Magma Cube

A magma cube is a hostile mob found in the Nether. A magma cube behaves similarly to a slime, but is fireproof, jumps higher and less often, and deals more damage.

Spawning[]

Magma cubes spawn in areas of the Nether at all light levels. The space they spawn in must be clear of solid obstructions and liquids. Due to being inherently fireproof, magma cubes can spawn on magma blocks.

Only sizes 1, 2 and 4 (NBT Size tag values 0, 1 and 3 respectively) spawn naturally. With use of /summon, magma cubes can potentially range from size 1 to 127 (NBT Size tag 0–126).^[verify]

MagmaCubeSpawn — This large magma cube attempts to spawn on the basalt, but because there is a piece of iron bar intersecting its hitbox, it is unable to spawn. This check is performed before the size of the magma cube is determined, meaning no magma cubes can spawn at that location.

A magma cube needs roughly a 3×2.1x3 free space to spawn. The area in which they spawn must be clear of solid or liquid obstructions. When a magma cube attempts to spawn, the game checks for the space requirement of a large magma cube, and the size is determined later. Therefore, since large magma cubes are slightly taller than 2 blocks, no magma cubes, regardless of size, are able to spawn at all in 2-block-high areas. Also, since large magma cubes are slightly wider than 2 blocks, and mobs spawn at the center of a block, having any block within the 3×2.1x3 area, even as thin as a glass pane, can prevent a magma cube of any size from spawning.

Magma cubes' size is affected by regional difficulty: chances range from 33% for each size at the low difficulty to 16% small, 33% medium, and 50% big with higher difficulty.

Nether Wastes[]

Magma cubes spawn uncommonly in nether wastes in groups of 1 to 4.

Nether Fortresses[]

Magma cubes spawn commonly in nether fortresses in groups of 4.

Basalt Deltas[]

Magma cubes spawn commonly in basalt deltas, in groups of 2 to 5.

Spawners[]

Magma cube monster spawners generate in the treasure room of bastions.

Drops[]

Large magma cube: 0–1 magma cream (0.25 average) and 4 experience
Medium magma cube: 0–1 magma cream (0.25 average) and 2 experience
Small magma cube: 1 experience (or 1 froglight if killed by a frog).

The maximum of magma cream can be increased by 1 per level of Looting. Looting 1 averages 0.5 per kill, Looting 2 averages ~0.81 per kill, and Looting 3 averages ~1.21 per kill. Unlike a lot of common loot which picks a random number between 0 and 1 for its drop, the magma cube's drop ranges between -2 and 1 instead. This leads to the 25% drop chance from an unenchanted kill, as well as the relatively low averages with the Looting enchantment since a negative base roll can cancel out the bonus roll made by Looting.

Behavior[]

Magma Cube jumping — Magma cube jumping.

A magma cube seeks out any player or an iron golem within a spherical distance of 16 blocks. If it finds no enemy, it changes direction every 40 to 100 ticks (2 to 5 seconds) and jumps forward every 40 to 120 ticks (2 to 6 seconds). If it finds a target, the delay before jumping is ¹⁄₃ as long (13 to 40 ticks), and the magma cube changes direction directly toward the target before jumping.

Magma cubes cannot be hurt by fall damage or burning, and are not slowed down by lava. They can swim upward in lava and leap above its surface.

Their jump height depends on their size. Their forward speed is twice that of most other mobs. They always make a distinct sound upon jumping up and landing, but no idle sounds.

When a magma cube is killed, it splits into 2-4 smaller magma cubes. Tiny magma cubes disappear when killed, like other mobs.

They can swim in water and attempt to stay on the surface. Like slimes, magma cubes starts taking drowning damage if submerged in water for 15 seconds, splitting into smaller cubes if possible.

Magma cubes take extra damage from powder snow, taking 5 every two seconds, unlike 1 for other mobs.

Unlike most mobs, magma cubes have no pathfinding ability, meaning that they do not avoid falling off cliffs and cannot go around walls, even when chasing a player. This behavior is shared by slimes.

When they are in lava, they hover and try to move to nearby land.

Combat[]

Magma cubes attack by jumping and attempting to land on the player, and cause damage when touched anywhere. As their jump rate is random, magma cubes can be hard to fight.

The health of a magma cube is its size squared; the attack strength is its size + 2, and the armor points are its size tripled.

A magma cube jumps a distance of approximately its length times 1.5 and a height equivalent to its size in blocks. This means that a large magma cube jumps 4 blocks in height and moves significantly quicker than a small magma cube, which jumps 2 blocks in height; while a tiny magma cube moves slowly and jumps 1 block in height.

Magma cubes continuously damage all players and iron golems‌^{[JE only]} they collide with (although damage immunity reduces the actual damage to 2 attacks per second), unlike other mobs that damage only those targets they specifically attack.^[1] This means that a large magma cube deals 12 × 6 of damage per second on normal difficulty. Unlike slimes, tiny magma cubes can deal damage to the player.

Sounds[]

Java Edition:
Magma cubes use the Hostile Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.

Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
Slime attacks ^{[sound 1]}	Hostile Creatures	When a magma cube attacks something	`entity.slime.attack`^{[sound 1]}	`subtitles.entity.slime.attack`^{[sound 1]}	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
Magma Cube dies	Hostile Creatures	When a non-small magma cube dies	`entity.magma_cube.death`	`subtitles.magma_cube.death`	Large: 1.2 Medium: 0.4	0.64-0.96	16
Magma Cube dies	Hostile Creatures	When a small magma cube dies	`entity.magma_cube.death_small`	`subtitles.magma_cube.death`	0.0	1.12-1.68	16
Magma Cube hurts	Hostile Creatures	When a non-small magma cube is damaged	`entity.magma_cube.hurt`	`subtitles.magma_cube.hurt`	Large: 1.2 Medium: 0.4	0.64-0.96	16
Magma Cube hurts	Hostile Creatures	When a small magma cube is damaged	`entity.magma_cube.hurt_small`	`subtitles.magma_cube.hurt`	0.0	1.12-1.68	16
Magma Cube squishes	Hostile Creatures	When a magma cube jumps	`entity.magma_cube.jump`	`subtitles.magma_cube.squish`	Large: 1.2 Medium: 0.4 Small:0.0	Non-small: 0.64-0.96 Small: 1.12-1.68	16
Magma Cube squishes	Hostile Creatures	When a non-small magma cube lands	`entity.magma_cube.squish`	`subtitles.magma_cube.squish`	Large: 1.2 Medium: 0.4	1.0-1.5	16
Magma Cube squishes	Hostile Creatures	When a small magma cube lands	`entity.magma_cube.squish_small`	`subtitles.magma_cube.squish`	0.0	1.0-1.5	16

↑ ^a ^b ^c MC-98316 — Wrong subtitles caused by missing distinction

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Hostile Creatures	When a magma cube dies	`mob.magmacube.small`	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	When a magma cube is damaged	`mob.magmacube.small`	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	When a non-small magma cube jumps or lands	`mob.magmacube.big`	1.0	0.64-0.96
	Hostile Creatures	When a small magma cube jumps or lands	`mob.magmacube.small`	1.0	0.64-0.96
None	None	When a magma cube attacks something	`mob.attack`	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Hostile Creatures	Unused sound event	`mob.slime.attack`	1.0	1.0

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Translation key
Magma Cube	`magma_cube`	`entity.minecraft.magma_cube`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Translation key
Magma Cube	`magma_cube`	`entity.magma_cube.name`

Entity data[]

Magma cubes have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.

Java Edition:

Entity data
- Tags common to all entities
- Tags common to all mobs
- Size: The size of the magma cube. Note that this value is zero-based, so 0 is the smallest magma cube, 1 is the next larger, etc. The sizes that spawn naturally are 0, 1, and 3.
- wasOnGround: 1 or 0 (true/false) - true if the magma cube is touching the ground.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements[]

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
PS4	Other	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
		Monster Hunter	Attack and destroy a monster.	Kill a hostile mob or one of the following neutral mobs: an enderman, a piglin, a zombified piglin, a spider, or a cave spider.	15G	Bronze

Advancements[]

Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
Adventure	Adventure, exploration and combat	—	Kill any entity, or be killed by any entity.	`adventure/root`
Monster Hunter	Kill any hostile monster	Adventure	Kill one of these 34 mobs: Blaze Cave Spider Creaking Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Only the riders of the chicken jockeys and skeleton horsemen are counted in this advancement. Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement.	`adventure/kill_a_mob`
It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Monster Hunter	Kill one of these 70 mobs near a sculk catalyst: Axolotl Bee Blaze Camel Cat Cave Spider Chicken Chicken Jockey Cod Cow Creeper Donkey Dolphin Drowned Elder Guardian Enderman Endermite Evoker Fox Frog Ghast Goat Glow Squid Guardian Hoglin Horse Husk Llama Magma Cube Mooshroom Ocelot Panda Parrot Phantom Pig Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Polar Bear Pufferfish Rabbit Ravager Salmon Sheep Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Skeleton Horse Skeleton Horseman Slime Sniffer Stray Spider Spider Jockey Squid Strider Trader Llama Tropical Fish Turtle Vex Vindicator Warden Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Wolf Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this advancement.	`adventure/kill_mob_near_sculk_catalyst`
Monsters Hunted	Kill one of every hostile monster	Monster Hunter	Kill each of these 37 mobs: Blaze Bogged Breeze Cave Spider Creaking Creeper Drowned Elder Guardian Ender Dragon Enderman Endermite Evoker Ghast Guardian Hoglin Husk Magma Cube Phantom Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Ravager Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Slime Spider Stray Vex Vindicator Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Zoglin Zombie Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Other mobs may be killed, but are ignored for this advancement. Only the riders of the chicken jockeys and skeleton horsemen are counted in this advancement.	`adventure/kill_all_mobs`

History[]

Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease		Added magma cubes.
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease		“It started out as a retexturing of the Slime for the Nether - it was just going to be a Lava Slime. But then when I named it that, I felt it was a bit lazy to retexture a mob. I wanted to make it more unique. I can’t really remember how I came up with the idea to have a layered block, but it’s one of my favourite mobs now. It really intrigues me. It doesn’t stand out in any particular way - I just really like it! You can use Magma Cream [an item Magma cubes drop] to brew Fire Resistance potions.” -Jeb^[2]
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2		Magma cubes have been made quite rare. Here are the current spawning rules for magma cubes. Big magma cubes require a 3×2½×3 space to spawn, small magma cubes require a 3×2×3 space, and tiny magma cubes require a 1×2×1 space (or 1×1×1 if the upper block is not opaque).^[3]
		RC1		Magma cubes have been given sounds.
1.1		release		Large and small magma cubes now drop magma cream.
1.3.1		12w18a		Magma cubes no longer show their animation in singleplayer, due to singleplayer being a local server.
1.3.1		12w23a		Magma cubes now show their animation in multiplayer.
1.8		14w06b		Magma cubes can now swim as a result of the update to the new AI.
				Magma cubes now randomly change direction every so often, reducing the chance of them getting stuck at walls or corners.
				Magma cubes now randomly despawn over time if no player is within a 32 meter range.
				The jumping mechanics of magma cubes have been changed. How far they jump now corresponds to the length of their size; they jump approximately 1.5 times their current length. For example, a tiny size 1 magma cube jumps slowly, while a large size 4 magma cube jumps farther. Also, when attacking, magma cubes turn their whole body to face the player.
1.10		16w20a		Magma cubes now spawn almost twice as often in the general Nether (rate is now ²⁄₁₅₃, was ¹⁄₁₅₁).
1.11		16w32a		The entity ID has been changed from `LavaSlime` to `magma_cube`.
1.14		18w43a		The textures of magma cubes have been changed.
		18w44a		The texture of magma cubes have now slightly tweaked. The color channel of transparent pixels are now filled to black.
		19w12a		Magma cubes now hop on the surface of the lava instead of swim.
1.14.3		1.14.3-pre4		Magma cubes now hover over the surface of the lava.
1.16		20w06a		Small cubes now have moving sounds again.^[4]
		20w15a		Magma cubes now spawn in basalt deltas biome.
		20w16a		Magma cube spawners now generate in bastion remnants structure.
		?		Their spawning rules were changed.
1.17		21w13a		Magma cubes now take extra damage when freezing.
		Pre-release 1		Magma cubes no longer interact with the player.^[5]
		Pre-release 2		Magma cubes now interact with the player again.^[5]
1.19		22w11a		Magma cubes now drop froglights when killed by a frog.
1.20		23w18a		Magma cubes are now affected by the Jump Boost effect.^[6]
1.20.2		23w33a		The sounds of magma cubes are now controlled by the "Hostile Creatures" instead of the "Friendly Creatures" sound slider.^[7]
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.11.0		build 1		Added magma cubes.
		build 1		Magma cubes are currently unobtainable in-game without hacking.
		build 8		Magma cubes can now be spawned using spawn eggs.
v0.12.1		build 1		Magma cubes now spawn naturally.
v0.12.1		build 1		Magma cubes now split into smaller cubes when killed.
v0.14.0		build 1		Magma cube cores now glow from to .
Pocket Edition
1.1.0		alpha 1.1.0.0		The entity ID has been changed from `lavaslime` to `magma_cube`.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3		The textures of magma cubes have been changed.
1.16.0		beta 1.16.0.57		Magma cubes now spawn in basalt deltas.
1.16.0		beta 1.16.0.59		Magma cube spawners now generate in bastion remnants.
1.17.0		beta 1.16.230.54		Magma Cubes now take extra damage when freezing.
1.17.30		beta 1.17.30.20		Medium magma cubes hitboxes now corrected and matches Slime.^[8]
1.18.10		beta 1.18.10.26		Magma cubes now drop froglights when killed by a frog behind the "Wild Update" experimental toggle.
1.20.10		beta 1.20.10.20		Magma cubes are now affected by the Jump Boost effect.
Legacy Console Edition
TU7	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	Added magma cubes.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0				Added magma cubes.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Magma Cube" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

The large magma cube is the non-boss mob that contains the most exp, killing the large one and its spitted versions all drop exp.^[verify]
When a larger magma cube that has a name dies, the smaller magma cubes it spawns also have the same name, just like slimes.
According the the article "visit the nether" magma cubes are not aggressive but their heat is dangerous when close.
Magma cube is the only mob native to the Nether that can truly swim in water.
- Zombified piglins, skeletons, and wither skeletons sink in water.
- Piglins, piglin brutes and hoglins sink in water and drown.
- Endermen, blazes, and striders take damage in water immediately.
- Ghasts ignore water while floating around.