What is Respawn Radius in Minecraft [Illustrated Guide]

Featured image credit: Mojang

While no one enjoys dying in Minecraft, it happens to even the best of us, sending us back to our spawn point. 

So what is the spawn point? How can you change the world’s spawn point? And what about servers that use a random spawn point? 

In this article, you can see everything you need about spawn points, respawn radiuses, and how to change them in single and multiplayer.

You might also like this guide on how to pick up a Spawner in Minecraft.

What is Respawn Radius?

Your respawn radius is the chunk a player will spawn in when first spawning into a world. This is a 21 x 21 area chunk by default on the Java edition, but you can change it (see how in the section Changing the Respawn Radius for Multiplayer Servers further down in this article.)

When new players generate a new world, they will always respawn at the world spawn area until you change your spawn point. 

If you die or return to the overworld after defeating the Ender Dragon, you will spawn on a random block within your respawn radius. 

While the game will always try to spawn you on a random grass block, it will search for the next best two clear blocks if there are no valid blocks within the respawn radius.

If, for some reason, your world spawn area has no valid spawn points, it can lead to you spawning underground, in the void (rare), and underwater.

Check out how to refresh chunks in Java and Bedrock here.

How to Change Your Spawnpoint in Minecraft

What if you don’t want to respawn whenever you die back at your world spawn? Very few Minecraft players want this. Luckily, there are several ways that you can change your spawn point. 

The first and most common method is by sleeping in a bed. Wherever you sleep on a bed will become your new spawn point:

Be warned, though, if you break it or obstruct it in any way, Minecraft will respawn you at your original spawn point.

Another way, which Mojang introduced in recent Minecraft updates, is by using a Respawn Anchor. It is a nifty little block that allows you to set an individual spawn point in the Nether:

Why is this so important, you may ask?

If you have never tried to place a bed in the Nether, I can tell you that they explode violently when you try to sleep in them. Hard to set your respawn point when your bed explodes.

So if you set up base in the Nether, the Respawn anchor lets you finally set your spawn point there.

Note: The Respawn Anchor requires charging and is charged by “feeding” it glowstone blocks. To fully charge it, you will need to feed four glowstone.

The final way to change your spawn point is using the command /setworldspawn.

This is a perfect way to set the world spawn for a multiplayer server when you want players to spawn in your epic build.

Changing the Respawn Radius for Multiplayer Servers

While changing the world spawn in your multiplayer server gives you some control over player spawning, changing the respawn radius gives you even more. 

To change the respawn radius, follow the steps below. 

1. Open your chat box on your Minecraft server.
2. Type in “/gamerule spawnRadius <value>” where the value is set to a specific block number. Do not include the “<>.”
3. The radius will be the value you set measured from the world spawn point. 

For example, if you set the spawn radius to 50 blocks, a new player’s spawn point is within a circle of 50 blocks from the world spawn point:

Note: To use the spawn radius game rule and change it, you need to be a server operator.

If your server has PvP enabled, using the respawn radius command can make spawn kills much less likely.

Mob Spawning in a Newly Generated World

When you first spawn into a world, Minecraft generates your world spawn and spawns animals in a 17×17 chunk radius around you. If the game can spawn mobs in a chunk, it will spawn them in groups of 1 – 4. 

The max mob spawn cap dictates how many mobs can be in the chunks currently loaded around the player. For passive mobs, it is 10, and hostile mobs have a max of 70.

That means if ten or more animals are in the loaded chunks, Minecraft will no longer naturally spawn new ones. 

However, it should be noted this is not an exact science, as Minecraft checks for mobs at the beginning of every mob spawn cycle. Due to this, chunks may spawn more than the max mob cap.

Understanding Chunks For Respawn Radius and Mob Spawns

The Minecraft world is split into chunks, 16 x 16 sections, and goes from world bottom to world top. When setting the respawn radius, it is a good idea to contain full chunks.

That way, the game has more grass blocks to spawn players without placing them underground or in other unsavory places. 

Also, mob caps rely on chunks, so having a spawn point on the edge of a chunk will result in additional chunks spawning mobs.

While this may not have much use in your day-to-day Minecraft, if you are building a mob switch, using chunk borders will save you a lot of time. 

Read here to learn more about chunks and how to use them to your benefit in your Minecraft builds. 

The maximum spawn radius for mobs, i.e., the maximum distance a mob can spawn from the player, is 128 blocks.

Conclusion

Understanding respawn radius and spawn points can make your Minecraft experience even better. If you found this article helpful, check out how to get the Dragon Egg and show it to all your friends. Until next time, happy gaming!