Overview
A heavy core is the mace ingredient. It generates only in ominous vaults inside trial chambers, and it is the rarest single-purpose item in the game.
Heavy Core counts as a building block in Minecraft 1.21.4. It is gathered by mining rather than crafted. At hardness 10 this is one of the tougher blocks in the game.
Broken correctly, it drops itself. A blast resistance of 1,200 makes it a sensible choice where explosions are likely. A full stack holds 64.
Its only crafting use is Mace.
How long it takes to break
Heavy Core has a hardness of 10. By hand that is 15 seconds per block; with the correct tool at netherite tier it is 1.7 seconds.
You are looking at 2.5 seconds on iron and 1.9 on diamond — the diamond step is where the time actually falls.
The drop does not depend on the tool — bare hands work as well as anything — so the table below is purely about speed.
Each Efficiency level adds level² + 1 to the tool's speed, so a level V tool clears this about 3.8 times faster than an unenchanted one.
| Tool | No enchantment | Efficiency III | Efficiency V |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand | 15 s | 15 s | 15 s |
| Wooden | 7.5 s | 1.3 s | 0.55 s |
| Stone | 3.8 s | 1.1 s | 0.5 s |
| Iron | 2.5 s | 0.95 s | 0.5 s |
| Diamond | 1.9 s | 0.85 s | 0.45 s |
| Netherite | 1.7 s | 0.8 s | 0.45 s |
| Golden | 1.3 s | 0.7 s | 0.4 s |
Properties
With 1,200 blast resistance Heavy Core holds up to a creeper or TNT at point-blank range. It is fully opaque and produces no light. Stack size is 64 — the standard full stack. It does not renew, so the world's supply is fixed. A pickaxe is fastest here; any other class mines it at bare-hand speed, because the bonus only applies to the class the block is tagged for.
- Transparent
- No
- Required tool
- Any
- Renewable
- No
Where it generates
- Found in
- Trial Chambers
Drops
Mined with any, Heavy Core drops itself.
Used to craft
Heavy Core is an ingredient in 1 recipes, producing Mace.
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
How do you get Heavy Core in Minecraft?
Mine Heavy Core with any and it drops itself.
What tool do you need to break Heavy Core?
No specific tool is required — Heavy Core can be broken by hand.
Is Heavy Core blast resistant?
Heavy Core has a blast resistance of 1,200, so it survives creeper and TNT explosions.
How many Heavy Core fit in one stack?
Heavy Core stacks to 64, so a single double chest holds 3,456 of them.
Is Heavy Core renewable?
No. Every Heavy Core in a world is finite — there is no way to produce more of it, so anything you spend is gone for good.
How long does Heavy Core take to break?
1.7 seconds with a netherite-tier tool of the right class, or 15 seconds bare-handed.
