Minecraft 26.3 XP Farm: Endermen at 125,000 XP an Hour, Allays at 72,000 — Schematics and Tests

We built three XP farms and measured each one in plain Minecraft Java 26.3, with no mods or plugins: an enderman farm in the End, an allay farm with potions of infestation, and the classic mob tower. The winner is the endermen: about 125,000 XP an hour, with nothing to refill.

Test setup: Easy difficulty, a player standing at the farm's spot with a netherite sword (Sharpness V, Sweeping Edge III), attacking non-stop.

Why you have to hit the mobs

XP drops only from mobs a player kills (or the player's tamed wolf). A mob that dies from a fall, lava or fire drops items but no XP. So every XP farm brings the mobs to you at 1 heart, and the last hit is yours: stand on the marked spot and hold the attack button.

Enderman farm: about 125,000 XP an hour

The best XP farm if you can reach the End. The platform hangs over the void. In the middle stands a 3-block pillar with an endermite in a minecart on top. Endermen hate endermites: they see this one from anywhere on the platform but can't reach it. Around the pillar are 8 open trapdoors. Mobs take them for solid floor, walk towards the bait and fall 42 blocks down the shaft. They land with 1 heart, and you stand in a pit in the middle and finish each with one hit. You also get stacks of ender pearls.

Where to build. Only in the End, over the void, at least about 130 blocks from any island, so endermen spawn on your platform only. Put the bottom corner at, say, Y 40.

What you add yourself (they are not in the schematic):

1. A minecart on the powered rail on top of the pillar.
2. An endermite next to the minecart (spawn egg, or throw ender pearls), then push the minecart onto it so it gets in.
3. A name tag with any name on the endermite, or it will despawn.

The way in is from below: a landing, a tunnel under the shaft, a ladder and a trapdoor. Open the trapdoor, climb in, close it and stand on it.

Materials for the 49×49: cobblestone 3,169, trapdoors 9, ladders 2, powered rail 1, plus a minecart, an endermite and a name tag. Any full block works for the platform.

Open in 3DSchematic and materials

A smaller 33×33 platform gives about 60,000 XP an hour and takes half the building (cobblestone 1,857):

Open in 3DSchematic and materials

Going bigger than 49×49 is hardly worth it. A 65×65 made about 146,000 an hour, and that is the ceiling: the platform already holds the maximum number of mobs.

Allay farm: about 72,000 XP an hour

It works in the Overworld, but it uses up potions. Allays sit in cells on lit campfires and never die: they heal exactly as fast as the fire hurts them. Throw a splash potion of infestation on the row, and every burn has a 10% chance to release 1–2 silverfish. The silverfish crawl out under a slab through a half-block gap that an allay can't fit through, then come to you in the trench, where you hit them.

One potion lasts 2:15 and gives about 700 XP. 16 allays need 4 potions every 2:15. That is about 72,000 XP an hour, but also about 100 potions an hour. A potion of infestation is brewed from an awkward potion and stone; add gunpowder for the splash version. The awkward potion needs nether wart.

Important: build it from andesite, as in the schematic. Silverfish hide in cobblestone, stone and stone bricks and disappear.

Materials: andesite 860, andesite slabs 32, campfires 16, plus 16 allays. Take off the slab over a campfire, place the allay with a spawn egg, put the slab back.

Open in 3DSchematic and materials

What about a mob tower?

The classic dark tower without a spawner made only about 4,000 XP an hour. Mobs on the far floors despawn before they reach the shaft, and spiders climb the walls and use up the mob cap. For XP it loses to both farms above by 15 to 30 times.

How to place the schematic

In each farm's 3D view, turn on "Hints": they mark where to stand, the way in and where the mobs go. To paste the whole build into your world in Creative, see How to Paste a Schematic with Litematica.