Mangrove Roots — Minecraft block

Overview

Mangrove roots are the tangled stilts that mangrove trees stand on in a mangrove swamp, and they are one of the most useful decorative blocks added in recent years for a reason most players discover by accident: they can be waterlogged while remaining visually open, so water flows through and around them and you can see through the gaps. That makes them the best block in the game for a submerged walkway, a pier, an underwater cave mouth or anything where you want structure without blocking the view. Above water they read as roots, cable, wickerwork or a rough organic frame depending on what you put them next to. They generate as part of every mangrove tree and grow when a mangrove propagule is planted, so the supply is renewable from a single tree brought home. The muddy variant, made by using mud on the block, fills in the gaps for a solid earthy look. An axe is the fastest tool, and they always drop themselves with no enchantment required. They are also non-solid enough that water and light pass through, so a root wall does not darken the space behind it. That combination of structure, transparency and waterlogging is why builders keep several stacks on hand.

Waterloggable open structure for piers, submerged walkways and organic detailing that water and light pass through, plus the muddy variant for a solid earth-toned block with the same tangled texture.

Mangrove Roots is one of the 3 variants of this shape in the game. What changes between them is the material, and with it the hardness, the drops, the durability and the recipe — so every figure on this page is this variant's own. Crimson Roots is the same shape in a different material.

Minecraft classifies Mangrove Roots as a plant block. It is gathered by mining rather than crafted. At a hardness of 0.7 it takes a moment to break but never slows a build down.

Any tool works, and so do bare hands. Mining it returns the block itself, so it is safe to relocate. It is transparent, which matters when you are managing light levels.

With a blast resistance of only 0.7 it will not survive an explosion. Sixty-four fit in one inventory slot. The one thing it makes is Muddy Mangrove Roots.

About the mangrove set

How to get it

Cut them with an axe from the base of any mangrove tree in a mangrove swamp, or grow your own from a mangrove propagule, which is the only sapling in the game that can be planted directly into 1 block of water.

Tips

They can be waterlogged while staying see-through, which no other structural block manages.
Use mud on the block to make muddy mangrove roots, which fills the gaps for a solid look.
A mangrove propagule plants directly into water, so 1 tree brought home makes the supply renewable.
An axe is fastest and they always drop themselves — no shears or Silk Touch needed.

How long it takes to break

Mangrove Roots has a hardness of 0.7. By hand that is 1.1 seconds per block; with the correct tool at netherite tier it is 0.15 seconds.

An iron tool takes 0.2 seconds and a diamond one 0.15, so the jump that actually matters for this block is the one to diamond.

Nothing here needs a minimum tier: whatever you swing, the block still drops, and the only difference is how long it takes.

Each Efficiency level adds level² + 1 to the tool's speed, so a level V tool clears this about 3 times faster than an unenchanted one.

Tool	No enchantment	Efficiency III	Efficiency V
Hand	1.1 s	1.1 s	1.1 s
Wooden	0.55 s	0.1 s	instant
Stone	0.3 s	0.1 s	instant
Iron	0.2 s	0.1 s	instant
Diamond	0.15 s	0.1 s	instant
Netherite	0.15 s	0.1 s	instant
Golden	0.1 s	instant	instant

Properties

With 0.7 blast resistance Mangrove Roots goes down to any nearby explosion. It is transparent to light and produces no light. One inventory slot holds 64, the normal full stack. The fastest tool for it is an axe; any other kind of tool mines it no faster than a bare hand does, because the speed bonus only applies to the tool class the block is tagged for.

Transparent: Yes
Required tool: Any