The Nether is a notoriously hard realm to conquer in Minecraft. Not only is it full of lava and hard to navigate through, it is known to have quite an array of dangerous mobs in it too.

To make things even harder on the player, it is very hard to set up a base in the Nether. Usually spawn is set with a bed, but doing so in the Nether will cause you certain death.

Luckily, with time and effort there is a way to get around this by creating a respawn anchor. Here’s how to make a respawn anchor in Minecraft.

Finding Crying Obsidian

The main ingredient for a respawn anchor, which you will see in the full recipe further down in this article, is crying obsidian. This is a very unique and rather rare block.

Just like mining regular obsidian, which you need to get to the Nether, this type of obsidian can only be mined with diamond or netherite pickaxes. Though, finding it is the tricky part.

Crying obsidian can only be found around ruined Nether portals in the overworld.

OverWorld portal

These portals spawn randomly and can be restored to access the Nether by simply filling out the missing obsidian blocks. They can also be used to link Nether portals together.

Around them you are always likely to find at least a block or two of crying obsidian.

The only other way to get crying obsidian is by bartering with piglins in the Nether. Dropping gold nuggets for the piglins has a small chance of them giving you 1 to 3 blocks of crying obsidian in return. However, the chance of this is less than 10%.

You will have to mostly rely on exploration to find this block.

Minecraft Respawn Anchor Recipe

  • 6 crying obsidian
  • 3 glowstone blocks

Once you have gotten your hands on all the crying obsidian blocks, the glowstone will be a piece of cake to find if you have already ventured into the Nether.

Glowstone can be found all around the realm as it’s the main light source.

Arranging the items like you can see in the picture below is enough to make a single respawn anchor.

Respawn Anchor Recipe

How to Use a Respawn Anchor

The respawn anchor is a spawn block and its main purpose is respawning the player at its location once the player dies.

Respawn Anchor Uncharged

Though, unlike a bed, which you simply place down and interact with, a respawn anchor has to also be charged in order for it to work.

To charge a respawn anchor you have to use glowstone on it. Each block of glowstone used on a respawn anchor will give it a charge, up to a total of 5. With each charge the respawn anchor will glow brighter.

Respawn Anchor charged

You will need to put in at least one charge in order to set your respawn location at the anchor.

Each death and respawn will use up a charge from the anchor. This means that if the anchor has no charges at the time of death you will not respawn on it. Instead you will respawn back on the world’s original spawn point.

It is also important to know that a respawn anchor can not be placed anywhere outside the Nether.

Doing so will cause it to explode.

What to Do Next

Now that you have a respawn anchor you may feel more at ease and confident to venture farther in the Nether.

One of the main things you will want to find in this dimension is a Nether Fortress, a structure in the Nether that is known for amazing and valuable loot, but also for its many dangers.

Be sure you are well prepared before searching for one.