- For a list of iron-related objects in Minecraft, see Iron (Disambiguation).
Iron Golems are tough utility mobs that are immune to drowning, fall damage, and knockback. They are built with four blocks of iron and one of any type of pumpkin. Iron Golems are considered as one of the strongest mobs in the game, as they will not be knocked over by any means. Before 1.14, they spawned in villages with at least 21 doors and 10 villagers. After 1.14, they spawn based on villager gossip at a gathering point or through the "Panic" level of at least 3 villagers each with their beds and workstations.
They are also one of the most dangerous mobs in-game.
Spawning
Villages
Villagers can summon iron golems, either when they are gossiping or panicking. If a villager tries to summon a golem, up to 10 attempts are made to spawn a single golem in a 16x13x16 space, with the center is the villager (+7/-8 blocks along x/z axis and +6/-6 blocks along the y-axis). A random y column is picked, and the topmost block in that column is selected that is air, water, or lava, has a solid blocking block underneath. If none meet required, a block at y=+6 is picked instead. The target location then checked whether the block underneath has a solid top surface, and the target block with 2 blocks above must not be full, be redstone-powered, nor rails, and the two blocks above must not be water. This means the golem can spawn inside one-block deep water or inside blocks like halfslabs, fences, and carpets. Adjacent blocks are irrelevant, so the golem can even spawn inside adjacent solid blocks resulting in their suffocation and death, but the spawning still must not collide with any existing entities.[Java Edition only]
An iron golem can spawn naturally when a village first generates in the world. Golems can also spawn in villages having at least 20 beds and 10 villagers, in a 16x6x16 volume around the village center defined by a bed, a bell, or a meeting point. To spawn golems, 75% villager must be worked in the past day and 100% must be linked to a bed. A player also required, must be within 80 blocks of the village horizontally and within 44 blocks vertically. If all the conditions are met, then every average 35 secs (1/700 per tick), golems are made to spawn. They can spawn provided the 2x4x2 space above the spawn point (horizontally centered on the NW corner of the block it spawn on) contains only non-solid blocks, and the blocks it spawn on is solid.[Bedrock Edition only]
Iron Golem build configuration.
Creation
Iron golems are created by placing four iron blocks in a T shape (as shown in the image), and then placing any type of pumpkin, with the excluding of the uncarved one[Java Edition only]. The pumpkin can be placed by any method, but it must be placed last. It needs space around it to be able to spawn and cannot spawn in a confined area. When successfully transformed, it is naturally passive to the player who created it. It can also attack the player's tamed wolf, if punched accidentally, but it never directly attacks the player. The block arrangement can be placed upright, lying down, or upside down. The four empty spaces in the diagram must be air blocks. Any non-air block present in any of the empty spaces prevent the golem from spawning. Like other constructed mobs, iron golems always spawn facing south. Their large size may cause them to take suffocation damage from nearby solid blocks at the level of their head. To create a cracked iron golem, create an iron golem and shoot it with a firework from a crossbow.
Pillager outposts
Iron golems can also be found surrounding pillager outposts, trapped inside of any dark oak cages around the outpost tower, with the spawning chances in each cage is 50%. If freed, they can help the player by attacking any nearby pillagers.
Behaviour
Iron Golems will become aggressive against any nearby hostile or neutral mobs other than creepers or wolves. They will attack anything that attacks themselves or a villager, except a player if the Iron Golem is player-made. A Golem will only stop acting aggressively if they defeat a player or mob who attacked them, or if all players leave the game. If the village is near a large pool of water or the ocean and an Iron Golem unknowingly goes in the water, it will sink and stay in the water until it is somehow forced to escape it. Iron Golems can't drown or take fall damage. They may give baby villagers a poppy.
An Iron Golem giving a poppy to a baby villager.
Slaying
Iron Golems drop 3-5 iron ingots and 0-2 poppies on death; however, when a player kills an Iron Golem, a player's popularity in a village will decrease by 10. If the popularity level is at or below -15, natural Iron Golems will try to attack and kill a player. This does not apply to player-made golems. The main reason the Iron Golem is considered a danger is that when players attack an Iron Golem, it will not take knockback damage, so players cannot time their attacks. Also, they do a tremendous amount of damage, taking away 14 (
x 7) without armour. There is also a large gap between their weakest attack damage and the strongest attack damage. They can potentially kill an unarmored player with their strongest attack. As previously stated, the Iron Golem will stop moving when submerged in water, so slaying it while it is on the surface of the water is recommended.
How to Build
To create an Iron Golem, a player must stack four iron blocks on the ground in a plus shape, then place any kind of pumpkin with a face on it (Whether it is carved, or a jack o' lantern). This does not require a crafting table.
| Iron Golem | ||
|---|---|---|
| None | Pumpkin | None |
| Block of Iron | Block of Iron | Block of Iron |
| None | Block of Iron | None |
Trivia
- When created, Iron Golems will always face south.
- Iron Golems holding out flowers to villagers are a reference to the robots from Hayao Miyazaki's movie Castle in the Sky.
- Iron Golems would attack creepers in 1.8 only, and only if the creeper has little enough health for the Golem to one-shot it.
- Iron Golems are a reference to The Iron Giant.
- Contrary to popular belief, Endermen cannot create an Iron Golem. This is because they cannot hold iron blocks or carved pumpkins.
- Iron Golems can be put on a lead, despite them being large. This can be convenient in some ways.
- If an Iron Golem enters a boat, its hitbox will take up all the space around the boat. The boat will then be indestructible by projectiles or melee, but it can still be destroyed with explosives or after the Golem dies.
- The only way to get the Iron Golem out without killing it is with a lead.
- The Golem's hitbox is too large for anything else to get in the boat with it.
- Iron Golems will sometimes hold out flowers to villagers. When villager children notice the poppy in its hand, they will slowly approach, and eventually take the flower.
- While iron ingots and poppies are obtained by killing Iron Golems, it's not worth it to create an iron golem and then immediately kill it since it drops once 3-5 of the 36 ingots it takes to make. However, with an artificial village, they can be rigged to spawn for free and die, allowing for an iron farm.
- An Iron Golem's face is similar to a villager's face, as it has a unibrow and a long nose.
- If a Snow Golem misses a shot and shoots the Iron Golem, the Iron Golem will attack the Snow Golem, but the Snow Golem will not attack the Iron Golem back.
- If there is no village but there is a villager nearby, the Iron Golem will follow the villager.
- Iron Golems may also be found imprisoned in cages in Pillager Outposts.
- Iron Golems are one of the mobs that can be Passive, Neutral, and Hostile.
- Player-made Iron Golems are always passive towards players.
- Naturally spawned Iron Golems in a village are neutral towards players.
- Iron golems are hostile towards players that have a popularity of -15 or lower in the village.
- Iron Golems will not take any fall damage, much like a cat would.
- Iron Golems can't drown underwater.
- Iron Golems will not be knocked back when attacked by any mob or player. They, however, can be knocked back with the knockback enchantment.
- If an Iron Golem steps on a stake (fences, walls or an End Rod), there is a bug that makes them keep spinning on it even when taking damage, and sometimes manage to get out. To prevent this from happening, the player must put the stake in a high place and keep them away from the Golems.
- Iron Golems that are summoned by a command will act as if it is naturally spawned.
- Iron Golems now have 3 textures, depending on how much damage they have been damaged.
- Iron Golems can be healed using an iron ingot. A quarter of their health will be healed per ingot.
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