Minecraft resource gathering/Printable version

Minecraft resource gathering

The current, editable version of this book is available in Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection, at
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Minecraft_resource_gathering

Permission is granted to copy, distribute, and/or modify this document under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Preface

This book is intended to give instructions on the best ways to gather resources, like diamonds, in Minecraft.

Versions

The book isn’t meant to be version specific. It gives info regarding older versions as well. For example, the page about diamonds will describe the best strategies for mining diamonds both prior to the Caves and Cliffs update and after.

Amethyst

A real life Amethyst.

Description

Amethyst is a new block in Minecraft. It is purple with sparkles.

Versions

It was added in the Minecraft Caves and Cliffs update Part 1 (1.17)

Finding

If you are lucky,you can find Amethyst geodes,that have some amythest in them.

While you can collect Amethyst blocks, mining Budding Amethyst (the blocks on which Amethyst buds/crystals generate onto) will not drop anything. Also, don't mine the Amethyst buds, or you'll get nothing.

Ancient Debris

Ancient debris is an ore added in 1.16, found in the nether. It's drop (netherite scrap) is used to craft netherite ingots, used in crafting and to upgrade tools and armor.

Methods

TNT Strip Mining

Ancient debris is most common at Y=12. Strip mine in a straight line for about 50 blocks. Place TNT at four block intervals. Ignite one piece of TNT and return to a safe area. The explosion clears netherrack, leaving Ancient Debris (which is blast proof).

Mining

Enchant a diamond pickaxe with Efficiency IV. Go to Y=12 and and start clearing netherrack: note how it's broken instantly. Ancient debris will be left intact due to it's longer mining time.

This method creates a larger risk of dying to lava. Stand a few blocks away from mined blocks, and be ready to place blocks to remove and lava.

Use

By combining 4 netherite scraps with 4 gold ingots on a crafting table, you can create 1 netherite ingot.

Apple

A red apple in real life.

Gathering methods

All you need to do to gather an apple is cut down an oak tree and wait for the leaves to decay. You have a 1 in 200 chance of getting an apple from 1 oak leaf. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, typically with an axe of some sort for efficiency.

Use

An apple restores 4 food points,and 8 gold surronding an apple makes a Golden Apple,which give Regeneration II for 5 seconds and Absorption for 2 minutes.

Charcoal

Obtaining

You get Charcoal from smelting Logs in a Furnace. You can use any source of fuel as fuel, including but not limited to planks (sensible choice if you don’t have coal but have access to lots of wood), coal or charcoal, or even lava or blaze rods. (sensible choice if you have decided to build your base in the nether since you have access to very large lava oceans and since the 1.16 nether update there are trees in the nether).

Use

Charcoal is in many case, a valid alternative to Coal. It can be used as fuel. One charcoal smelts 8 items. However, you can’t craft charcoal blocks like you can coal blocks.

Also, it’s used in the crafting recipes of the campfire, the fire charge, the soul torch, and the torch, though in all of them, you can use regular coal instead.

Clay

Clay can be found in riverbeds, lake floors and in shallow oceans, and can be mined with a shovel (or your fist if you fancy drowning) to get clay balls, which can be smelted into bricks, or crafted back together into clay blocks, which can be smelted into terracotta.

It may help to use a potion of water breathing or enchant your helmet with respiration if you plan to mine clay in large quantities.

Coal

A piece of coal in real life

Obtaining

Coal is found underground on any level and can be mined with any pickaxe. If you use a pickaxe enchanted with Silk Touch, it will drop the ore, which is pretty useless exept for decoration. If your pickaxe is enchanted with fortune, you will get multiple pieces of coal.

Coal can also drop from the dangerous Wither Skeleton.

Uses

Coal can be used as a fuel. One piece of coal can smelt 8 items. However a Block Of Coal (crafted with 9 coal) can smelt 80 items. Blocks of coal can also be used as decoration. If you like the way they look, you might want to use charcoal, blaze rods, or lava as your primary source of fuel instead.

Concrete

Concrete cannot be found naturally in Minecraft. You must make it. Here's how.

Concrete powder

There are only three ingredients to craft Concrete Powder: 4 Sand, 4 Gravel, and any color of dye.

Turning it into concrete

You need to put the concrete powder in water to get concrete. And you're done!

Copper

A real life copper nugget.

Finding copper

Copper is found underground in the form of copper ore veins.

Mining copper

Players must mine copper with a stone, or higher quality, pickaxe. Mining the block with a wooden pickaxe will destroy the block without giving any copper ore.

Each copper ore drops between 2 and 4 copper.

Refining copper

When a copper ore block is broken, it will drop Raw Copper, which will have to be smelted to be turned into copper ingots.

Crafting recipes that use copper

Putting nine copper ingots in a square using a crafting table will craft a block of copper, while three copper ingots arranged in a vertical line will craft a lightning rod, and putting an amethyst shard and two copper ingots together in a vertical line will craft a spyglass.

Versions

Copper ore was officially added to Minecraft in the Caves & Cliffs update (1.17).

References

Crops

There are a variety of crops that you can plant. Some are hard to farm and some are extremely and just take patience. Here are the crops.

Crops

Wheat

First of all, there is Wheat, grown from Wheat seeds. Wheat requires Wheat seeds, grass or dirt and a hoe of any kind (most commonly wood, stone or iron). Place the dirt if required and till the dirt using a hoe by right clicking it with the hoe in your hand. then place the seed and either wait for it to grow or use bone meal from skeletons. These are the main ways to use most of these. Farm land also grows quicker when it is near water. Water can reach crops up to 4 blocks which means a 9 by 9 area of farm land with water in the middle creating 80 spaces with one water source. Once it has grown, break the wheat block and you will get Wheat and 0-2 seeds back. Add more seeds and expand your farm to increase efficiency.

Beetroot

Beetroot seeds can be planted the same way as Wheat seeds. 6 beets and a bowl can be crafted into beetroot soup,but Beetroot Soup does not stack.

Carrots

Carrots can be grown the same way as well, but the whole carrot is planted in. No seeds for it.

Potatoes

Potatoes are planted the same as carrots except a bit less efficient. it gives less hunger points and it has a chance to be a poisonous Potato (has green pieces coming around it) which has a 60% chance of giving you poison for 5 seconds. However, it is one of the few farmable foods that can be smelted to be better. This creates a cooked potato.

Melons

Melons will be different from everything mentioned so far. Instead of the seed growing the crop, the seed grows a stem that soon grows a crop, the melon block (stem can not be bonemealed to quick melon access). These melon stems will keep growing melons as long as the stem is not broken or the places for it to grow it (the four blocks in each direction of it) are obstructed (block placed there) Melon blocks can be broken. It will drop melons or, using silk touch, drop melon blocks which can be crafted into nine melons.

Pumpkin

Pumpkin is grown the same as Melons, except it has different features. You can craft pumpkin pies by putting egg, sugar and carved pumpkin together in a line. To get a carved pumpkin, place the pumpkin and shear it. It will drop another pumpkin seed which you can use to farm again.

Bamboo

Bamboo is a crop that can be grown using Bamboo. You can find Bamboo in Jungles and Jungle temples. You can plant bamboo on a dirt block, grass block, coarse dirt, gravel, mycelium, podzol, sand, red sand, or the new rooted dirt. Basically any type of dirt. It will grow from 12-16 blocks in the air. When finished, break the block above the block on the ground which will make the whole bamboo stick shatter and the bamboo will fall, leaving the stem still there to grow. Bamboo is the only farming material so far that can be used as furnace fuel and can be turned into stick.

Cocoa beans

Cocoa beans are plants that are very unique. Cocoa beans are planted and can only be planted on jungle logs so be sure to pick some up while getting that bamboo. Fully grown Cocoa beans look orange instead of greenish or brownish. Harvest them by breaking them. then place them back.

Notes

Most crops in Minecraft have real world counterparts, with the exception of Nether Wart, Chorus Fruit, Nether Fungus (red and blue) and Glow Berries

Diamond

Cut diamonds in real life. Unrefined diamonds are often much more crude.

Introduction

Diamonds are one of the most sought-after resources in Minecraft, and is one of the rarest ores. It can be crafted into armor and tools, such as pickaxes.

Location

Diamonds are found deep underground (levels 5 to 12 are best for in version 1.16 and below, while after 1.17, the best place to find them is -20 to -64).

Methods

To mine diamonds, you will need an iron, diamond, or netherite pickaxe (2 or more are recommended, in case one breaks), food, and torches to keep mobs from spawning. It’s recommended to bring a water buckets (in case you fall into lava, a common incident while mining), a crafting table, a shovel for removing dirt and gravel, and a sword and armour in case mobs come. If you are further into the game, you may enchant your tool with "Fortune" (maximum level Fortune III) which gives more diamonds per ore mined (Maximum of 4 items per block of ore mined).

Emerald

A real life emerald.

Introduction

Acquisition methods

Trading

A very common speedrunning technique to getting emeralds is using a fletcher for stick trades. The fletcher will request 32 sticks and will offer 1 emerald. To get a fletcher you will need to put 4 blocks of wood in a crafting table just as you would to craft a crafting table and two flint above the wood and place the fletching table beside a villager that doesn't have a job/profession. There is a chance that it won't give you this stick trade, but all you have to do is break the fletching table and re-place it. Another method to trade for easy emeralds is to use glass panes for emeralds on a librarian to get emeralds.

Gold

Gold can be found in Minecraft at levels 32 or below, or at any level in Mesa biomes. It can be mined with a stone pickaxe or higher.

Gunpowder

Obtaining

Gunpowder can sometimes be obtained by killing Creepers or Ghasts. They can also commonly be found in chests in desert temples. Desert temples are a semi rare structure that generates in the dest biome. Desert temples can be lotted by breaking any of the 9 blocks in the center, but have a pressure plate at the bottom that detonates 9 TNT which will almost always result in the players death.

Uses

5 Gunpowder and 4 sand can be used to craft TNT. 1 gunpowder and 1 paper can be used to craft fireworks which can be used to boost your elytra.

Honey

A real life beekeeper using smoke, a similar method as used in Minecraft.

Introduction

Acquisition methods

To get honey, first craft a campfire, place it under a Bee hive/nest. Then right click the hive/nest with a glass bottle to get honey. If you collect honey without placing a campfire, all nearby bees will attack you.

Use

Honey can remove the poison status effect when drank, but keeps other effects untouched.

You can combine 4 honey bottles into a single honey block. This block may be crafted back into 4 bottles. Honey blocks slow you down, half jump height and reduce fall damage by 80%. Fall speed is decreased if you slide on one, and allow you to stand in the same block as it in the way chests do.

Ice

Ice occurs naturally in frozen biomes. It is automatically formed in these biomes when water freezes. To collect it, a pickaxe enchanted with Silk Touch is required. Mining it with any other tool will drop nothing and turn the ice into water. Any tier of pickaxe can be used, as long as it has the Silk Touch enchant.

Iron

Iron can be found at any level in Minecraft and can be mined with stone-tier pickaxes or higher.

Obtaining

Iron ore naturally occurs in ore veins at any level of the Overworld. It drops raw iron (ever since the "Caves and Cliffs" update. Otherwise, it drops Iron Ore), which can be smelted into Iron Ingots; Silk Touch is required to obtain iron ore after the Caves and Cliffs update. Blocks of raw iron can rarely be found in ore veins in deep caverns.

Iron golems drop 3–5 Iron Ingots when killed. Zombies have a very small chance of dropping a single Iron Ingot.

Iron Ingots can be found as chest loot for dungeons, abandoned mineshafts, bastion remnants, buried treasure, desert temples, End cities, jungle temples, Nether fortresses, pillager outposts, shipwrecks, strongholds, village toolsmiths, village armorers, village weaponsmiths, and woodland mansions. Iron Nuggets can be found as chest loot for bastion remnants, ruined portals, shipwrecks, and taiga village houses. Blocks of iron can be found as chest loot for bastion remnants.

Usage

Iron is mainly used to craft tools and armor.

Lapis Lazuli

You can find lapis lazuli at levels 32 or below, and you must mine it with an iron-tier or higher pickaxe.

Meat

Acquiring meat

To get meat, craft a weapon and kill an animal. The recommended weapon to craft is a sword, but you can also use a bow and arrow if you would like to practice archery. Theoretically you can punch using any tool, item, or even with your bare hand, however a sword is recommended because it deals more damage, meaning you need less hits to kill the animal.

Food drops

Animal	Droped food	About the food and other tips	Other drops
Cow	Raw beef	Can be cooked.	Leather, milk can be obtained by using an empty bucket on it
Sheep	Raw mutton	Can be cooked. Consider shearing the sheep first if you can.	Wool
Chicken	Raw chicken	Can be cooked. Poisonous if uncooked.	Feathers. 1 Egg laid every 5 minutes if kept alive.
Pig	Raw porkchop	Can be cooked.	None
Rabbit	Raw rabbit	Can be cooked. Consider killing rabbits with a bow at a distance to avoid detection. They are a pain to kill	Rabbit's hide, rabbit's foot

Cooking meat

To cook meat, put it an a furnace or a smoker (for half the exp. points and half the time) with fuel, like coal or charcoal. Cooked meat restores a lot more hunger than raw meat, making it the preferred choice for consumption at a base or settlement, or when preparing for a journey.

It is still possible to eat raw meat in Minecraft for a slight hunger reduction, and this is common when players are on the go and need to eat something immediately (Presuming they are out of superior provisions). This is also fairly common in the early game, when players may not have furnace access. Players are not penalized for eating meat raw, unless that meat is raw chicken, then they will get food poisoning.

Real life inspiration

In real life, any undercooked or raw meat has an increased chance of carrying a foodborne illness. However raw chicken commonly carries the disease Salmonella, and so cooking chicken thoroughly to kill the disease is especially important, which is reflected in Minecraft.

Mob Loot

You can get various types of mob loot. Here is a table showing the mob loot.

Overworld mobs

Name	Drops
Creeper	Gunpowder
Zombie	Rotten Flesh, Iron (rarely), Equipped gear (rarely)
Skeleton	Bones, Arrows, Equipped gear (rarely)
Spider	Spider Eye, String
Witch	Stick, Spider Eye, Gunpowder, Redstone, Sugar, Potion (if drinking one at the moment of death)
Phantom	Phantom membrane
Pillager	Arrows, Emeralds, Crossbow (rarely)
Illager	Emeralds, Iron Axe (rarely)
Evoker	Emeralds, Totem of Undying
Guardian	Prismarine Shards, Prismarine Crystals, Fish
Elder Guardian	Prismarine Shards, Prismarine Crystals, Fish, Wet Sponge

Nether Quartz

You find Nether Quartz in the Nether. You can mine it with any pickaxe.

Nether Wart

Nether wart naturally generates in nether fortresses. It requires soul sand to grow.

Netherite

Acquisition

Crafting

Netherite is something that can not be found by mining, but gotten by crafting. 4 ancient debris and 4 gold in a crafting table creates a netherite ingot and like other ores, an ingot in every slot creates a block.

Bastions

Netherite can sometimes be found in bastion chests.

Use

You use 1 netherite ingot on a smithing table with a diamond tool, weapon, or armor to get a netherite version, keeping enchantments and durability percetage. Netherite items have higher protection, attack, durability, and enchantibility than diamond.

Notes

Netherite is a fictional material made specifically for Minecraft, and has no real world counterparts.

Obsidian

Obsidian is a block formed by flowing water coming into contact with lava. It can only be mined with a diamond or netherite pickaxe, and cannot be blown up by TNT.

Methods of obtaining

Overworld

Obsidian occurs naturally in caves and ravines, when a waterfall comes into contact with lava. The player can create obsidian by pouring a bucket of water over the lava.

Obsidian generates as part of ruined portals, woodland mansions, and sometimes ocean ruins. It is also found in the chest loot for ruined portals and village weaponsmiths.

Obsidian is created when a player opens a nether portal from the Nether.

Nether

Obsidian generates as part of ruined portals, and in the chest loot for ruined portals, bastion remnants, and Nether fortresses.

Obsidian is created when a player opens a nether portal from the Overworld.

Piglins have a chance of bartering obsidian when given gold.

End

Obsidian generates as part of the pillars on the main End island, and in End cities.

Obsidian is created as part of the platform that generates when a player enters the End.

Usage

Obsidian has three main uses:

• Explosion-proof structures
• Nether portals
• Enchanting tables

Redstone

You can find Redstone underground at y-level 32 or below. You must mine it with an Iron-tier or higher pickaxe or it will not drop anything. It will drop 4-8 Redstone Dust, which can be used for redstone cirucits.

Witches also drop up to six peices redstone Dust.

Redstone Dust can be used on a brewing stand with most potions to make the potion last longer.

Sand

A sandy beach in the real world. In Minecraft beaches are a common location to find sand.

Introduction

Sand is a common material and is one of few materials that fall when there is no blocks underneath it. This unique property makes sand somewhat dangerous to collect, but also an invaluable material when constructing some features.

Locations

Sand can be found in deserts, but more commonly (in less amounts though) beaches and small patches around the world or in small rivers.

Uses

Sand is a key component in Sandstone. Sand can also be melted in a furnace to create glass. Sand can also be used to make TNT, which you can blow things up with.

Sandstone

A slab of Sandstone in real life. Sandstone is a sedimentary rock formed by weathering.

Location

Sandstone is a block that can either be found in the desert or created by crafting. Sandstone is found 2-4 layers below the sand of a desert and on the frames of wells, desert temples and some desert village houses.

Crafting

Sandstone is crafted by putting 4 sand in a square like how you would with a crafting table.

For more information on how to get sand (to craft sandstone) visit the page on sand.

Usage

Unlike sand, sandstone does not fall in Minecraft, typically making it a better choice for permanent structures. Common techniques include using sandstone as the roof of a house.

Sculk

Sculk is a new Minecraft resource added in 1.19. You can get Sculk in 1 of 2 ways:

1. Going to the Deep Dark and mining it with a Silk Touch pickaxe.
2. Killing a Warden to get a Sculk Catalyst, then killing mobs near the Sculk Catalyst.

Snow

Snow occurs naturally in frozen biomes, and forms from snowfall in cold and frozen biomes. A shovel is required to collect snowballs, and Silk Touch is required for snow blocks. You can craft snow blocks using 4 snow balls.

Stone

Location

Stone is a very easy resource to find. Mine down a few blocks and you will find stone.

Acquisition

If you break it, you will get cobblestone, a very useful building material. To get the recreate the look of stone that you find in nature, put cobblestone in a furnace and you get a stone block. You can also break stone with a silk touch pickaxe, and get stone.

Tuff

What It Is

Tuff is a soft rock that can be found deep underground in Minecraft.

Use

Finding Tuff

You can find Tuff deep underground,or as the outer layer in Amythest Geodes.

Wood

Introduction

Wood is a very important resource in Minecraft, as it is usually the first useful item players gather when they start the game.

Acquiring

Wood is obtained by hitting the trunk of a tree, and this can, infamously, be done without any tools, however, using an axe is quicker and easier. This drops a log block, the most basic wood type.

Raw logs are not that useful as they are. To use them for most things, you must turn them into planks. Put your logs in one of the slots of the crafting grid in your inventory, and you will get 4 wood planks (indicated by the "4" beside it) appear in the output slot. Craft it by taking the 4 planks out of the output slot. This will use up a single log, allowing you to craft again. Shift-click (with keyboard and mouse) or press X (with controller) to craft as many as possible.

Variants

Just as in real life, Wood in Minecraft comes in a number of varieties based on the kind of tree it is obtained from.

Tree variants

A Tree is where you get Wood from. There are 8 different types of trees.

1. Oak
2. Spruce
3. Acacia
4. Jungle
5. Dark Oak
6. Birch

Two of which are found in the Nether.

1. Warped Fungus
2. Crimson Fungus

Craftable variants

You can craft a special kind of log called "Wood". This log has the log texture on all six sides, making it great for landscaping and decoration.

Both log blocks and "wood" can be stripped by holding an axe and pressing the use button when looking at one.

Use

Wood has so many uses, it would fill a whole book just to list them all! Some common uses, though, are explained here.

Building

Absolutely not recommended as wood is flammable. You should only build with wood if you have nothing else to build with or you are in creative mode.

Warped fungus and Crimson fungus (in both log and plank varieties) are not flammable, and so make great base decorations.

Fuel

Wood makes a great fuel, but charcoal is much better. To make charcoal, smelt a log in a furnace. Charcoal is also used in torches and campfires.

Tables

These are some tables that you can use as a quick reference.

Things that can be used as fuel

Name	Where to find it
Coal	Underground. Can be mined with any pickaxe.
Wood	Can be chopped from trees, villager houses, or abandoned mineshafts.
Blaze Rods	Dropped from blazes.
Lava	Can be found deep underground or in the Nether.
Charcoal	You smelt logs in a furnace to get charcoal
Sapling	Dropped from trees

Crops

Name	Where to find it
Wheat	By breaking tall grass, and also by raiding village farms.
Carrot	Village farms, rare drop from zombies, certain chests.
Potato	Same as Carrot.
Beetroot	Village farms and certain chests.

Tool tiers

Tier	Where to find it
Wood	Get from trees in the Overworld and the Nether
Stone	Found under dirt in the Overworld. Blackstone, found in Basalt Deltas, in the Nether can be used as well.
Iron	Found underground in the Overworld.
Gold	Found underground in the Overworld.
Diamond	Found deep underground in the Overworld.
Netherite	Made from Ancient Debris, which is found deep underground in the Nether.

Authors & Contributors

1. Gifnk dlm 2020 (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfps · rights [change])
2. Pizza0614 (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfp · rights [change])
3. Jerryy147 (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfp · rights [change])
4. Tgregtregretgtr (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfp · rights [change])
5. Mbrickn (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfp · rights [change])
6. Red-back spider (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfp · rights [change])
7. NightWolf1223 (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfp · rights [change])
8. Atcovi (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfps · rights [change])
9. 1234qwer1234qwer4 (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfp · rights [change])
10. L10nM4st3r (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfp · rights [change])
11. Numberguy6 (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfp · rights [change])
12. Slava Ukraini Heroyam Slava 123 (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfp · rights [change])
13. NotTheDefault (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfp · rights [change])
14. JackBot (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfps · rights [change])
15. Mrjulesd (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfps · rights [change])
16. Xania (discuss · contribs · count · logs · block log · rfps · rights [change])