Best and Fastest Ways to Get XP in Minecraft (2026)

Minecraft XP is dropped on the ground as orbs when you do specific actions like mining, smelting, or killing mobs. These XP orbs can be picked up and are added to your level bar which can be found near your health bar. This guide is current as of Minecraft Java 26.3 and Bedrock 26.50 (Wilderness Bound).

Levels can be spent using an enchanting table to add really useful Minecraft enchantments for your armor, weapons, and tools. These enchantments range from being able to break blocks more quickly to taking less damage from enemies.

How to get XP fast in Minecraft

In general, the fastest methods to get XP are killing mobs (especially with a mob farm), mining ores, and harvesting sculk blocks in the deep dark. The method which is best will depend on how far you have progressed in the game. For example, once you find a dungeon with a mob spawner, you can sit in the room and repeatedly kill monsters for XP.

It is important to remember that although some methods are slower, they can be worthwhile because they don’t require much effort. Smelting is a good example of this because you can fill several furnaces with ores and food then come back later when they are finished smelting.

Here are some more detailed explanations of the best ways to get XP in Minecraft in 2026.

1. Mining

Mining is one of the best and most popular ways to get XP drops early on in Minecraft. Ores that drop their item directly will drop XP when mined: coal, diamond, emerald, lapis lazuli, redstone, nether quartz, and nether gold. The rarer the ore, the more XP it drops.

For example, mining deeper for diamonds will drop large amounts of XP. Note that ores which drop raw metals (iron, gold, and copper) do NOT give XP when mined. You only get their XP later, when you smelt the raw metal in a furnace. Breaking a mob spawner with a pickaxe also drops a big pile of XP, if you don’t plan to use it for a farm.

Once you have built a nether portal, mining for nether quartz ore is one of the fastest ways to get XP in Minecraft. It drops as much XP as lapis lazuli and is fairly common in the nether. As an added bonus, you might even find netherite which is stronger than diamond.

2. Sculk Mining in the Deep Dark

Since the deep dark biome was added, sculk blocks have become one of the best XP sources in the game. Every sculk block drops 1 XP when broken (a hoe breaks them fastest), and sculk catalysts, sensors, and shriekers drop 5 XP each. Ancient cities are covered in thousands of sculk blocks, so a single careful trip can fill your XP bar many times over.

Two warnings before you go. First, use a regular hoe, not a silk touch one, since silk touch gives you the block instead of the XP. Second, sculk shriekers can summon the warden when your footsteps or other noises set them off. Sneak up to each shrieker and break it right away. Once a shrieker is broken it can never summon a warden, so clearing them first makes the rest of the area much safer.

If you bring a sculk catalyst home (wardens drop one when killed), you can use it in a mob farm too. Mobs that die near a catalyst turn the ground into sculk even if they didn’t drop any XP, so you can mine that sculk later for the XP you would otherwise lose.

3. Smelting

Smelting ores and cooking your raw food in a furnace will provide XP when you remove the finished products. If a hopper pulls the items out instead, the XP isn’t lost on Java. The furnace stores it, and you get all of it at once the next time you take an item out by hand or break the furnace.

This is a great way to get more XP in Minecraft quickly if you have a lot of smeltable items. The biggest advantage of using smelting for XP orbs is that you can put the items in the furnace, go do other things, and come back later. Many players use a hopper-fed furnace as an XP bank: let it smelt thousands of items, then pull one item out right before enchanting to collect everything.

4. Killing Mobs

Killing mobs in Minecraft like zombies, skeletons, or creepers will reward a small amount of XP (most hostile mobs drop around 5 XP). This is often a slower way to get XP, but becomes faster if you construct a mob grinder (mob farm).

Keep in mind that only mobs recently attacked by a player (or your tamed wolf) will drop orbs. Using fire, lava, fall damage, or other ways to kill mobs automatically will not drop any XP orbs!

When building a mob grinder in Minecraft, it is best to push mobs into a central location where they can be easily killed by a player. For example, flowing water can be used to push all spawned mobs into a small room. Building a beacon near your mob grinder can provide useful buffs as well.

For late game players, an enderman farm in the End is the king of XP farming. A good enderman farm can take you from level 0 to level 30 in about a minute, while also showering you in ender pearls.

And for one giant payout: on Java, killing the ender dragon for the first time drops 12,000 XP, which is over 60 levels at once. Respawning and beating the dragon again gives 500 XP per kill.

5. Other Ways to Get XP in Minecraft

Here are a few more ways you can get XP when playing Minecraft, however they are generally not the most efficient:

• Fishing: Each time you catch a fish, some XP will be dropped.
• Animals: Animals like chickens and pigs will drop a small amount of orbs when they die.
• Breeding: When animals are bred, some orbs are generated once the baby animal spawns.
• Bottles O’ Enchanting: Bottled XP that gives 3 to 11 XP per throw. They can be purchased from cleric villagers using emeralds and found in loot chests.

• Trading: Trading with a villager will award a small amount of XP. With a full trading hall, this adds up fast and is completely safe.
• Disenchanting: Removing enchantments from items at a grindstone refunds some XP.
• Commands: If you have cheats enabled or are an administrator of a server, you can use commands to obtain XP.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Fortune give more XP?

No. Fortune increases item drops from ores, but the XP amount stays the same no matter what pickaxe you use.

Do you lose your XP when you die?

Mostly, yes. On Java you only drop a small amount of XP when you die (never more than enough for about 7 levels), and the rest is gone for good. If the keep inventory game rule is turned on, you keep all of your XP instead.

Why does each level take longer to get?

Each level needs more XP than the one before, and the jump gets steep after level 30. Going from level 0 to 1 takes 7 XP, while going from level 30 to 31 takes 112. That’s why most players spend their levels at the enchanting table as soon as they reach 30 instead of saving up.

That concludes our list of the best and fastest ways to get XP in Minecraft. Do you have any suggestions or additions? Leave a comment below!