Iron Golem

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

Creation
Iron golems spawn naturally in villages (natural or player-made), provided there are 10 villagers and at least 21 houses (counted as doors). The chance of spawning is 1 in 7000 per tick, which averages around one every six minutes.

The golem also can be built using blocks in a similar fashion to snow golems and Withers. To do so, the player must place 4 blocks of iron in a T-shape, and place a pumpkin or jack o'lantern on top row in the center slot. The pumpkin must be placed last by the player. Players should not manufacture iron golems next to a wall because they may suffocate and die.

Behavior
Iron golems will wander around a village in a patrol-like fashion, staying close to the edges of buildings and such. If not within a village, iron golems will slowly wander aimlessly, attacking any hostile or neutral mob within 16 blocks of them (not including wolves). Iron golems are completely resistant to drowning and fall damage, making them good tools for both villager protection and personal use. While resistant to drowning, they will sink in water and become immobile, and will not attack mobs/players.

Iron golems can walk up a full block height without jumping and walk over a 1 block wide hole without falling in. They will avoid water and lava at all times; however they make no attempt to avoid fire or cacti.



Like villagers, iron golems will not wander away from a village, regardless of how they were spawned. Iron golems will sometimes face a villager, as if they are speaking to each other. Iron golems are able to hold poppies and give them to villagers, symbolizing the friendly relationship between the villagers and golems. However, they won't give poppies to other iron golems.

Attack
Naturally spawned iron golems will attack the player if the player attacks them first, but will give up if the player moves out of their search radius. The iron golem will also attack the player if they attack a nearby villager. Other mobs can also initiate the same mentioned behaviors. The iron golem does not have to directly see the player/mob attacking a villager to become hostile.

Any iron golems built by the player will never attack players under any circumstances, but will still protect villagers from zombies. Iron golems will never attack ghasts and will only attack a creeper if it happens to cross its path.

When provoked, an iron golem will move quickly toward its target and once in range will swing their arms up violently to attack, dealing to  damage and flinging the target into the air. This attack is the 2nd strongest attack in the game, beaten only by a creeper's explosion. 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.

Defense
An iron golem's primary purpose is to defend NPC Villages from zombie attacks. 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, or rarely, three 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, with more hit points than any non-boss mob. However, they require a good deal of iron to build, and are prone to wandering off or being distracted by nearby monsters. In contrast, wolves are individually weaker, but can easily be bred, automatically follow the player, and will focus on the particular monsters that their master attacks or is attacked by.

As of 14w33a, zombies, skeletons, creepers (before 1.8.1-pre1), spiders, cave spiders, slimes, and magma cubes will naturally attack iron golems, possibly causing it major damage. Additionally, the golems may attack nearby creepers and endermen, which can also severely damage them. Players are encouraged to help iron golems in these situations to ensure their survival.

As a Pet
If you use a lead on an iron golem, the golem will follow (and protect) you almost anywhere you go, as long as it is within the range of the lead. Iron golems can also be tied to a fence with a lead to prevent them from wandering away. Iron golems can be paired with a tamed cat for better protection, as the cat will keep any creepers away.

Spawning
Golems will spawn in a 16 by 16 by 6 area, centered between the 21 or more valid doors in a village if it has at least ten villagers. Additional houses beyond the 21st will make no difference as far as golem spawning is concerned, but you will need 29 of them, at least initially, in order to spawn ten villagers naturally (after that you can cut them back down to 21 if you want to). However, having additional villagers beyond the tenth will allow more golems to spawn, in increments of one golem for every ten villagers (so 0-9 villagers allows no golems to spawn, the cap is set at zero; 10-19 raises that cap to one, 20-29 raises it to two, etc.). This cap only limits the number of golems in a village at any one time; as soon as one is killed or leaves the village boundaries, a new one can spawn in its place immediately.

As long as all the conditions are met (10 villagers, 21 houses, golem cap not reached), then each game tick (1/20 of a second) there is a 1/7000 chance the game will try to spawn a golem. A random spot is chosen inside the spawning zone, and if that spot contains a solid block with at least 2×2×4 space above it (including liquids, which is key to the iron farm designs linked below), then a Golem is spawned there.

This is repeated up to ten times or until a golem is spawned, whichever comes first. Then, the check is repeated each game tick, until enough golems have been spawned to reach the cap, at which point spawning is put on hold until either a golem is eliminated or the cap is raised. This means that the average expected spawning rate (for an iron farm, for example), if the golems are killed or flushed outside the village boundary quickly enough so that the cap is never reached and new ones are able to spawn in their place immediately, is roughly 10 golems (30-50 ingots if you're farming them) per hour.

Farming


An iron golem farm is an artificial village (or several of them, spaced far enough apart to remain separate) in which golems are spawned and then either killed immediately, or moved to a holding cell (outside the village boundary, so that new ones can spawn in their place) for later killing. A holding cell housing the golems can be created to allow the player to easily farm the golems after the player has remained inactive at the farm. Alternatively, resources can be collected using hoppers after they have died from suffocation or lava.

Killing
There are several ways to kill iron golems and obtain their drops. 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 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 seven 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.

If a player is short on resources and time but still wants to harvest the iron from golems, they may simply suffocate the golems with 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 three blocks of sand or gravel on top of them and wait for suffocation.

Video
''This video states the iron golem as having the second highest health. This was before the introduction of the Wither, meaning they now have the third highest health.''

Trivia



 * The iron golem's dimensions are 2.9 blocks high and 1.4 blocks wide.
 * Since the iron golem's height is 43 pixels, one of its pixels is 6.3 centimeters in length, and its volume is 5747 pixel blocks, the iron golem's total volume is 1.44 cubic meters. If we assume that the golem is made entirely of iron, then the golem itself weighs 11309 kg, or 24,932 pounds.
 * The Iron Golem is a purchasable avatar item on the Xbox 360 Marketplace.
 * The iron golem's holding out flowers to villager children is a reference to the ancient robots in Hayao Miyazaki's animated film Laputa: Castle in the Sky, as is the fact that the Golems are covered in vines.
 * When villager children notice the poppy in its hand, they will slowly approach, and take the flower eventually. iron golems do not actually pick up poppies; they spawn them in their hands.
 * As with snow golems, the pumpkin must be placed last during the building process or the iron golem will not spawn.
 * Also as with snow golems, there is no spawn egg for the iron golem. This is because the player can create them through other means.
 * Iron golems will avoid water whenever possible, and unlike other mobs, it will sink to the bottom of any liquid and become inactive. This may be due to the fact that they are made of iron (which rusts faster in water).
 * Iron golems wobble as they walk, unique to other mobs which remain completely upright when walking.
 * The Looting enchantment is ineffective against iron golems and does not give any extra iron ingots or poppies when killed.
 * Iron golems will target snow golems if hit by a snowball, usually killing it in one hit.
 * If an iron golem is attacked by multiple mobs, it will retaliate in the order it was attacked.
 * Tamed wolves will 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 will become hostile.
 * A base with iron golem and snow golem defenses is one of the best mob defenses available. While creepers might explode on the golems, this can be overcome by adding a double-slab wall for your buildings or by having a perimeter of cats.
 * Iron golems tend to stay near villagers at all times when not aggravated.
 * Two iron golems may fight each other. The golems will stand face to face and slowly back up, until one or both charge in quickly.
 * Iron golems have a chance of accidentally hitting another mob while attacking a hostile mob.
 * Iron golems may spawn in large houses and will need a player's help to get out.
 * 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.
 * Even with a poppy in its hands, an iron golem can still hit a hostile mob.
 * Iron golems can defend player's houses from most mobs without the need for an area inclosed by a fence. With a lead, a fence post on one end, and a golem at the other end, they will stay in a specific area and smash most that come too close, except for creepers and unwanted players.
 * In 1.8, pumpkins could be placed by dispensers, meaning if a well-built mechanism could push iron blocks into position and then a dispenser put a pumpkin on top, you could have an effective machine that pumps out golems.
 * Upon killing a creeper, an iron golem may begin to move in random imperfect circles, which is likely a bug.