A Minecraft gold farm is a zombified piglin farm: a build that spawns zombified piglins (on Nether spawning platforms or from Nether portals), moves them to a killing zone and collects what they drop. That is the whole idea, and everything below is detail on the spawn, the lure, the kill and the collection. This guide is for Java Edition as of 26.3.
Zombified piglins drop rotten flesh and gold nuggets, and rarely a gold ingot or their golden sword. The part most tutorials skip: since Java 1.21.5 (March 25, 2025) a zombified piglin must be killed by a player to drop its player-specific loot, so a fully automatic farm that kills with fall damage no longer produces ingots or XP. Many video titles still say "gold XP farm", but on Java the XP now comes only when you make the kill, and the Minecraft Wiki's own farming tutorial carries a banner saying it needs updating for the change.
What zombified piglins drop
These are the Java Edition numbers on the Minecraft Wiki's Zombified Piglin page:
| Drop | No Looting | Looting III |
|---|---|---|
| Gold nugget | 0–1, average 0.5 | average 2.0 |
| Rotten flesh | 0–1, average 0.5 | average 2.0 |
| Gold ingot | 2.5% chance | 5.5% chance |
| Original weapon | 8.5% chance | 11.5% chance |
- The ingot and the weapon drop only when a player or a tamed wolf makes the kill. Nuggets and flesh also drop from other kinds of kill, such as falls or crowding, according to the wiki's tutorial.
- By the wiki's figures, that is about 40 kills per ingot with no Looting and about 18 with Looting III.
- XP is 5 for an adult and 12 for a baby (babies are 5% of spawns), again only for a player or tamed-wolf kill, plus 1–3 for each equipment item it does not drop.
- 95% spawn holding a golden sword and 5% a golden spear.
How zombified piglins spawn
Naturally in the Nether
They spawn in Nether wastes, crimson forests and Nether fortresses. The wiki lists Java spawn weights of 100/168 for Nether wastes, 5/28 for fortresses and 1/15 for crimson forests, so wastes are where you want to be. They spawn at light level 11 or below, on most blocks other than Nether wart blocks, and they can spawn on magma blocks. They follow ordinary hostile-mob rules and count toward the hostile mob cap (see our light level and mob spawning guide for how that works generally). They do not spawn on Peaceful.
From Nether portals in the Overworld
Each random tick, a portal block has a chance to spawn one: 1/2000 on Easy, 1/1000 on Normal and 3/2000 on Hard (Java). This is independent of the mob cap. The wiki's verdict on the two approaches: natural-spawning farms are generally better on Java but more complex, while portal farms are simpler and work in the Overworld but are usually slower.
How the lure works: anger and turtle eggs
Zombified piglins are neutral. If you hit one and it survives, every zombified piglin in the area becomes hostile (on Java, an area from roughly 67×22×67 up to 111×22×111 blocks around the one you hit). If your hit kills it outright, nobody is alerted. Anger lasts while a piglin is within follow range (33–55 blocks) and has line of sight; otherwise a forgiveness timer of 20–55 seconds ends it. Arrows from dispensers do not provoke them.
The other lure is the turtle egg. Zombified piglins try to destroy any turtle egg within 23 blocks horizontally and 3 vertically on Java, which is how many farms pull piglins into a kill chamber with nobody nearby. Piglins also avoid walking near magma blocks and cannot jump a one-block magma wall.
The parts every gold farm shares
- A spawning surface. Platforms in a valid biome kept at light 11 or lower, or portals if you are building in the Overworld.
- A lure. Turtle eggs, or shared anger from one hit.
- A drop to a killing chamber. Piglins walk or fall into it.
- A kill method. Falls or crowding for nuggets and flesh only; a player with a Looting sword if you want ingots, weapons and XP.
- Collection and sorting. Hoppers into chests, with a filter, because farms produce piles of rotten flesh and golden swords. The wiki suggests smelting the swords into nuggets, and a grindstone on enchanted ones gives XP.
Farm designs, from simple to serious
This is a concept outline, not a block-by-block schematic: the wiki documents the ideas and the named designs, and the rates below are the creators' claims as quoted there, not our measurements.
The trench or pit (simplest)
Dig a small trench or pit in a Nether wastes biome and use shared anger to draw every piglin in the area into it. The wiki says this is slow and not commonly recommended, but it is situationally useful and needs almost no materials.
The Overworld portal farm
Build one or more large Nether portals, open trapdoors on the edges of the bottom obsidian so piglins walk off, and run the drop into a fall or suffocation trap, with water to move them. The hazard: an angered piglin can walk back through a portal and alert the ones in the Nether, so the portals need to lead into a contained area with room for the 15-second portal cooldown. Turtle eggs cut down on piglins wandering back.
Named high-rate designs
- ianxofour's design: the wiki calls it quite easy to build, with no spawn-proofing, and an ideal early-game farm. It uses portals with turtle eggs behind them and a killing chamber above the Nether roof. The wiki quotes around 50,000 drops per hour with Looting III. In multiplayer it needs a second player at the Overworld bridge to stop despawning.
- Gnembon's design: 19 small circular platforms and heavy redstone, which needs spawn-proofing below bedrock. The wiki quotes about 130 gold blocks per hour automatic, or about 600 per hour manual with Looting III and XP.
Many high-rate designs sit at the very top of the Nether. How players get there is outside this guide. Ilmango's design is marked patched on the wiki, so check a design is current before you commit.
Troubleshooting a slow farm
- Nothing spawns. Check the biome, the light level (11 or below), that the platform is not Nether wart blocks, and that you are not on Peaceful.
- The mob cap is full. Natural spawns share the hostile cap with everything else nearby. Portal spawns do not.
- Piglins will not come. Anger needs line of sight and ends after the forgiveness timer. Dispenser arrows do not provoke them. Turtle eggs only work inside their detection range.
- No ingots or XP. Expected since 1.21.5: you have to make the kill yourself.
- It stops when you leave. Piglins despawn when no player is near, which is why the wiki's multiplayer note for ianxofour's design asks for a second player.
Is a gold farm worth it?
It depends on what you want gold for. Arithmetic on the wiki's averages: with Looting III a kill yields about 2 nuggets, so roughly 4.5 kills per ingot's worth of nuggets, versus about 18 kills per actual ingot drop. If you need a few stacks for powered rails, golden apples or clocks, a simple portal or pit farm is plenty. If you want a bartering engine or a big build, put in the effort of a proper platform farm. If you only need a little, exploring may be easier than building anything: 26.3's abandoned-camp chests can contain gold ingots. One more note: the wiki's Gold Ingot page counts gold ingots as fully renewable since 26.2 snapshot 4, when regular piglins became able to spawn on Peaceful. Zombified piglins still do not.
What to do with the gold
Nine nuggets make an ingot. Ingots craft golden apples (8 ingots and an apple), powered rails (6 ingots, a stick and redstone, for 6 rails), clocks, light weighted pressure plates and golden gear. They also go into netherite ingots (4 scrap and 4 gold), pay for beacons, and serve as armor trim material. An Apprentice cleric villager buys 3 gold ingots for an emerald. For piglin trading, see our piglin bartering guide. Golden carrots are another item piglins love.
Java 26.3 and Bedrock
Java 26.3 “Wilderness Bound” released September 15, 2026. The wiki's Zombified Piglin page shows no 26.3 change, and lists only minor tag and sound renames for the upcoming 26.4. We did not read every 26.3 changelog section, so check the official notes if a farm misbehaves after updating.
Bedrock differs: portal piglins spawn one block east or south of the portal, rapid portal toggling makes spawns much faster (so portal farms win there), the anger radius is 20 blocks with a fixed 25-second forgiveness timer, and Looting scales less. Do not copy Java farm numbers into a Bedrock world.
Gold farm FAQ
Can you farm gold in Minecraft?
Yes. Build a zombified piglin farm in the Nether, or use Nether portals in the Overworld.
How can I build an easy gold farm?
Start with the wiki's simple concepts above: a trench in Nether wastes, or an Overworld portal farm. If you want more output, the wiki calls ianxofour's design an ideal early-game farm that needs no spawn-proofing.
What is the point of a gold farm?
Renewable gold nuggets, rare ingots and golden swords, plus rotten flesh. Add XP if you do the killing yourself.
Is gold farming illegal?
In vanilla Minecraft it is a normal game mechanic. On multiplayer servers, check that server's rules on AFK or automatic farms. Our sibling mob farm guide and iron farm guide cover similar builds.