Creating farms in Minecraft is an important step to gathering resources quickly and efficiently. Many farms can be built early on, however, there are plenty of late-game options, including a Wither Skeleton farm.
Wither Skeletons reside in the nether. This enemy is critical to spawning the Wither. Collecting three Wither Skeleton heads is required to spawn this boss. The Wither drops important material for beacon crafting, which is essential to any late-game build.
Making a Wither Skeleton farm can be quite difficult, but this guide is here to walk you through the steps. Keep reading to learn spawn requirements, as well as how to efficiently spawn Wither Skeletons.
6 Wither Skeleton Spawn Requirements
Wither Skeletons will only spawn in a Nether Fortress, with a light level of seven or below. They can appear in groups of up to four and are found wandering flat areas within the Fortress.
Unlike other mobs, Wither Skeletons can spawn on top of wither roses. These roses apply the Wither effect, which deals damage over time and turns the color of your health to black, making it hard to see. Wither Skeletons can inflict the Wither effect, so these roses don't deal damage to them. This is important to remember while creating a Wither Skeleton farm.
5 Creating A Naturally Spawning Area
Instead of making a full Wither Skeleton Farm, you can also quickly create an area for them to naturally farm. This method is not as efficient, however, it is an easy way to get three heads to summon the Wither for the first time.
To make an area for Wither Skeletons to spawn naturally, you just have to find a Nether Fortress and make a platform. Fortresses usually have several bridges, so it will be easiest to connect the bridges and create a large platform.
Be sure to not add torches, because this will increase the light level.
Once you've made the platform, you're done! Wither Skeletons will begin to spawn here. Run around the fortress and wait for them to appear. Since they can deal the Wither effect, you will want to create a safe area to hide when you are at low health.
4 Creating The Wither Skeleton Farm
If you want to make an efficient Wither Skeleton farm. It's not an easy task, but it is incredibly rewarding. With a large farm, you will be able to gather tons of material, including the Wither Skeleton heads used to summon the Wither.
We are going to go over a simple Wither Skeleton farm that can be easily modified. Our Wither Skeleton farm is pretty simple and additional floors can be added by repeating the pattern.
The driving mechanic of the farm is the Piglin in the center. Wither Skeletons will attack the Piglin and vice versa. The farm utilizes this relationship, luring the skeletons to the center so they fall through and die at the bottom. Hoppers collect any loot and deliver them to the chests for easy access.
3 Materials Needed And Preparation For Making A Wither Skeleton Farm
For a single floor Wither Skeleton farm, you will need the following materials:
- 101 Nettherrack
- 100 Wither Roses (optional, to prevent other mobs from spawning)
- 8 Trapdoors
- 1 Piglin
- 8 Fences
- 25 Firepits
- 10 Chests
- 25 Hoppers
In addition to the materials listed above, you will need to prepare an area. The area should be within the Nether Fortress. However, you will want to make sure that there are no spawners nearby. Enemies can spawn pretty much everywhere, so adding a layer of slabs will eliminate that. This will help your farm run more efficiently.
The area you choose should also be pretty tall. The Wither Skeletons will fall from the main platform of this build, with the drop killing them. Nether Fortresses are already pretty high up, so finding an appropriate area shouldn't be hard.
2 Steps To Create A Single Floor Wither Skeleton Farm
- The first thing you should do is set up the foundation. Build an 11x11 square out of Netherrack. You can make a border out of any other block for aesthetic purposes, however, this isn't necessary.
- In the very center of the platform, add one additional block.
- This may seem difficult, but lure a Piglin to the center. Piglins will not attack you if you are wearing gold armor, so use this to your advantage, letting one follow you to the center of the platform.
- Quickly box them in with a block, and then replace it with two layers of trapdoors. The doors will box the Piglin in, and prevent the Wither Skeletons from attacking him.
- Create a 3x3 hole in the center, with three additional blocks removed on each side, as shown above. It would resemble a plus sign that looks a bit thick.
- In each corner, place a single fence. This will help the Wither Skeletons approach the Piglin without getting stuck.
- Now, you will create the 'tube' going down to the bottom with the hoppers. To do this, create a tunnel out of glass going down to where you want the collection area to be. This is optional; the Wither Skeletons will fall straight down, however, there is a chance that they may fall at a bit of an angle. The glass ensures that they will land where you want.
- Create a 5x5 area out of firepits that lines up with the opening above.
- Place five double chests on one side, and connect a string of hoppers to each chest. In total, you will use 25 hoppers. To connect them, hold shift and place a hopper next to the chest, under a firepit.
- Continue stringing the hoppers together until the area underneath the firepits is covered.
- Head back up to the top and cover each Netherrack block with a wither rose. You will want to save this step for last to avoid accidentally taking damage.
Wither Skeletons should begin to spawn in the area and attack the Piglin. Once they get near, they will drop into the area pictured above. Loot will end up in the chest for you to use. Adding glass will prevent the loss of any items, but this isn't required, especially if you have a large platform underneath. If any materials happen to fall off, you can just run over to them.
This farm is pretty simple and can be modified any way you choose. The simple mechanic of Wither Skeletons attacking Piglins can definitely be used to your advantage. Overall, the hardest part is probably luring a Piglin to the center of the platform.
1 Tips For Efficiency
Preventing excess spawning is one of the most important things to remember when creating any mob farm. There is a spawn limit, and you want all of the mob spawns to be Wither Skeletons.
Using slabs will help with this problem. When a slab is added to the top of another block, mobs will be unable to spawn. Slabs are incredibly easy to craft, so they are the go-to way to mob-proof an area. If you see an area with mobs still spawning, just place some slabs and you are good to go.
You don't have to use wither roses, but without them, other mobs have a chance to spawn. As mentioned above, Wither Skeletons are the only mobs that can spawn on these flowers. If another mob does make it over, they will die from the Wither effect. Be careful when dealing with wither roses though, they can kill you too.
Now, we know all about the basic mechanics of creating a Wither Skeleton farm! Searching for a Wither Skeleton can be annoying, especially since there is not a 100% chance that they will drop their head. Even a small farm will be helpful. After collecting their heads, summon the Wither, collect the Nether Star, and make a beacon.