Obsidian could be labeled as one of the most essential blocks in Minecraft.
Obsidian is best known for its use in nether portals, which are necessary to complete any Minecraft survival world. On top of that, obsidian is required for many high value crafting recipes, such as beacons, ender chests and enchanting tables.
Most Minecraft players know that to mine and obtain obsidian blocks, players will need to have a diamond or netherite pickaxe. Obsidian is one of, if not the most, difficult blocks to break in the game, so it requires a strong tool to get it.
This block is often in high demand, and yet obsidian is not always the easiest to find. Here are some tips to help players find obsidian in Minecraft.
How to fin obsidian in Minecraft
Where lava meets water
Obsidian blocks can generate naturally in Minecraft anywhere where water meets lava. This is typically seen most frequently in deep caves or ravines.
If locating obsidian naturally generated in this way proves to be too difficult, or players simply don’t want to venture off into treacherous cave terrain, luckily they can easily create obsidian manually. Players will, however, have to locate both lava and water sources and use a bucket to transfer the entities.
If players are simply in search of a plethora of obsidian, they can locate a lava pool and pour water onto it. Doing so will turn every block of lava into blocks of obsidian.
Players who wish to find obsidian for the sole purpose of making a nether portal can build one without mining a single obsidian block by using a build trick with lava and water. This trick is often utilized by famed Minecraft player Dream during his videos.
A quick tutorial on this nether portal trick can be found here:
Structures + Loot chests
Obsidian can also be found at ruined portals stacked in shapes that resemble a nether portal, scattered around the ruined portal remnants. Sometimes, there are even loose obsidian blocks in the chests at these structures.
Plenty of other loot chests around any given Minecraft world possess a chance of containing obsidian. Once in the nether, obsidian is often in chests within bastion remnants.
In the overworld, players have a chance of finding obsidian in a village with a weaponsmith. Additionally, woodland mansions always generate hidden rooms known as obsidian or lava rooms that players can access after breaking through the diamond block that shields the secret space.
The End
Players who are really desperate for obsidian can always make a trip to the End dimension to find a large supply of the purple/black block. End spikes, the pillars that store the end crystals that keep the ender dragon alive, are made entirely of obsidian.
There are 10 end spikes in the End, each made of thousands upon thousands of obsidian blocks, which equates to roughly over 40,000 obsidian blocks that the player can choose from. Of course, mining a substantial amount of these obsidian blocks would surely take quite a while to accomplish.
For other uses, see Obsidian (disambiguation).
Obsidian is a block found in all dimensions or created when water flows over a lava source. It has high durability and blast resistance rendering it immune to normal explosions. Obsidian is used for crafting and to make the frame for a nether portal.
Obtaining[]
Obsidian drops itself only when mined with a diamond or netherite pickaxe; otherwise, it drops nothing.
| 50 |
| 250 |
| 125 |
| 62.5 |
| 41.7 |
| 9.4 |
| 8.35 |
| 20.85 |
- ↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.
Enchanting a pickaxe with Efficiency and using a beacon with Haste both drastically decrease the mining time. See the obsidian farming tutorial for more information.
Also, 8 obsidian are dropped by an ender chest when broken without Silk Touch.
Obsidian is one of the two blocks an end crystal can be place on; the other is bedrock.
They cannot be picked up by endermen, despite obsidian being a full block.
Natural generation[]
Naturally occurring obsidian.
Water pouring onto lava springs, forming obsidian.
Obsidian generates naturally in all dimensions:
Post-generation[]
Obsidian is created when a nether portal is generated in the Nether or the Overworld. This portal can then be mined, providing a way of obtaining obsidian renewably.
In Java Edition, if the nether portal generated floating in the air, then 4 extra obsidian are be created at the bottom of the portal.
When a player enters the End, it will always spawn on a platform of 25 obsidian blocks. This platform can then be mined, and gets regenerated when an entity (only in pre-1.9/1.16) enters the End, which provides another way of obtaining obsidian renewably. Obsidian pillars also regenerate when the ender dragon respawns.
Using a water spring to mine obsidian.
Obsidian is formed when flowing water touches a lava source block, and can be found naturally where water from a spring or lake has flowed over a nearby lava pool.
Chest loot[]
Bartering[]
Piglins may barter a block of obsidian when given a gold ingot with a chance of 8.71%.
Usage[]
Obsidian is useful for building explosion-resistant structures as it has, along with anvils and netherite blocks, a blast resistance of 1,200; the highest of all blocks obtainable in Survival mode (together with crying obsidian and block of netherite). Obsidian also cannot be destroyed by the ender dragon. However, ender dragons can traverse obsidian blocks without destroying them.
These qualities make obsidian an extremely effective defensive block, and it is commonly used in many bases in multiplayer servers as protection from griefers.
Obsidian is, however, not immune to the wither. Although black wither skulls has merely the explosive power of a ghast fireball, blue wither skulls ignore blast resistance, which means they can destroy obsidian. The wither's body can also destroy obsidian, either through block-breaking behavior upon taking damage, or its dash attack[Bedrock Edition only]. The wither is the only mob in the game that can break obsidian.
End crystals can be placed on top of obsidian, which can be useful in PvP combat, or just as decoration.
Nether portals[]
Obsidian is used to create a nether portal frame, which is then ignited using fire. The frame must be a vertical rectangle any size from 4×5 to 23×23. The corners of the frame are not required for an operational portal.
Crafting ingredient[]
Note Blocks[]
Obsidian can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sounds.
Piston interactivity[]
Obsidian cannot be pushed by pistons. It also cannot be pushed nor pulled by sticky pistons.
Sounds[]
Java Edition:
Bedrock Edition:
Data values[]
ID[]
Java Edition:
| Obsidian | obsidian | Block & Item | dragon_immune mineable/pickaxe needs_diamond_tool | block.minecraft.obsidian |
Bedrock Edition:
- ↑ ID of block's direct item form, which is used in savegame files and addons.
- ↑ Available with /give command.
- ↑ The block's direct item form has the same id with the block.
Achievements[]
| Enchanter | Construct an Enchantment Table. | Pick up an enchantment table from a crafting table output. | 20G | Bronze |
Advancements[]
| Ice Bucket Challenge | Obtain a block of obsidian | Hot Stuff | Have a block of obsidian in your inventory. | story/form_obsidian | |
| We Need to Go Deeper | Build, light and enter a Nether Portal | Ice Bucket Challenge | Enter the Nether dimension. | story/enter_the_nether | |
| Enchanter | Enchant an item at an Enchantment Table | Diamonds! | Insert an item in an enchanting table, then apply an enchantment. | story/enchant_item |
History[]
| Obsidian is extremely tough to break and drops one cobblestone block when broken. |
| Added the obsidian wall, which marks the X and Z axes, intersecting at 0,0. This creates two intersecting planes extending just above the surface of the solid material that surrounds them. |
| The obsidian wall has been removed. |
| Obsidian is now created when water touches a lava source. |
| Obsidian now drops itself when broken. |
| Obsidian's explosion resistance increased. Before this, obsidian had the same blast resistance as stone. |
| Obsidian made indestructible to TNT. |
| Introduced the nether portal, made using obsidian, which also makes obsidian renewable. |
| However, since diamond pickaxes are not yet renewable, obsidian cannot be fully renewably obtained. |
| Obsidian can now be mined with an iron pickaxe (has since been removed[when?]) or moved by endermen. |
| Obsidian can no longer be mined by an iron pickaxe. |
| The enchantment table has been introduced, which is crafted using obsidian. |
| Introduced the End, with obsidian platform and obsidian pillars. |
| Obsidian mining time has been decreased from 15 to 2.5 seconds. |
| Obsidian mining time has been increased from 2.5 to 9.4 seconds. |
| Obsidian can now be found in village blacksmith chests. |
| The ender chest has been introduced, which is crafted using obsidian. |
| As diamond pickaxes can now be purchased from blacksmith villagers, obsidian is now renewable. |
| The beacon block has now received a crafting recipe, which uses obsidian. |
| The wither's blue wither skull projectile has been introduced, which produces a special explosion that can destroy obsidian. |
| Obsidian can now be destroyed with explosives by summoning a fireball with custom data. |
| An infinite obsidian glitch (MC-4239, allowing conversion of redstone into obsidian) has been fixed during the implementation of the new block metadata format. |
| Obsidian can now be found inside chests in nether fortresses. |
| Obsidian now generates as part of the end cities. |
| The obsidian yield from nether fortress chests has been slightly decreased. |
| Obsidian now generates in woodland mansions. |
| Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 49. |
| Obsidian now generates in some underwater ruins. |
| Obsidian has a 1⁄109 (~0.92%) chance of being offered by piglins when bartering, in a stack size of 1. |
| Obsidian now has a 10⁄113 (~8.84%) chance of being offered by piglins when bartering, in a stack size of 1–5. |
| Obsidian now generates in bastion remnants chests. |
| Obsidian can now spawn as part of ruined portals or be found in its chests. |
| The chance of finding obsidian in bastion remnant chests has been decreased from 31.5% to 24.4%. |
| Glowing obsidian has been added, which drops a block of regular obsidian when mined. |
| The newly added nether reactor structure generates a "spire" of obsidian when activated. |
| The "spires" generated by nether reactors are now made of netherrack, instead of obsidian. |
| Obsidian can now be found in villages within blacksmith chests. |
| Obsidian can now be used to form nether portals. |
| Obsidian is now used to craft enchantment tables. |
| Obsidian now requires 6.5 seconds to mine, rather than 3. |
| Obsidian is now used to craft beacons. |
| The wither's "blue wither skull" projectile has been introduced, which produces a special explosion that can destroy obsidian. |
| Obsidian is now used to craft ender chests and end crystals. |
| Obsidian now generates naturally in the End as obsidian platforms, obsidian pillars and some parts of end ships in end cities. |
| Obsidian now generates in woodland mansions. |
| Obsidian now generates in some underwater ruins. |
| Obsidian can now be found in village weaponsmith chests. |
| Obsidian can now be obtained from bartering. |
| Obsidian breaking time is now 6.2 seconds instead of 9.6 seconds. |
| Obsidian now has a 10⁄106 (9.43%) chance of being offered by piglins when bartering, in a stack size of 1. |
| Obsidian now be found in bastion remnants chests. |
| Obsidian can now generate as part of ruined portals and can be found in its chests. |
Issues[]
Issues relating to "Obsidian" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia[]
- Obsidian is one of the hardest blocks to destroy in Minecraft. In reality, obsidian has characteristics similar to glass.
- Geologically, obsidian is a volcanic glass that forms when lava is flash-cooled. It is the only igneous rock that's glassy.
- Other volcanic rocks in the game are andesite, basalt, and tuff.
- 71.25 times the explosive power of TNT would be required to destroy a block of obsidian; however, additional TNT increases the blast radius, not explosive power. It is possible to /summon an explosion strong enough to destroy obsidian.
Gallery[]
Naturally generated obsidian as found in a snowy biome.
More naturally generated obsidian pillars as seen in The End.
Obsidian as used to shield from explosions.
Java Edition[]
The first released screenshot of the End, featuring obsidian in obsidian pillars.
The brightened version of the first image featuring obsidian.
A naturally generated obsidian wall from Infdev.
Bedrock Edition[]
See also[]
- Obsidian wall
- Crying Obsidian
- Glowing Obsidian
- Nether Portal