How to Make Obsidian in Minecraft and What Y-Level to Mine

Remember the days when the trickiest block to get was Obsidian? It seems like so long ago that it took a whole 10 seconds to get a single block of Obsidian, with a Diamond Pickaxe, mind you. It’d take much longer and yield no rewards if you used anything but! Getting Diamond is a whole process and a half, but Obsidian, goodness gracious. You can’t even get Enchantments on your pickaxe to speed up the process until you have an Enchanting Table that requires both of those tricky ingredients. So, read on to learn how to make Obsidian and what Y-level to mine at in Minecraft.

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What is Obsidian Used for in Minecraft?

It’s easy to overlook this material since before you get Diamond, this block is barely breakable and after you get Diamond, it’s a hassle to find. The most essential items you need to make with Obsidian include; Enchanting Table, Nether Portal, Beacons, and Ender Chests. Enchanting Tables are great for strengthening your armor, the Nether Portal is necessary to advance for the strongest armor in the game, Beacons come with great boosts to your base, and Ender Chests are the handiest thing as of 1.9 to help expand more of your inventory.

How to Make Obsidian

One of the easiest ways to make a Nether Portal, for example, is to craft it from Lava and Water. You may have seen your favorite speedrunner use this tactic when completing the game since it is one of the easiest methods by far when crafting a Nether Portal. You don’t need Diamonds, only a Bucket.

When trying to save yourself from flowing Lava, you may have used a Water Bucket in haste to keep yourself from burning and then accidentally turning Lava into Cobblestone. This is a valid method for getting Cobblestone, but we aren’t playing SkyBlock. To craft Nether, you’ll need not flowing Lava, but the still form. You’ll often see this in pools of Lava, rather than the Lava waterfalls in Ravines and in small mineshafts. 

Using the Water Bucket in a similar way, as long as you make sure that the Lava Block is still, pouring water onto the lava will turn it into Obsidian. You can mine with a Diamond Pick from here, just remember to never dig straight down unless you are sure there is no Lava beneath that Obsidian. 

Best Levels to Mine for Obsidian

Obsidian can be found near any place where Water and Lava meet, but it isn’t guaranteed. Usually, you can see this in Lava Pools or in the depths of Ravines since you’re likely to run into one or two waterfalls, and ravines will often have Lava Pools located at the very bottom. It becomes tricky since you’ll be near flowing lava so be sure to locate only still blocks of Lava before using Water. 

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You’ll also have a chance to find it near demolished previous Nether Portals, which can be found just about anywhere overworld. But if you’re going to dig underground for it, you’ll want to try for around Level 10 since as the old saying goes, Diamond is always located near Lava. And with a Water Bucket, Lava can be turned into Obsidian.