from the center, and mining the area once first, making sure that you’re spawn-proofing the staircase as you go.
14. Place the trap doors on the exit.
15. Dig out an outline of the hole you’re about to make next, making sure that it’s vertical to the hole you made when starting and making it one block away. The outline should be 5×9.
16. After that, place solid blocks on the platform.
17. There should be a total of 6 solid blocks each being one block apart. Make the outline one block deeper and then mine out everything that’s left.
18. Shovel 4 dirt blocks from each corner that’s closest to the farm.
19. Dig a two-block deep hole in the center placing a chest and then a hopper into it. Place the water in the two opposite corners.
20. Now, place beds on the hole and wait for the villagers to go to sleep.
21. Once they do, break the beds and they’ll end up in the beds in the hole below.
22. Next, go into the hole and mine your way to gain access to the chest, it should be 4 blocks deep facing the left side of the staircase.
23. Find one zombie and lure it into the hole.
24. The zombie should then end up in the boat and the farm will start spawning Iron Golems

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