10 best mobs for XP farming in Minecraft (2023)

Minecraft is home to three categories of mobs: passive, neutral, and hostile. While they serve various purposes in-game, they can all be farmed to gain tons of Experience Points or XP. Players can use XP to enchant their tools and armor. The higher the points, the better the enchantments.

For this reason, many members of the Minecraft community have built various automatic and AFK XP farms. These farms shower players with loads of XP for minimal effort.

This article highlights the 10 best mob farms in Minecraft that players can build in their survival world to reap maximum XP.

Note: This list is subjective and solely reflects the views of the writer.

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10 best Minecraft mobs farms in 2023

1) Fish

Fishes are one of the easiest mobs to farm in Minecraft. They can drop one to six XP per successful reel-in. In a fish farm, players can reel in much more than just fish, such as enchanted books and other rare items. The better the loot, the higher the XP.

Even though the XP drop rate of this farm might appear less, it makes up for the items one can get whilst being AFK. Players can also use the Luck of Sea III enchantment on their fishing rod to get better loot, which in turn will yield more XP.

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2) Enderman

Compared to all the other naturally spawning mobs, Enderman drops copious XP. On dying, they drop 10 XP with a 50% chance of dropping an ender pearl as well. Using this knowledge, a well-optimized farm can drop 4000 ender pearls per hour and increase the player's experience points from 0 to 30 in just one minute.

Since they are the only mobs that spawn in the End dimension of Minecraft, creating an Enderman farm there will yield the best results.

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3) Guardian

Ocean monuments are structures in Minecraft that are generated underwater. These monuments are home to pufferfish-like hostile mobs called guardians and their stronger variants elder guardians.

While this farm is tough to construct, given the location, the XP gained from it is worth the struggle.

Elder guardians drop 10 XP, while regular guardians drop five XP when slain. This farm, if built properly, can yield up to 180K XP per hour.

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4) Pillager and ravagers

Pillagers are raiders who attack villages in Minecraft. These hostile mobs can drop 5-15 XP, while ravagers can drop up to 20 XP.

A raid farm can supply players with 30 XP levels in about 30 seconds. This farm also generates great loot, such as Totem of Undying arrows, and is extremely efficient at producing emeralds.

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5) Zombie piglin

Zombiefied piglins are neutral entities that reside in the Nether. These mobs wander the hellish realm of Minecraft and attack only when struck. While they are generally farmed for the amount of gold one can get from them, they are also a great source of XP.

When killed, these mobs drop six experience points. Players can gather heaps of XP and gold by going AFK at this farm.

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6) Creeper

Creepers are possibly one of the most well-known mobs in Minecraft. These hostile mobs explode when near a player. When killed by a player, they drop five XP. These mobs are also great for acquiring gunpowder.

Due to their higher spawn rate, creepers can be farmed easily to obtain loads of XP and gunpowder. The working of the farm is very rudimentary; creepers are made to spawn on a platform at a certain height from which they are pushed down.

Players will stand at the bottom of that structure and kill these mobs, thereby gaining XP. To get greater loot, Looting III is recommended on the sword.

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7) Skeleton or zombie spawner-based farm

Zombies and skeletons are one of the most common hostile mobs naturally spawning in the Overworld realm of Minecraft. However, players can stumble upon their spawners when roaming in the caves. These spawners are generated in a cube-shaped room known as a dungeon.

Skeletons drop five XP when killed, while zombies drop between three to seven XP, based on the difficulty of the world they are playing. Baby zombies drop 12 experience points.

Therefore, if players come across a spawner early in the game, they should convert it into an XP farm.

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8) Blaze

Blaze are hostile mobs that can only be found in the nether fortress. While players can find a handful of them loitering around in the halls of the fortress, they tend to be concentrated around their spawners.

These cube-like structures hurl fireballs towards players. When killed, they drop a blaze rod and 10 XP. Blaze rods are an extremely important item to progress in Minecraft.

The blaze farm should be built near the blaze spawner to get the best spawn rate. When building the farm, players are recommended to carry fire-resistant potions.

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9) Spider

Spider spawners are a very common occurrence and can be found in dungeons or mineshafts. The spiders, when slain, drop items such as strings, spider eyes, and about five experience points.

The construction of this farm is quite primitive as it uses the spawner to spawn spiders that are pushed down a stream of water where the players can kill them.

To increase the loot, players can use enchantments such as Looting III on their sword.

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10) Wither skeleton

Wither skeletons are nefarious mobs that roam the hallways of a nether fortress. The skulls of these mobs are pivotal items when summoning the Wither boss. Players can acquire a Nether star after defeating the Wither boss, which is a key to constructing a beacon.

Wither skeletons drop five experience points when killed by a player. These points can increase by one to three if they do not drop a stone sword when killed. So, players can get up to eight XP from killing one wither skeleton.

Building this farm is tedious and painstaking. To get a better spawn rate, it is advisable to build this farm in a nether fortress found in a soul sand valley.