Updated to 1.20
The Ender Dragon is the mob that gives the most XP in Minecraft, equal to 12000 XP. It was pretty obvious that this was going to be the answer, being the Ender Dragon the final boss of the game.
At the same time, maybe you would also want to know other mobs that you can kill easily to get the most XP possible without having to go back to the End every time. That’s what we are here to see today!
The Majority of mobs – 5 XP
Many mobs in the game will drop 5 XP when killed. Those mobs are:
- Cave Spider
- Creeper
- Drowned
- Enderman (related topic: How to find and safely kill an Enderman?)
- Ghast (related topic: Uneasy Alliance Minecraft advancement: how to get it?)
- Hoglin
- Husk
- Illusioner
- Phantom
- Piglin
- Pillager
- Shulker
- Silverfish
- Skeleton
- Spider (related topic: Do Spiders take fall damage in Minecraft?)
- Stray
- Vex
- Vindicator
- Warden
- Witch
- Wither Skeleton (related topic: What is a Nether Fortress bounding box and how to see it?)
- Zombie
- Zombie Villager
- Zombified Piglin
- Zoglin
Many passive mobs (like Cows and Sheeps) will give you from 1 to 3 XP. Villagers, baby animals and Iron Golems will not give you any XP.
Blaze, Evoker, Elder Guardian and Guardian – 10 XP
These 4 mobs are slightly more difficult to deal with than other hostile/neutral mobs.
Blazes fly and can set you on fire with their fire projectiles. You can find them in Nether Fortresses (see also: I can’t find any Nether fortress: what should I do?). They also drop the valuable Blaze Rod, necessary to brewing potions.
Evokers are spell casters that drop the incredibly valuable Totems of Undying, an item that prevents you from dying. You can find them in Wooden Mansions and they can also attack Villages during Raids.
A sure way to make a Raid happen is by getting a Bad Omen status effect and then entering a Village. To get the Bad Omen status you need to find and kill a Pillager Captain, that you can find in Pillagers Outposts.
Guardians and Elder Guardians were introduced with the Aquatic Update. You can find them in Ocean Monuments and they can be quite tricky to fight, mostly because the fight will happen under water where moving is a bit more difficult (check also: How to swim properly in Minecraft). Elder Guardians have more health than Guardians, but they will give you the same amount of XP.
Baby Zombie – 12 XP
For some reason, Baby Zombies stand out from the other “regular” mobs and give you more XP. To be fair, they are quite small and move very fast, so killing them can sometimes be tricky. A Baby Zombie at the wrong time can even cost you your Hardcore game.
Ravager and Piglin Brute – 20 XP
Ravagers are big hostile mobs that spawn during Raids with Pillagers (related: How to get and craft Ilager Banners in Minecraft?). To be able to get XP from them you will then need a Raid to happen.
Piglin Brutes are hostile mobs that you can find in Bastion Remnants. You can see how to find Bastion Remnants in How to find ALL Mob Spawners in Minecraft.
Wither – 50 XP
Other than the Ender Dragon, we have the Wither as an “unofficial” Minecraft boss.
Unlike the Ender Dragon, the Wither is not bound to a specific place and you can actually make it spawn. To do so you need to put 4 blocks of Soul Sand in a T shape and then place 3 Wither Skeleton Skulls on top. Then the Wither will spawn, bringing havoc to the surroundings.
Be prepared for quite a fight, the Wither has a lot of health, it hits for up to 12 damage (depending on difficulty) and it applies the Wither effect. The Wither effect is a damage over time effect, similar to poison, that you can also inflict with the Decay Potion (see more in Decay Potion in Minecraft).
Ender Dragon – 12000 XP
As already said, the Ender Dragon is the mob that gives the most XP. It is also the most difficult to kill. It takes some time, but with the right strategy it can be done quite easily. Check the video below to see more about it.
Conclusions
The mob that gives you the most XP is the Ender Dragon, with 12000 XP. After the Ender Dragon there is the Wither with 50 XP, Ravager and Piglin Brute with 20 XP, Baby Zombie with 12 XP, and Blaze, Evoker, Elder Guardian and Guardian with 10 XP. After them there is the ajority of other hostile and neutral mobs with 5 XP. Thank you very much for reading the article this far and I hope I’ll see you again around here. See you and take care!
