How Do You Get Clay In Minecraft?
Clay is one of the most versatile and useful blocks in Minecraft. While clay itself has limited uses, it can be smelted into terracotta or glazed terracotta to create beautiful building blocks and decorations. Clay is also used to craft bricks and flower pots, which are handy functional blocks. The vibrant colors and patterns unlocked through clay make it an essential item for creative builders and players who enjoy aesthetically pleasing structures. Because of its decorative potential and role in crafting, obtaining a good clay supply is a priority for many Minecraft players.
Finding Clay Above Ground
Clay generates naturally above ground near water sources like rivers, lakes, and oceans. Look along lake and ocean floors in shallow areas to find clay deposits. Clay will generate as patches of gray blocks on the seafloor or lakebed. Break these clay blocks with any tool to collect them.
Rivers and swamps are also good places to look for exposed clay. Check along the edges of rivers and swamp biomes to find clay deposits sticking out along the shoreline or just under the water’s surface. Break these with a tool to add clay to your inventory.
Clay spawns more frequently in lush cave biomes underground, but it can be easier to gather from above-ground sources first before mining for it. Focus your early clay hunting efforts on beaches, rivers, swamps, and small ponds to collect clay without having to dig deep underground right away.
Finding Clay Underground
Clay generates naturally below Y=64 in the Overworld. It spawns in underground lakes and pools inside caves and ravines. With the Caves & Cliffs updates in versions 1.17 and 1.18, clay generation was improved to create larger clay deposits. Now players can find sizeable veins of clay at lower levels underground.
Specifically, clay has a 1.5% chance of generating in place of stone below Y=16 in Java Edition. In Bedrock Edition, clay generates with a frequent rate below Y levels 16 to 64. So caving at lower levels provides ample opportunities to find clay deposits. Strip mining is also effective for locating clay veins within stone.
Clay generation is not restricted to certain biomes. It can spawn underground in any biome. However, it occurs more frequently in lush cave biomes due to the abundance of underground lakes and pools. Searching inside lush caves is a great way to find large clay deposits.
Crafting Clay Blocks
You can craft clay blocks in Minecraft by placing 4 clay balls next to each other in a square in the crafting grid. To get clay balls, you need to find clay underground or above ground and mine it with a shovel or any other tool. Each clay block you mine will drop 4 clay balls that you can then use to craft clay blocks.
To craft a clay block:
- Open your crafting table or inventory crafting grid
- Add 4 clay balls to the grid in a square formation
- Take the clay block that is created and add it to your inventory
Clay blocks can be crafted into a number of decorative blocks. You can craft clay blocks into bricks which are used to make brick slabs, stairs, and walls. Clay blocks can also be smelted in a furnace to create terracotta blocks which can then be dyed into a variety of colors.
Smelting Clay Blocks
Smelting clay blocks in a furnace, blast furnace, or smoker produces terracotta 1. Terracotta was added to Minecraft in version 1.12 and was originally called “hardened clay.” Once clay blocks are smelted into terracotta, the terracotta can be dyed into a variety of colorful blocks using dyes.
To smelt clay blocks into terracotta, place the clay blocks into the top slot of any furnace, blast furnace, or smoker. Provide fuel in the bottom slot such as coal, wood, etc. After a few seconds, the clay blocks will be smelted into orange terracotta blocks.
Smelting clay blocks provides an efficient way to convert the abundant clay found in lush caves and elsewhere into colorful terracotta. Terracotta can be used for beautiful buildings and is more vibrant and decorative than regular clay blocks.
Trading with Mason Villagers
One way to easily obtain clay in Minecraft is by trading with Mason villagers. Mason villagers have a profession of stone masonry, and they will sell materials related to stone and clay in exchange for emeralds.
Specifically, Mason villagers at the Novice trading level will sell 8 clay balls for 1 emerald. When Mason villagers reach the Apprentice trading level, they will sell 10 clay balls for 1 emerald. Finally, at the Journeyman level, Mason villagers will sell 16 clay balls for 1 emerald (Source).
To trade with Mason villagers, first find a village and look for villagers wearing a white apron. If there are no Mason villagers, you can place a lectern near an unemployed villager to turn them into a Mason. Then, trade emeralds earned through trading with other villagers to obtain a large supply of clay balls from the Mason.
With just a few emeralds, trading with Mason villagers allows you to easily stock up on clay in the game. It is one of the simplest and most efficient methods for obtaining clay in Minecraft.
Chest Loot
Clay can occasionally be found as loot in chests generated naturally in structures throughout Minecraft worlds. Chests found in village blacksmith houses, desert temples, jungle temples, dungeons, woodland mansions, mineshafts, strongholds, and more have a chance to contain clay as one of the items in their loot table. According to the Minecraft Wiki page on chest loot [1], clay has a 15.2% chance of being found in village blacksmith chests and a 4.3% chance in desert temple chests in Java Edition. The loot tables vary slightly in Bedrock Edition.
While clay can generate in chests naturally, loot tables can also be customized using mods, data packs, or commands. This allows chests to have higher chances of containing clay or even guarantee clay as loot. Overall, checking chests in structures can be a good way to find small amounts of clay in survival worlds.
Fishing
One way to obtain clay in Minecraft is through fishing. Players can fish up clay as a random junk item when fishing with any fishing rod in water sources like rivers, oceans, or man-made pools. Fishing has a small chance to yield clay as a junk item in addition to fish, enchanted books, and other random items.
Clay is considered a common junk item when fishing, meaning players have a decent chance of obtaining some clay alongside the standard loot from fishing. However, the amount of clay received from fishing is typically small. On average, a player fishing for an extended time may obtain 1-3 clay. So while fishing can provide a supplemental source of clay, it is not an efficient method to mass produce large clay quantities.
Fishing for clay takes patience, as it is not guaranteed and only has a chance of being caught. Players looking to farm large clay quantities are better off finding clay deposits underground or above ground near bodies of water. But fishing provides a way to passively acquire bits of clay over time while fishing for other loot. Just don’t expect to get stacks and stacks of clay quickly by fishing alone.
Bartering with Piglins
Piglins are neutral mobs found in the Nether that will trade various items with players in exchange for gold ingots. One of the items Piglins may give when bartered with is clay balls. Piglins have a chance of giving 4-12 clay balls when provided with a gold ingot for bartering (https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Bartering).
To barter with a Piglin, simply right-click on the Piglin while holding a gold ingot. Then drop the gold ingot near the Piglin by pressing Q on PC or pressing Down on the D-pad on console. The Piglin will pick up the gold ingot and throw a random item back in return. This can be repeated multiple times in exchange for more clay balls.
Creating an automated Piglin bartering farm can help farm large amounts of clay by repeatedly bartering gold with confined Piglins. Strategies for efficient bartering farms can be found on sites like the Minecraft Wiki (https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Tutorials/Bartering_farm). With enough gold and bartering, players can amass plentiful clay resources from Piglin trading.
Conclusion
In summary, there are several main ways to obtain clay in Minecraft. Clay can be found naturally spawned above ground near water sources like rivers and oceans. It also generates underground in blobs in ocean ravines and cave systems. Players can craft clay blocks by combining clay balls obtained from these natural sources. Clay blocks can also be crafted into bricks and smelted into terracotta, two building materials that are crafted using clay as an ingredient.
Remember that clay has many helpful uses in Minecraft. Crafting clay blocks, bricks, or terracotta provides stylish building materials for construction projects. Clay balls can be used to craft light blue, cyan, gray, light gray, lime, magenta, orange, pink, and white dyes which color various items in the game. Clay is also used to craft the conduit which gives players underwater bonuses within its range. Obtaining a reliable clay source opens up many possibilities for building and crafting.
