The chance of a successful spawn is x−72000⁄ x, where x is the number of ticks since the player last entered a bed or died. They spawn only if it is night or a thunderstorm is happening, the player is above sea level (y=64) with sky access, and the local difficulty is greater than a randomly chosen value between 0.0 and 3.0. Phantoms attempt to spawn every 1–2 minutes. However, when a phantom spawn attempt succeeds the phantom appears somewhere in a 21×15×21 cube centered 28 blocks above the player instead of at the block where the spawn attempt occurred. Phantom spawn attempts are made on surface blocks throughout the same spawn radius as other monsters. Phantoms are also subject to a density cap of 5.

Phantom spawning is similar to other monsters spawning: the spawn location must have a light level of 7 or less, and spawns are limited by the monster population cap. Phantoms do not spawn in Spectator mode,‌ but they do spawn in Creative mode. Furthermore, the player must not have a block overhead that blocks light in any way for example, leaves prevent phantoms from spawning as they have a light opacity of 2, but glass does not, as its light opacity is 0. This statistic is reset when the player dies or enters a bed. In both editions, they spawn in the Overworld above the player if the 'Time Since Last Rest' statistic is at least 1 hour (72000 ticks or 3 in-game days). The spawning mechanics differ between Java and Bedrock editions. Phantoms spawn unless the gamerule doInsomnia is set to false.

Minecraft 1.8.0 zombie craft mod