How to Make Obsidian in Minecraft

Co-authored by Zac Churchill

Last Updated: October 17, 2022 References

This deep purple and black block is stalwart against all explosions except for a wither's "blue skull" attack. This makes it useful for creating blast-resistant shelters to protect against creepers or other players. Obsidian is also used for several recipes, including the enchantment table. Unlike most items in Minecraft, you cannot craft it, and it is rarely found naturally. Instead, you can create it by pouring water onto lava.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Making Obsidian without a Diamond Pickaxe

1
Find a pool of lava. There is no crafting recipe for obsidian. Instead, any time flowing water hits a stationary lava "source" block, the lava turns into obsidian. You can find stationary lava in the following places:^{[1]
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- Lava is easiest to find as "lava falls" in caves and ravines. Only the top block is a source block.
- Lava is very common in the bottom ten layers of the map. Dig down diagonally to avoid falling in it.
- Rarely, you can find lava lakes on the surface, but never more than about twenty blocks above sea level.^{[2]
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- Some villages have a single smithy with two blocks of lava, visible from the outside.^{[3]
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2
Collect the lava in buckets. Craft a bucket out of three iron ingots. Use the bucket on the lava to scoop it up. You can only scoop up stationary blocks of lava, not flowing lava.
- In the computer crafting system, arrange the iron in a "V" shape.
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3
Dig a hole where you want the obsidian. Make sure the hole is contained, and that nothing flammable is within two blocks in any direction. Wood, tall grass, and many other objects will catch fire near lava.^{[4]
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4
Pour the lava into the hole. Remember, only stationary (not flowing) lava will turn into obsidian. This means you will need one bucket of lava for every block of obsidian you want to make.
- Remember, without a diamond pickaxe you cannot mine the obsidian without destroying it. Make sure you want obsidian in that location before you continue.
5
Send water over the lava. Use your now-empty bucket to scoop up water. Bring it to the lava pool you created and place the water above the lava so it flows down onto it. When the flowing water hits the lava, the lava will turn into obsidian.
- It's a good idea to build a temporary, non-flammable structure around the lava pool to prevent an annoying flood.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Transforming Lava Pools with a Diamond Pickaxe

1
Obtain a diamond pickaxe. Obsidian is the only block that must be mined using a diamond pickaxe.^{[5]
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- Diamonds have a lot of importance in Minecraft because they help to make the most durable and efficient tools.^{[6]
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- Diamond tools are needed to mine obsidian.^{[7]
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- Obsidian helps to create a portal to the nether dimension.^{[8]
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2
Locate a lava pool. Dig down almost to the bottom of the map and explore. It shouldn't take long to find a large pool of lava. Since you have a diamond pickax, you can turn the whole pool into obsidian at once, instead of transporting the lava in buckets.
3
Fence off the area. Create a small wall on one side of the pool, leaving room to put down a water block. This will reduce the chances of water pushing you into the lava.
4
Pour water over the lava. Put the water block down inside the fenced area, one level higher than the lava. It should flow down and turn the surface of the lake into obsidian.
5
Test the edge of the obsidian. Stand at the edge and dig one block deep into the obsidian. There might be another layer of lava beneath it. If you're not careful, you may fall into this lava, or the obsidian bock item will fall before you can catch it, and burn up.
6
Direct the water to flow where you mine. If there is lava underneath the obsidian, stand next to the water and mine the obsidian at its edge. The water should rush in as you mine, turning the next layer into obsidian before the lava can cause any damage. Continue to mine as much obsidian as you need, moving the water when necessary.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Making Nether Portals

1
Gather twenty obsidian by other means. It takes ten obsidian to make a Nether portal. Once you have enough for two portals, however, you can use a trick to get infinite obsidian without needing to find lava.
2
Create a Nether portal. If you don't have a portal already, place obsidian blocks in a vertical frame 5 tall x 4 wide. Activate it by using a flint and steel on the lowest obsidian block. This trick may not work if there is another portal close by.^{[9]
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- The corners of the portal do not have to be obsidian.
3
Travel through the Nether. The Nether is a dangerous place, so prepare yourself if you haven't been before. You'll need the remaining ten obsidian blocks, but you might want to leave them safely behind and explore a safe route first. You'll need to travel a certain minimum distance in a straight, horizontal line (these numbers include a 3-block margin of safety just in case):^{[10]
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- PC, Pocket Edition, and Console Edition "large" worlds: travel 19 blocks.
- Console Edition "medium" worlds: travel 25 blocks.
- Console Edition "classic" worlds (including all PS3 and Xbox 360 worlds): travel 45 blocks.
- If you have multiple Overworld portals, walk away from their coordinates. This trick will not work if you are too close to an existing portal.
4
Build a second portal. Build this in the Nether and activate it the same way you did the first one. When you walk through it, you should appear in a brand-new portal in the Overworld.
- If you appear next to a portal you already built, you did not walk far enough in the Nether. Go back to the Nether and break your portal with a diamond pickaxe, then rebuild it somewhere else.
5
Mine the obsidian in the Overworld portal. The portal that just appeared has fourteen obsidian blocks free for the taking. Mine these with a diamond pickaxe.
6
Exit the same Nether portal to spawn a new one. Each time you walk through the Nether portal you just built, a new portal will appear in the Overworld. Mine this for free obsidian. Speed this up if you want a large amount of obsidian:
- Use a bed to set your spawn near the permanent Overworld portal.
- Place a chest near the temporary Overworld portal. Stash the obsidian and diamond pickaxe in the chest after mining the portal.
- Kill yourself to return to spawn.
- Walk through the Nether again and exit the same portal to create a new one. Build a tunnel between the Nether portals to increase safety.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Mining in the End

1
Find the End portal. The End portal leads to the final, most challenging area in Minecraft. Locating it and activating is a long quest involving many Eyes of Ender. Try this only when you're ready to face the fearsome Ender Dragon.
- If you are on Pocket Edition, the End Portal will only work on infinite (not "Old") worlds running on version 1.0 or later (released December 2016).
2
Mine the End platform. When you travel through the End portal, a platform of 9 obsidian blocks will appear for you to stand on. Mine it with the diamond pickaxe (though you may want to kill that dragon bothering you first).
3
Mine the obsidian pillars. The island with the Ender Dragon has several tall towers with purple crystals atop them. The towers are made entirely of obsidian.
4
Return through the same end portal. You can return to the Overworld either by dying, or by defeating the Ender Dragon and walking through the exit portal that appears. Each time you walk through an End portal, the 9-block obsidian platform will respawn. This makes it one of the fastest ways to get infinitely recurring obsidian.
- The obsidian pillars do not respawn unless you respawn the dragon. To bring back the dragon, place four ender crystals on top of the exit portal that appeared when the dragon died.^{[11]
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Community Q&A

Question

What enchantments can speed up the process of mining obsidian with the diamond pickax in Minecraft?

Mocha Latte

Community Answer

Use the efficiency enchantment. The higher the efficiency, the better it will work.
Question

Can I make obsidian without a pickaxe? If I only have an iron pickaxe, how long would it take to break the obsidian?

Community Answer

First of all, you can't use an iron pickaxe to mine obsidian. If you do, the obisidian will break and it will not be given to you. So just use a diamond pickaxe.
Question

How do I get diamonds In Minecraft?

Stephz16

Community Answer

You simply craft an iron pickaxe, dig down, and search for them! They can sometimes be found more frequently near lava.

Warnings

Be careful of the lava. Your character will likely die if you fall in, and any items you are carrying will be destroyed.

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