The Most Useful Blocks in Minecraft

Blocks are the basics of Minecraft. They are the building materials that you can use to build structures and create your own Minecraft world. Whilst all blocks are important, some are more useful than others. Here, we discuss the most useful blocks in Minecraft

Obsidian

Much stronger than diamond, obsidian blocks can be made into a nether portal. They can also be used to craft an enchantment table and is one of the strongest blocks.

Iron

It's easy to find, easy to mine and easy to use in construction. It’s strong and shines nicely.

Wood

An essential block in Minecraft as it can be used for so many simple yet vital things, such as a crafting bench, planks and building a home. Wood can be used to make trees whilst also being extremely decorative. You can make three wood blocks by crafting together any four logs of the same species.

Diamond

Diamond blocks can be crafted by putting nine diamonds in a crafting table. They can only be mined with an iron or diamond pickaxe. Once they have been created, they can be used to power a beacon.

Dirt

May not look the best, but it supports most forms of life and without it, searching for food would be much harder.

Crafting Table

Crafting tables are one of the most important blocks in Minecraft. Within them, players would be wandering around aimlessly without the ability to craft anything.

Emerald

One of the rarest blocks, they can be used to store and transport emeralds. They can be used for decoration due to their green colour and distinct pattern. They can also be used to create beacons.

Diorite

With the same blast resistance as stone, diorite can be used as a substitute for stone when building structures. It can be easily mined and collected using any pickaxe.

Carpet

Carpet can be found naturally or crafted out of wool. You can craft white carpet into any colour you want by surrounding one piece of dye with eight pieces of carpet. Although mainly used for decoration, the range of colours available helps bring colour to Minecraft. It can also be used as a saddle for a llama.

Iron Bars

They appear in both the Overworld and the End. They are a useful replacement for glass in windows. Although it can also be used as a fence, they are only one block high so mobs and players can simply jump over it. Iron bars can also prevent fires from spreading because they don’t burn.

Slime

Slime blocks don’t generate in the Minecraft world - you can only get one by collecting nine slimeballs. Slimeballs can be collected in three ways: by killing the smallest sized slime mob, by collecting them as drops when baby pandas sneeze and by buying them from wandering traders. Slime can be helpful. They can be used to craft leads, magma cream and sticking pistons. They are slightly slippery and can help slow down mobs that walk over them (however ice does this better). If a player falls into a slime block from a great height, they bounce back up rather than taking any damage. Extremely useful!

Beds

You can place a bed anywhere that has two blocks of space available. You can sleep in them when it's either night time or during a thunderstorm. Once you have slept, your spawn point will be the bed. Do not try and use a bed in the Nether or End. Doing so will cause the bed to explode and create a fire. This is to avoid players from setting their spawn points here.

Walls

Although walls are mainly decorative, they can keep out mobs. As they are one and a half blocks tall, mobs cannot easily jump over them. Most variants of stone can be crafted into a wall, meaning you can be creative.

Sandstone

One of the most common blocks, it can be found in most biomes - anywhere you can find sand. Dig a few blocks down and you will probably find sandstone. It can be used to craft slabs, stairs, walls and more, making them an extremely useful construction material. However, it has an extremely low blast resistance, so bear this in mind.

Bone

Part of fossils, they are rare to find and appear in only two biomes - deserts and swamps. Not only can bone blocks be used decoratively because they have different coloured patches, but they can also be used to craft bone meal. Bone meal is a great fertiliser so it is a useful item to have when trying to farm crops.

Sponge

Sponge appears naturally in only one place - ocean monuments. Elder guardians and the drowned can also drop them. Sponges can be either wet or dry. When they are wet, they don’t do anything. They are simply for decorative purposes. Dry sponges can be placed next to a body of water and will absorb it and destroy the water blocks. They have a range of seven blocks, meaning they can absorb up to 65 blocks of water.

Glass

Although glass is used a lot in Minecraft, not much of it generates naturally. The only place in the Overworld that has glass is a woodland mansion. Glass can only be mined with a tool that has had the silk touch enchantment placed on it. Luckily, glass is easy to craft as you just smelt a block of sand in a furnace. Use glass for windows, walls and several crafting recipes.

These are just some of the most useful blocks you will come across on your Minecraft journey. Once you know more about the blocks available and become familiar with them, you can start to learn what their advantages and disadvantages are, learn new ways to use them and realise which are your favourites.