

Iron Golem

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Iron Golem
Iron Golem.png
Health points

100Heart.svg × 50

Attack strength

7Heart.svgHeart.svgHeart.svgHalf Heart.svg to 21Heart.svg × 10.5
To players:

  • Peaceful: 0Empty Heart.svg (but still performs attack animation)
  • Easy: 4Heart.svgHeart.svg to 11Heart.svg × 5.5
  • Normal: 7Heart.svgHeart.svgHeart.svgHalf Heart.svg to 21Heart.svg × 10.5
  • Hard: 10Heart.svgHeart.svgHeart.svgHeart.svgHeart.svg to 31Heart.svg × 15.5

Height: 2.7 Blocks
Width: 1.4 Blocks

Common drops


Internal ID

JE: 99
BE: 20

Namespaced ID


Tom Stone Mojang avatar.png

... There's at least one giant reason not to mess with villagers. Their loyal defenders that can't drown, suffer pain from falling or even be knocked back. Sentient statues that deal huge damage with just a single swing of their mighty arms. We pity you if you're caught attacking villagers – we really do – because then you've just made an enemy of the Iron Golem. Don't be surprised if that's the last thing you ever do – they're one of the hardest hitting mobs in the Overworld.

Tom Stone[1]

Iron golems are large, strong utility mobs that defend players and villagers.



Java Edition

Since Java Edition 1.14, an iron golem spawns based on villager gossip at a gathering point. The villager who starts the gossip must have a profession that is not nitwit, slept in the last 24000 ticks, been to their job site block in the last 36000 ticks, gossiped 5 times about the need for an iron golem, and have four other villagers within 80 blocks. The Iron Golem then has a chance to spawn in a 16×6×16 area centered on the location of the villager who spread the gossip. Iron golems are able to spawn inside transparent blocks, stairs and half-slabs as long as there is a full block underneath them. Carpet, however, does prevent them from spawning.

Bedrock Edition

Since Bedrock Edition 1.11, an iron golem can spawn naturally when a village first generates in the world. Iron golems also spawn in villages having at least 21 beds and 10 villagers, in a 16×6×16 volume around the village center defined by a bed, a bell, or other meeting point.

Legacy Console Edition

In Legacy Console Edition an iron golem spawned in a 16×6×16 area, centered vertically and horizontally between the bases of the 21 or more valid doors within a village occupied by at least 10 villagers.

In both Legacy Console and Bedrock, the chance of spawning is 1 in 7000 per game tick, which averages to one every five minutes and 50 seconds. Iron golems can spawn provided the blocks it spawns in are transparent and the block it spawns on has a solid flat top surface.


Iron Golem build configuration.

Iron Golems are created by placing four iron blocks in a T shape (as shown in the image), and then placing a carved pumpkin, a jack o'lantern or a pumpkin[Bedrock Edition only] on top of the center upper block. The pumpkin may be placed by the player, a dispenser or a pumpkin stem, but it must be placed last. It needs space around it to be able to spawn and cannot spawn in a confined area.

In all editions except Bedrock Edition, a player can prepare an Iron Golem for creation by placing the iron blocks, then placing a pumpkin, which can be activated at the player's leisure with shears.

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, tall grass, and water) present in any of the empty spaces prevent the golem from spawning.


Pillager outposts[edit]

An Iron Golem found within one of the cages surrounding an outpost.

Iron golems can also be found surrounding pillager outposts, trapped inside of dark oak cages.


Iron golems drop when they die:



An iron golem offering a poppy.

Iron golems are 2.7 blocks tall and 1.4 blocks wide.

Iron golems wander around a village in a patrol-like fashion, staying close to the edges of buildings and other structures. Like villagers, iron golems do not wander away from a village, regardless of how they were spawned. An iron golem sometimes faces a villager as if they are speaking to each other. Iron golems are able to spawn poppies in their hands and offer them to villagers, symbolizing the friendly relationship between the villagers and golems. However, they won't offer poppies to other iron golems.

If not within a village, iron golems slowly wander around, usually making their way to a nearby village.

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 cacti. Iron golems are immune to both drowning and fall damage. When in water, they sink, but can still move freely when in and under water.

Like all utility mobs, iron golems can be leashed.


When provoked, an iron golem moves quickly toward its target and swing its arms up violently to attack, dealing 7Heart.svgHeart.svgHeart.svgHalf Heart.svg to 21Heart.svg × 10.5 damage and flinging the target into the air. Iron golems have a comparatively large attack range, allowing them to attack through a solid 1 block thick wall, even without a line of sight to the target.

Iron golems have a chance of accidentally hitting another mob while attacking a hostile mob. Sometimes the golems accidentally hit each other and fight, usually resulting in one or more golems dying. Additionally, it is possible for multiple golems to simultaneously hit the same target. The height to which the victim is sent flying is relative to the number of golems that attack it.

Iron golems attack most hostile or neutral mobs within 32 blocks of them, although they are not effective on flying mobs (ender dragon, wither, phantom) that don't venture into the iron golem's reach. Additionally, pufferfish are the only passive mob they attack should either get close to the other.

Mob Iron golem attacks the mob on sight? Attacks the iron golem on sight? Notes
Blaze Yes No
Cave spider Yes Yes
Chicken jockey Yes A baby zombie riding a chicken attacks iron golems.
If a baby zombie pigman is riding the chicken, the zombie pigman attacks the golem only after the golem attacks the pigman.
The iron golem attacks only the baby zombie/baby zombie pigman, not the chicken.
Creeper No No
Drowned Yes Yes
Ender dragon Partial No
Enderman Yes Yes‌[Bedrock Edition only]
Endermite Yes No
Evoker Yes Yes
Giant [unused mob] Yes No
Ghast Partial No Rarely when ghast gets closer to iron golem.
Elder guardian
Yes No
Illusioner [Java Edition exclusive] Yes Yes
Iron golem No No
Killer bunny No No
Llama Partial Partial
Magma cube Yes Yes
Phantom Yes No
Pillager Yes Yes
Player Yes, if naturally spawned in a village, if provoked Partial A naturally-spawned iron golem or commands-spawned iron golem attacks the player if the player attacks it. An iron golem can also attack any nearby player who has experienced reduced popularity in a village from attacking a villager.
Polar bear No No
Pufferfish No No Pufferfish inflict harm on iron golems that get too close.
Ravager Yes Yes
Shulker Yes No
Silverfish Yes Yes‌[Bedrock Edition only]
Wither Skeleton
Yes Yes
Slime Yes Yes
Snow golem Partial No
Spider Yes Yes
Vex Yes Partial
Vindicator Yes Yes
Witch Yes Yes‌[Bedrock Edition only]
Wither Yes‌[Java Edition only] Yes Only manually-spawned iron golems always attack withers‌[Bedrock Edition only].
Wolf (untamed) No No
Wolf (tamed) Partial Partial Only if the player attacks an iron golem
Zombie Yes Yes
Zombie pigman Yes Only if attacked by the golem They attack only if an iron golem attacks one zombie pigman

A naturally-spawned iron golem knows raiding illager locations 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.

Being attacked[edit]

Zombies (and variants), skeletons (and variants), spiders, cave spiders, slimes, magma cubes, vindicators, pillagers, ravagers and evokers naturally attack iron golems on sight, and may cause major damage, especially if the mobs attack in groups. If an iron golem is attacked by multiple mobs, it retaliates in the order it was attacked. In Bedrock Edition, endermites, silverfishes and witches may naturally attack it too.

Iron golems have 100% knockback resistance. However, they can be knocked back by the Knockback enchantment on swords and the Punch enchantment on bows.

Preferred Path[edit]

Preferred Path Blocks Block Cost
Grass path 0

Stone Bricks
Mossy Cobblestone
Nether Bricks
Red Nether Bricks
End Stone Bricks
Red Sandstone
Stained Glass
Block of Emerald
Block of Diamond
Lapis Lazuli Block
Block of Gold
Block of Redstone
Glazed Terracotta


Blast Furnace
Fletching Table
Cartography Table
Brewing Stand
Smithing Table

other 1.5
Jump cost 5

Data values[edit]



Xbox PS Bedrock Nintendo
Body GuardCreate an Iron Golem.YesYesYesYes20GBronze


Advancement-oval-raw.png Hired HelpSummon an Iron Golem to help defend a villageWhat a Deal!Summon an iron golem.minecraft:adventure/summon_iron_golem



Java Edition
1.2.112w08aIron Golem Revision 1.png Added iron golems, one may spawn in a village for every 16 villagers.
“This was made by me and Jon Kågström. We were thinking about how to get the Villagers to defend themselves, since they don’t have arms. The design was inspired very much by the Japanese Studio Ghibli movie with the giant [The Castle in the Sky]. It also has this flower. When I was making the model, I realised it was much harder to draw a texture for it – the larger it is, it gets more detailed. But it’s become quite iconic – it’s very emblematic of Minecraft now. We made it look like the Villagers, because obviously the Villagers would create a golem which would resemble themselves.”Jeb[1]
1.2-preMechanical and stomping sounds have now been added for the iron golem.
1.4.212w32aIron golems will now attack slimes and magma cubes.
?One golem can now spawn for every 10 villagers in a village.
1.7.213w36aAs roses have been replaced with poppies, the iron golem's drop has now been therefore changed.
1.814w03aIron golems will 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 will now drop only poppies.
14w04aThe previous change has now been reverted; iron golems always drop iron ingots again.
Iron golems can now be spawned by dispensing a pumpkin.
14w25aIron golems can now be built sideways and upside-down instead of just upright.
14w26cJack o'lanterns can no longer be used to build iron golems.
14w33aZombies, skeletons, creepers, spiders, cave spiders, slimes, magma cubes and blazes will now attack iron golems, without provocation.
1.8.1pre1Jack o'lanterns can now be used to build iron golems again.
Creepers will no longer attack iron golems.
1.915w39aIron golems are now slightly shorter (2.7 blocks tall rather than 2.9).
15w46aIron golems will now spawn with 100% knockback resistance.
1.1116w32aThe entity ID of the iron golem has now been changed from VillagerGolem to villager_golem.
1.1317w47aIron Golems now can also use a carved pumpkin to be created.
pre5The entity ID of the iron golem has now been changed from villager_golem to iron_golem.
1.1418w47aIron golems will now spawn in cages next to pillager outposts.
19w08aA single iron golem will now always spawn as part of a village.
1.14.3pre1Panicking villagers will now have a higher chance of spawning iron golems.
1.1418w43aIron Golem.png The texture of the iron golem as now been changed.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.12.1build 1Iron Golem Revision 1.png Added iron golems.
0.16.0build 4Iron golems now damage players in peaceful difficulty.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0?Iron golems no longer attack players in peaceful difficulty.
1.1.0alpha entity ID of the iron golem has now been changed from irongolem to iron_golem.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0beta golems will now spawn in cages next to pillager outposts.
1.11.0beta single iron golem will now always spawn as part of a village.
Legacy Console Edition
TU12CU11.0Patch 1Iron Golem Revision 1.png Added iron golems.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0Iron Golem Revision 1.png Added iron golems.


Issues relating to "Iron Golem" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.


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.[2] When villager children 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.
  • Tamed wolves continue to attack iron golems even after the iron golems have turned passive towards the player.
  • If a player throws an ender pearl at an iron golem, it becomes hostile.
  • If an iron golem is in a boat, no other entities except for a player can ride as a passenger or control the boat.
  • According to the illustrations in Mobestiary, the Iron Golem may in fact be a machine.
    • This is interesting to note, as the original inspiration for the Iron Golem were machines.

