Greetings.
I am a man in a suit who has fallen into the world of Minecraft.
During OjiCra Season 3, I lost everything on my first trip to the Nether.
My diamond gear, my tools, and many other things were gone.
It was difficult.
In Episode 23, I began rebuilding with an XP farm made from a zombie spawner beneath the village. Instead of only mining for diamonds again, I could gather experience for my next enchantments and preparations with the librarian.
This memo organizes what we learned from building and using that zombie spawner XP farm.
This was me after losing everything.
I was weaker, but the village still had things I could use. Even a troublesome underground room could become a resource if I looked at it differently.
What Is a Zombie Spawner XP Farm?
A zombie spawner XP farm gathers zombies from a spawner in one place so the player can defeat them and collect experience.
In OjiCra, I call it the “XP factory.” The name sounds grand, but the idea is quite simple:
- Find a zombie spawner.
- Make the surrounding area safe.
- Use water streams to gather the zombies.
- Move them through a drop or passage into a kill chamber.
- Defeat them yourself to receive the experience.
- Collect the drops in a chest.
The final step matters when experience is the goal. This is not a machine I can simply leave alone. In the end, I still have to swing the sword.
I am fighting properly.
It is still a little frightening. (laughs)
When You Find a Spawner, Do Not Break It
The first one we found was a zombie spawner in a mossy cobblestone room.
The black cage-like block is the spawner. A tiny zombie turns inside it.
Finding one is exciting, but hostile mobs can appear nearby, so safety comes first. We placed torches while working to stop zombies from spawning temporarily.
If the spawner itself is broken, it can no longer be used for this farm. I tried not to rush with the pickaxe.
There was another spawner nearby too.
Lava in the wall. A dark room. Another spawner.
It was scary, but it also looked useful.
This memo describes a layout that is easier to consider with one spawner. When two are close together, it may be possible to use both from the same position by adjusting where the player stands and how the channels run. Trying to combine them can also create jams, so handling one at a time felt safer at first.
We Used About a 9×9 Room as a Guide
After finding the spawner, we prepared the spawning room.
The Minecraft Wiki page for monster spawners explains that a normal Java Edition spawner attempts to spawn mobs within a horizontal range of four blocks from the spawner and roughly one block above and below it. That made a room about 9×9 horizontally an easy guide for us to work with.
We kept the room bright while building. Working in the dark would allow zombies to appear beside us, which would be a serious problem.
When the farm is running, however, the spawning room needs to be dark. Zombies are hostile mobs that spawn in darkness.
Torches for safety while building. Darkness when operating the farm.
Switching between those two states was important.
Gathering Zombies with Water Streams
Once the room was ready, we used water to carry the zombies in one direction.
In Episode 23, I made the spawner, channels, and newly spawned zombies visible through glass.
This is the clearest view of the farm in action. Zombies spawn in the dark room and are pushed toward the center by the water. A baby zombie is mixed in with them too.
The glass made the mechanism much easier to understand.
Zombies can catch on corners or gather without falling into the intended opening. I learned not to assume the water would work perfectly on the first try. We let zombies spawn, watched what happened, and adjusted the shape several times.
Water is honest. If the shape is slightly wrong, the zombies gather in exactly that spot.
Defeating Them in the Kill Chamber for Experience
The gathered zombies are moved by a drop or passage into the final kill chamber. Despite its ominous name, this is simply a place where I can swing a sword with less danger.
The zombies have gathered in one place, and I am holding an iron sword. My health and hunger have both gone down, so this is not effortless work.
Defeating the zombies gives me experience. The Minecraft Wiki page for zombies explains that adult zombies drop experience when killed by a player or a tamed wolf. For a farm intended to provide experience, having the player deliver the final blow is the clearest approach.
That is how our XP factory works.
I swing the sword myself, and the experience gradually builds up.
The Loot Is Modest but Useful
The farm also produces items while we gather experience.
Rotten flesh is the most common. Zombies may also rarely leave items such as iron, gold equipment, carrots, or potatoes.
This is not a spectacular treasure chest, but small amounts of these items can still help with village life.
Carrots and potatoes can lead to new crops. Iron can support tools and equipment. Even rotten flesh is not completely without a use.
Gaining experience while slowly adding materials for daily life was one of the best parts of the spawner farm.
Why I Was Glad We Built It
In Episode 23, my experience level rose considerably at this farm.
Immediately after losing everything, it felt as though everything was gone. Using the zombie spawner gave me a way to prepare for future enchantments.
I returned to the village with more experience. Both my supplies and my spirits had begun to recover.
The zombie spawner XP farm felt very helpful in the early and middle parts of our survival world. Building one neatly still takes work. Water, darkness, the drop, and the kill chamber all have to cooperate. If something is misaligned, zombies may become stuck or put the player in danger.
Rather than chasing maximum efficiency, I aimed for something we could actually use. That suited me well.
Things to Watch Out For
These are the points I took away from our experience:
- Do not break the spawner itself.
- Use torches to stay safe while building.
- Make the spawning room dark when operating the farm.
- The spawner only works while the player is close enough.
- Check where zombies become stuck in the water streams.
- Do not relax completely in the kill chamber, because the zombies can still attack.
- If experience is the goal, arrange the farm so the player delivers the final blow.
- Light nearby dark areas and the route home as well.
It is particularly easy to forget that the player must remain nearby. A spawner activates only while a player is within its required range. Experience does not gather by itself while I work far away.
I remembered that lesson.
Read the Full Episode 23 Story
This memo is based on the XP factory we actually built in OjiCra Season 3 Episode 23.
It follows our first Nether trip and total loss in Episode 22, when we turned to the zombie spawner beneath the village to begin rebuilding.
The full episode focuses more on how I recovered after losing everything. This memo organizes the farm itself in a more practical way.
That is all for this time.
Greetings.