How to get blackstone in Minecraft

How do you get blackstone in Minecraft? In the 1.16 version of Mojang's blocky survival game, the latest Minecraft update, we were introduced to a series of changes across this once-desolate land, making it habitable for the first time. For adventurers looking to get away from the Overworld and find a new home, blackstone will prove a useful tool, and it's a worthy equivalent to cobblestone. 

It comes in four varieties. Regular blackstone is your base block, available for crafting purposes, but you can make polished blackstone from it, a tougher material used for decorative items. A chiselled polished variant is also available, created through crafting two blackstone slabs together as opposed to regular blocks.

You’ve also got Minecraft gilded blackstone, which cannot be crafted or smelted. These require a pickaxe to mine them and that either drops itself or between two and five gold nuggets. There’s only a 10 percent chance of obtaining nuggets, but you can increase those odds with Minecraft enchantments. Fortune ones, specifically. So, here's where to find blackstone, and what you can craft with it.

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Where to get Minecraft blackstone

Blackstone is located at the Basalt Deltas—volcanic biomes in the Nether filled with lava lakes. For added protection in these inferno-filled climes, check out how to build Minecraft Netherite gear. Surrounded by a purple fog, these areas are also filled with white ash particles that helps them stand out. 

You can craft polished blackstone, but these also occur naturally in ruined Nether portals and Bastion Remnants—castle-like structures also found in the Nether. Gilded blackstone also appears in Bastion Remnants, but they're rarer. Speaking of, you can trade gold ingots with Piglins in these fortifications for drops of eight to 16 blackstone. Just make sure you're wearing some gold armour before you approach them, otherwise they'll attack you on sight.

Minecraft blackstone crafting: What can you make with it?

Blackstone can create similar items to cobblestone, except more technical items like pistons or levers. All weapons and tools are stone variants, too: there are no blackstone sets of these items. Here's what you can craft however, and the amount of blackstone blocks and other materials required for it:

• Blackstone slab: 3 blackstone
• Blackstone wall: 6 blackstone
• Blackstone stairs: 6 blackstone
• Polished Blackstone: 4 blackstone
• Brewing Stands: Blaze Rod, blackstone
• Stone Axe: 3 blackstone, 2 stick
• Stone Pickaxe: 3 blackstone, 2 stick
• Stone Sword: 2 blackstone, 1 stick
• Stone Hoe: 2 blackstone, 2 stick
• Stone Shovel: 1 blackstone, 2 stick

Polished blackstone, on the other hand, is intended for more decorative purposes, and as such, can’t be used for weapons or tools. Instead, you have access to these lovely-looking items:

• Polished blackstone slab: 3 blackstone
• Polished blackstone wall: 6 blackstone
• Polished blackstone pressure plate: 2 polished blackstone
• Polished blackstone stairs: 6 blackstone
• Polished blackstone bricks: 6 blackstone
• Polished blackstone button: 1 polished blackstone