Obsidian

Obsidian

Transparency	No
Luminance	No
Blast resistance	6,000
Tool
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Flammable	No
Drops	Itself
Data value	dec: 49 hex: 31 bin: 110001
Name	obsidian

	“	Strong almost beyond compare and able to stand huge blasts, glossy, black obsidian is forged in the very fires of the earth. What a block!	„
		—Alex Wiltshire

Obsidian is a dark block known for its high blast resistance and strength.

Obtaining

See also: Tutorials/Obsidian farming

Naturally occurring obsidian

Water pouring onto lava springs, forming obsidian

Obsidian is known as the sole block that can be successfully mined only with a diamond pickaxe.

Block	Obsidian
Hardness	50
Tool
Breaking time
Hand	250
Wooden	125
Stone	62.5
Iron	41.7
Diamond	9.4
Golden	20.85

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.

Lava and water

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.

Natural generation

Obsidian can be 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 will be regenerated when the player reenters the End. Solid pillars of obsidian can also be found on the surface, which will regenerate when the ender dragon is respawned. Obsidian also generates as a part of end ship in end cities.

Obsidian also occurs naturally where underwater springs flow onto lava, often at layer 10 or lower.

Obsidian also generates in woodland mansions in a tree shape with a diamond block in the middle of it.

Chests

Obsidian can be found in 26.0% of village blacksmith chests in stacks of 3–7, and in 8.0% of nether fortress chests in stacks of 2–4.

Ender chests

When an ender chest is mined with a pickaxe without the Silk Touch enchantment, it drops 8 obsidian.

Usage

Obsidian can be used to build explosion resistant structures. At 6,000, obsidian's explosion resistance is the highest you can obtain in Survival mode, other than anvils which have the same blast resistance. Obsidian cannot be pushed by pistons. Obsidian is also notoriously known in servers as a defence block. It is common in many builds as building armour and is essential for protection.

Nether portals

Obsidian can be used to create a nether portal frame, which can then be ignited using fire. The frame will be a vertical rectangle any size from 4×5 to 23×23. Note that the corners of the frame are not required.

Achievements

Main article: Achievements

Icon	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Availability				Xbox points earned	Trophy type (PS)
				Xbox	PS	Bedrock	Nintendo
	Enchanter	Use a book, obsidian and diamonds to construct an enchantment table	Pick up an enchantment table from a crafting table output.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	20G	Silver

Advancements

Main article: Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Internal ID
	Ice Bucket Challenge	Form and mine a block of Obsidian	Hot Stuff	Get a block of obsidian in your inventory.	minecraft:story/form_obsidian
	Enchanter	Enchant an item at an Enchanting Table	Diamonds!	—	minecraft:story/enchant_item

History

Classic
0.26 (October 24, 2009)					Added obsidian.
					In Survival Test mode, obsidian was extremely tough to break and would drop one or two Cobblestone blocks when broken.
Indev
?					Obsidian was removed.
Infdev
?					Obsidian was restored. It was used to mark the positions of the cardinal directions. This created two intersecting planes extending just above the surface of the solid material that surrounds them. (This has long since been removed.)
Alpha
v1.2.0					The nether portal was introduced, made using obsidian.
Beta
1.8			1.8 Pre-release		Obsidian could be mined with an iron pickaxe (since removed), or moved by endermen.
Official release
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3		The enchantment table was introduced, crafted using obsidian.
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6		Obsidian mining time was decreased from 15 to 2.5 seconds.
					Obsidian mining time was increased from 2.5 to 9.4 seconds.
1.1			?		Obsidian can be found in village chests.
1.3.1			12w21a		The ender chest was introduced, crafted using obsidian.
1.4.2			12w36a		The beacon block got a crafting recipe using obsidian.
			12w38a		The wither's “blue wither skull” projectile was introduced, producing a special explosion that can destroy obsidian.
1.7.2			13w36a		Obsidian can now be destroyed with explosives by summoning a fireball with custom data.
1.8			14w25a		“Infiniobsidian” glitch (allowing conversion of redstone into obsidian) fixed during the implementation of the new block metadata format.
			14w30a		Obsidian can now be found inside chests in nether fortresses.
1.9			15w31a		Obsidian now generates as part of the end cities.
			15w43a		Slightly decreased yield from nether fortress chests.
1.11			16w39a		Obsidian now generates in woodland mansions.
July 18, 2017					Jeb tweets an image of new textures for iron blocks, obsidian, and birch logs.
July 19, 2017					Jeb tweets image of an updated obsidian and a new diamond block texture.
Upcoming Java Edition
1.13			18w09a		Will now generate in some underwater ruins.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.1.0					Added Obsidian.
0.5.0					Glowing obsidian was added, drops a block of regular obsidian when mined.
					The newly added nether reactor structure generates a “spire” of obsidian when activated.
0.6.0					The “spires” generated by nether reactors are now made of netherrack instead of obsidian.
0.12.1			build 1		Obsidian can now be used to form nether portals.
					Obsidian is now used to craft enchantment tables.
0.13.0			build 2		Obsidian now requires 6.5 seconds to mine, rather than 3.
0.16.0			build 1		Obsidian is now used to craft beacons.
Pocket Edition
1.0			build 1		Obsidian is now used to craft ender chests.
1.1			build 1		Obsidian now generates in woodland mansions.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1		Added obsidian.

Issues

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

Trivia

• Obsidian is one of the hardest blocks to destroy in Minecraft. 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. (Without the pickaxe, it takes 4 minutes and 10 seconds.) Either way, the player will run out of air long before the block is mined. (Unless a potion of water breathing is used)
• It is a common misconception that enough TNT will destroy obsidian. Even though its explosion resistance rating is finite, additional TNT or other explosives will have no more effect on an individual block than only one (it would take 71.25 times the explosive power of TNT to destroy a block of obsidian). It is possible to hack or use /summon an explosion strong enough to destroy obsidian, but no such explosion appears naturally.
  • The "Blue Wither Skull"'s ability to destroy obsidian is a special feature; its explosion is otherwise no stronger than a ghast's fireball.

Gallery

• 

  Naturally found obsidian in a snowy biome

• 

  Old obsidian wall from Infdev

• 

  Naturally formed obsidian

• 

  Obsidian naturally formed without water on top

See also

• Obsidian wall
• Crying obsidian
• Glowing obsidian

References

Blocks

View at: Template:Blocks/content [edit]