Guardian Farm on DonutSMP — Prismarine & XP Money

Guardian farms are the highest XP-per-hour farms in Minecraft when built right. Prismarine shards and crystals also sell well — DonutSMP players use these in builds and decorative bases.

What a Guardian farm needs

• 1 ocean monument (find with /locate structure monument or eye method)
• Sponges (you'll find them in monument wet rooms — exchange for dry sponges in furnace)
• Solid blocks for draining
• 4 hoppers + chest + lava/magma killing setup
• Approximately 1-2 weeks of patient work OR 2-3 days with a small team

The draining problem

A monument is 56×56×24 underwater. You need to drain ALL of it to expose the Guardian spawning area. Two approaches:

Method 1 — Sponge drain (recommended)

Use wet sponges in furnaces to dry, place on every cube of water, sponges absorb 4 blocks each. Slow but no gear needed.

Method 2 — Soulsand bubble drain

Place soulsand at the bottom, water above turns into bubble columns, ride up. Works only in pockets, not great for full drain.

Method 3 — Build wall of solid blocks

Wall off the monument exterior, then sponge inside. Standard for big builds.

Building the kill chamber

After draining:

1. Replace the entire monument volume with a solid block (this kills any natural Guardian spawns)
2. Build a 56×56 spawn floor at Y=39 (monument's natural spawn floor)
3. Water-stream Guardians toward central drain
4. Magma block + sword reach kills them
5. Hoppers below → chest

Yield rates

Selling guardian drops on DonutSMP

Bulk pro tip: craft to sea lanterns before selling. Builders pay premium for stacks of lanterns for base lighting.

XP value on DonutSMP

XP itself doesn't sell directly, but you can use the XP for:

• Mending repair of expensive gear
• Anvil work on high-cost enchant combos
• Trading with players who need levels (some pay ~10k per 30 levels)

A Guardian farm earning 50k XP/hr is the equivalent of grinding ~3 hours of mob XP from a basic farm.

Common mistakes

• ❌ Skipping the "replace monument with solid block" step (natural Guardian spawns interfere)
• ❌ Building the kill spot above Y=63 (Guardians need water blocks adjacent to spawn)
• ❌ Not killing within 5-6 seconds (Guardians despawn fast)
• ❌ Trying to drain without sponges (takes 10x longer)

Frequently Asked

Can I just kill Guardians inside the undrained monument? Yes for solo killing, but XP/hour is 5-10× lower than a proper farm.

How long does draining take? ~12-20 hours of focused work with a stack of sponges. Recruit a teammate.

What client/distance do I need? Standard render distance, AFK on the platform.

Buy prismarine in bulk → · Best AFK farm tier list →