Direct answer

Guardian farms concentrate entity spawning, movement, drops and sometimes portal transfer. Identify whether live guardians or the transport/storage pipeline accounts for the tick load.

How to check it

  1. Record active guardian and dropped-item counts during steady operation. Profile with /spark profiler start --timeout 300 on Paper.
  2. If a portal is used, observe both dimensions; transported guardians may pile up in the destination even if the farm chamber is empty.
  3. Compare load with spawning active but collection paused on a safe test copy. This separates entity AI from hoppers, item transport and storage writes.

What to change

  1. Keep the killing/collection throughput high enough that mobs do not remain alive indefinitely or accumulate after a portal transfer.
  2. Avoid changing natural mob spawn caps to “fix” a storage line filled with loose items. Profile that line and improve transport instead.
  3. Do not change guardian AI or portal behavior without confirming the farm still operates on your exact Minecraft release.

Software and version notes

Version and mechanics warning

Portal transfer and player locations across dimensions can change entity persistence, loading and despawning; do not generalize from single-player design tutorials.

Verify the result

Track guardians processed, item yield and both-dimension MSPT under the same AFK locations and player count.

References