Redstone is one of the most useful materials in Minecraft, with a virtually endless list of things that can be accomplished using the powerful crimson powder. With the capability to make anything from Redstone vending machines to mob farms, players are seemingly only limited by their imagination when building with Redstone.
Fortunately, given its usefulness, Redstone isn't difficult to harvest in Minecraft. This is where players can find Redstone, and here are tips for mining it.
Where to Find Redstone
The most common form of Redstone a player will encounter is its ore block. It's one of the more distinctive ores, covered with bright red speckles. It also glows and emits a red particle effect whenever it is punched or interacted with by a player, though that test shouldn't be necessary to identify it.
Redstone Ore is only found underground, as it's not among one of the resource blocks that can appear in mineral veins above ground. Its natural spawn is anywhere from altitudes 0 (the Void, below Bedrock) to 15, which also happens to be the upper spawn limit for Diamonds. On PC, a player can check their altitude by pressing the "F3" key and checking what the Y-value is.
To increase the chances of finding Redstone Ore, find a cave that contains both Lava pools and Lapis Lazuli blocks. It will generate in veins that range from 1-8 blocks in size.
If a player does not have the requisite materials to mine Redstone Ore, it can be found in its dust form inside the Jungle Pyramids, though players do have to be wary of the traps. Redstone Dust can be broken by any tool, or even an empty hand. Five lengths of Redstone can also be found inside the Woodland Mansion in a specific type of jail cell room.
How to Mine Redstone
Redstone can be mined just like any other block, though it can only be harvested by an Iron Pickaxe or better. If the block is broken by a lesser tool, or anything besides a pickaxe, it will not drop the Redstone Dust. Each ore block drops four or five Redstone Dust, so players will have to break at least 13 ore to ensure a full stack of 64.
There are different enchantments that can enhance the mining experience and, thus, the Redstone Dust yield. For instance, Fortune will increase the amount that each ore drops, with blocks dropping an average of 10 Redstone Dust when broken with a pickaxe with a Level 3 Fortune enchantment. If mined with Silk Touch, the Redstone Ore block will drop intact. It can then be smelted at a furnace to yield one Redstone Dust.
Witches also have a chance to drop up to two Redstone Dust upon death, which can increase if the weapon used to kill the Witch has a Looting enchantment attached.
Minecraft is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.