Obsidian is a very strong and dark colored block that can be found and used in the Minecraft world. It is essential for game progression, especially when you are preparing to go to the Nether.
Sometimes it’s not easy to find it naturally in the world or caves.
Luckily, you can make obsidian yourself. In this article we will show you how to make obsidian in Minecraft, and we’ll also show you how to find it, mine it and use it.
Be sure to have a diamond pickaxe at the ready.
Making Obsidian
Making obsidian in Minecraft is simple. All you need is a bucket of water and a bucket of lava.
Water is easy to find, however lava can sometimes be a bit harder. It can spawn in small pools both above and beneath ground. It is just a matter of exploring and finding it.
Obsidian can not be made on a crafting table like most blocks.
Instead you must combine water and lava in the world. You will need a source block of lava and water to simply make contact with each other.
This will destroy the lava block, but in turn will spawn obsidian in its place.
Like you can see in the image above, you can make a small trench in order to not lose the water, but you can also directly put the water in the lava or vice versa.
Caution: If the lava is flowing it will make cobblestone instead.
Finding Obsidian in the World
If you are struggling to find the lava to spawn your own obsidian, then you can explore a little more to find obsidian yourself.
Sometimes water comes in contact with lava in the regular world. This can be found in large caves at lower levels or in ravines.
This is the best way to find obsidian and in large quantities.
However, obsidian is not just found in caves.
Obsidian can be found as part of ruined Nether portals which can be found around the world. This obsidian, along with the crying obsidian and other blocks that can be found in these portals can be easily mined and used.
Obsidian can also be found in woodland mansions where they envelop a block of diamond.
You will have to mine this obsidian in order to reach the diamond block.
It can also be found in the other realms. The largest quantities can be found in the End, because the obsidian there is used to construct the large obsidian towers.
Using Obsidian
Obsidian is known to be one of the strongest and most blast resistant blocks in the game, following bedrock, which cannot be mined or destroyed outside of creative mode.
This is why mining obsidian can be pretty tedious and hard without the right pickaxe.
Unfortunately, despite obsidian being able to be used in various crafting recipes, it does not have different versions of itself, such as stairs, slabs, or walls.
The primary use of obsidian is always Nether portals as it is the only way to enter the Nether.
Though, obsidian can still be used in building different structures regardless.
You can also use it in multiplayer servers if you fear someone would want to explode your base using TNT or similar means. No block can explode obsidian, which is also why it is often used in TNT launcher builds.
Obsidian in Crafting
There are several crafting recipes that will require you to use obsidian.
One of the items you’re most likely to craft pretty early on once you get your hands on obsidian is going to be an enchanting table. It is a simple block that allows you to improve all of your weapons, tools, and armor.
The other two recipes require you to get rather far into the game and are late game items.
The first one is a bit easier and it’s the Ender chest which can be made by combining obsidian with an eye of ender.
The last one is the beacon, which is an extremely useful block. You’ll need to get a nether star if you want to make this.
A nether star can only be obtained by killing the Wither boss, which is an optional boss that has to be summoned with the help of soul sand and wither skeleton skulls.
What to Do Next
Now that you know how to make and collect your obsidian, you have quite a lot you can do. From starting to learn enchanting to playing around with Nether portals.
Did you know that you can connect multiple Nether portals? It’s not as tricky as it might seem at first, and it’s a useful project to take on.
