How to kill iron golem in Minecraft easily

Iron golems are one of the most useful mobs in Minecraft for several reasons. Their main, and most obvious, use is to defend villages from the different hostile mobs that call the night home. However, there's a secondary benefit to them: they drop iron ingots when killed. This makes them a great target early on in the game, as they can allow players to skip wood and stone tools.

However, iron golems are incredibly dangerous, capable of dishing out upwards of 10 hearts of damage on normal and up to 16 on hard. Detailed below are three different but effective means to take them out early on.

---

The easiest ways to kill Minecraft's iron golems

Short pillars

Pillaring is the easiest, but most dangerous, method for killing iron golems (Image via Mojang)

By far, the simplest method of taking down Minecraft's iron golems is to build a simple pillar after attacking them. Building up three blocks is enough to keep players outside of an iron golem's attack range while also leaving them within striking distance. It might take a minute or two to punch an iron golem to death, but it should be totally safe.

This is the fastest way to kill an iron golem and can be done right from the start of a game, even before players set up a Minecraft starter base, as it only requires three blocks. This gives it a huge advantage over other methods, even if it is inherently riskier due to actually angering the iron golem.

---

Lava buckets

An iron golem burning after having had lava placed under it (Image via Mojang)

A safer method of taking down an iron golem is to use a lava bucket. Placing a bit of lava at the feet of an iron golem and then immediately picking it back up will set the mob on fire and deal decent lava damage. Do this over and over again until the iron golem is slowly chipped away, and viola. There should be totally risk-free iron ingots ready to use.

Make sure to pick up the lava fast enough, as letting it start to flow could quickly start fires that spiral out of control. Early iron is nice, but dying for it or burning down a village that could otherwise be used for Minecraft villager trading isn't really worth it. This threat for a huge fire can also be avoided by turning off the "doFireTick" gamerule, which will stop fire from spreading.

---

Suffocation

An iron golem suffocating in a pile of sand (Image via Mojang)

However, there is a method safer than even using a lava bucket, and that's suffocation. Using strategically placed pistons, or even falling sand or gravel, can slowly suffocate an iron golem without the risk of it attacking or an unnecessary fire hazard. This is definitely a very different use of pistons from their normal applications in Minecraft piston doors.

This method is probably the slowest of the three mentioned since players will need to construct a trap for the iron golem to succumb to. However, this is counterbalanced by it being the safest method.