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Hoglins are hostile Nether beasts most commonly encountered in crimson forests. The safest way to handle them is to use warped fungus, a Nether portal, or a respawn anchor as a fear boundary, then choose between an automatic lava farm and a manual Looting farm. This guide covers their spawn locations, drops, breeding, conversion to zoglins, farm construction, and knockback-safe combat.
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What hoglins are and why they are dangerous
Hoglins are large hostile mobs native to the Nether. Mojang describes them as “big aggressive beasts that live in crimson forests in the Nether.” They attack players on sight, and their most dangerous trait is not their health but their knockback: a hit near a cliff, lava lake, or open ravine can turn a routine encounter into a fatal fall.
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Where do hoglins spawn?
Crimson forests are the main habitat
Look for hoglins primarily in crimson forest biomes. These red, fungus-covered Nether forests are their characteristic environment and the most practical place to build a farm. A crimson forest also gives you a natural supply of crimson fungi for breeding.
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Spawn density depends on your edition, release, local mob cap, and the blocks available in the area. Clear nearby caves and platforms of other hostile mobs when you are tuning a farm, and test the finished design in the edition and release you actually play. The biome association is established, but not a universal spawn-rate number that applies to every Java or Bedrock version.
Finding a safe approach
- Travel with a clear route back to a portal or another protected platform.
- Bridge over lava with guardrails rather than fighting on a one-block-wide path.
- Place warped fungus before you enter a crimson forest; it can create an immediate buffer when a pack notices you.
- Mark cliffs and vertical drops so knockback cannot send you into an unseen opening.
What scares hoglins?
Hoglins fear three blocks or structures: warped fungi, Nether portals, and respawn anchors. Their fear response is the key to both survival and farming. A hoglin that reaches one of these deterrents attempts to move away, allowing you to steer it without repeatedly striking it.
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Warped fungus is the most convenient deterrent because it is compact, inexpensive, and easy to place in a controlled pattern. Use a line or patch of warped fungus to define the side of a farm that hoglins should avoid. The same block can separate you from a pack during exploration.
Do not confuse the two fungus types: crimson fungi are food for breeding, while warped fungi repel hoglins. A deterrent is not a lure, so placing warped fungus where you want hoglins to gather will send them away from that location.
Nether portals and respawn anchors
A Nether portal or a respawn anchor can form a larger fear boundary. These are useful when you want mobs to move across a platform toward a central chute, but they require more careful construction. Keep portal frames, anchor charges, lava, and collection systems physically separated so a misplaced block cannot create a fire or explosion hazard.
What do hoglins drop?
The following values apply to the cited Java and Bedrock mechanics. A player or a tamed wolf must deliver the killing blow for experience to appear. Looting figures are the maximums cited by the farming tutorial, not guaranteed amounts per kill.
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| Drop | Base amount | With Looting III | Important condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw porkchops | 2–4 in Java | Up to 7 | Dies normally; fire converts the drop to cooked porkchops |
| Leather | 0–2 | Up to 5 | Random drop; Looting raises the cited maximum |
| Experience | 5 in Java | Looting does not change the stated XP value | Player or tamed wolf kill |
| Experience | 1–3 in Bedrock | Edition-specific value | Player or tamed wolf kill |
Porkchops and fire
A normal Java kill produces two to four raw porkchops. If the hoglin dies while burning, the meat is cooked instead. This makes a lava-based automatic farm convenient for food production because the collection system receives cooked porkchops without a separate furnace step.
Leather
Leather is a secondary drop, with a base range of zero to two. The cited Looting III maximum is five. Because leather is not guaranteed, plan storage around variable output rather than assuming every hoglin supplies one.
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Experience and the Java–Bedrock difference
Java Edition gives five experience points when a player or tamed wolf gets the kill. The cited Bedrock farming tutorial records one to three experience points. That difference matters if the farm is intended as an XP station: an automatic lava design generally sacrifices player-kill experience in exchange for lower risk and less labor.
How to make a hoglin farm
A practical farm has four jobs: create a spawn area, make hoglins move in one direction, kill them, and collect the drops. The most reliable designs use a fear boundary rather than trying to push mobs with repeated melee attacks.
Materials and prerequisites
- A crimson forest location or a prepared platform in or around one.
- Warped fungus, a Nether portal, or a respawn anchor for the fear boundary.
- Building blocks and slabs for the platform and kill chute.
- Hoppers and chests for automatic collection.
- Lava and a safe way to place it above the killing area for an automatic farm.
- A Looting sword, fire protection plan, and a retreat route for a manual farm.
- Fire Resistance potions and Feather Falling equipment for safer construction and testing.
Step 1: Select and secure the build site
- Choose a crimson forest area with enough room for a spawning platform, a collection point, and a protected player position.
- Build guardrails around every edge and block off lava openings below the platform.
- Light or otherwise secure nearby areas where unwanted hostile mobs could consume the local mob cap. Keep the farm’s spawn floor consistent so you can identify problems.
- Place your storage chest and player access point outside the direct path of the hoglins.
Step 2: Create the fear boundary
- Place warped fungus along the side of the platform where you want hoglins to turn away.
- Leave a clear lane between the fungus and the collection chute. Hoglins should flee from the fungus toward the kill zone rather than become trapped against another obstacle.
- For a larger design, substitute a Nether portal or respawn anchor as the boundary, but keep the player walkway outside the mob lane.
- Watch several spawns before closing the farm. If hoglins stop at corners, extend the fungus line or remove a block that creates an accidental pocket.
Step 3: Build an automatic lava kill chamber
- Make the mobs step onto slabs or another controlled floor above the collection line.
- Put hoppers beneath the slabs and connect them to a chest. Verify that every hopper points toward storage before adding the kill mechanism.
- Place lava above the slab-level killing area so hoglins burn while drops fall into the hopper path. The farming tutorial describes this lava-over-slabs arrangement as the automatic collection method.
- Enclose the sides and top enough to prevent hoglins from escaping, but leave the hopper and chest accessible for maintenance.
- Test with one or two mobs. Confirm that cooked porkchops and leather reach the chest and that lava cannot flow onto your walkway.
This design minimizes direct contact and is the safer choice when your priority is continuous food and leather collection. Because the lava, not the player, performs the kill, it is not the right choice for farming player-kill experience or applying Looting to each death.
Step 4: Build a manual Looting kill chute
- Use the same fear boundary and funnel, but remove the lava.
- End the funnel in a narrow chamber where you can reach the hoglin without standing beside a cliff or lava.
- Give the chamber a two-block-high shelter, a solid back wall, and a safe exit. The opening should let you strike while preventing the hoglin from reaching your feet.
- Kill each hoglin with a Looting III sword when you want the cited maximum drop ranges. Collect the items from the floor or add hoppers below the chamber.
- Close the access point between kills so a second hoglin cannot enter behind you.
Manual killing produces more hands-on work and exposes you to knockback, but it preserves Looting control and lets the player receive the edition-specific XP. Keep the manual chamber separate from the automatic lava line so one mode can be used without dismantling the other.
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Step 5: Tune the farm
- If hoglins do not move toward the chute, inspect the fear line for gaps and check that another portal, anchor, or fungus patch is not pulling their path in the opposite direction.
- If mobs pile up, widen the lane, add another funnel section, or increase the collection capacity rather than entering the pack.
- If drops disappear, check hopper direction, lava flow, slab placement, and fire around the storage area.
- Measure output in the edition and release you play. Java and Bedrock differ in the cited experience yield, and other spawning or pathfinding behavior can change between releases.
Manual versus automatic hoglin farms
| Design | Primary advantage | Main cost or risk | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic lava over slabs and hoppers | Low labor and reduced direct exposure | No player-controlled Looting kill; lava and fire need careful containment | Hands-off porkchop and leather collection |
| Manual protected kill chute | Looting III control and player-kill XP | Requires repeated combat and safe access to each hoglin | Maximizing drops or collecting experience |
| Open-area melee | No construction beyond a weapon and terrain | Highest knockback, lava, and fall risk | Only when the area is flat, enclosed, and already secured |
How to breed hoglins
Feed crimson fungi to two hoglins to breed them. Mojang’s warning is explicit: “You can breed Hoglins by feeding them crimson fungi. Do so at your own risk.” Adults remain hostile, so breeding is not a way to make a friendly pen.
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- Place warped fungus near the entrance so you can create distance if the adults turn toward you.
- Lead or funnel two hoglins inside, then close the gate from the protected side.
- Feed crimson fungi to both adults.
- Leave through the prepared exit before the adults can knock you into a wall, drop, or lava opening.
Use crimson fungi only for breeding. Warped fungus repels hoglins and will not serve as breeding food.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why hoglins become zoglins
A hoglin that remains in the Overworld or the End turns into a zoglin after 15 seconds. This conversion is not a safe transport method: moving a hoglin through a portal can change both its behavior and the mob you intended to farm.
Transport hoglins outside the Nether only when conversion is deliberate. If your goal is a normal hoglin farm, keep the spawning, funnel, and kill area in the Nether and do not leave animals on the other side of a portal.
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How to fight hoglins without being knocked into lava
Prepare before entering a crimson forest
- Carry Fire Resistance for lava-related mistakes and Feather Falling boots for knockback-induced falls.
- Bring blocks to make a quick two-block-high shelter or to seal a side passage.
- Carry warped fungus and place it before engaging a group.
- Keep your escape route visible; do not fight with your back to an unmarked drop.
Use reach and cover
A two-block-high shelter or another height advantage lets you attack while limiting the hoglin’s ability to reach you. Fight through a controlled opening instead of standing in the open. If several hoglins arrive, retreat behind the shelter, place warped fungus between you and the pack, and re-engage only after the group has separated.
Control the ground, not just the target
Never trade hits on a narrow bridge, ledge, or lava shore. Build a flat fighting pad with solid walls before you start. Knockback can carry you farther than expected even when the initial hit appears harmless. In a crimson forest, a few seconds spent placing guardrails is usually safer than trying to finish a pack quickly.
Separate packs and finish safely
- Place warped fungus to make the nearest hoglin turn away.
- Back toward your shelter while keeping solid ground under every step.
- Attack one hoglin at a time through the opening.
- Collect drops only after the area is clear; do not walk into a second pack to retrieve leather.
Java and Bedrock considerations
The basic strategy works in both editions, but the cited experience values differ and farm behavior can be release-sensitive. Use the table as a planning reference, not as a promise that every future patch will preserve identical spawning or pathfinding.
| Consideration | Java Edition | Bedrock Edition |
|---|---|---|
| Base porkchop drop | 2–4 raw porkchops | The cited farming material does not give a separate base range |
| Base leather drop | 0–2 | The cited farming material does not give a separate base range |
| Player or tamed-wolf experience | 5 XP | 1–3 XP in the cited farming tutorial |
| Conversion outside the Nether | Turns into a zoglin after 15 seconds in the Overworld or End | Verify the behavior against the release you are running |
If an XP farm is your goal, test a manual chamber in your own edition. If food and leather are the goal, an automatic lava system is simpler to operate regardless of edition.
Hoglin farm troubleshooting checklist
Hoglins are not entering the chute
- Extend or realign the warped-fungus fear boundary.
- Remove side pockets where mobs can stop outside the intended path.
- Check for a second deterrent that is closer than your collection lane.
The player keeps getting hit
- Add a two-block-high roof or wall between the player and the mob.
- Move the fight away from ledges and lava.
- Use warped fungus to split the pack before attacking.
The chest is empty
- Confirm that each hopper points toward the chest or the next hopper.
- Check whether lava is burning drops before they reach the collection line.
- Stand at the farm long enough to observe a complete kill and item path.
The farm produces no XP
An automatic lava kill is not a player or tamed-wolf kill, so it will not provide the player-kill experience described above. Switch to the manual chamber and deliver the final hit yourself, then verify the edition-specific XP range.
Quick Recap
Quick decision guide
- Need food with minimal risk? Build the lava-over-slabs automatic design.
- Want Looting III’s higher cited drop maximums? Use a protected manual kill chute.
- Need XP? Make the final hit with the player or a tamed wolf, and account for Java’s five XP versus Bedrock’s cited one-to-three XP.
- Trying to escape a pack? Place warped fungus and move toward solid, level ground.
- Planning to move hoglins through a portal? Expect conversion to zoglins after 15 seconds in the Overworld or End.
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