Tutorials/Breaking bedrock

Bedrock is a block that is unbreakable in Survival mode. Even so, it is still possible to break the unbreakable in Survival mode without cheats. These use bug exploits to achieve this, so these methods could be rendered useless at any update. Breaking bedrock is also more difficult than phasing through it, both of which are covered in this article. Note that these methods can also be used to break other unbreakable blocks (though bedrock is the most useful) and regular breakable blocks (the player will not be able to collect any of the blocks broken, and they are much easier to break using tools).

Why bother?

It may seem pointless to go through the effort of going through or breaking bedrock, but it is actually quite useful. Many players use this mechanism to travel large distances across the Nether. The most common use of these techniques is to make an easy access point to the top half of the Nether by phasing through the top layer of bedrock and then breaking the bedrock to put up a ladder or elevator to the top. Breaking bedrock is also useful if the player wants to fall into the void in the Overworld or Nether. It is also useful for breaking some of the blocks on the end gateways and the exit portal in the End. These same techniques can also be used to break the frames around the end portal in a stronghold.

Phasing through bedrock

This section is about going through the bedrock. The only logical reason to do this instead of breaking the bedrock is going up through the bedrock in the the Nether ceiling. It is recommended to bring the materials to build and light a Nether Portal with you to get back safely, as most of these methods cannot be reversed.

In Bedrock Edition, the Nether build limit is 128 and above bedrock, so it is not recommended to phase through the bedrock. However, if you have already broken bedrock somewhere else, you can phase through the bedrock to return to a destination more easily.

Method 1

(Bug Used: MC-2164)

This method requires ender pearls. It was much easier to do in update 1.8, but is still possible in later versions.

To use this method, you will need the following materials:

• At least 8 ender pearls.

• In the newer versions of Minecraft with pearl cool-down, it is still easily possible to breach the top of the Nether. The optimal strategy involves only two ender pearls if done correctly, though more may be brought just in case. Find a two block tall space to stand in just under the top block of the Nether, and make sure there is a two block wide, one block tall space in front of you. Throw your first pearl into this space two blocks away, look straight up, and jump. Prior to jumping, you should be suffocating in the bedrock. Mid-jump, your head should emerge enough that you will be able to throw a pearl straight up so that it lands on top of the Nether. Having full health while doing this is advised.

• Before versions 1.9*Dig up to where the player would be "bumping" its head on the top layer of bedrock (on y = 127). Then, look straight up and throw the ender pearls as quickly as you can. This is more difficult to do in versions 1.9 and above due to the item cool-down. It works by having one of the ender pearls glitch and teleport the player into the block such that when the next ender pearl is thrown, it goes above the block and teleports the player to the top of the block.

Pros:

• It is easy to get all the materials needed.
• It is easy to do once you get the hang of it.

Cons:

• It may take many stacks of ender pearls to work.
• There is a possibility of death due to damage from ender pearls.

Method 2

(Bug Used: MC-3328)

This method is by far the cheapest, but also has the highest chance of death. It has two variations, depending on how quick you are with placing blocks.

To use this method, you need the following materials:

• 1 rail
• 1 solid block
• 1 minecart
• 1-2 ender pearls
• Helmet enchanted with Respiration (recommended, but not required)

Dig up to the highest level of bedrock (y = 127). Place a block (if needed) two blocks below it, and then place the rail on top of this block. There should be no gap between the rail and the upper layer of bedrock. Next, place a minecart on the rail. This is where it gets dangerous, and where the Respiration-enchanted helmet comes into play. Get inside the minecart and quickly dismount it. The player should be suffocating in the bedrock layer. Next, hold down the "jump" key and throw an ender pearl directly up. In case of this failing, throw another ender pearl directly upward. It works by having the minecart dismount the player in a position where the player will be able to jump and see the top of the bedrock. The ender pearls move the player to the top.

Pros:

• It is very cheap and could be done early in the game.
• It is easy to accomplish.

Cons:

• If the player runs out of ender pearls, it is stuck in the bedrock ceiling with absolutely no method of escape.
• There is an extremely high possibility of death, and the drops will most likely land on top of the bedrock.

Method 2b

(Bug Used: MC-3328)

This variation use the same resources and:

• 1 more rail (any kind)
• 1 more minecart
• 1 slab
• 1 piston
• 1 lever

Begin in the same way as in Method 2: Place the first minecart just under the bedrock ceiling as in Method 2, enter the minecart, and then exit the minecart. You will begin suffocating in the bedrock ceiling. From there, jump up and down so that you can see the top of the bedrock. Place a rail on top of the bedrock, preferably close to where you will be coming out. Next, place a minecart on top of the rail and quickly ride it. You will be teleported to the top of the bedrock ceiling into the minecart and can exit without further risk of suffocation.

Pros:

• It is not as dangerous as using ender pearls; only suffocation damage is taken, not fall damage.
• Though uncomfortable, it can be used as part of a minecart elevator to get above the bedrock until the player gets the necessary tools to break the bedrock.

Cons:

• Depending on how close the rail was placed, it can be difficult to place the minecart and get inside it without the minecart being pushed off, though the player can still enter the minecart if it is still in range.
• It is easy to lose the exact location of where the player came up. Using the F3 screen (Java edition) to note the exact coordinates mitigates this.

Method 2c

(Bug Used: MC-3328(fixed))

This variation requires an extra minecart, one piston, one slab, and one lever.

Begin in the same way as in Method 2: place a minecart under the bedrock ceiling, then break the rail under the minecart. Place the piston to face the minecart with one air block between them. On the space between the piston and the minecart, place a lower slab. Activate the piston to push the slab right on the minecart. Then break the piston and the lever. Enter the minecart, and dismount it quickly. You now should be glitched through the bedrock block without taking any further damage. Now finish like in method 2: place a rail and a minecart (or alternately, place a boat) and jump in.

Pros:

• It is not as dangerous as the previous methods; the only suffocation damage is taken when you jump in the first minecart.
• You do not need to react quickly.

Cons:

• It may be difficult to find an appropriate place in the roof to put it in place.
• It is easy to lose the exact location of where the player came up. Using the F3 screen (Java edition) to note the exact coordinates mitigates this.

Outdated

Method 3

(Bug Used: MC-84198) (fixed)

This method requires that the player has already journeyed to the the End and reached the outer End islands.

To use this method, you need the following materials:

• at least 1 chorus fruit
• up to 40 stacks of any type of blocks

First, fill in an area that is 17 * 17 blocks by 9 blocks high against the bedrock ceiling. The netherrack and bedrock that generates naturally can be used to fill in this region: only remaining air blocks need to be filled. Once this happens, stand in the middle of the top of this filled-in area (against the bedrock ceiling), and record your coordinates. Then, eat the chorus fruit. If the player is not teleported on top of the bedrock, eat another chorus fruit until you are successful. It works using a chorus fruit's teleportation ability and removing all other valid places for the player to teleport to.

Pros:

• It can be reversed by placing another region of blocks with 8 blocks in each direction on top of the bedrock ceiling, and then eating another chorus fruit.
• It is easy to accomplish.

Cons:

• It requires that the player has already journeyed to the outer End islands to harvest chorus fruit.
• The chance of success is random, so it is possible that it will take a huge quantity of chorus fruit.

Breaking bedrock

Breaking bedrock is a very complex and involved process. There are currently five common methods to do this (only two in the current update).

Method 1

(Bug Used: MC-27056)

This method can seem needlessly complex, especially since it will only break one block that is adjacent to the ceiling, and it only works from above. These are the materials you will need:

• 2 sticky pistons
• 2 normal pistons
• 10 redstone repeaters
• 1 activator rail
• 4 cobblestone walls
• 2 TNT minecart
• 10 obsidian
• 2 redstone blocks
• 5 redstone
• 1 lever
• Blocks of any kind for convenience.

With these materials at hand, follow the steps below. Pictures are provided at each step because it is easy to make a mistake, which would mean having to start over.

1. Place the 2 sticky pistons perpendicular to each other and facing the block that you wish to remove. In the picture, the block being broken is marked with glowstone above it
2. Three blocks away, diagonally away from the pistons, place the activator rail. Marker iron blocks are placed for convenience.
3. Place obsidian starting from behind the activator rail and going until the closest piston.
4. Place a lever against the obsidian behind the activator rail such that the lever powers the rail.
5. Place 5 repeaters leading away from the lever, a block in front of that chain, and another 5 repeaters going towards the pistons. Set the delay on all of these to their maximum.
6. At the end of this repeater chain, place a block. Place another block behind the closest piston and a redstone between the block and the block behind the piston.
7. Place two cobblestone walls on the remaining two sides of the block above the one that you are trying to break.
8. Place a TNT minecart on the activator rail and flip the lever. Stand back and watch the piston head get blown off. It is crucial that you do not turn off the lever now.
9. Place a redstone block diagonally up from the piston away from the block you are trying to break. Turn off the lever.
10. Place an obsidian block between the two pistons. The redstone should be able to power both pistons at the same time.
11. Repeat steps 7-9.
12. Now that you have two headless sticky pistons, break all of the blocks that you just placed except the headless pistons and the redstone blocks.
13. Place a piston facing down one block away from the headless pistons directly on top of the bedrock. This will require the use of another piston. The block this piston is facing must be immovable or this process will not work (normally bedrock, otherwise place an obsidian block where this piston is facing)
14. Break the piston that you used to push the downwards-facing piston into position and place this piston on top of the block you are trying to place, facing upwards.
15. Move to a place where the headless piston on your left is facing the line of normal pistons facing up or down. This will make it easier to understand what is going on if you choose not to follow the pictures.
16. Place a repeater pointing to the upwards-facing piston, one redstone, and then another repeater facing the redstone and parallel to the left headless piston.
17. Place a repeater set to a delay of 2 facing the left piston and two repeaters on the default setting lined up and pointing into the right piston.
18. Connect the repeaters with redstone until you run out. In the missing spot, place a lever and power it.
19. With the redstone lines powered, break the redstone blocks next to the headless pistons.
20. Turn off the lever. All should return to normal, with the sticky pistons getting their heads back, but the downwards-facing piston would have mysteriously disappeared, and there is a hole in the bedrock below the upwards-facing piston.

The way this method works is manipulating the explosion power of the TNT minecart to blow up the head of the piston, but not the base of it, combined with perfect timing, causing the piston to extend at the exact same time as the TNT minecart explodes. The behavior of the headless pistons is explained in detail on this page. However, it does not adequately explain how the pistons break the bedrock. Please help with this on the talk page.

This setup may also be used to break bedrock directly above the setup. To do so, follow these steps but center the bedrock two spaces above where it is in the above instructions, and invert the two pistons which face up/down. To prevent the headless pistons from retracting before intended, redstone blocks may be placed directly below these pistons instead of above.

Pros:

It can be done early in the game, since it does not require many resources.

It can be done quickly after some practice.

Cons:

It is insanely complicated, and one mistake means having to completely start over.

It only breaks one block directly above/below the setup.

• Step01 TwoStickyPistons.png

  Step 1. The block to be broken is below the glowstone block.

• Step02 ActivatorRail.png

  Step 2. Place the activator rail.

• Step03 Obsidian.png

  Step 3. Place the obsidian to protect the redstone.

• Step04 Lever.png

  Step 4. Place the lever to power the activator rail.

• Step05 Redstone.png

  Steps 5 & 6. Place the redstone to power the first piston.

• Step06 CobblestoneWalls.png

  Step 7. Place the cobblestone walls.

• Step07 HeadlessPiston1.gif

  Step 8. The GIF shows what needs to happen. It looks like I put the marker glowstone too close to the explosion (oops!)

• Step08 RedstoneBlock.png

  Step 9. The redstone block to BUD-power the headless piston.

• Step09 Redstone.png

  Step 10. The redstone to prepare to make the other sticky piston headless.

• Step10 HeadlessPiston2.gif

  Step 11. The GIF shows what needs to happen. The glowstone is out of the picture because the GIF creator I was using cut it off.

• Step11 Cleanup.png

  Step 12. The cleanup.

• Step12 DownwardsPiston.png

  Step 13. Use the other piston to place the downwards-facing piston into position.

• Step13 Pistons.png

  Step 14. The normal pistons should be like this.

• Step14 Positions.png

  Step 15. Get into this position. It makes it easier to explain the next few steps.

• Step15 Repeaters.png

  Step 16. The first set of repeaters should look like this.

• Step16 HeadlessPistonRepeaters.png

  Step 17. The repeaters connecting to the headless pistons should look like this.

• Step17 FinalRedstone.png

  Step 18. The redstone should look like this.

• Step18 EverythingReady.png

  Step 19. I find this the tensest moment, because soon, you will find out whether you did everything correctly.

• Step19 BreakBedrock.gif

  Step 20. The GIF shows the magic that needs to happen.

Method 2

This method requires a one block deep 1x4 block trench in the bedrock directly above the Nether portal that brought you to the Nether. It only works with the ceiling of the Nether and requires that there are no other portals within 16 blocks in the Nether or 128 blocks in the Overworld. These are the materials you will need:

• A lot of transparent, non-spawnable blocks (glass, slabs, etc) [note 1]

Note 1: this amount can change drastically depending on the situation.

1. Place the non-spawnable blocks on every top surface of every block within 16 blocks horizontally and all the way up and down between the bedrock barriers.
2. Break the Nether portal that brought the player to the Nether.
3. Build another Nether portal at least 16 blocks away and use it to travel back to the Overworld.
4. Go back to the original portal and use it to go back to the Nether. This portal should spawn at the Nether ceiling, breaking some more of the bedrock. Repeat this to break more bedrock.

This method works by removing all of the valid places for a Nether portal. It forces the portal to generate in the bedrock, replacing some of it with the obsidian frame.

Pros:

• It is incredibly easy to accomplish.
• It is very fast.

Cons:

• It requires a lot of work to prepare the area.
• It requires the player to have already used one of the methods above to break the bedrock needed to utilize this.

Outdated

Method 3

(Bug Used: MC-91486),Patched since 1.12.

This method is much simpler, but it requires more resources. These are the minimum materials you will need to break one block:

• One dragon egg
• One piston
• One redstone torch
• 31-481 redstone
• 33-513 blocks of choice
• 2-32 redstone repeaters
• 1 lever

This method is incredibly easy to do, but time-consuming. This is all you need to do:

1. Place one block of choice.
2. Place a redstone torch on the side of this block.
3. Place a piston on top of the redstone torch.
4. Place the dragon egg on top of the piston arm. This dragon egg should be exactly above the block you are trying to break.
5. Place the remaining blocks in a straight line with redstone on top of it. Place repeaters every 16 blocks of this redstone line. At the other end of this, place a lever.
6. Power the lever, wait five seconds, then depower it.
7. Walk back to find the dragon egg taking up the space of the broken block.

This works because the dragon egg is dropped in the lazy chunks. Lazy chunks are a region two chunks wide at the edge of the player's render distance that are partly loaded and have not yet been unloaded. Redstone still works, but falling sand entities fall instantly. Dragon eggs have the strange property where they replace the block they fall on with itself, if they fall in the lazy chunks.

Pros:

• It can be expanded to break more bedrock in one go, if the player manages to obtain more dragon eggs. This can be done using a gravity block duplicator.
• Since it uses a falling block, the player can construct this any number of blocks above the one being broken.

Cons:

• This method requires a block underneath the target block for the dragon egg to rest on after it falls. The egg will keep breaking blocks under it until it comes to rest on a solid block, which cannot exist at y=0.
• On multiplayer, other players may end up loading the chunks where this is happening, causing it to fail.

Method 4

This can be done in a variety of different ways because it uses certain plants with block-breaking properties.

Bamboo

In Bedrock Edition, growing bamboo with bone meal removes the block above. See this video for how to quickly remove strips of bedrock. This method no longer works in 1.10.0.

Jungle Trees

(Bug Used: MC-10176) (patched)

The branches of huge jungle trees replace blocks that they generate in.

Huge Mushrooms

Huge mushrooms break the blocks that their "hats" spawn in.

This method no longer works in 1.13.2

Pros:

• These plants are extraordinarily easy to obtain.
• The method is cheap, requiring just a bit of bonemeal.

Cons:

• Plants are unpredictable, so you could be breaking blocks that you did not want to break.
• These plants have very strict space requirements, so fulfilling those and breaking the bedrock can take a lot of trial-and-error.

Method 5

(Bug used: MC-91528)

As of Minecraft 1.13, this method no longer works as described.

This method requires an indestructible end crystal and a piston.

To do this, push the end crystal with the piston into the block that you want to break. The block will break.

It works because indestructible end crystals constantly generate fire underneath them. This fire breaks all blocks, including bedrock.

Pros:

• It is insanely easy to accomplish once the materials are obtained.
• Lots of bedrock can be removed quickly with this method, through the use of a flying machine.

Cons:

• Indestructible end crystals are very difficult to obtain and move.
• It can be difficult to tell which block is being removed.

Fun fact: In the 1.8 update, no bedrock generated on the obsidian pillars because the crystals generated one block lower than they were supposed to. The fire generated broke the bedrock that was supposed to be there.

Video

Note: This trick has been patched in 1.13.

Video made by slicedlime: