Iron Golem

Iron Golems are large, strong utility mobs. Their main purpose is to defend Villagers in NPC Villages from hostile mobs and siege attacks.

Creation
Iron Golems spawn naturally in NPC Villages, provided there are 16 adult Villagers and at least 21 houses (counted as doors). An Iron Golem will also spawn in player-made villages. The chance of spawning is 1 in 7000 per tick.

The golems can be crafted using blocks in a similar fashion to Snow Golems. To do so, the player must vertically place 4 blocks of iron in a T-shape, and place a Pumpkin or a Jack-O-Lantern on top, the pumpkin must be placed last. 4 blocks of iron are equivalent to 36 Iron Ingots, making creation difficult, as iron can sometimes be difficult to find. They will always spawn facing south. Iron Golems cannot be manufactured by a piston assembly line without player(s) interaction.

Behavior
Iron Golems slowly roam in villages, avoiding water and lava at all times, although they cannot drown. When provoked, Iron Golems will move quickly toward their target, and once in range will swing their arms up violently to attack, dealing 3½ to 10½ hearts damage and flinging targets into the air. They can take damage from lava, fire, poison, cacti, and suffocation. They do not take fall damage or drowning damage. They can climb up any solid surface that is at most 1 block high, and can climb down ledges and holes if the bottom is at most 3 blocks deep and at least 2 blocks large. However, they seem to be unable to climb down when walking on top of fences. They won't try to avoid contact with cacti, and might walk on top of them if they are able to do so. Upon death, Iron Golems drop 3 to 5 iron ingots and 0 to 2 roses.

Iron Golems have a comparatively large attack range, allowing them to attack through a solid 1 block thick wall, even without line of sight to the target. If an Iron Golem generated as part of an NPC Village is killed, another will eventually spawn to take its place.

Iron Golems will attack all hostile and neutral mobs if any come within their sight, except Creepers, Slimes, Magma Cubes, and Ghasts. Iron Golems likely do not attack Creepers because of Creepers' destructive nature, which may destroy sections of the village. While they do attack Zombie Pigmen, this only causes them to become aggressive against the Iron Golem and not against player characters.

Naturally spawned Iron Golems will attempt to attack the player if the player attacks them first, but will quickly give up. But if the player attacks a nearby Villager, Iron Golems will pursue the player (only in Survival Mode). The Iron Golem does not have to directly see the player attacking a Villager to become hostile toward the player. If an Iron Golem is provoked by the player attacking it or a villager, the Golem will become neutral again after the player runs away. Iron Golems created by the player will not attack the player; in SMP however, they may attack the player if the server has restarted. Any Iron Golems generated through other means will not defend any Villagers, and have a habit of wandering off.

Iron Golems are able to hold roses and give them to Villagers, symbolizing the friendly relationship between the Villagers and Iron Golems.

Iron Golems will only attack hostile mobs if the hostile mob is within 5 blocks of the Iron Golem. It also must be on equal ground with the mob. During village sieges, however, a naturally spawned Iron Golem will seek out any hostile mob threatening a Villager, regardless of distance.

Iron Golems are also able to be (CAREFULLY) pushed up ladders; though they are not able to climb them more than one square naturally themselves. (This is similar to Snow Golems.)

Defense
An Iron Golem's primary purpose is to defend NPC Villages from Zombie attacks, usually during a siege. Although slow, their high health and damage prove them to be great defenders. They swing their arms during their attacks, causing enemies to be thrown into the air and usually killed in one or two attacks. Player usage might involve enclosing Golems in a large fenced-off area to prevent their wandering off, although such control of the area could be accomplished in simpler ways.

Iron Golems are very strong mobs, being third only in terms of number of lifepoints to the Ender Dragon and the Wither. However, because they require a large amount of iron and a pumpkin, players often tame wolves because they are much easier to obtain. Just like tame wolves though, Iron Golems will not attack creepers.

Take note that while Iron Golems have an easy time of dealing with spiders, zombies, and skeletons, they have a bit more trouble taking down Endermen. This is because of the Enderman's natural speed and health higher than most mobs. It may be wise to help your Iron Golems with the fight if they engage an Enderman so as to minimize damage to the golem.

Farming


In Minecraft 1.2.1 and above Iron Golem farms that were made in 12w08a appear not to work, this was caused by a change to the spawning conditions.

It is possible to make a fully automatic iron and rose farm by building a "house" (see the trap example image below for details) in which Villagers can spawn. If an area is made in which only Golems can spawn, then a trap can be set up to obtain the Golem's drop items. Golems need a 2x2 blocks wide and 4 blocks high space (even though they're only 3 blocks high) to spawn and they can spawn in a 16x16x6 area (at most distance) (see the spawn conditions image for details) centered in the center of the village (for maximal control, no nearby [which means in a 50x50 area] houses should be made, if you're making the trap near a natural village, or your house, make sure there are no doors so they won't be classified as houses).

In order to spawn, the village must contain more than 20 doors. One Iron Golem will be able to spawn for every 16 Villagers in a village. So 16-31 Villagers spawn 1 Iron Golem, 32-47 spawn 2 Iron Golems, etc. There is no limit for the number of Iron Golems per village.

There are several ways to kill Iron Golems and obtain their drop items. The following are the most effective ones: Note: Falling and drowning traps are ineffective as Iron Golems don't take fall or drowning damage.
 * Suffocation by a sticky piston and a block. The killing can start instantly after spawning but it will clog up the trap, making other Golems unable to either spawn or die, depending on the design.
 * By lava that won't touch the Golem's feet (since this is where the drops appear). This is the most damaging (and therefore the quickest) of the automated killing methods. An example picture of this method is shown to the right.

If the Iron Golems are dropped at least 7 blocks below the floor block(s) of the house, they will immediately be outside the village boundaries, and therefore detached from the "village," so a new Golem will be able to spawn, even before the previously village-attached Golems have died.

If there is no other spawn space available, Iron Golems will be able to spawn inside liquids, meaning an instant lava killing trap is possible, as shown on the picture to the right. Dropping the Iron Golems out of the spawn boundaries as soon they spawn, however, could be seen as preferable to this method, as it ensures a higher Iron Golem spawn rate.

The traps could have a collection area, where the player can pick up the drop items. It is possible to have multiple Golems spawn in one area to make a very effective farm.

Note: If your Villagers aren't spawning any Iron Golems and there are no other houses nearby, dropping water on the Villagers will update them, and force them to start the Iron Golem spawning, provided the spawn conditions are met.

If a player is short on resources and time but still wants to harvest the iron from Golems, the player can simply suffocate the Golems with blocks of sand or gravel. Golems are very slow-moving and tend to wait at the same spot when not patrolling a village, so it is very easy to drop 3 blocks of sand or gravel on top of them and wait for suffocation.

Also if pistons push a block through their head they will slowly die.(posted by J.T. Cranston).

Bugs

 * If an Iron Golem attacks a group of Zombie Pigmen, the whole group won't turn hostile towards the Golem; only the one attacked will become hostile.
 * An Iron Golem riding a minecart will ignore everything, even if a target is in attack range.
 * An Iron Golem can spawn in a 2 block high area if the block above the two air blocks is glass.
 * An Iron Golem can be spawned by the player in a 1x3 blocks wide and 3 blocks high space. This will immediately make the Iron Golem receive suffocation damage and the Iron Golem stays there until 'released.'
 * Iron Golems can hit a target on the other side of a door. Their huge attack range also allows them to attack a target on the other side of a wall that is one block thick.
 * An Iron Golem can attack large slimes but will ignore ones that are medium or small.
 * Iron Golems don't attack mobs properly in 1.3.2.

Trivia



 * The Iron Golem's dimensions are 2.9 blocks high and 1.4 blocks wide.
 * As the population of a village increases, more Golems will naturally spawn.
 * There is no maximum number of Iron Golems allowed per village.
 * The Iron Golems holding out roses to Villager children is a reference to the ancient robots in the animated film Laputa: Castle in the Sky, as is the fact that the Golems are covered in vines.
 * When Villager children notice the rose in its hand, they will slowly approach, and take the flower eventually.
 * They also have similarly long arms.
 * As with Snow Golems, the pumpkin must be placed last during the building process.
 * Also as with Snow Golems, there is no Spawn Egg for this mob. This is because the player can create them through other means.
 * Iron Golems will avoid water whenever possible, and unlike other mobs (apart from Slimes and Magma Cubes), it will sink to the bottom of any liquid.
 * As with Snow Golems, an Enderman can create an Iron Golem if they place a pumpkin on top of Iron blocks arranged correctly.
 * Iron Golems wobble as they walk, unique to other mobs which remain completely upright when walking.
 * The looting enchantment does not affect Iron Golems.
 * Iron Golems are passive mobs if in water.
 * Iron Golems will target Snow Golems if accidentally hit by a snowball.
 * If an Iron Golem is attacked by different mobs, it will attack the mobs in the same order that they attacked it.
 * Tamed wolves will continue to attack hostile Iron Golems after the Iron Golems have turned passive towards the player.
 * Iron Golems were fashioned to look like Villagers, having a protruding nose and unibrow.
 * When an Iron Golem sinks to the bottom of a large body of water, it will remain there completely still, as if deactivated.
 * If you throw an Ender Pearl at an Iron Golem, it will take damage as well as you and try to attack you.
 * If you harm an NPC Villager while you are a distance away but still in sight of an Iron Golem then move towards it, The Iron Golem will attempt to kill you.
 * A base with Iron golem and snow golem defenses is one of the best mob-defenses possible. Although, Iron and Snow Golems do not attack Creepers; this can be fixed by adding a double-slab wall for your buildings
 * Iron Golems do not actually pick up roses, they spawn them in their hands.