How to Build a Minecraft Raid Farm (Java 26.3 Guide)

A Minecraft raid farm forces a raid to spawn on a surface you control, funnels the raiders into a killing area, and gives you a way to start the next raid. The payoff is totems of undying and emeralds. In current Java Edition the hard part is no longer the spawning but the supply of ominous bottles, because that is what starts every raid.

Everything below is stated as the Minecraft Wiki states it, as of Java 26.3 (released September 15, 2026). We haven't tested these builds in-game, and the wiki's own raid farming tutorial is marked as missing information on post-1.21 Java designs. This guide covers the rules and the parts of a farm, not a block-by-block schematic.

How raids start in current Java

Since Java 1.21, per the wiki, the chain is: drink an ominous bottle to get Bad Omen, enter a village, and the effect converts into Raid Omen. If you don't cancel it, the raid begins when the 30-second Raid Omen runs out.

• Bad Omen is only obtainable by drinking an ominous bottle, and lasts 100 minutes. The bottle's level (I to V) sets the effect's level.
• Before the change, killing a raid captain granted Bad Omen directly (the wiki dates the change to snapshot 24w13a). That is gone.
• Drinking milk or dying during the 30 seconds cancels the raid.
• Raids won't start on Peaceful, in the Nether, or with the raids game rule set to false.

Where ominous bottles come from

The wiki lists killing a pillager captain that isn't currently in a raid, and trial chamber vaults. Its pages disagree on whether other captain types, such as evokers, also drop bottles, so don't plan a farm around that.

What counts as a village

For raids, a village is any subchunk containing a point of interest claimed by a villager: a bed, job site or bell. Enter the 3x3x3 subchunk region around one with Bad Omen and it converts to Raid Omen. The wiki's tutorial says one bed and one villager are enough. Note that the new 26.3 straw bed is not used by villagers, so it won't count.

The raid centre starts as the average position of the claimed points of interest within 64 blocks of you. (Another wiki page says it is where you stood when the Raid Omen expired, so treat the exact centre as a detail to test.)

Where to build and how far from a village

The question people actually ask is how far a raid farm should be from a village. The wiki's answer is about other spawnable ground, not villages as such. Raiders can spawn anywhere that is generated, isn't part of a village, is within 96 blocks vertically of the raid centre, and has a valid block underneath. Light level and your distance are not considered.

So the farm must sit far from other solid ground. The wiki tutorial gives about 6 to 8 chunks depending on the design and page (7 for Java in its main rule, 8 in its basic-farm precaution). Use the larger figure if in doubt. Leaves, scaffolding, glass, bottom slabs and liquids are not valid spawn surfaces, which is how designs localise the spawn. Oceans are the wiki's recommended site, apart from frozen oceans, where raiders can spawn on ice.

The wiki lists both farms built at a pillager outpost and farms built on a village with a spawning platform. It doesn't say which is better, and neither do we.

How to build a raid farm: the five parts

The wiki describes the same components in every design:

1. A village, even a minimal one with a bed and a villager.
2. A spawn surface that is the only valid ground in range.
3. A funnel that guides raiders to the kill zone.
4. A killing area: a grinder, or a holding area where you do the killing yourself.
5. A way to get Raid Omen again: drinking bottles as soon as the last Raid Omen ends, or forcing captains out of the raid so they drop bottles.

Basic versus high-class

The wiki's basic farm puts a villager with a bed above a water funnel; the raid captain chases toward the bed and the others follow, and the fall leaves raiders dying to a single hit. Lava above the hole burns ravagers. The wiki calls it simple, fine for early to mid game, and enough for the totems you will need, but not robust, with low rates.

A high-class Java farm adds pistons for funnelling, a Nether-based way to dispose of ravagers, a clock timed to the 30-second Raid Omen, large storage, and a "raid engine" of villagers with job sites spaced a chunk apart. That engine shifts the raid centre more than 112 blocks from the raiders so the game spawns many at once. The wiki says these designs depend on chunk coordinates and cost far more resources, which is why we send you to a current schematic video rather than guess at the redstone.

Waves, ravagers and vexes

• Waves: 3 on Easy, 5 on Normal, 7 on Hard. Raid Omen II or higher adds an extra wave.
• Evokers appear from wave 5 on Normal and Hard, and not at all on Easy. A totem farm therefore needs the raid to reach wave 5.
• Next wave: after a wave is cleared, a 15-second cooldown runs. If the last raider is removed by straying more than 112 blocks away instead of dying, the next wave spawns right by the raid centre.
• Ravagers show up from wave 3. The wiki's designs handle them with lava over the funnel or a dedicated Nether disposal.
• Vexes from evokers don't count as raid members, so the raid can end with vexes alive. The wiki recommends a Sweeping Edge sword for the killing, warning that otherwise evokers may summon vexes and witches throw potions at you.

What a raid farm drops

Evokers are the only source of totems of undying, and each drops one. Emeralds drop from evokers only when killed by a player or tamed wolf. Raiders can also drop saddles, iron axes, crossbows and ominous banners; witches drop their usual items. In Java, the wiki says only mob drops come from raid farming. Looting increases drops. We have no sourced per-hour rates for 1.21 and later, so we give none.

Hero of the Village and your trading hall

Defeat the final wave, having killed at least one raider yourself, and you get Hero of the Village for 40 minutes. In Java its level matches the Bad Omen level that started the raid. It cuts prices by 30% plus 6.25% per extra level (55% at level V) with every villager, including those in other villages. A fully automatic farm gives neither Hero nor emeralds, so land one kill yourself. Pair it with a villager trading hall, and our zombie villager cure guide covers the other discount.

Why a raid farm won't work: common failures

• No raid starts: you drank milk or died, you're on Peaceful, or there's no claimed bed, job site or bell. Since 1.21.2 a raid also won't start if no valid spawn exists within 96 blocks vertically of the centre.
• Raiders spawn in the wrong place: nearby land or other valid ground inside the 6 to 8 chunk margin.
• The farm stalls: raiders wander away, and Java production halts while they don't detect a captain nearby.
• The raid ends in defeat: every villager is dead or every bed, bell and job site is gone.
• Vexes and potions: a weak weapon leaves evokers and witches alive.

For general mob-spawning rules, see our light level and spawning guide; for a standard grinder see the mob farm guide.

Raid farm FAQ

Do raid farms still work?

Yes, but slower. The wiki says high-class farms in 1.21+ have much lower rates than before, though still pretty high, and they now demand ominous bottles much faster, so long AFK sessions need an ominous bottle farm. Simple farms that relied on infinite free raids no longer work that way.

Are raid farms hard to build?

The basic design is simple by the wiki's account; high-class designs are expensive and chunk-dependent.

Does the Bedrock version differ?

Yes. The wiki gives 8 chunks for distance instead of 7, Bedrock raiders don't sprint toward a village, trident-killer automatic farms exist, and Bedrock has its own raid loot table. This guide covers Java only.