How to Make Obsidian in Minecraft?

Updated · May 11, 2022

Once you've advanced in Minecraft, you'll want to start using obsidian. This dark purple, glass-like block is among the strongest materials in the game. However, getting some isn't particularly easy.

In this guide, we'll walk you through how to make obsidian and the many different applications it has.

What Is Obsidian?

Obsidian is a valuable resource due to its immense sturdiness and blast resistance. It can only be made from lava, and its mining sometimes poses a challenge. You may also come across it in certain regions.

However, it's all worth it, as once you have some obsidian, you can craft amazing things.

How to Make Obsidian in Minecraft?

The process of making and mining obsidian is simple but sometimes dangerous. So, you'll need to prepare a couple of things.

1. Make a Bucket of Water

To get obsidian in Minecraft, first, you need to fill an empty bucket from a body of water.

2. Get a Diamond or Netherite Pickaxe

You have to mine diamond ores, most commonly found between levels -50 and -64, and smelt them in a furnace to get diamonds. 

Then, get your crafting table out and place three diamonds in the first row of the grid and two sticks in the center column beneath. That way, you’ll craft a diamond pickaxe used to break obsidian in Minecraft

If you have a Netherite ingot and a smithing table, you can upgrade the pickaxe you just made to a Netherite one.

3. Find Lava

Lava is commonly located underground or on the surface of some biomes. Watch out when mining near it, as you can easily fall in it and die. That's why it's best to wear fire-resistant armor if you want to get close.

4. Pour Water Over the Lava

To create obsidian, position your water bucket over the lava and right-click to pour it. Then, you'll need to put the water back in the bucket.

5. Mine the Obsidian

The only way to mine these blocks is with a diamond or Netherite pickaxe. Otherwise, you won't be able to break it, or you'll get nothing out of it.

What Can You Do With Obsidian in Minecraft?

Now that you know how to make obsidian, let's delve into its crafting use. 

  • Nether Portal — You need at least 14 obsidian blocks to build a portal from the Overworld to the Nether dimension. The minimum version has to be four blocks wide and five blocks tall.
  • Beacon — This light projector gives you special status effects. You'll need three obsidian blocks, five glass blocks, and a Nether Star to make it.
  • Enchanting Table — With it, you can spend your experience points to enchant particular items. The crafting recipe requires four obsidian blocks, two diamonds, and a book.
  • Ender Chest — This chest allows you to store items and access them from another one of the same kind located anywhere in the world. You need eight obsidian blocks and an Eye of Ender to craft it.
  • Building explosion-resistant structures — The obsidian's qualities make it ideal for safeguarding your buildings against a variety of threats, including TNT explosions. It is, however, ineffective against the wither.

Where to Find Obsidian in Minecraft?

These are some of the places where you're likely to find naturally generated obsidian: 

  • The Nether — Lava is more common than water in this dimension, so you'll have plenty to mine.
  • The End — You'll see giant solid obsidian pillars on the main island and a lot more in the end ship alongside end cities.
  • Bastion remnant chests — They have a nearly 25% chance of dropping six to eight obsidian blocks.
  • Nether fortress chests — The odds of getting between two and four blocks are slimmer, about 8%.
  • Ruined portal chests — They offer nearly a 47% chance of finding at least one obsidian block.
  • Weaponsmith's chests in villages — About one in four will contain between three and seven dark purple blocks.

How to Mine Obsidian in Minecraft Faster?

Mining obsidian takes 9.4s with a diamond pickaxe. However, you can use the Efficiency enchantment on the pickaxe to reduce the time significantly. With Efficiency V, you can break obsidian in 2.25s per block.

Adding the Haste and Haste II effects will further shorten the time to 1.85s and 1.6s, respectively. At most, with a diamond pickaxe, you can mine obsidian at a rate of 37.5 blocks per minute.

You can use a Netherite pickaxe to mine even faster — with Efficiency V and Haste II only takes 1.5s per block.

To Wrap Up

Now you know how to make obsidian in Minecraft and what tools to mine it with. 

It's a versatile and essential material required for some advanced recipes.

With some simple mechanics, you can have as much obsidian as you need in no time.

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Marina Stanisheva
Marina Stanisheva

With charmingly infectious enthusiasm, Marina is always thrilled by forthcoming challenges. Thanks to her knack for gathering useful (and not so much) information, she is here to get you any answer you need.