| “ |
|
„ | |
| — Tom Stone[1] |
Iron golems are large, strong utility mobs that defend villagers.
Spawning
Villages
Iron golems will spawn in a 16×6×16 area, centered vertically and horizontally between the bases of the 21 or more valid doors in a village if it has at least 10 villagers. The chance of spawning is 1 in 7000 per game tick, which averages around one every six minutes. Iron golems can spawn provided the blocks it spawns in are transparent and the block it spawns on top of has a solid surface. The maximum number of golems that can be in a single village is one-tenth the number of villagers in that village, provided that the door requirement is met.
Creation
The golem can also be constructed by placing blocks in a similar fashion to snow golems and withers. It is created by placing four iron blocks in a T shape (as shown in the image), and then placing a carved pumpkin[upcoming: Lua error in Module:Version_link at line 112: attempt to concatenate local 'text' (a nil value).] or jack o'lantern [Java Edition only]on top of the center upper block. The pumpkin may be placed by the player, by a dispenser or by a pumpkin stem, but it must be placed last. It needs space around it to be able to spawn and will not spawn in a confined area.
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, tall grass, and water) present in any of the empty spaces will 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.
Drops
Iron golems drop when they die:
- 3–5 Iron ingots
- 0–2 poppies
The Looting enchantment is ineffective against iron golems as it does not give any extra iron ingots or poppies when killed.
Behavior
An iron golem with a poppy in its hand.
Iron golems are 2.7 blocks tall and 1.4 blocks wide.
Iron golems will wander around a village in a patrol-like fashion, staying close to the edges of buildings and other structures. 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 spawn poppies in their hands and offer them to villagers, symbolizing the friendly relationship between the villagers and golems. However, they won't spawn and offer poppies to other iron golems.
If not within a village, iron golems will slowly wander aimlessly. Golems not spawned within a village will 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 will avoid water, lava, fire and cacti. Iron golems are immune to both drowning and fall damage. When in water, they will sink, immobilize, and become passive, but will still be pushed by flowing water.
Like all utility mobs, iron golems can be leashed.
Attacking
When provoked, an iron golem will move quickly toward its target and once in range will swing its arms up violently to attack, dealing 7![]()
![]()
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to 21
× 10.5 damage and flinging the target into the air. This attack is potentially the 3rd strongest Overworld attack in the game, beaten only by the explosion of a creeper or charged creeper. Iron golems have a comparatively large attack range, allowing them to attack through a solid 1 block thick wall, even without a line of sight to the target.
Iron golems have a chance of accidentally hitting another mob while attacking a hostile mob. Additionally, it is possible for multiple golems to simultaneously hit the same target. Sometimes the Golems will accidentally hit each other and will fight usually resulting in one or more golems dying. The height to which the victim is sent flying is relative to the number of golems that attack it.
Iron golems will attack any hostile or neutral mob within 32 blocks of them with some exceptions.
| Mob | Iron golem attacks the mob on sight? | Attacks the iron golem on sight? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blaze | Yes | Yes | |
| Cave spider | Yes | Yes | |
| Chicken jockey | Partial | If a baby zombie is riding the chicken, the baby zombie will attack the iron golem. If a baby zombie pigman is riding the chicken, the zombie pigman will not attack it. |
The iron golem will only attack the baby zombie/baby zombie pigman, not the chicken. |
| Creeper | No | No | |
| Ender dragon | Partial | No | |
| Enderman | Yes | No | |
| Endermite | Yes | No | |
| Evoker | Yes | Yes | |
| Giant [unused mob] | Yes | No | |
| Ghast | No | No | |
| Guardian Elder guardian |
Yes | No | |
| Illusioner [Java Edition exclusive] | Yes | Yes | |
| Iron golem | No | No | |
| Killer bunny | No | No | |
| Llama | No | Partial | |
| Magma cube | Yes | Yes | |
| Player | Yes, if spawned in a village | Partial | Naturally-spawned iron golems will attack this mob when they attack it. |
| Polar bear | No | No | |
| Shulker | Yes | Yes | |
| Silverfish | Yes | No | |
| Skeleton | Yes | Yes | |
| Slime | Yes | Yes | |
| Snow golem | Partial | No | |
| Spider | Yes | Yes | |
| Vex | Yes | No | |
| Vindicator | Yes | Yes | |
| Witch | Yes | No | |
| Wither | Yes | Yes | |
| Wolf (untamed) | No | No | |
| Wolf (tamed) | Partial | Partial | |
| Zombie | Yes | Yes | |
| Zombie pigman | Yes | No |
Being attacked
Zombies, skeletons, spiders, cave spiders, slimes, and magma cubes will 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 will retaliate in the order it was attacked. In Bedrock Edition, endermites, silverfishes and witches may naturally attack it too.
Iron golems have 100% knockback resistance. However, they can be knocked back by the Knockback enchantment on swords and the Punch enchantment on bows.
Data values
Iron golems have entity data associated with them that contain various properties of the mob. Their entity ID is villager_golem in Java Edition and iron_golem in Bedrock Edition.
- 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 is player-created and never attacks players.
Achievements
| Icon | Achievement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) | Gamerscore earned | Trophy type (PS4) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS4 | Other | |||||
| Body Guard | Create an Iron Golem | — | 20G | Bronze | ||
Advancements
| Icon | Advancement | In-game description | Parent | Actual requirements (if different) | Resource location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Hired Help | Summon an Iron Golem to help defend a village | What a Deal! | Summon an iron golem. | adventure/summon_iron_golem
|
Video
- Note: 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.
Iron Golem/video
History
| release | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.2.1 | 12w08a | Added iron golems, one may spawn in a village for every 16 villagers. | |||
| “This was made by me and Jon Kågström. We were thinking about how to get the Villagers to defend themselves, since they don’t have arms. The design was inspired very much by the Japanese Studio Ghibli movie with the giant [The Castle in the Sky]. It also has this flower. When I was making the model, I realised it was much harder to draw a texture for it – the larger it is, it gets more detailed. But it’s become quite iconic – it’s very emblematic of Minecraft now. We made it look like the Villagers, because obviously the Villagers would create a golem which would resemble themselves.” – Jeb[1] | |||||
| 1.2-pre | Added mechanical and stomping sounds for the iron golem. | ||||
| 1.4.2 | 12w32a | Iron golems will now attack slimes and magma cubes | |||
| ? | One golem can now spawn for every 10 villagers in a village. | ||||
| 1.7.2 | 13w36a | As roses were replaced with poppies, the iron golem's drop was therefore changed. | |||
| 1.8 | 14w03a | Now only drop iron when killed by the player, either through combat, potions, or player-activated mechanisms such as manually lit TNT. If killed without player intervention, only drop poppies. | |||
| 14w04a | The previous change was 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, creepers, spiders, cave spiders, slimes, magma cubes and blazes now attack iron golems without provocation. | ||||
| 1.8.1 | pre1 | Jack o'lanterns can be used to build iron golems again. | |||
| Creepers no longer attack iron golems. | |||||
| 1.9 | 15w39a | Iron golems are 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 is changed from VillagerGolem to villager_golem. | |||
| upcoming | |||||
| 1.13 | 17w17a | Iron Golems now require a carved pumpkin instead of a pumpkin to be created. | |||
| pre5 | The entity ID is changed from villager_golem to iron_golem. | ||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| 0.12.1 | build 1 | Added iron golems. | |||
| 0.16.0 | build 4 | Will now damage player in peaceful difficulty. | |||
| Pocket Edition | |||||
| 1.0 | ? | Iron golems no longer attack player in peaceful difficulty. | |||
| 1.1 | build 1 | The entity ID is changed from irongolem to iron_golem. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU12 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 1 | 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.[2]
- 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.
- 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.
- Even with a poppy in its hands, an iron golem can still hit a hostile mob.
- If an iron golem is in a boat, no other entities except for a player can ride as a passenger or control the boat.
Publicity
- The iron golem is a purchasable avatar item on the Xbox 360 Marketplace.
Gallery
An iron golem attacking a spider by throwing it into the air.
- IronGolemSpawnConditions.png
Spawning conditions of the iron golem.
- IronGolemVillageBoundaries.png
Spawn boundaries of the village, in case of a single house. If an iron golem exits these boundaries, it will detach from the village and a new one can spawn.
References
- ↑ a b https://minecraft.net/article/meet-iron-golem
- ↑ "@scambot Yes, thanks to @pgeuder who sent me inspirational pictures!" – @jonkagstrom (Jon Kågström) on X, February 23, 2012




