/difficulty

The /difficulty command changes how hard a Minecraft world is: Peaceful, Easy, Normal or Hard. Difficulty affects whether hostile mobs spawn, how much damage they do, how hunger works and many smaller details, such as whether zombies can break doors. This command reference covers the syntax in Java and Bedrock, exactly what each difficulty changes, regional difficulty, difficulty lock, Hardcore and common errors.

Syntax

Edition	Syntax	Accepted values
Java	/difficulty [peaceful|easy|normal|hard]	Full names only
Bedrock	/difficulty <difficulty>	peaceful, easy, normal, hard, or p, e, n, h, or 0 to 3

In Java, typing /difficulty with no value shows the current difficulty. Changing difficulty affects the whole world for every player, not just you.

Examples

• /difficulty peaceful: removes hostile mobs, good for building.
• /difficulty easy: gentle survival for beginners.
• /difficulty normal: the standard experience.
• /difficulty hard: the full challenge.
• /difficulty h: Bedrock shortcut for Hard.

What each difficulty changes

Feature	Peaceful	Easy	Normal	Hard
Hostile mobs	Do not spawn (most removed)	Spawn, deal less damage	Standard damage	Most damage
Health regeneration	Regenerates over time	With full hunger	With full hunger	With full hunger
Hunger	Does not drain	Starvation stops at 5 hearts	Starvation stops at half a heart	Starvation can kill
Zombies break wooden doors	No	No	No	Yes
Villagers killed by zombies become zombie villagers	No	Rarely or never	About half the time	Always
Spiders with potion effects	No	No	No	Sometimes
Cave spider and bee poison	No	No	Yes	Yes, longer

Peaceful in detail

Peaceful removes hostile mobs from the world, and existing ones despawn when you switch to it. Your health regenerates quickly and your hunger bar does not go down in Java. Some hostile content still works: the Ender Dragon still appears in the End, and mob spawners do not produce hostile mobs. Because no hostile mobs spawn, you cannot collect drops like gunpowder, string from spiders, ender pearls from endermen or blaze rods in Peaceful, so some progress needs Easy or higher. Peaceful is ideal for building projects and for young players.

Easy, Normal and Hard

Easy lets monsters spawn but makes them weaker, and starvation never takes you below five hearts. It is a good starting point for new players learning survival. Normal is the default for most worlds and the balance the game is designed around. Hard raises mob damage further, lets zombies break wooden doors, makes every villager killed by a zombie turn into a zombie villager, lets zombies call reinforcements, and allows starvation to kill you. Hard also makes more mobs spawn with armor and enchanted gear.

Regional difficulty

On top of the world difficulty, Java Edition tracks a local difficulty for each area. It increases the longer players spend in a chunk, the longer the world has existed, and during brighter moon phases. Higher local difficulty means mobs are more likely to have armor, enchanted weapons and special abilities, such as spiders with effects. You can see the local difficulty on the F3 debug screen. Bedrock has a similar but simpler system. This is why an old base area can feel harder than a fresh one even on the same difficulty.

Difficulty lock

In Java single player, the Difficulty option in Options has a lock button. Once locked, the difficulty can never be changed in that world, even with commands. Players use it to commit to a challenge. Be sure before you lock it, because it cannot be undone without editing world files.

Hardcore

Hardcore mode in Java Edition is permanently set to Hard and cannot be changed with /difficulty. You get one life; when you die, you can only spectate. Hardcore is chosen when creating the world, not with a command. See the /gamemode page for game modes.

Permissions

/difficulty requires cheats in single player or operator permission on servers. Server owners usually set difficulty in server.properties. In Bedrock, the world owner can change difficulty in world settings without cheats, but using the command requires cheats, which disables achievements.

Which difficulty should you play?

• Building or relaxing: Peaceful.
• New players and young children: Easy.
• Most players: Normal, the intended balance.
• Experienced players: Hard, for tougher fights and better mob loot.
• Ultimate challenge: Hardcore in Java.

Common errors

• Difficulty will not change: the world is difficulty-locked or Hardcore.
• Invalid value in Java: you used a number or letter; type the full name.
• Mobs still around after Peaceful: some mobs, such as the Ender Dragon and certain bosses, are not removed.

Related commands

• /gamerule: fine-tune world behavior such as mob griefing.
• /gamemode: switch between Survival and Creative.
• /time: skip dangerous nights.

/difficulty FAQ

How do you change difficulty in Minecraft?

Type /difficulty followed by peaceful, easy, normal or hard, or change it in world settings.

Do zombies break doors on Normal?

No. Only on Hard.

Can you starve to death on Normal?

No. Starvation stops at half a heart; it only kills on Hard.

Can you change difficulty in Hardcore?

No. Hardcore is locked to Hard.

How difficulty affects specific mobs

• Zombies: deal about 2 damage on Easy, 3 on Normal and 4 to 5 on Hard, break wooden doors only on Hard and can summon reinforcements on Hard.
• Skeletons: arrows hit harder and more accurately as difficulty rises.
• Creepers: explosions deal much more damage on Hard, enough to kill an unarmored player outright at close range.
• Endermen: hit for about 4.5 on Easy, 7 on Normal and 10.5 on Hard.
• Spiders: on Hard they may spawn with Speed, Strength, Regeneration or Invisibility.
• Bees and cave spiders: their stings and bites poison you on Normal and Hard, but not on Easy.
• Bosses: the Ender Dragon, the Wither and the Warden all hit harder on higher difficulties.
• Raids: Hard raids have more waves and stronger illagers, and vindicators and ravagers hit harder.

Difficulty and loot

Playing on Hard does not directly improve chest loot, but mobs on Hard and in high regional difficulty areas spawn with armor and weapons more often, and those items can drop when you kill them. Hard is also the only difficulty where you can farm every mechanic that depends on zombie conversions, such as reliably turning villagers into zombie villagers to cure them for discounts. Many technical players switch to Hard briefly to cure villagers, then back to Normal.

Changing difficulty in world settings

In Java single player, open Options and click the Difficulty button to cycle through the four levels, as long as the world is not locked. In Bedrock, open Settings, then Game, and change Difficulty under World Options. Neither of these requires cheats, so you can change difficulty in Survival without disabling Bedrock achievements, unlike the /difficulty command. On servers, the difficulty line in server.properties sets the default whenever the server starts.

Difficulty on Realms and servers

On Realms, the owner chooses the difficulty in the Realm settings, and it applies to everyone. On servers, the owner sets it in server.properties, and operators can change it live with the command. Survival multiplayer servers usually run Normal or Hard, while creative and minigame servers often use Peaceful so monsters do not interrupt building. If a server feels harder than your single player world, check the difficulty and remember that regional difficulty climbs faster in areas where many players spend time.

Switching difficulty is instant and does not need a restart, so you can lower it for a tough boss fight and raise it again afterwards.

Difficulty is also stored per world, so each of your saves can use a different level.

For a first survival world, Normal is the recommended starting point.