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Hoglins are hostile Nether mobs that spawn mainly in crimson forests. They attack on sight, have 40 health, and can launch you into lava or off a ledge with their knockback. The safest farms use warped fungi, Nether portals, or respawn anchors to steer hoglins into a controlled kill area; automatic lava designs reduce danger, while manual kills let you use Looting III. A Java kill yields 2–4 raw porkchops, 0–2 leather, and 5 experience when a player or tamed wolf gets the final hit. Bedrock farming guides report 1–3 experience instead.

What is a hoglin?

A hoglin is a large, aggressive Nether mob associated primarily with crimson forests. Mojang describes hoglins as “big aggressive beasts that live in crimson forests in the Nether.” They attack players on sight rather than waiting for you to hit first, so entering a crimson forest without an escape route can turn a routine trip into a fatal knockback chain.

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Hoglins are useful as a renewable food and leather source because they can be bred and farmed. They are also dangerous livestock: adult hoglins remain hostile while you breed them, and their melee attacks can push you into fire, lava, cliffs, or other terrain hazards. Treat a hoglin pen as a mob-control project, not as a passive animal enclosure.

Where do hoglins spawn?

Look mainly in Nether crimson forests. If you are searching for a farm site, locate a crimson forest with enough open space to build a platform, funnel, or kill chute. A site near a lava lake can improve visibility but increases the cost of a mistake; a more enclosed area is usually easier to secure while you construct the farm.

Build around the crimson forest rather than assuming hoglins will appear in every Nether biome. Your edition and current game release determine the exact spawning rules and rates, so test the finished structure in the edition you play. The supplied farming method relies on a crimson-forest area where hoglins can spawn, then uses fear blocks to move them toward collection machinery.

What scares hoglins?

Hoglins fear three blocks or structures that are especially useful for control:

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  • Warped fungus: Hoglins avoid its “smell.” Place it along the boundary you want them to respect, around a player-safe position, or beside the route that leads to your kill zone.
  • Nether portals: A portal can serve as a fear boundary in a farm layout. Use it to make the desired side of the platform unattractive to hoglins and to shape their movement toward the collection area.
  • Respawn anchors: These also repel hoglins and can be used as fixed control points in a Nether build. Handle anchors according to your normal Nether safety procedures.

Warped fungus is a deterrent, not a lure. It does not make hoglins follow you like a food item. Arrange several deterrents so the mob has only one practical route: away from the protected side and toward the chute, slabs, or player position you designed.

What do hoglins drop?

The following values apply when the player or a tamed wolf gets the kill. Java and Bedrock do not present identical experience results, and Looting changes the cited maximum item drops.

Drop Base Java result Looting III maximum cited by the farming guide Important condition
Raw porkchops 2–4 7 They become cooked porkchops when the hoglin dies on fire.
Leather 0–2 5 Looting raises the cited maximum; it does not guarantee that maximum.
Experience 5 in Java Not increased by Looting The player or a tamed wolf must get the kill.
Experience 1–3 in Bedrock Not increased by Looting The Bedrock range is reported by the farming tutorial.

A lava-based farm normally produces cooked porkchops because the mob burns before the drops are collected. If you want raw porkchops, remove the lava and kill hoglins without fire. If you want the highest cited porkchop and leather ceilings, plan for a manual Looting III kill rather than relying on an automatic burn.

How do I make a hoglin farm?

A practical design has four jobs: allow hoglins to appear in a crimson-forest spawning area, keep the player out of knockback range, force the mobs toward one exit, and collect their drops. The exact footprint depends on your terrain and edition, but the control logic is the same.

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Choose and secure the site

  1. Find a crimson forest in the Nether and mark a build area with a clear route back to safety.
  2. Remove or block nearby ledges and exposed lava where a knockback hit could kill you during construction.
  3. Build a platform or enclosed spawning area that leaves one controlled direction for hoglins to travel.
  4. Keep your escape path outside the area that hoglins can reach. A warped-fungus boundary near the work area gives you a fallback position while placing blocks.

Do not begin by standing in the middle of an open crimson forest and placing the collection machinery around yourself. Build from the safe side, close access behind you, and only then open the spawning route.

Create the fear boundary

  1. Place warped fungus between the spawning area and the place where you will stand or work.
  2. Use a Nether portal or respawn anchor as an additional boundary if the layout needs a wider gap or a second line of control.
  3. Leave a single corridor that is not blocked by deterrents. This corridor becomes the path to the kill area.
  4. Walk through the finished route without a hoglin first. Confirm that your own escape path does not end at a cliff or lava pocket.

The goal is not to make the mob walk toward warped fungus. The goal is to make the safe-looking direction for the hoglin lead to your kill zone while the player side remains unattractive and inaccessible.

Build an automatic lava farm

The common automatic arrangement puts lava above slabs and hoppers below. Hoglins are directed into the lava, their cooked drops fall through the slab area, and hoppers move those items into storage. This design reduces hands-on fighting and keeps the player away from the mob, at the cost of Looting control.

  1. Construct the kill chamber at the end of the funnel, with enough solid blocks to stop hoglins from escaping sideways.
  2. Place slabs at the floor or collection interface specified by your design so drops can reach the hoppers while the mob remains exposed to the lava.
  3. Install hoppers beneath the slabs and connect them to chests or another storage arrangement.
  4. Position lava above the slabs where it will burn the hoglins without flowing into the hopper line or out of the chamber.
  5. Put warped fungus, a portal, or a respawn anchor on the player side of the funnel so the mobs continue toward the lava.
  6. Test with one hoglin before opening the full spawning area. Watch for drops landing outside the hopper footprint and for mobs stopping before the lava.

Fire changes the porkchop result to cooked porkchops. An automatic system also removes the need to approach a live hoglin for every kill, which is valuable in a cramped Nether build. Its limitation is that the player is not delivering the final hit, so it is not the best choice when your priority is Looting III or player-controlled experience collection.

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Build a manual Looting farm

For manual farming, keep the same spawning and fear-boundary logic but remove the lava. Let hoglins arrive at a protected kill point where you can strike them with a Looting III weapon. A two-block-high shelter, a narrow slit, or another reach advantage lets you attack while limiting the mob’s ability to hit you back.

  1. Replace the lava section with a sealed or partially sealed holding area.
  2. Make the player position one block or more behind a barrier that prevents direct contact while preserving your attack path.
  3. Stand on the safe side of the warped-fungus boundary and wait for hoglins to enter the holding area.
  4. Use your Looting III weapon to finish the mobs. Confirm that you, rather than environmental damage, get the final hit if experience is part of the goal.
  5. Collect the raw porkchops and leather from the floor or hoppers, then close the route before leaving the kill position.

Manual killing takes more time and exposes you to more opportunities for a knockback mistake, but it gives you the cited Looting III maximums of 7 porkchops and 5 leather. It is also the appropriate design when you want to control which mobs die and when to collect their experience.

Automatic or manual: which farm should you build?

Design Best for Advantages Trade-offs
Automatic lava farm Low-maintenance food and leather production Little hands-on combat; lava supplies cooked porkchops; hoppers collect drops continuously. No Looting hit; environmental kills do not provide the same player-controlled experience workflow; the lava must be contained.
Manual kill chute Looting III drops and deliberate experience collection Player controls the final hit and can pursue the cited 7-porkchop and 5-leather maxima. Requires repeated visits, a safe attack position, and careful management of knockback.

Choose automatic collection when avoiding danger and labor matters more than maximizing each kill. Choose a manual chute when Looting output or player-kill experience matters enough to justify the extra exposure. In either design, confirm behavior on your own Java or Bedrock release before expanding the structure.

How do I stop hoglins knocking me into lava?

Preventing the first knockback hit is more reliable than trying to recover after you are airborne. Mojang specifically warns that hoglins can easily knock players off a ledge. Build and fight with that warning in mind.

  • Move fights away from edges. Put a solid floor or wall between the combat area and lava lakes, drops, and open shafts.
  • Use a two-block-high shelter. Attack from behind a low ceiling or protected opening that gives you reach while limiting the hoglin’s access to your body.
  • Separate groups with warped fungus. A single hoglin is easier to control than a pack whose knockback can chain from one hit into another.
  • Keep an escape route behind you. Do not back into a dead end while swinging. Walk the route before allowing mobs into it.
  • Carry Fire Resistance. It gives you a chance to survive a mistake near Nether lava or fire, although it does not prevent the knockback itself.
  • Consider Feather Falling. Hoglin attacks can turn a short shove into fall damage, so Feather Falling is a sensible defensive choice when your farm or hunting route has height differences.
  • Use a kill chute instead of open-area melee. A protected access point trades some mobility for predictable spacing and fewer lethal angles.

If a hoglin reaches the player side of the farm, close the access route and retreat behind the next warped-fungus boundary rather than trying to sprint past it along a cliff. Rebuild the missing block only after the area is clear.

How do I fight hoglins safely?

Before the fight

  • Inspect the floor for lava, fire, ledges, and one-block gaps.
  • Equip armor and bring Fire Resistance for Nether travel near lava.
  • Choose a two-block-high shelter, wall opening, or other reach advantage before attracting the mob.
  • Place warped fungus to divide a group or to mark the boundary behind which you will retreat.

During the fight

  1. Keep the hoglin in front of you and the hazard behind a wall, not behind your heels.
  2. Strike from the protected side of the shelter rather than stepping into the open to improve a hit.
  3. After each attack, check your position. Do not let repeated knockback carry you toward a drop.
  4. If more than one hoglin reaches you, retreat through the fungus boundary and close the gap before re-engaging.

After the fight

Collect drops only after checking that no second hoglin is hidden behind the first. In a manual farm, verify that the player or tamed wolf delivered the final hit if you expected experience. In a lava farm, inspect hopper and chest connections before assuming a low output means the mobs are not spawning.

How do I breed hoglins?

Feed crimson fungi to two hoglins to breed them. This is not a safe equivalent of breeding passive animals: adult hoglins remain aggressive, and the feeding process can place you inside their knockback range. Mojang’s guidance is blunt: “You can breed Hoglins by feeding them crimson fungi. Do so at your own risk.”

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  1. Prepare a pen with solid walls, a roof or other height control, and a player-only escape route.
  2. Place warped fungus outside the pen or between the pen and your standing position so the adults cannot immediately reach you.
  3. Enter only when the route is clear, feed crimson fungi to the two hoglins, and leave through the planned exit.
  4. Close the gate before returning for another breeding cycle.

Do not use warped fungus as the breeding item. It repels hoglins; crimson fungus is the item used to breed them. If your purpose is food and leather production, a controlled spawn-and-kill farm is usually safer than maintaining a crowded adult pen.

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What happens if a hoglin leaves the Nether?

A hoglin that remains in the Overworld or the End becomes a zoglin after 15 seconds. This conversion means a portal is not a neutral transport tunnel for living hoglins. If you send one through intentionally, plan for the conversion and the different mob behavior it creates; if you are moving hoglins for breeding or farming, keep the operation in the Nether unless conversion is part of the design.

Nether portals can still be useful as fear boundaries in a Nether farm. Their presence in the layout does not change the 15-second Overworld-or-End conversion rule once a hoglin is on the other side.

Do piglins affect a hoglin farm?

Piglins may hunt hoglins, so a mixed mob area can change where hoglins move and how long they survive before reaching your collection chamber. Keep the farm’s route and kill zone separate from places where piglins can interfere, and test the design with the surrounding mobs present. If hoglins disappear or arrive damaged, inspect the area for piglin activity before changing the funnel.

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Why is my hoglin farm not working?

Hoglins are not entering the kill area

  • Check that the spawning side is actually in or around a crimson forest where hoglins can spawn.
  • Look for warped fungus, a portal, or a respawn anchor accidentally blocking the only route.
  • Confirm that your deterrents are positioned on the player side and that one unobstructed corridor leads to the kill zone.

Drops are missing

  • In an automatic design, inspect the slab-to-hopper interface and every hopper’s direction.
  • Check for lava flowing beyond the intended chamber and destroying or displacing the collection path.
  • Walk around the chamber after one test kill to find items landing outside the storage footprint.

The player keeps getting hit

  • Increase the distance between the holding area and your attack opening.
  • Replace open-area melee with a two-block-high shelter or enclosed chute.
  • Add another warped-fungus boundary and remove nearby ledges or lava before continuing.

Experience is lower than expected

Check the edition first. The cited Java result is 5 experience, while the Bedrock farming tutorial reports 1–3. Also verify who got the final hit: automatic lava kills are designed for item collection, whereas player or tamed-wolf kills are the condition attached to the cited experience values.

Java versus Bedrock considerations

Question Java guidance Bedrock guidance
Experience per qualifying kill 5 experience when a player or tamed wolf gets the kill. 1–3 experience is reported by the farming tutorial for a player- or tamed-wolf kill.
Farm design Use the same fear-boundary and collection principles, then validate the current Java release. Validate the current Bedrock release; do not assume Java spawning or collection behavior transfers exactly.
Looting targets Base 2–4 porkchops and 0–2 leather; cited Looting III maxima are 7 and 5. The supplied farming values for Looting maxima are not separately stated for Bedrock.

Edition differences are most obvious in experience reporting, but a farm can also behave differently after game updates. Start with a small test chamber, record what one qualifying kill produces, and expand only after the result matches your intended use.

Best use cases for hoglin drops

  • Food supply: An automatic lava farm gives cooked porkchops without requiring a player to fight every hoglin.
  • Raw-drop control: A manual, non-fire kill preserves raw porkchops and lets you apply Looting III.
  • Leather collection: Both designs can produce leather; manual Looting offers the higher cited per-kill maximum.
  • Experience gathering: Use a protected manual kill point when you need the player or tamed wolf to receive the final hit.

Pick one primary goal before building. A lava chamber optimized for low-risk cooked food is not the same machine as a manual Looting and experience station. Designing for both is possible, but it requires a bypass or switch that keeps lava away from the mobs whenever you want to deliver the final hit yourself.

Quick hoglin safety checklist

  • Build in or around a crimson forest, then test spawning in your edition and release.
  • Use warped fungus, a Nether portal, or a respawn anchor to establish a fear boundary.
  • Keep all fighting away from cliffs and lava.
  • Choose automatic lava collection for low labor, or manual kills for Looting III control.
  • Use slabs and hoppers below the lava in the common automatic arrangement.
  • Carry Fire Resistance and consider Feather Falling in hazardous Nether terrain.
  • Breed with crimson fungi only inside a pen with a planned escape route.
  • Remember that a hoglin in the Overworld or End becomes a zoglin after 15 seconds.
  • Check whether Java’s 5 experience or Bedrock’s reported 1–3 experience applies to your world.

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