How To Create Obsidian in Minecraft

In Minecraft, players are gradually introduced to better materials and items as they survive longer. Starting with simple dirt blocks, you’ll eventually dig deeper into caves and see some lava, which can be easily converted into obsidian. However, there’s more to creating this strong rock than pouring water on lava.

Obsidian is an essential material in Minecraft required to reach the Nether. Fortunately, it’s not difficult to get enough of these blocks. Read on to learn more.

Creating Obsidian in Minecraft

Lava occurs naturally in many locations in the overworld. The easiest way to find some is to dig deep into a cave system, as that’s usually where you find lava pools and rivers. Lava is also found in naturally-generated buildings.

To create obsidian, all that’s required is pouring a Bucket of Water onto the lava. Doing so makes the hot liquid rock cool down into the black and purple rock known as obsidian. You can then mine the obsidian using a Diamond Pickaxe.

Lava can also be stored in buckets. If you have a few, bring some with you and leave the cave system. You can dig a hole, pour lava in, and make obsidian by cooling the hot material with water.

Creating an enormous hole lets you save some lava that can be scooped with an empty bucket. Because only the lava that comes into contact with water is cooled, the obsidian will create a wall between lava and water. Liquids will flow as long as possible if there’s a source.

As such, you can potentially get unlimited obsidian if you arrange the sources properly.

Even so, there’s another way to get plenty of obsidian from natural sources. When exploring the world, you may encounter lava rivers on the surface. Pour water over them to convert the top layer into obsidian.

However, it would help if you were careful when mining the obsidian. The layer under the rock is still lava, meaning it can hurt you and burn the mined obsidian. The solution is to place some water around the mining spot so it flows into the lava before it burns anything.

Make an Obsidian Farm in Minecraft

Making a hole and pouring lava into it is the most straightforward obsidian farm, but there are ways to increase your yield. This is done by casting lava down a structure. Here’s how a basic lava-casting process goes:

1. Fence the area below so the lava doesn’t overflow.
   
2. Pour the lava and wait for it to flow all the way down.
   
3. Fill the empty bucket with lava.
   
4. Pour water on the lava.
   
5. Enjoy the sight of lava hardening into obsidian.
   
6. Mine to your heart’s content.

The structure can be as tall as you want or any size you can manage. It doesn’t have to be a staircase, either. A pyramid or tower is acceptable as long as the lava can flow in an ordered manner and you contain it.

Lava casting is excellent for harvesting obsidian, but you can also use it to build large structures of this solid material. Obsidian withstands Creeper explosions and many other attacks without budging, and bases made of it last forever.

An Obsidian Generator

Obsidian farms are good, but obsidian generators make the drenching process automated. Once the generator starts running, you can leave it be until the chests fill up. Here are the necessary materials.

• Four chests
  
• Two hoppers
  
• A dispenser
  
• Redstone dust
  
• Three trapdoors
  
• A stair block
  
• Two Redstone torches
  
• A Redstone comparator
  
• Water buckets
  
• Lava buckets
  

You’ll likely spend some time crafting some of these objects. Once you have them all, follow these steps:

Part 1

1. Dig a hole in the ground measuring 2×1.
   
2. Place a large chest in the hole.
   
3. Face the hole vertically and place one hopper on one of the halves of the chest.
   
4. Place a block to the hopper’s left.
   
5. Drop a non-flammable stair block on the block that faces the hopper.
   
6. Surround the sides not facing the hopper with trapdoors and activate them.
   
7. Pour water on the stair block when the trapdoors surround it.
   
8. Break the block from Step 4.
   
9. Leave a Redstone comparator to the hopper’s right and place a building block on its right.
   
10. Put a Redstone torch on top of the block.
    

Part 2

1. Drop a block on top of the first Redstone torch and place another Redstone torch on it.
   
2. Place another block to the left of the one from Step 9 in the section above.
   
3. Equip Redstone dust and drop some on the block.
   
4. To the left of the block above, connect a dispenser aiming downwards.
   
5. Put a hopper connecting to the dispenser.
   
6. Put a large chest on top of the hopper.
   
7. Insert a button on the dispenser.
   
8. Pour lava on the chest on top and press the button.
   
9. Start holding down the left mouse button to mine.
   
10. Collect your obsidian when ready.

As you can see, this process is incredibly convenient. You still need to mine the obsidian manually, but it’s much faster than using a cast or hole.

Practically Indestructible

Obsidian is impossible to mine without a Diamond Pickaxe, meaning diamonds will always be necessary if you want to farm it. Fortunately, it’s not difficult to find diamonds, while lava and water can be reused if you collect them quickly enough. Knowing how to make obsidian is essential for constructing Nether Portals and more.

What do you usually do to obtain obsidian? How do you prefer making an obsidian generator? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.