How to Make an Iron Golem in Minecraft

You can make an Iron Golem in Minecraft using four iron blocks and a carved pumpkin.
If you place four iron blocks in a “T” shape and put a pumpkin on top, the structure will turn into an Iron Golem.
Iron Golems can also spawn naturally around your Minecraft world in villages and pillager outposts.
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If you’re an enemy in Minecraft — a zombie, a pillager, even a spider — there are few things scarier than an Iron Golem.

Iron Golems are NPCs that you’ll usually find wandering around friendly villages. They seem peaceful at first, but as soon as they see an enemy, they’ll sprint over and punch it into dust. That can include you, too; if you attack an Iron Golem or hurt a villager near it, it’ll go berserk.

But while most Iron Golems spend their lives protecting villages, you can also build your personal Golem to protect your home. They’ll still kill any nearby enemy, but shouldn’t wander too far — especially if you leash them to a fence.

Here’s how to make an Iron Golem in Minecraft, and how to take care of it.

To make your own Iron Golem, you’ll need a few items.

Four blocks of iron
One carved pumpkin, jack o’lantern, or (in Bedrock Edition only) pumpkin

To make blocks of iron, you’ll need to craft nine iron ingots together. Iron ingots come from smelting raw iron or iron ore with any type of fuel.

You can find pumpkins growing in patches naturally in grassy areas across the world. Once you’ve found one, using a pair of shears on it will turn it into a carved pumpkin. And crafting a carved pumpkin and torch together will give you a jack o’lantern.

Once you’ve got your materials, stack up two iron blocks and then stick one iron block on opposite sides of the top one. This should form a “T” shape. Then take out your pumpkin and place it on top of the middle block.

Make the body out of iron blocks.

The structure will immediately transform into an Iron Golem and start walking around.

Quick tip: You can also make a Snow Golem — a living snowman — by stacking a carved pumpkin, jack o’lantern, or (in Bedrock Edition only) pumpkin on top of two snow blocks. Snow Golems will throw snowballs at nearby enemies and take damage from warm weather and rain.

Using and healing your Iron Golem

All Iron Golems will instinctively follow and attack any enemy they see. And over time, Golems you create might also wander off to the nearest village that doesn’t already have a Golem. Once they find one, they’ll stay there.

If you want your Iron Golem to stay in a certain area, you’ve got two options. You can either fence off an area for them to stay in, or use a lead to tie them to a fence. Iron Golems won’t pursue any enemies outside of the fenced area or outside of their leash’s range.

You can fence off an entire area, or just leash the Golem to a post.

This means that if you want to use your Iron Golem as a personal security guard, your best option is to construct fences around your entire property. This will let your Iron Golem roam the grounds and attack enemies, but they won’t wander away. Just make sure that your Golem doesn’t have any blocks to hop on and jump over the fence.

As your Iron Golem fights, you’ll notice cracks start to appear across its body. This means that it’s hurt — the more cracks, the less health your Golem has.

You can heal an Iron Golem by holding iron ingots and “using” them on the Golem’s chest. Every ingot will heal 25 health.

An injured Iron Golem with a cracked body.

And remember that while any Iron Golem you build won’t attack you (even if you attack it), it will attack and kill a tamed wolf of yours that hurts it. When Golems die, they drop a couple of iron ingots, and occasionally poppy flowers.

How to find an Iron Golem in Minecraft

That’s how to make your own Golem. But you can also find Iron Golems naturally in the world in two places: Villages and pillager outposts.

Most villages will have an Iron Golem wandering around town, killing any enemies that wander in. If you hurt a villager near them, or have attacked the village enough in the past, the Golem will rush over and attack you. If a village doesn’t have an Iron Golem, chances are that they’ll spawn one as soon as you or an enemy attacks.

Most villages will have at least one Iron Golem living in them.

Occasionally, you’ll find Iron Golems trapped inside of cages in pillager outposts. If you free the Golem, it’ll help you attack any nearby pillagers.

You can put a lead on any naturally spawned Golem and bring it anywhere without repercussions.