Minecraft Torch Spacing Calculator
Editions: Java + Bedrock (identical rule) · Verified: Java 26.3 / Bedrock 26.50 · 2026-09-16 · Updated 2026-09-16
Since the 1.18 light rework, hostile mobs need block light exactly 0 — one level of torchlight shuts spawning down. This computes the widest safe spacing for your light source, and checks any spacing you type for dark spots.
The worked example
A torch is light 14, and block light loses 1 per block of taxicab distance — count steps along the grid, never diagonally as one. Thirteen blocks out the light is 1, still enough to block spawns under the current rule; the fourteenth block reaches 0 and can spawn. So a corridor needs a torch every 27 blocks (the midpoint sits 13 from each), an open floor needs a 13×13 grid, and the densest staggered patterns cover 364 blocks per torch — torches every 28 in the row with rows 13 apart, offset 14, or every 26 with rows 14 apart, the two layouts tying at the top of an exhaustive simulation. The checker takes both numbers, so either one can be typed in and confirmed. The classic staggered habit of 18 wide with rows 9 apart also covers, but at 162 blocks per torch it is slightly worse than the plain grid. Under the pre-1.18 rule the same torch only protected 6 blocks, which is where the old torch-every-12 habit came from.
Safe spacing by source
| Source | Light | Reach | Corridor | Square grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lantern / glowstone / sea lantern / campfire | 15 | 14 | 29 | 15 |
| Torch | 14 | 13 | 27 | 13 |
| Soul torch | 10 | 9 | 19 | 9 |
| Single candle | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
Current rule (spawns need block light 0). Reach = taxicab blocks kept at light 1 or more. Even reaches let the grid go one block wider than the reach — diamond parity, derived in the spawn-proofing guide.
Questions builders actually ask
What light level do hostile mobs need to spawn now?
Block light exactly 0, in both Java (since 1.18) and Bedrock (since 1.18.0). Any block light of 1 or more prevents hostile spawns in the Overworld, which is why spacing got so much more forgiving than the old torch-every-12 habit.
How far apart can torches be to stop mob spawns?
A torch emits light 14 and block light drops 1 per block of taxicab distance, so every floor block within 13 blocks holds light 1 or more. That makes the safe spacing 13 blocks in a square grid, 27 along a single corridor, and up to 28 apart in staggered rows 13 apart — the staggered maximum our simulation verifies, wider than the 18-by-9 folk figure.
Does sky light stop mobs from spawning at night?
No. At night the surface drops to sky-light darkness and hostile mobs spawn wherever BLOCK light is 0. Only block light — torches, lanterns, glowstone, campfires — spawn-proofs ground after dark.
What changed from the old light-level-7 rule?
Before 1.18, hostile mobs spawned at light 7 or below, so safe ground needed light 8: a torch only covered 6 blocks of taxicab distance, and grids could be at most 7 apart. The legacy toggle in this tool shows that math for comparison — the current rule needs roughly a third as many torches.