Iron Golem

For mob in Minecraft Dungeons, see MCD:Iron Golem.

Iron Golem

Health points	100 × 50
Behavior	Neutral (only if a player has at least -14 or higher popularity in a village, or if command spawned) Hostile (natural if a player has at least -15 or lower popularity in a village) Passive (player-built, or in Peaceful difficulty)
Attack strength	To mobs: 7.5 × 3.75 to 21.5 × 10.75 To players: Peaceful: 0 (but still performs attack animation) Easy: 4.75 × 2.375 to 11.75 × 5.875 Normal: 7.5 × 3.75 to 21.5 × 10.75 Hard: 11.25 × 5.625 to 32.25 × 16.125
Hitbox size	In Java Edition: Height: 2.7 Blocks Width: 1.4 Blocks In Bedrock Edition: Height: 2.9 Blocks Width: 1.4 Blocks
Speed	0.25
Knockback Resistance	1.0
Spawn	In a cage (sometimes) near a pillager outpost In Villages When built by player
Items usable on	Iron Ingot ‌[Java Edition only] Lead

An iron golem is a large, strong, neutral utility mob that defends players and villagers.

Spawning

Villages

In Java Edition, villagers can summon iron golems, either when they are gossiping or panicking. When a villager tries to summon a golem, up to 10 attempts are made to spawn a golem within a 16×13×16 box centered on the villager (villager block position +7/-8 blocks along x/z axes and +6/-6 blocks along y axis). A random y column is picked and then the topmost block in that column is selected that is air, water, or lava, and has a "solid-blocking" block underneath, or block at y=+6 if none such is available in that column. The target location is then checked whether the block underneath has a solid top surface (which is not the same as "solid-blocking"). The target block and 2 blocks above must not be a full block, nor be redstone-powered, nor be rails, and the two blocks above must not be water. This means the iron golem can spawn inside 1-deep water or inside blocks like slabs, fences, and carpets (if other checks pass). Adjacent blocks are irrelevant, so golems can spawn partially inside adjacent solid blocks. However, the spawning iron golem still must not collide with any existing entities.

In Bedrock Edition, an iron golem can spawn naturally when a village first generates in the world. Iron golems also spawn in villages having at least 20 beds and 10 villagers, in a 16×6×16 volume around the village center defined by a bed, a bell, or another meeting point. For a village to spawn iron golems, 75% of the villagers in the village must have worked in the past day, 100% of the villagers must be linked to a bed, and a player must be within 80 blocks of the village horizontally and within 44 blocks vertically. The chance of attempting a spawn is ¹⁄₇₀₀ per game tick, which averages to one spawn attempt every 35 seconds. Iron golems can spawn provided the 2×4×2 space above the spawn point (that is, horizontally centered on the NW corner of the block it spawns on) contains only non-solid blocks, and the block it spawns on is solid. If the village's original iron golem is killed, a new one cannot spawn unless all of these conditions are met; therefore, small villages do not regenerate an iron golem unless the village is expanded.

Creation

Iron Golem build configuration.

Iron Golem build configuration 2.

Iron Golem build configuration 3 ‌^{[BE only]}.

Iron golems are created by placing four iron blocks in a T shape (as shown in the image), and then placing a carved pumpkin, jack o'lantern or pumpkin‌^{[BE only]} on top of the center upper block. The pumpkin may be placed by the player, a dispenser or an enderman, but it must be placed last. It needs space around it to be able to spawn and cannot spawn in a confined area. Alternatively, the blocks can be placed in any order with an uncarved pumpkin; the player can shear the pumpkin to spawn the golem. When successfully transformed, it is naturally passive toward all players under all circumstances. It can, however, attack the player’s tamed wolves, 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 (above and below each of the arms) must be air blocks. Any non-air block (including blocks such as snow layers, grass, and water) 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.

Pillager outposts

An iron golem found within one of the cages surrounding an outpost.

Iron golems can also be found surrounding pillager outposts, confined inside dark oak cages. When freed, they can help the player by attacking any nearby pillagers.

Drops

See also: Tutorials/Iron golem farming

Iron golems drop when they die:

• 3–5 Iron Ingots
• 0–2 poppies

Killing an iron golem with a weapon enchanted by Looting has no effect on the number of iron ingots or poppies dropped. Trading prices are unaffected by the killing of iron golems, however, village reputation will decrease by 10, affecting village iron golem behavior.

Behavior

An iron golem offering a poppy.

Iron golems wander around a village in a patrol-like fashion, staying close to the edges of buildings and other structures. Like villagers, iron golems do not wander away from a village, regardless of how they were spawned, but sometimes stand at the borders of the village. An iron golem sometimes faces a villager as if they are conversing. Iron golems can spawn poppies in their hands and offer them to villagers, symbolizing the friendly relationship between villagers and iron golems.

If not within a village, iron golems slowly wander around, usually making their way to a nearby village.

Iron golems can walk up a full block height without jumping and walk over a 1 block wide hole without falling in. They avoid water, lava, fire, and cactus. Iron golems are immune to both drowning and fall damage. When in water, they sink, but can still move freely.

In Java Edition, when an iron golem's health reduces to 75%, cracks appear on its surface. An iron golem can be healed when the player right-clicks the chest of the iron golem with an iron ingot.

As with all utility mobs, iron golems can be leashed.

Iron golems move faster in Bedrock Edition.

Attacking

Iron golems are hostile toward most hostile and neutral mobs (see table below) within 16 blocks, although they are ineffective against flying mobs (ender dragon, wither, phantom, ghast) that don't venture into the iron golem's reach. If a player has -15 popularity or less in a village, naturally-spawned iron golems become forever hostile to that player. Naturally, they retaliate when attacked by a mob. Iron golems built by a player never attack players. Although they are guardians of villages, iron golems aren't actually provoked when a villager nearby is attacked by a mob (except a hostile mob like a zombie). This does not apply to players, who are met with hostility when attacking a villager near an iron golem. Sometimes when a player attacks an iron golem in front of another iron golem, both iron golems become hostile to the player. Iron golems never attack each other.

When attacking, an iron golem moves quickly toward its target and swings its arms up violently to attack, flinging the target into the air, and dealing 7 to 21 × 10.5 damage in Normal difficulty. Iron golems have a large attack range, allowing them to attack through a solid 1 block thick wall, even without a line of sight to the target.

It is possible for multiple golems to hit the same target simultaneously, flinging the victim to a height proportional to the number of golems that attacked.

If an iron golem attacks a group of zombies, for example, it attacks one, and attacks that zombie until it kills that zombie, even when other zombies attack the golem while the golem is attacking that zombie.

When an iron golem kills any mob, the player can obtain items dropped by the mob, but no experience orbs.

The list below contains all mobs including players.

Entity	Iron golem attacks the mob on sight?	Attacks the iron golem on sight?	Notes
Axolotl	No	No	‌[upcoming: JE 1.17 & BE 1.17.0]
Bee	No	No
Blaze	Yes	When attacked	They attack the iron golem if it has been attacked by it.
Chicken Jockey	Yes	Partial	A baby zombie riding a chicken attacks iron golems. If a baby zombified piglin is riding the chicken, the zombified piglin attacks the golem only after the golem attacks first. The iron golem attacks the rider, not the chicken.
Creeper	No	No	Creepers explode by a flint and steel, when shot by a skeleton, or by a player and they become damaged. Iron golems don't attack creepers, however, a nearby creeper explosion can still damage the golem.
Dolphin	No	No
Drowned	Yes	Yes
Ender Dragon	Yes	No	When in near vicinity, iron golems try to attack the ender dragon, although they are rarely able to. The ender dragon will not target iron golems, but may still hit them on accident.[verify]
Enderman	Yes	When attacked	Endermen attacked by the iron golem retaliate, following their normal neutral behavior.
Endermite	Yes	When attacked
Ghast	Partial	No	Iron golems almost never attack ghasts, but if close, and the ghast is not moving too much, the golem can attack ghasts. However, iron golems do not seek or approach any ghast outside its range.
Giant [unused mob] ‌[JE only]	Yes	No
Glow Squid	No	No	‌[upcoming: JE 1.17 & BE 1.17.0]
Goat	When attacked	Randomly	‌[upcoming: JE 1.17 & BE 1.17.0] Goats may randomly attack iron golems. If the golem is attacked by the goat, the golem retaliates.
Guardian Elder Guardian	Yes	No
Hoglin	Yes	When attacked, group retaliates	They attack if an iron golem attacks one hoglin. The group will not retaliate if babies are attacked however.
Iron Golem	No	No
Killer Bunny [unused mob]	No	No
Llama Trader Llama	When attacked	Accidentally	Iron golems attack llamas/trader llamas if the latter hits them accidentally with spit.
Magma Cube	Yes	Yes	Attacks big, medium, and small-sized magma cubes. Big and medium-sized magma cubes attack iron golems, but small-sized magma cubes are unable to deal any damage to iron golems. in Bedrock Edition, magma cubes completely ignore iron golems, but the golem still kills them.
Panda	No	No
Polar Bear	No	No
Phantom	Yes	No
Piglin	Yes	When attacked, group retaliates	Piglins attack iron golems only if the iron golem attacks one piglin, or piglin brute. Iron golems attack baby piglins despite them being passive.
Piglin Brute	Yes	When attacked, group retaliates	Piglin Brutes attack iron golems only if an iron golem attacks a piglin or piglin brute.
Player	When attacked Yes (natural if a player has -15 popularity or lower in a village) No (player-built, and in Peaceful difficulty)	At player's discretion	A naturally-spawned iron golem or commands-spawned iron golem attacks the player if the player attacks it while playing in the adventure and survival modes (it does not attack the player in creative or spectator mode). A naturally-spawned iron golem can also attack any nearby player who has -15 or lower popularity in a village. Iron golems created by the player do not attack the player under any circumstances.
Pufferfish	When attacked	Defensive	Iron golems attack pufferfish if damaged by the pufferfish's defense.
Shulker	Yes	When attacked	They attack if an iron golem attacks one shulker.[verify]
Silverfish	Yes	Yes‌[BE only] Partial‌[JE only]	in Java Edition, they attack if the iron golem attacks one silverfish. Silverfish always attack iron golems in Bedrock Edition.
Skeleton Stray Wither Skeleton	Yes	Yes
Skeleton HorseZombie Horse	No	No	Iron golems attack the rider of a Skeleton Horseman, but not the horse itself.
Slime	Yes	Partial	Slimes chase iron golems, but do not attack.
Snow Golem	When attacked	Accidentally	The iron golem retaliates when a snow golem accidentally hits it with a snowball.
Spider Cave Spider	Yes	Yes
Strider Jockey	Partial	Partial	Iron golems attack only the zombified piglin of a strider jockey, not the strider. The zombified piglin attacks the iron golem if one zombified piglin is attacked by the golem. When the zombified piglin is angry at the golem, the strider moves toward the golem.
Vex	Yes	Partial	It attacks the iron golem rarely when the vex is nearby by the iron golem. It attacks immediately when an evoker summons three vexes.
Villager	No	No	Iron golems' main objective is to protect villagers, not to kill them.
Evoker Illusioner[unused mob]‌[Java Edition only] Pillager Ravager Vindicator	Yes	Yes	Iron golems attack unarmed pillagers, despite them being passive.
Witch	Yes	Yes‌[BE only] Partial‌[JE only]	Attack iron golems if patrolling in an illager patrol or iron golem attacking one witch. The witch throws splash potions of Poison or Harming when an iron golem attacks the witch.‌[JE only] Witches always attack iron golems in Bedrock Edition.
Wither	Yes	Yes	Iron golems always attack withers.
Wolf (untamed)	No	No
Wolf (tamed)	When attacked	In defense of owner	Tamed wolves attack the iron golem if it attacks its owner, or the owner attacks the golem. When attacked by the wolf, the golem retaliates.
Zombie Husk Zombie Villager	Yes	Yes
Zombified Piglin	Yes	When attacked, group retaliates	They attack if an iron golem attacks one zombified piglin.
Zoglin	Yes	Yes
All other mobs	No	No

A naturally-spawned iron golem knows where raiding illager locations are from behind solid walls and from underground and attempts to move toward them. An iron golem created by the player or summoned by a command cannot detect raiders through obstructions.

Being attacked

Zombies (and variants), zoglins, skeletons (and variants), spiders, cave spiders, slimes, magma cubes, withers, and illagers naturally attack iron golems on sight and may cause major damage, especially if the mobs attack in groups. If an iron golem is attacked by multiple mobs, it retaliates in the order it was attacked. In Bedrock Edition, silverfish and witches may naturally attack it too.

In Java Edition, iron golems have 100% knockback resistance from normal attacks. They can still be knocked back by the Knockback enchantment on swords and the Punch enchantment on bows. In Bedrock Edition, the Knockback or Punch enchantments have no effect on iron golems.

Cracking

Iron golems have different stages of being cracked to show their health. When their health is above 74 × 37, some cracks become visible. When their health is between 50 × 25 and 74 × 37, a few more cracks appear. When their health is between 25 × 12.5 and 49 × 24.5, they appear more cracked. When their health is lower than 25 × 12.5, many cracks are visible.

• 

  No deterioration
  More than 75% of health remaining

• 

  Low deterioration
  More than 50% but no more than 75% of health remaining

• 

  Average deterioration
  More than 25% but no more than 50% of health remaining

• 

  Strong deterioration
  No more than 25% of health remaining

Healing

In Java Edition, using an iron ingot on an iron golem restores its health by 25 × 12.5.

Preferred path

See also: Villager § Preferred path

Like villagers, iron golems in Bedrock Edition use a strategy of pathfinding that prioritizes walking on certain "low-cost" blocks.

Sounds

Sound	Subtitle	Source	Description	Namespaced ID	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Footsteps	Friendly Creatures	?	entity.iron_golem.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps	1.0	1.0	16
	Iron Golem breaks	Friendly Creatures	?	entity.iron_golem.damage	subtitles.entity.iron_golem.damage	0.8	0.8 / 1.0	16
	Iron Golem dies	Friendly Creatures	?	entity.iron_golem.death	subtitles.entity.iron_golem.death	1.0	1.0	16
	Iron Golem hurts	Friendly Creatures	?	entity.iron_golem.hurt	subtitles.entity.iron_golem.hurt	1.0	1.0	16
	Iron Golem repaired	Friendly Creatures	?	entity.iron_golem.repair	subtitles.entity.iron_golem.repair	1.0	1.0	16
	Iron Golem attacks	Friendly Creatures	?	entity.iron_golem.attack	subtitles.entity.iron_golem.attack	1.0	1.0	16

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Translation key
Iron Golem	iron_golem	entity.minecraft.iron_golem

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Namespaced ID	Numeric ID	Translation key
Iron Golem	iron_golem	20	entity.iron_golem.name

Entity data

See also: Chunk format

Iron golems have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

• Entity data
  • Additional fields for mobs that can become angry
  • Tags common to all entities
  • Tags common to all mobs
  •  PlayerCreated: 1 or 0 (true/false) - if true, this golem was created by a player and will never attack them.

Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
		Body Guard	Create an Iron Golem	—	20G	Bronze

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Namespaced ID
	Hired Help	Summon an Iron Golem to help defend a village	What a Deal!	Summon an iron golem.	adventure/summon_iron_golem

History

Java Edition
1.2.1		12w08a			Added iron golems.
					One iron golem may spawn in a village for every 16 villagers.
		1.2-pre			Mechanical and stomping sounds have been added for the iron golem.
1.4.2		12w32a			Iron golems now attack slimes and magma cubes.
		?			One iron golem can now spawn for every 10 villagers in a village.
1.7.2		13w36a			Because roses have been replaced with poppies, the iron golem's drop has been changed.
1.8		14w03a			Iron golems now drop only iron ingots when killed by the player, either through combat, potions, or player-activated mechanisms such as manually lit TNT. If killed without player intervention, they now drop only poppies.
		14w04a			The previous change has been reverted; iron golems always drop iron ingots again.
					Iron golems can now be spawned by dispensing a pumpkin.
		14w25a			Iron golems can now be built sideways and upside-down instead of just upright.
		14w26c			Jack o'lanterns can no longer be used to build iron golems.
		14w33a			Zombies, skeletons, spiders, cave spiders, slimes, magma cubes and blazes now attack iron golems, without provocation.
1.8.1		pre1			Jack o'lanterns can now be used to build iron golems again.
					Creepers no longer attack iron golems.
1.9		15w39a			Iron golems are now slightly shorter (2.7 blocks tall rather than 2.9).
		15w46a			Iron golems now spawn with 100% knockback resistance.
1.11		16w32a			The entity ID of the iron golem has been changed from VillagerGolem to villager_golem.
1.13		17w47a			Iron golems can now also use a carved pumpkin to be created.
		pre5			The entity ID of the iron golem has been changed from villager_golem to iron_golem.
1.14		18w43a			The texture of iron golems has been changed.
		18w47a			Iron golems now spawn in cages next to pillager outposts.
		19w08a			A single iron golem now always spawns as part of a village.
					The texture of the iron golem has been tweaked. The bottom of the left arm is now the same as the right arm. The part of the under of the head and the under of the waist has been changed.
1.14.3		pre1			Panicking villagers now have a higher chance of spawning iron golems.
1.15		19w41a			Iron golems now crack as they take damage.
					Iron golems can now be healed with iron ingots.
		19w44a			Iron golem's damage progress is now based on the ratio of current health to max health.
1.16		20w19a			Villagers can now spawn iron golems regardless of their profession status or latest working time.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.12.1		build 1			Added iron golems.
v0.16.0		build 4			Iron golems now damage players in peaceful difficulty.
Pocket Edition
1.0.0		alpha 1.0.0.0			Iron golems no longer attack players in peaceful difficulty.
1.1.0		alpha 1.1.0.0			The entity ID of the iron golem has been changed from irongolem to iron_golem.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The texture of iron golems has been changed.
					Iron golems now spawn in cages next to pillager outposts.
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.1			A single iron golem now always spawns as part of a village.
1.16.100		beta 1.16.100.54			Iron golems attack hoglins.
		?			Iron golems immediately attack zoglins instead of attacking only when the zoglin attacked first.
Legacy Console Edition
TU12	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added iron golems.
		1.91			Iron golems now spawn in cages next to pillager outposts.
					A single iron golem now always spawn as part of a village.
					Panicking villagers now have a higher chance of spawning iron golems.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added iron golems.

Issues

Issues relating to "Iron Golem" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

Robot from Laputa: Castle in the Sky

• The iron golem's holding out flowers to villagers is a reference to the ancient robots in Hayao Miyazaki's animated film Laputa: Castle in the Sky. When villager children notice the poppy in its hand, they slowly approach, and take the flower eventually. Iron golems do not actually pick up poppies; they spawn them in their hands.
• If a player throws an ender pearl at an iron golem that has spawned in a village, it becomes hostile.
• Iron golems do not get into boats or minecarts on their own, although in Bedrock Edition, pushing a minecart on rails into a golem forces it into the minecart.
• It is possible for an enderman to cause an iron golem to spawn by placing a pumpkin in the correct position on an arrangement of iron blocks previously placed by the player.
• The iron golem is a purchasable avatar item on the Xbox 360 Marketplace.
• Iron golems can attack pillagers (with no weapon) and giants with no amount of damage inflicted from either mob at all. They are the only two mobs to have that distinction.

Gallery

Screenshots

• 

  An iron golem offers a villager a poppy.

• 

  An iron golem offers a poppy to several villager children.

• 

  An iron golem attacking a spider by throwing it into the air.

• 

  An iron golem attacking the player.

• 

  Iron golems acting weirdly in a player-created village, by attempting to cross in a two-block-high gap.

In Other Media

• 

  An Iron Golem in promotional artwork for the Horse Update.

• 

  An Iron Golem in promotional artwork for Minecon 2015.

• 

  Iron Golems in promotional artwork for the Village and Pillage Update.

• 

  Official Iron Golem artwork.

• 

  Another official Iron Golem artwork.

• 

  Lego Minecraft Iron Golem.

References

Entities

View at: Template:Entities/content [edit]