How to Build Automatic XP Farms in Minecraft

Experience points (XP) are crucial for enchanting powerful gear, repairing enchanted items using the Mending enchantment, and combining or renaming items using anvils in Minecraft. While slaying mobs naturally encountered during exploration or mining provides some XP, manually grinding by hunting mobs can be inefficient, time-consuming, and potentially dangerous, especially when dealing with large numbers or powerful enemies like Piglin Brutes or Wardens. Building an automatic or semi-automatic XP farm allows you to gather substantial amounts of experience efficiently and safely, often while performing other tasks or even while AFK (Away From Keyboard). Here are some of the most efficient and popular XP farm designs, ranging from early-game solutions to complex, high-yield late-game constructions:

Mob Spawner XP Farms

Mob spawners offer a readily available, albeit relatively slow compared to late-game farms, source of consistent XP, particularly useful in the early to mid-game stages. They provide a focused point for mob generation that can be easily controlled.

1. Find a Spawner: Locate a zombie, skeleton, or spider spawner block. These cage-like blocks with a spinning miniature mob inside are most commonly found in dungeons. Dungeons are small, underground structures typically made of Cobblestone and Mossy Cobblestone, often containing one or two chests with loot alongside the spawner. They frequently intersect with cave systems or mineshafts. Listen carefully while exploring underground – the concentrated sound of multiple zombies groaning, skeletons rattling, or spiders hissing can indicate a nearby spawner. Skeleton spawners can also occasionally generate within Nether Fortresses, spawning Blazes instead (these require significantly different handling due to fire and flight). Spider spawners can generate naturally, but Cave Spider spawners, which are more dangerous due to poison, are commonly found embedded within abandoned Mineshafts, often surrounded by cobwebs. Upon finding a spawner, your absolute first priority is to neutralize it immediately by placing torches directly on the spawner block itself and on all adjacent blocks. Spawners require a light level of 0 in their vicinity to function, so torches prevent mobs from spawning while you excavate and build.
2. Clear the Area: Excavate a spacious room around the spawner to maximize its spawning potential. The standard recommendation is a 9x9 room horizontally (4 blocks out from the spawner in each cardinal direction), extending 4 blocks below the spawner and 4 blocks above it, resulting in a 9x9x9 cube centered on the spawner. This volume covers the entire area where the spawner can potentially place mobs. Carefully remove any existing dungeon walls, floors, or ceilings within this cube, replacing them with your chosen building blocks if necessary. Remember the torches placed earlier are temporary; for the farm to operate, the 9x9x9 spawning chamber around the spawner must eventually be completely dark (light level 0). You'll remove the torches once the transport and killing system is fully operational and secure.
3. Create a Transport and Kill System: The core principle is to move newly spawned mobs away from the spawner block quickly. This allows the spawner to attempt spawning new mobs sooner (it checks periodically but won't spawn if too many mobs of its type are already nearby, typically within a 9x9x9 area). The system should also weaken the mobs so you can kill them with a single hit, maximizing XP gain speed and minimizing weapon durability loss.
   • Water Streams: A simple and effective transport method. Place water source blocks along one entire wall of the 9x9 spawning floor. The water will flow 8 blocks towards the opposite wall. Dig a 2-block wide trench along that opposite wall for the water to flow into. Mobs spawning within the chamber will be pushed by the current into this trench. Place signs or open fence gates within the trench to guide the mobs towards a central opening leading to the drop chute. Signs prevent water from flowing further while still allowing mobs to pass through the gap underneath them.
   • Drop Chute: From the central collection point in the trench, dig a vertical shaft straight down. The exact depth is crucial. Mobs take fall damage based on the distance fallen (damage = blocks fallen - 3). You want them to survive the fall with only half a heart (1 health point) remaining. For zombies, skeletons, and creepers (if you adapt the farm), a fall of 22 blocks (resulting in 19 damage) usually works perfectly, leaving them with 1 health point (half a heart). Test this carefully! Build a temporary platform near the bottom, let a few mobs fall, and check their health before finalizing the floor. Too high, and they die, yielding no XP. Too low, and they require multiple hits, slowing you down and using more weapon durability. Spiders are trickier due to their 1-block height, wider profile, and ability to climb walls; farms specifically for spiders often use different transport (like pushing them sideways) or killing methods (like lava blades or suffocation) or carefully constructed chutes using signs or trapdoors to prevent climbing.
   • Soul Sand Elevator (Alternative): If digging down 22+ blocks is inconvenient (e.g., near bedrock, over a lava lake, or below sea level), you can use a water elevator. Guide mobs into a 1x1 tube of water source blocks with Soul Sand at the very bottom. This creates a bubble column that rapidly lifts mobs upwards. At the desired height, create an exit flow that pushes them out and potentially into a drop chute back down (a shorter one this time) or directly into a killing chamber. This adds complexity but offers flexibility in farm placement.
4. Collection and Killing Area: Design a safe space at the bottom of the drop chute where the weakened mobs accumulate. The mobs should land on a specific block or small platform. Place a hopper underneath this landing spot, leading into one or more chests, to automatically collect all their drops (bones, arrows, rotten flesh, string, spider eyes, and occasionally valuable carrots, potatoes, iron ingots, or even armor/weapons). To kill the mobs safely, stand just outside their reach. A common setup involves placing a solid block where the mobs land, with a half-slab or an open trapdoor placed one block higher just in front of it. This creates a gap at foot level: you can hit their feet, but they (and crucially, baby zombies, which can fit through 1x1 gaps) cannot hit you back. Ensure this small room is well-lit (using torches, lanterns, or glowstone) to prevent any other hostile mobs from spawning there and interfering. Equip a sword – ideally one enchanted with Sweeping Edge III (Java Edition) to hit multiple mobs simultaneously, Sharpness V (or Smite V for zombies/skeletons, Bane of Arthropods V for spiders/cave spiders) for damage, Looting III to increase drops, Mending to repair the sword using the collected XP, and Unbreaking III for durability. A single swipe should kill multiple weakened mobs, releasing a satisfying shower of XP orbs. You can also place a Sculk Catalyst nearby; it will consume some of the XP dropped when mobs die without a player nearby and convert adjacent blocks into Sculk variants, offering an alternative use for the farm.

While effective and relatively simple to build early on, spawner farms are inherently limited by the spawner's mechanics. A spawner attempts to spawn mobs every 10 to 39.95 seconds, but only if a player is within a 16-block radius (spherical) of the spawner block, and only if fewer than 6 mobs of its type are already present within a 9×9×9 area centered on the spawner. This means you need to stay relatively close for it to function, and the absolute maximum rate is capped. Finding multiple spawners close enough together (e.g., two intersecting dungeons) allows for designs that activate both simultaneously, improving rates. Remember that Cave Spider spawners require extra caution due to their poison attack, smaller size (allowing them through smaller gaps), and potentially different fall damage calculations. Always carry Milk Buckets when working near them.

Enderman XP Farm

Once you have defeated the Ender Dragon and gained access to the outer islands of the End dimension, constructing an Enderman farm offers one of the highest and most efficient XP rates available in Minecraft.

1. Access the End: First, locate an End Stronghold using Eyes of Ender, navigate its maze, activate the End Portal, and defeat the Ender Dragon. Killing the dragon generates an End Gateway Portal on the main island's periphery, providing access to the outer End islands. Prepare for this journey: bring durable armor (Protection IV), a good sword, a pickaxe (preferably Diamond or Netherite with Efficiency), stacks of Ender Pearls for quick traversal across the void between islands, and a large quantity of building blocks that Endermen cannot pick up (like Cobblestone, End Stone, Glass, or most non-full blocks like slabs/leaves). A Potion of Slow Falling can be invaluable when navigating via Ender Pearls.
2. Build Platform: Travel a significant distance away from the main End island – at least 128 blocks out into the void. This is crucial because mobs in Minecraft generally do not spawn within 128 blocks of the player if they are outside the player's direct line of sight or in unloaded chunks. By building your farm far away, you ensure that the only spawnable spaces within range are on your farm's platform, effectively concentrating all Enderman spawns exactly where you want them. Bridging is a safe but slow method; using Ender Pearls aimed carefully across the void is much faster but riskier. Once you find a suitable location (ideally over the void, not connected to any outer End islands), construct a large, flat platform. The core spawning area should be made of solid blocks Endermen can spawn on, such as End Stone, Cobblestone, or Obsidian. A size of around 32x32 blocks provides ample spawning space. Critically, surround this spawning platform with a border of non-spawnable blocks like bottom-half slabs, leaves, glass, or carpets for several blocks. This prevents Endermen from spawning outside the intended area and potentially wandering off or getting stuck.
3. Design Collection Area: In the exact center of your spawning platform, design a mechanism to gather the Endermen. A common and effective design involves a 2-block deep pit covering a small area (e.g., 3x3 or 5x5). Place open trapdoors along the edges of this pit, tricking the Endermen's pathfinding AI into thinking it's a solid surface they can walk over, causing them to fall in. From this pit, funnel them (perhaps with water streams, though Endermen teleport from water – piston pushers might be needed) towards a central drop point or killing chamber. The classic design has the Endermen fall onto a platform directly below the main spawning level. Above this landing platform, construct a small shelter for yourself, typically 2 blocks high inside with a solid roof 3 blocks above the landing pad. Endermen are 3 blocks tall and cannot enter this 2-block high space, allowing you to stand inside safely. Use bottom slabs or strategically placed blocks to create a small gap at the bottom through which you can strike the Endermen's feet.
4. Add Bait: The key to making Endermen actively congregate at your collection point is using an Endermite as bait. Endermen are uniquely and intensely hostile towards Endermites within a ~64 block radius. To obtain one, start throwing Ender Pearls onto your platform (each pearl has a 1/16 chance of spawning an Endermite instead of teleporting you). Be ready! Once an Endermite spawns, you must quickly trap it before the Endermen kill it or it despawns (Endermites despawn after two minutes unless they are persistent). The standard method is to lure it into a minecart placed on a single piece of rail. Position this rail inside your safe killing chamber, ideally centered above the landing pad where the Endermen will gather, but protected so the Endermen cannot reach it directly. Immediately use a Name Tag on the Endermite inside the minecart. Naming any mob prevents it from despawning naturally. With the named Endermite trapped in the minecart, Endermen spawning on the platform above will detect it, pathfind towards it, fall into your trapdoor pit, and accumulate conveniently at the bottom for easy killing.
5. Refinements: Place hoppers underneath the entire landing/killing floor, connected via more hoppers to a series of double chests. This will automatically collect the massive quantities of Ender Pearls dropped by the Endermen. Ensure your safe hitting area is well-lit to prevent accidental spawns inside your shelter. Consider adding a large roof high above the main spawning platform (at least 45 blocks up, as Endermen can teleport up to 32 blocks vertically). While not strictly necessary in the void where stray damage sources are rare, it can prevent occasional teleport escapes if an Enderman somehow takes damage (e.g., from another Enderman accidentally hitting it). For maximum efficiency, use a Netherite Sword with Sharpness V, Sweeping Edge III (critical for hitting multiple Endermen per swing in Java Edition), Looting III (dramatically increases Ender Pearl drops), Mending (essential, as you'll gain XP extremely fast), and Unbreaking III. Stand in your shelter, look at the Endermite (or just hold Shift to look down), and swing your sword continuously. The XP gain is incredibly rapid. Due to the sheer number of entities, very large Enderman farms can sometimes cause server lag, so be mindful on multiplayer servers.

This farm design is a staple of late-game Minecraft due to its unparalleled XP rates, limited only by mob spawning caps and how quickly you can kill the Endermen. It requires reaching the End and obtaining specific items (Name Tag, Ender Pearls), but the payoff in XP and Ender Pearls (useful for travel and crafting Eyes of Ender or Ender Chests) is immense.

Guardian Farm

Guardian farms represent a significant construction challenge but offer exceptional XP rates, potentially rivaling or even exceeding Enderman farms, along with the unique and valuable drops of Prismarine Shards and Prismarine Crystals. These materials are essential for crafting Sea Lanterns, Conduits, and various Prismarine block types for building.

1. Find an Ocean Monument: These large, cyan-colored underwater structures generate exclusively in Deep Ocean biomes (including variants like Deep Cold Ocean, Deep Lukewarm Ocean). Exploring oceans by boat, especially during the night (when the monument's Sea Lanterns are more visible), is the basic method. Alternatively, acquiring an Ocean Explorer Map from a Cartographer Villager (by trading Emeralds and Paper/Compasses) provides a guaranteed pointer to the nearest monument. Online biome finders or map viewers (like Chunkbase) can also pinpoint locations based on your world seed. Before tackling the monument, prepare thoroughly: enchant helmets with Respiration III and Aqua Affinity I for extended underwater breathing and normal mining speed. Equip boots with Depth Strider III for faster underwater movement. Brew multiple Potions of Water Breathing (using Pufferfish) and Potions of Night Vision (using Golden Carrots) for extended underwater operations. Bring strong weapons (Tridents with Impaling V are particularly effective against aquatic mobs, or a Sharpness V sword) and durable tools. A Conduit, if you can craft one already (requires a Heart of the Sea and Nautilus Shells), provides infinite water breathing and night vision within its range when activated by a surrounding frame of Prismarine blocks, significantly easing the process. Be aware of the three Elder Guardians within the monument, which inflict Mining Fatigue, slowing your block breaking speed considerably until they are defeated.
2. Drain the Monument: This is often the most labor-intensive phase. Guardians only spawn in water source blocks within the monument's original footprint (bounding box). To control their spawning and transport them efficiently, you typically need to remove most or all of the water inside and/or around the structure.
   • Sand/Gravel Walls: A common method involves building containing walls around sections of the monument (or the entire thing) using blocks affected by gravity like sand or gravel. Drop these blocks from the surface down to the ocean floor to create waterproof barriers. Then, meticulously fill the enclosed area section by section with sand/gravel, displacing the water. Once filled, dig out all the filler material, leaving a dry space. This is slow and requires vast amounts of sand/gravel.
   • Sponges: Killing the Elder Guardians usually yields Wet Sponges. These can be dried in a furnace and then used to absorb water blocks in a 5x5x5 area around where they are placed. Finding a rare "sponge room" within the monument provides a larger initial supply. Sponges dramatically speed up clearing smaller areas or the monument's interior but require repeated drying.
   • Flying Machines: For experienced players comfortable with Redstone mechanics, designing or using pre-existing schematics for flying machines that automatically place and remove blocks (like slime/honey block sweepers clearing water sources or placing sand) can drain large perimeters much faster, though they require specific materials and technical know-how. Completely draining the monument provides maximum flexibility for farm design, but some designs only require draining specific sections or perimeters where the collection system will be built, preserving some internal water for spawning.
3. Create Water Channels and Spawning Areas: Guardians spawn within the original 58x58 horizontal area of the monument, from sea level down to the ocean floor, but only in locations that contain water source blocks and meet specific height requirements relative to the monument's base structure. Efficient farms often demolish much of the monument's internal structure to create large, open water tanks designed to maximize spawning spaces while incorporating mechanisms to quickly move Guardians out. Flowing water, bubble columns (using Soul Sand or Magma Blocks), and even clever use of flowing lava (Guardians will swim up flowing lava) can be employed to transport Guardians from the spawning tanks towards a central killing point. Careful design is needed to prevent Guardians (especially their laser attacks) from getting stuck or damaging the player.
4. Add a Killing Mechanism: Due to the high volume of spawns and Guardian health/attacks, an efficient killing mechanism is vital.
   • Manual: Similar to spawner farms, Guardians can be dropped from a height calculated to leave them with low health, allowing for manual one-hit kills in a safe chamber. However, calculating the drop height is more complex due to their higher health pool, and manually killing the sheer number of Guardians can be tedious.
   • Trident Killer (Bedrock Edition): A highly popular and effective design on Bedrock Edition. Pistons are arranged in a circle or square, timed with Redstone clocks to constantly push blocks (or just extend/retract). Tridents thrown by the player (or dispensed automatically) get caught in the moving pistons and repeatedly strike any mobs inside the mechanism. If the player holds a sword with Looting III while standing nearby, the game attributes the kills to the player, granting both XP and the Looting effect on drops, all automatically.
   • Portal-Based (Java Edition): Guardians can be pushed (e.g., by water streams or pistons) through appropriately sized Nether Portals. On the Nether side, they can be captured and transported using minecarts, water streams, or controlled pathfinding over ice paths to a central killing chamber far from the main Overworld farm structure. This chamber might use lava blades (thin layers of lava held up by signs or open fence gates that damage mobs passing through), fall damage onto hoppers, or even suffocation. This method significantly reduces lag in the Overworld around the monument, as the killing process happens in a different dimension.
   • Other Automatics: Fully automatic killers using lava blades, crushing pistons with sand/gravel, or precise fall damage onto Magma Blocks (which damages mobs standing on them) can eliminate the need for player interaction entirely, useful for collecting drops while AFK. However, these fully automatic methods usually don't grant XP directly to the player unless a Sculk Catalyst is used nearby to convert it to Sculk.
5. Item Collection: A robust item collection system is mandatory. Guardian farms produce enormous quantities of Prismarine Shards, Prismarine Crystals, and various types of fish (Cod, Salmon, Pufferfish, Tropical Fish). A large array of hoppers placed under the killing floor, feeding into water streams or further hopper lines, is needed to transport these items into sorting systems (using Redstone comparators and filtered hoppers) and bulk storage, typically involving many double chests.

Guardian farms are end-game megaprojects. They require mastering underwater survival, defeating Elder Guardians, undertaking massive terraforming (draining), understanding complex spawning mechanics, and potentially intricate Redstone for transport and killing. The rewards, however, are immense: top-tier XP rates and a virtually unlimited supply of valuable Prismarine materials.

Furnace XP Bank (Java Edition Specific)

A unique mechanic exists in Minecraft Java Edition related to furnaces, blast furnaces, and smokers: they accumulate the experience points generated from smelting items internally. This stored XP is only released to the player when an item is manually removed from the furnace's output slot. This allows players to create an "XP bank," storing potentially vast amounts of experience for later withdrawal.

1. Set Up Furnaces: Arrange a collection of furnaces, blast furnaces, and/or smokers. The more smelting stations you have running in parallel, the faster you can accumulate stored XP. Blast Furnaces smelt ores (iron, gold, copper, ancient debris) and armor/tools at twice the speed of a regular furnace. Smokers cook food items (meat, potatoes, kelp) at twice the speed. Both generate XP twice as fast per unit of time but yield the same amount of XP per item smelted as a regular furnace. Choose the type based on what you plan to smelt.
2. Smelt Items Continuously: Automate the supply of fuel and smeltable items. For fuel, large-scale automatic farms are ideal:
   • Bamboo: Farm bamboo automatically (using observer/piston setups) and feed some directly into fuel slots. Bamboo is less fuel-efficient per item but infinitely renewable. You can also auto-craft bamboo into sticks and use those, or smelt excess bamboo/logs into charcoal in a dedicated auto-smelter array.
   • Kelp: Farm kelp automatically, dry it in smokers/furnaces to get Dried Kelp, then craft Dried Kelp Blocks. These blocks are a very efficient and easily automated fuel source.
   • Wood/Charcoal: Build large tree farms (manual or automatic) and convert logs to charcoal.
   • Blaze Rods: A Blaze farm in the Nether provides rods, a high-quality fuel.
   • Coal/Lava: While usable, these are generally less easily automated sustainably compared to farm-based options. For smeltable items, choose things that are easily farmed in massive quantities:
   • Cactus: Simple automatic farms yield lots of cactus, smelting into Green Dye.
   • Kelp: Smelts into Dried Kelp (which can then fuel itself or other furnaces).
   • Cobblestone/Stone: Cobblestone generators feeding into furnaces smelt into Stone, which can be smelted again into Smooth Stone (generating XP twice per initial cobblestone block).
   • Sand: Smelts into Glass.
   • Netherrack: Smelts into Nether Bricks.
   • Food items (Potatoes, Raw Meats): If you have large passive mob farms or efficient potato farms. Use hopper lines or hopper minecart systems to automatically feed fuel into the back or sides of the furnaces and smeltable items into the top.
3. Don't Collect Output Items: This is the most critical step for XP banking. The smelted items (Green Dye, Dried Kelp, Stone, Glass, etc.) must be allowed to accumulate in the furnace's output slot. Do not use a hopper to pull items out from the bottom of the furnace automatically. Hoppers extract items without granting any of the stored XP to the player. Each time an item finishes smelting, the corresponding XP value is added to an internal counter within that specific furnace block.
4. Withdraw XP When Needed: Let the furnaces run, ideally loaded in active chunks (e.g., near your base or using a chunk loader), constantly smelting and banking XP. When you need a significant amount of experience (e.g., for repairing Mending gear or performing high-level enchantments), approach your furnace bank. Manually click and remove one smelted item from the output slot of each furnace you wish to draw XP from. As soon as you manually pull that item out, all the XP that furnace has stored since the last time you manually removed an item is released in a burst of orbs directly to your experience bar. By running dozens or even hundreds of furnaces, smelting thousands of items, you can store enormous amounts of XP.
   • Advanced Withdrawal: To withdraw XP from many furnaces simultaneously, you can place hoppers underneath the output slots but keep them deactivated using a Redstone signal (e.g., power the hoppers with a Redstone Torch or a powered block underneath). When you want the XP, flick a lever to temporarily unpower the hoppers. Each hopper will pull out exactly one item from its furnace before you quickly deactivate them again. This releases the banked XP from all connected furnaces at once.

This method doesn't generate XP as rapidly per minute as a highly efficient mob farm, but it offers unparalleled convenience for storing XP safely and accessing it precisely when needed. It decouples the XP generation process (smelting) from the XP collection process. Remember, this XP storage mechanic is specific to Java Edition and does not function in Bedrock Edition (where XP is granted immediately upon smelting completion if the player is nearby, or lost if collected by hopper). Continuous operation requires the furnaces and their supply farms to remain in loaded chunks.

Cactus/Bamboo XP Farm (Furnace-Based)

This farm design specifically combines automated farming of easily renewable resources like cactus or bamboo with the furnace smelting process to generate XP. It's particularly effective when paired with the Java Edition XP banking mechanic, but the basic smelting component provides some passive XP gain on both Java and Bedrock.

1. Create an Automatic Farm: Construct fully automatic farms designed for high-volume production of either cactus or bamboo.
   • Cactus: Plant cactus blocks on sand, ensuring there's a one-block air gap horizontally between each cactus plant (they won't grow otherwise). Place a solid block (like a fence post, iron bar, or cobblestone wall) diagonally adjacent to the spot where the second cactus block will grow upwards. When the cactus grows to two blocks high, the new top block immediately touches the adjacent solid block and breaks off as an item. Design a collection system underneath using water streams flowing over hopper grids, or hopper minecarts running beneath the sand blocks, to gather the dropped cactus items efficiently.
   • Bamboo: Plant bamboo stalks on grass, dirt, podzol, or other suitable blocks. Use an Observer block positioned to detect when the bamboo grows to a specific height (e.g., 2 or 3 blocks tall). The Observer sends a Redstone pulse to a Piston placed next to the bamboo stalk (usually at the second block height), which extends and breaks the upper segments of the bamboo stalk. The base stalk remains, allowing regrowth. Use hopper minecarts running underneath or water streams to collect the dropped bamboo items. Ensure the collection covers the potential spread of dropped items.
2. Connect to Furnaces: Utilize hopper networks to transport the harvested materials automatically.
   • Cactus: Feed the collected cactus items via hopper lines into the top (input) slots of a bank of furnaces or smokers. Cactus itself cannot be used as fuel, so you need a separate automated fuel source (like bamboo, charcoal from a tree farm, dried kelp blocks, or blaze rods) fed into the back or side (fuel) slots of the furnaces.
   • Bamboo: Route the harvested bamboo items. A portion needs to be directed via hoppers into the top (input) slots for smelting (though smelting bamboo itself yields very little XP and only produces sticks, which have limited use in bulk). More importantly, route a significant portion of the harvested bamboo directly into the fuel slots of the furnaces/smokers. Bamboo is an excellent self-fueling source for smelting farms. You might smelt cactus using bamboo as fuel for better XP rates.
3. Smelt and Collect (or Store): The furnaces will continuously operate as long as they receive fuel and items. Cactus smelts into Green Dye. Bamboo smelts into Sticks (only in Java Edition; in Bedrock, it doesn't smelt).
   • XP Storage (Java): As detailed in the Furnace XP Bank section, for maximum XP gain, do not automatically collect the output items (Green Dye). Allow them to stack up in the output slots. Manually remove one item from each furnace's output slot when you need the stored XP. Use the locked hopper technique (controlled by a lever) for mass withdrawal.
   • Direct XP (Bedrock/Java): If XP storage isn't your goal (e.g., on Bedrock or if you just want passive XP trickle), you can place hoppers underneath the furnaces to automatically pull out the Green Dye (or other smelted products) and route them into storage chests. In this setup, you will gain the small amount of XP associated with each smelting operation directly, but only if you are standing within range (about 16 blocks) of the furnaces as they complete each item. This is far less efficient for bulk XP gain than manual withdrawal in Java but provides a steady, small income. Placing a Sculk Catalyst near furnaces operating in this mode can capture this direct XP and convert nearby blocks to Sculk, offering an alternative benefit.
4. Scaling: The beauty of these designs lies in their scalability. You can construct massive vertical or horizontal arrays of cactus or bamboo farm modules. These can feed into correspondingly large banks of furnaces, potentially incorporating "super smelter" designs. Super smelters use minecarts with hoppers or intricate hopper chains to rapidly distribute fuel and smeltable items across dozens or hundreds of furnaces simultaneously, maximizing throughput and the rate of XP generation/storage. Large scale farms may require careful consideration of chunk loading to ensure all components run continuously.

This farm type excels at providing a steady, AFK-friendly source of experience, especially valuable in Java Edition due to the XP banking mechanic. While the XP gained per individual smelted item (like cactus) is relatively low compared to mob drops, the sheer volume that can be processed by a large, fully automatic system over hours of AFK time can result in substantial stored XP reserves, ready for whenever you need them.

Remember that Minecraft is constantly evolving. Game updates can sometimes tweak mob spawning rules, furnace mechanics, or Redstone behavior. Always verify that a specific farm design is compatible with your current Minecraft version (Java or Bedrock) and consider testing complex builds in a creative world copy before investing significant time and resources in your survival world! Happy farming!