Obsidian Renewable Yes Stackable Yes (64) Tool Blast resistance 1,200 Hardness 50 Luminant No Transparent No Flammable No Catches fire from lava No

Obsidian is a dark purple block known for its high blast resistance and strength, most commonly found when water flows over lava.

Obtaining [ edit ]

Obsidian drops itself only when mined with a diamond pickaxe or netherite pickaxe; otherwise, it drops nothing.

Block Obsidian Hardness 50 Tool Breaking time[note 1] Default 250 Wooden 125 Stone 62.5 Iron 41.7 Diamond 9.4 Netherite 8.35 Golden 20.85

↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed

Enchanting a pickaxe with "Efficiency" and using a beacon with Haste both drastically decrease the mining time. See the obsidian farming tutorial for more information.

Natural generation [ edit ]

Naturally occurring obsidian.

Water pouring onto lava springs, forming obsidian.

Obsidian generates naturally in all dimensions:

Obsidian is created when a Nether portal is generated in the Nether or the Overworld. This portal can then be mined, providing a way of obtaining obsidian renewably.

When a player enters the End, a platform of 25 obsidian blocks is generated for the player to spawn on. This platform can then be mined, and gets regenerated when an entity (only in pre-1.9/1.16) enters the End. Obsidian pillars also regenerate when the ender dragon respawns.

Using a water spring to mine obsidian.

Obsidian is formed when flowing water hits a lava source block, and can be found naturally where water from a spring or lake has flowed over a nearby lava pool.

Chest loot [ edit ]

Bartering [ edit ]

Piglins may barter 1 obsidian when given a gold ingot with a chance of 9.43%

Usage [ edit ]

Obsidian is useful for building explosion resistant structures as it has, along with anvils, a blast resistance of 1,200; the highest of all blocks obtainable in survival mode. Obsidian also cannot be pushed by pistons, and also cannot be destroyed by the ender dragon.

These qualities make obsidian an extremely effective defensive block, and it is commonly used in many bases in multiplayer servers as protection from griefers.

End crystals can be placed on top of obsidian, which can be useful in PvP combat, or just as decoration.

Nether portals [ edit ]

Obsidian can be used to create a nether portal frame, which can then be ignited using fire. The frame must be a vertical rectangle any size from 4×5 to 23×23. Note that the corners of the frame are not required.You can actually gain 4 obsidian by leaving out the corners in making your nether portal, as the game generation always creates its nether portal as a complete rectangle with 14 blocks,while the "budget" way of making a nether portal is using only 10 obsidian.

Crafting ingredient [ edit ]

Sounds [ edit ]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition: [needs in-game testing]

Data values [ edit ]

ID [ edit ]

Java Edition:

Name Namespaced ID Block tags (JE) Translation key Obsidian obsidian dragon_immune block.minecraft.obsidian

Bedrock Edition:

Name Namespaced ID Numeric ID Translation key Obsidian obsidian 49 tile.obsidian.name

Achievements [ edit ]

Icon Achievement In-game description Actual requirements (if different) Gamerscore earned Trophy type (PS) Enchanter Construct an Enchantment Table. Pick up an enchantment table from a crafting table output. 20G Bronze

Advancements [ edit ]

Icon Advancement In-game description Parent Actual requirements (if different) Namespaced ID Ice Bucket Challenge

Obtain a block of obsidian Hot Stuff Have a block of obsidian in your inventory. story/form_obsidian Enchanter

Enchant an item at an Enchanting Table Diamonds! — story/enchant_item

History [ edit ]

Issues [ edit ]

Issues relating to "Obsidian" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia [ edit ]

Obsidian is one of the hardest blocks to destroy in Minecraft . In reality, obsidian is glass-like in texture and quite fragile.

. In reality, obsidian is glass-like in texture and quite fragile. In real life, obsidian is an extrusive igneous rock like andesite, meaning that they are both formed from lava that has cooled down.

Destroying an obsidian block with a diamond pickaxe, while underwater, without standing on solid ground would take 3 minutes and 54 seconds.

71.25 times the explosive power of TNT would be required to destroy a block of obsidian; however, additional TNT increases the blast radius, not explosive power. It is possible to /summon an explosion strong enough to destroy obsidian.

an explosion strong enough to destroy obsidian. The blue wither skull has the ability to destroy obsidian as a special feature; its explosion is otherwise no stronger than a ghast's fireball.

Gallery [ edit ]

Naturally generated obsidian as found in a snowy biome.

More naturally generated obsidian pillars as seen in The End.

Obsidian as used to shield from explosions.

Java Edition [ edit ]

The first released screenshot of the End, featuring obsidian in obsidian pillars.

The brightened version of the first image featuring obsidian.

A naturally generated obsidian wall from Infdev.