deep cave spawn rates

[RatKing0]

All of the caves in my world seem to be affected by the current rift activity level, except for one that is constantly flooded with very strong monsters. i've resorted to going into creative to try to thin them out becuase there's often over 20 roaming around, but more spawn as i'm doing so. is there a certain y level where rift activity is not factored into spawn rates anymore? if so, why would the mine that tunnels into the cave not also be swarmed (aside from what was coming out of the cave)? the mine and cave are lit the same (that is, poorly), and i can't even enter the cave to try to light it up because 6-8 monsters attack the second i pass the gate i'm using to contain them. currently playing on 1.21.5

 

edit: while doing another creative mode pass through the cave i found a bellhead shiver, and am now wondering if he's the reason for all the spawns. I was under the impression they'd make a noise similar to the bells when they were rallying more monsters, though?

Edited November 1, 2025 by RatKing0

[LadyWYT]

9 minutes ago, RatKing0 said:

is there a certain y level where rift activity is not factored into spawn rates anymore?

To my knowledge, there is not. The rift activity will always factor into monster rates in some form or another. The exceptions are locust nests, and most story locations(these tend to have static spawns, if they have monsters).

 

10 minutes ago, RatKing0 said:

if so, why would the mine that tunnels into the cave not also be swarmed (aside from what was coming out of the cave)? the mine and cave are lit the same (that is, poorly), and i can't even enter the cave to try to light it up because 6-8 monsters attack the second i pass the gate i'm using to contain them. currently playing on 1.20.5

What's probably going on, is the area that has a higher monster population is most likely more unstable than the surrounding areas. Areas with more instability tend to be at higher risk of spawning monsters, if spawning conditions are otherwise met.

 

12 minutes ago, RatKing0 said:

currently playing on 1.20.5

Just to make sure all the bases are covered though, that is an older game version, with the most recent version being 1.21.5. I don't recall any issues with underground spawns in 1.20, but I suppose it is possible, so you may try updating to the most recent version and see if that fixes the issue(if you can update, anyway). If you try this, make a backup of your world first, just in case.

[RatKing0]

1 hour ago, LadyWYT said:

Just to make sure all the bases are covered though, that is an older game version, with the most recent version being 1.21.5.

oop, I got my numbers mixed up in my post - i'm on 1.21.5 

 

thank you for the info!