Talk: Obsidian

1.0 Changes

Obsidian can no longer be broken by an iron pickaxe. I confirmed this by trying to mine it for over 2 minutes unsuccessfully. As of now (November 22, 2011), the page still says Obsidian can be broken in 50 seconds by an iron pickaxe. This should be changed to say it can only be broken by diamond as of 1.0.

it still can be broken with an iron, i just was forced to due to an unfortunate mishap in an early-game attempt to set up a portal. it took several minutes though. 71.240.185.224 01:26, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

>it can be mined, but it takes a LONG time.

Changed

I changed some of the wording to make it more encyclopedic--The Abominator 10:33, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Details

The latest version of infdev creates this, as mentioned in the article. I'm having a hard time digging/mining it, though. Is it super-hard? Does it require special tools? I've not gotten far enough along to create it "artificially" and the "natural" occurrence was in a place where it was very hard to safely dig.

Obsidian doesnt occur naturally,It only comes when water merges with lava spring.It is very hard and can only be succesfully mined by diamond pickaxe just like the article states--Vibhor 02:30, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

InfDev

Wasnt obsidian used in the first InfDev for cardnial directions, not indev? --brendanmint 15:04, 3 july 2010 (UTC)

yes. --99.50.134.130 03:35, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

Creepers?

Can creepers blow up obsidian? I've been unable to test this as of yet. --99.50.134.130 03:34, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

Nope. It's immune to all explosions. PurpleKiwi 22:53, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Wrong Pick

The iron pick under "tool to use" is somewhat misleading... Toadbert

I guess. I'll add in a diamond pick image.--Kizzycocoa 03:46, 1 September 2010 (PDT)

in fact, I'll make them all diamond. I just thought it would make everything very silly if I did.--Kizzycocoa 03:47, 1 September 2010 (PDT)

Natural Obsidian

I Have found some natural Obsidian in Alpha v1.0.17_04, it is 9 to 10 Tiles below ground level and when I found it there were no other elements except for stone (Smooth) around it. Xeyj 05:42, 7 September 2010 (CDT)

Would you care to provide a screenshot of this finding please? Mybabypetghast 20:57, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

Infinite Obsidian!

Since the Halloween Update added portals, I have found that Obsidian can now be mined infinitely. When creating a portal and going to the Nether, then going back it will sometimes create a new portal on Earth (that's what it keeps doing for me, anyway). Destroy or disable (remove one block from) the new portal and go to the Nether again, it will continue to spawn new portals, thus creating more and more Obsidian out of thin air. AARST

You don't need infinite Obsidian. The oceans in The Nether are made of lava.--PurpleKiwi 21:44, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

you cannot place water in Hell. it instantly evaporates in a puff of smoke.--Kizzycocoa 22:06, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

I know, but you can take the lava back.--PurpleKiwi 17:25, 2 November 2010 (CDT)

You can place Ice in the Neather and melt it into water.--mgruenhagen 05:00, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Yes I suppose you could do that, however that would take far longer than AARST's method would, and more supplies. --Markfoot911 3:22, 26 February 2011 (CST)

Actually, you could simply go to the Nether, create a second portal fairly close by, go through it, mine its matching overworld portal, then go back to the Nether portal. When you try to go through a portal without a matching pair, it creates a new portal creating more obsidian. This can be done indefinitely. Also, when you create a portal, with or without corners, the matching portal is generated with corners. These corners can be mined without stopping you from going back through it generating an infinite amount of obsidian. Ary31415 14:20, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

Mass Harvesting or Obsidian Flooring

I've developed a technique for collecting or harvesting vast amounts of Obsidian, which may or may not be worth mentioning in the article. This might work particularly well for harvesting lava from the Nether. Personally, I started this technique because I felt like making it safe (no Obsidian getting melted by Lava) to stockpile Obsidian, and so I can put off actually mining it, since that's kind of tedious. Basically you dig a pit, then dig/build shallow trenches, fill them with lava, make obsidian, dig out the trench walls, fill the gaps with lava, make obsidian, then repeat all the steps but the first until the pit is now a solid block of obsidian. Here's a more detailed approach if you want.

Get some buckets, 9 to 27 for convenience and speed when loading and unloading.
Find a source of lava; the bigger the better.
Dig down in a rectangle area, close-by. If you're harvesting from the Nether, this area should be near your portal, outside, since it's where you'll be cooling the lava. I usually go with a 9 x 12 area (9 because you have 9 inventory slots). You can make it wider to give yourself more room to walk, but it's not that critical. If you're doing an Obsidian floor, the area will be 1 block deep. Otherwise, keep in mind that you can't deepen the pit after starting, so you should make it deeper than you need, just to be safe, otherwise you'll need to build the pit up (a bit of a pain in mines). Dig a staircase leading out when you finish hollowing out the pit.
Build (or dig out) 1-depth trenches on the bottom of the pit, filling out the area so that half the area is 1 unit deeper, and in whatever pattern you think will be easiest to fill. For instance, in a 9 x 12 pit, you will dig 6 trenches that are 9 units long (so you fill one trench per belt-full of lava).
Bring some blocks that are easy to break, like Dirt. Bring as many as 64 to be safe. Also, it's advisable to make a water source (1 x 3 or 2 x 2 trench, 1 water on each end, so the middle re-spawns water) near the pit.
Fill your buckets with lava.
Empty the lava into the trenches, making sure to deposit only 1 lava per square. If you do it too slowly it can be harder to tell which ones already have a "real" lava, but if you push yourself too fast, relative to your clicking skillz, you might accidentally delete (or overwrite) some lava.
Fill a bucket with water and dump it on the lava to make obsidian. Repeat if you didn't get all of it.
Dig out the old trench walls (or make new ones if there are no trenches)
Repeat 6 through 9 until your pit is full of obsidian.

Of course, considering the length of this guide, it probably shouldn't go in the article. But maybe it'll become an article of its own, or we can make a "collecting obsidian" article.

Also, trenches can be handy for temp-storing Lava for construction, although the technique is a little different. NightChime 08:51, 12 November 2010 (CST)

This could be the basis for an article for the tutorials section, with screenshots. Will dumping water on lava still work in the Nether? --DannyF1966 08:58, 12 November 2010 (CST)

Water will evaporate away in a puff of steam if you attempt to place it from a bucket. --Fishrock123 09:26, 12 November 2010 (CST)

Water can only be placed in the nether if you hack the water block into your inventory, just as the Nether article states. Mybabypetghast 21:00, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

You should add your technique to the obsidian farming page. Ary31415 14:23, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

Creating Obsidian

I have discovered that is is possible to create obsidian by adding lava from a bucket to water in V1.2.2. The only time this doesn't work is when the lava is added to a 1x1 pool of water. In that instance the water is replaced by the lava source. This could be used to create obsidian structures in place with out the need for forms or diamond pickaxe. Accordingly; "when a water spring and a lava spring collide it creates cobblestone" is at least misleading. Also none of the tutorial videos on youtube make use of this method.–The preceding unsigned comment was added by UtopianPhysics ^{(Talk|Contribs)} . Please sign your posts with ~~~~

Um, how else would you get obsidian? Other than this naturally occurring of course. There also was a video showing how to create a portal without using a diamond pickaxe, and it used the pour water over lava source block method. You just had to make sure you had a source block of lava for every block of obsidian needed for the portal. –ultradude25 ^(T|C) at 22:04, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Agreed. UtopianPhysics's "discovery" really is just a wrong way to look at the "water into lava source block" method. When you "[add] lava from a bucket to water", you are replacing that block with a lava source block, and then adjacent water will flow into the lava source block, turning it into Obsidian. The "only time this doesn't work is when the lava is added to a 1x1 pool of water" line is redundant, since lava/water is always replaced when you try to place a block in its position (even if it's another lava or water block). My vote is to not add this information. --meioziz 23:04, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

I brought this up only because farming of obsidian can be made easier by adding the lava to water. The farm can be made smaller and shallower and there is no risk of stepping on a lava block waiting to have water poured on it. Also you can't replace a positioned lava block with a water source destroying the lava block in the process. I tried adding lava to water as a building method but it didn't go any faster than using a form. UtopianPhysics 22:27, 16 November 2010 (CST)

You know Obsidian is only made when water hits a lava source block, right? Lava hitting a water source block will just make cobblestone. –ultradude25 ^(T|C) at 22:32, 16 November 2010 (CST)

The water is displaced by the lava source block from the bucket (thanks Meiozoz for explaining exactly how this worked.) The water next to the lava block turns it into obsidian. I did some tests and never did adding lava from a bucket to any type of water yield in cobblestone. Maybe older versions acted differently. That is why I included my version (1.2.2) in the first post. UtopianPhysics 15:28, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

I added a short video on how to create a obsidian generator.Is almost the same as the one made by ridolfi92 but better explained(credits goes for him).SniperCharlie 13:28, 24 March 2011 (UTC)

Legit method of getting water to the nether

Use a silk touch pick on an ice block and bring to nether, where it will melt, creating legit water, thus making an efficient way to cover lava oceans.

Uses

Can you smelt obsidian? Can you make tools out of it? Drenay 09:48, 21 November 2010 (CST)

no and no.--Kizzycocoa 09:53, 21 November 2010 (CST)

Do you know a mod that will allow me to use it? Drenay 10:24, 21 November 2010 (CST)

I've heard there's one. try checking Client mods--Kizzycocoa 16:26, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

It wasn't there. Looked it up on Google and found this mod: http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=73838

This mod just sounds like it is trying to sell you something.....Drenay 10:37, 21 November 2010 (CST)

Okay, I was trying to make a texture pack, and I was looking at the armor section in the minecraft bin, when I noticed something. It has obsidian armor. There's no script to get it in game, but there is a .png file of obsidian armor in minecraft. Anybody know why? Markfoot911 3:10, 26 February 2011 (CST)

can you show us this file? I've looked at mine and although your post is old i still look for it and cannot find it --Pamelahoward 09:22, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

TNT for destroing obsidian

I have calculated that you need 200 TNT next to obsidian for destroying it, the real value can be lower. Ferry 07:23, 18 December 2010 (CST)

Good luck getting 200 TNT next to one block of obsidian. There are only 26 blocks next to a certain block. Ary31415 14:34, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

Can you tell me how you got said number? What is the power (blast resistance) of tnt? Darkid 01:01, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Not sure where he got that number, but as has been stated many times before, obsidian and bedrock are impervious to TNT. I think TNT can cause up to 80 damage though. -Alphap^T~C 01:08, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

I calculated just 72, if they are arranged in a 1*1 pillar upwards and triggered simultaneously. TNT can destroy obsidian, I will make a video soon. TNT can also destroy lava, removed that bit from the article Bobbobbob 06:04, 7 May 2011 (UTC)bobbobbob

Except that TNT DAMAGE DOES NOT STACK!!!! I'm tired of seeing the same thing over and over again. --Zrowny 22:52, 8 May 2011 (UTC)

Seriously, stop changing it. TNT can destroy lava. Want to know how? Dig a 3*3*3 pit and line it with obsidian. Fill the bottom layer with tnt. Fill the middle layer with tnt except for the center block. Fill the top layer of tnt with tnt except for the middle block. Put lava in the middle layer, middle block. Put tnt in the top layer, middle block. Cover all but one tnt with obsidian(Said tnt cannot be the middle one). Hit the tnt and cover it with obsidian. So you have a 3*3*3 area completely encased in obsidian, and that 3*3*3 area is tnt with lava at the very center. When it blows, the lava WILL be destroyed. I'm adding it to the article. If you doubt me, try it. Bobbobbob 04:33, 20 June 2011 (UTC)bobbobbob

Huh, I just tested this and it works. I have no idea what is actually going on here. However, I highly doubt that there is a special case in the code for objects being encased by TNT, as the article now claims, so please revise your edit to the article or include citations from people who have studied the Minecraft code. —KPReid 05:21, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Also tested, confirmed. However, shouldn't this go in Lava or TNT? TurtleMiner 06:15, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

it should go under falling sand entity, as its not the explosion but instead the tnt is replacing the lava--76.179.51.221 20:42, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

"PrimedTnt" entities are not "FallingSand" entities. Skylinerw (talk) 20:51, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

Juxtaposition

I think it would be a worthy addition to the article that placing lava adjacent to any water--even if it isn't a source block--creates obsidian; I've farmed quite a bit of obsidian from a stream of water pouring out of a ceiling, setting lava next to it. ArcanaXVI 23:00, 27 December 2010 (CST)

that is because it is the lava source (from bucket) that makes/turns-into obsidian not water source block. Soul4hdwn 05:15, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Understood, and that's even stated in the wiki already, but the question is not "why," but rather "is this worthy of clarification in the article?" ArcanaXVI 04:13, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

Images

Is it just me, or are the three screenshots on this page all showing the same thing?

File:Natural_obsidian.png shows plenty of Obsidian, but no water creating it.
File:168898 497832134060 777309060 5800526 7737565 n.jpg is a good close-up with plenty of water... but I can't see the Obsidian under it.
File:Natural_Obsidian_deposits.png shows Obsidian creation well, but only 1 block, quite far off, with a non-default texture pack.

So, remove a shot or two, or remove all of them and take a new one? JaffaCakeLover 19:58, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

Go for it, it's a wiki, we can always undo stuff. Darkid 22:34, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

Minecraft v1.3 Beta. Renewable Obsidian bug?

I apologise for putting it here, as I thought this wansn't possible, and you guys are the only ones that would know. Destroy this entry if innapropiate.

I was under the impression from everything I read that making an Obsidian block always destroys a Lava source block.

I was building my new lab area using MC 1.3, so I was trying out combination of positions to make a Cobblestone making machine, via 1 lava and 1 water block. I went for the vertical 4 Column water and 3 Column Lava flowing from above (diagonally opposite, 4 column water flows straight down from a hole, lava straight down, and forward one) and was moving the exact placement around, so was digging holes all over the place in the walls.

Once, at random, an Obsidian block formed in the water column, blocking it and redirecting it out everywhere. I retrieved both Water and Lava blocks to look at it.

I tried to duplicate this and in about 20 attempts I got it only once more, so my only guess is in the timing of placing the blocks down.

Taurondir 23.02.2011@15.13

Sounds interesting... anyways i'm not sure out of it but have you heard about that "Bleeding Obsidian" or whatsoever it's called? -GeeseHoward 22:06 -03:00 GMT 02/23/2011

I think it's called crying obsidian, and it was removed. Ary31415 14:36, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

Both bleeding and crying are valid. 78.105.8.153 11:30, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

I like discovering things

Edited to reflect a new, faster, and better method of Obsidian creation made possible by a fiddly bit of mechanics I actually had to edit on to the lava page. Seriously though - I will be replacing the vid with something a bit more serious later. But I thought the wiki deserved an edit to reflect the more accurate information provided, especially after all the help it has given me, and I won't have time to film that until after finals. This should be lots of help for people needing a lot of obsidian in the meantime, though :) --TheCakeisAlive 20:45, 28 April 2011 (UTC) Also, I was told user comments should be on the bottom. So here it is! -- TheCakeisAlive 18:36, 29 April 2011 (UTC)

Discovered how to clone obsidian

I made a new section titled "smp duplication". A friend and I were able to discover this ourselves. I have described the method we found to indefinitely duplicate nether portals, and thus obsidian. I haven't checked it for grammar or spelling that well, so I may need to do that later. StyxxnStones 16:42, 29 May 2011 (UTC)

It's not new at all, and it's not a glitch. Calinou - talk × contribs » 15:15, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

Obtaining the obsidian

When obsidian is believed to be on top of lava, you can farm it straight from the caves without losing the obsidian item to the lava if you place a water source nearby using a bucket. The water will immediately "obsidise" any lava it hits, so you won't lose the obsidian you mine. Kookas 21:10, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

Fail.

Well, I tried to revert the vandalism that is up right now but since I am a new account I can't. Fail. --UBERxL33T 08:04, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

1. Trivia: Floating islands and obsidian

One text in the trivia says that Notch wanted to make floating islands that need obsidian to fly. The new dimension "The End" is actually a sky dimension(floating islands) with obsidian towers on top of it. So I guess Notch didn't discarded the idea. Should someone write this down as a subitem? KazujaXYZ

from all screenies of the end it appears to be a neverending desert. what proof have you that its floating islands?

Um... for example the first sentence of the wiki page:

"The End is a stark, empty plane containing a series of large floating islands of White Stone dotted with Obsidian Towers, home of the Endermen found wandering in the Overworld and the Enderdragon, exclusive to this dimension."

Also, as of 1.9 pre-release 4 you can explore the ender by yourself(though there is no exit: You have to die or teleport).

KazujaXYZ 19:57, 15 October 2011 (UTC)

Notch stated several months back that he "stopped liking the idea [of obsidian being required for floating islands]. Not sure why." (of course, that is probably a close paraphrase rather than an exact quote, since it's been so long since I read it) The obsidian towers in The End are probably just a coincidence (keeping in mind that I haven't seen any myself, so I don't know just how they're generated yet). 「ディノ奴千？！」^{? · ☎ Dinoguy1000} 09:00, 17 October 2011 (UTC)

Oh well, maybe it is a coincident, but its pretty suspecious that both, Notch's flying obsidian idea and the ender-obsidian-towers, have such a similarity. I mean what else would be a reason of making pointless towers in the dimension other than implenting an idea which he has thought about longer time ago. KazujaXYZ 18:20, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Rare?

That is a false info, obsidian is not naturally rare at all. I spot i all the time. Iron is even less found, than obsidian.. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by 62.65.229.248 ^{(Talk|Contribs)} . Please sign your posts with ~~~~

Obsidian is not generated naturally, but created. If you found many obsidian, it means that your world had many lava pools which collided with water. It all depends on the seed. But normally, it isn't common and you have to make it by yourself. So you actually have very much luck ;D –Preceding unsigned comment was added by KazujaXYZ ^{(Talk|Contribs)} . Please sign your posts with ~~~~

Given that I've found a whopping two different pools with an obsidian bed where water flowed into lava, compared to dozens and dozens of veins of iron, this leads me to question your sample size. Playing for a day and finding a bed of obsidian and not running into many iron veins, does not a decent sample size make. Just saying. 78.105.8.153 11:26, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Obsidian now unbreakable by non-diamond tools?

Obsidian used to be breakable by non-diamond tools, but it took a long time (50 seconds), or so I thought. It's listed on the wiki page and many forum topics.

For some reason though, this apparently no longer applies. It might be a side effect of having diamond tools break obsidian slower in 1.9 prerelease 6. I can't say for sure, but after about 90 seconds I gave up on trying to break it, since the "breaking" texture wasn't even being applied.

(it takes about 5 min,,, posted by different guy)

Can anyone else verify this? Aeviternity 18:59, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

I just tried it; I got bored after a while and didn't time it, but I was definitely getting the breaking texture with an iron pickaxe (albeit very slowly). It may actually be longer than 50 seconds though, I'm fairly sure I just mined it for at least 30 seconds and it only got about 10% of the way through applying the breaking texture. 78.105.8.153 11:22, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Natural Portals

One time I found a natural nether portal on top an NPC house.

                     --Satipo 21:00, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

Minecraft version, world seed, and coordinates, or it didn't happen. 「ディノ奴千？！」^{? · ☎ Dinoguy1000} 21:28, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

UN-safe mining!

Here's a nice piece of trivia about mining obsidian.

As said, you can safely mine obsidian over lava using water, and the water will cover the lava before the block falls.

However, if a player (presumably a mob also) is standing on the block, (s)he will fall into the lava before the water converts it to obsidian. And if the lave is deep enough, the new obsidian block will form over your head.

Yes, I found that out the hard way. It's possible that if I had had the presence of mind to use my water bucket, I could have ended up in an obsidian box that I could have dug my way out of, but I'm not going to do it again just to find out. 77.103.63.65 12:02, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

In real life

Might I point out that obsidian in Minecraft looks nothing like obsidian in real life. However Crying Obsidian looks a bit like snow obsidian.Jimmyoakmeister 07:50, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

WHAT THE HECK!?!??!

THE CRAFTING BOX SAYS YOU CAN PUT GHAST TEAR, BEACON, DRAGON EGG, OBSIDIAN A NETHER STAR AND OTHER STUFF IN A CRAFTING BOX TO CRAFT DIRT! WHY WOULD JEB ADD THIS USELESS FEATURE?!?!? 64.12.116.195 00:03, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

It was vandalism; I reverted it. 「ディノ奴千？！」^{? · ☎ Dinoguy1000} 00:07, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

Obsidian icon apparently replaced by beacon block's?

I first noticed this on the Beacon page, where the crafting recipe appears recursive. Examining the source revealed that it still specified obsidian for those input squares... Lo and behold, even here the icn is changed. --10.91.41.34 19:06, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Obsidian Slabs

Is there any talk of Obsidian slabs? I would love to use that in creations. --Pamelahoward 09:29, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

Maybe if they plan it. You can wait for sometime. :)

Crafting recipe is:

Template:Grid/Crafting Table

Data values: 43₁₀ (Double), and 44₁₀ (Single)

If you think there is an Obsidian Slab in 1.6 or later. (Official release). --Minecraftaddict154 07:42, 24 March 2013 (UTC)

Pocket edition?

In pocket edition, mining time is only 2.5 seconds (10 ticks) even if it's only mined with a diamond pickaxe as of Minecraft 1.9pre6. Without a diamond pickaxe, it takes 250 seconds (1,000 ticks). In Minecraft 1.0.0 (Official release) it took long as 9.4 seconds (35 ticks). Is there a talk of increasing time to 10 seconds in PE? Minecraftaddict154 02:45, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

Non-Renewable as of 1.0

Obsidian, as of the full minecraft release, is no longer renewable. This is because diamonds are non-renewable, and you need a diamond pick to mine obsidian. Even with the introduction of the anvil, you still need diamonds to repair your diamond pickaxe. Because of this, if you have a fixed size world, you will eventually run out of diamond and therefor obsidian, making it non-renewable. Could this please be fixed in both the Renewable resource page along with the Obsidian page? Please explain to me if I'm mistaken. Thank you, --24.209.140.141 17:27, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

Diamonds themselves are not renewable, but diamond pickaxes are, because you can get them by trading with villagers. -- Orthotope ^talk 19:31, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

However, there's a finite amount of Obsidian (or lava source blocks) in a 30milx256x30mil world -76.117.125.76 18:52, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

Bad Image

Two of the images use a texture/resource pack, I can tell by the water in them. Really minor, just thought i would say.Mokiki 23:45, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

Can someone calculate this?

The slowest mining speed: mining it with your hand underwater without touching a lock with mining fatigue 127. How long would this take? - MinecraftPhotos4U (talk) 18:45, 5 October 2014 (UTC)

Mining Fatigue decreases mining speed by 20% per level (which means mining fatigue 127 decreases mining speed by 2540%). So the answer is never. 50.141.212.168 18:59, 5 October 2014 (UTC)