Mud

Overview

Mud is the soft brown block of the mangrove swamp, and the most useful thing about it is that you do not need a mangrove swamp to get it: using a water bottle on any dirt block turns it into mud instantly, anywhere in the world. That makes it one of very few blocks whose supply is limited only by your dirt. Walking on mud sinks you slightly into the block, similar to soul sand but without the movement penalty, which builders use deliberately for paths and riverbeds. Its real value is as a material chain. Mud plus wheat makes packed mud, packed mud makes mud bricks, and mud bricks give stairs, slabs and walls through the stonecutter — a full warm-brown building family that costs nothing but dirt and wheat. Mud placed above a pointed dripstone also drips and turns into clay over time, which is the only renewable clay source in the game and a genuinely useful farm for anyone who needs bricks or flower pots in quantity. It is also one of the few blocks bamboo, sugar cane and cactus will all grow on, which makes it a quietly useful farm floor.

The packed mud and mud brick building family in a warm brown nothing else provides, sinking decorative paths and riverbeds, and a renewable clay farm when a block is placed above a pointed dripstone.

In Minecraft 1.21.4, Mud is a naturally generated block. It is gathered by mining rather than crafted. With a hardness of 0.5 it gives way immediately under almost any tool.

Any tool works, and so do bare hands. Mining it returns the block itself, so it is safe to relocate. A blast resistance of 0.5 means a single creeper will clear it away.

It stacks to 64. You will need it for Muddy Mangrove Roots and Packed Mud.

How to get it

Use a water bottle on any dirt block to make mud anywhere, or dig it with a shovel in a mangrove swamp. 1 mud plus 1 wheat makes packed mud, and 4 packed mud make 4 mud bricks.

Tips

• A water bottle on dirt makes mud instantly, so you never need to haul it from a mangrove swamp.
• Mud above a pointed dripstone slowly becomes clay, which is the only renewable clay source in the game.
• 1 mud plus 1 wheat gives packed mud; the wheat is what holds it together and cannot be substituted.
• You sink slightly into mud without being slowed, which makes it a good decorative riverbed.

Version notes

Mud, packed mud and mud bricks were added in 1.19 (The Wild Update) with the mangrove swamp; unchanged in 1.21.4.

How long it takes to break

Mud has a hardness of 0.5. By hand that is 0.75 seconds per block; with the correct tool at netherite tier it is 0.1 seconds.

Iron manages 0.15 seconds and diamond 0.1, which makes diamond the tier that changes how this block feels.

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 2 times faster than an unenchanted one.

Properties

Blast resistance on Mud is 0.5, so any explosion nearby takes it out. It stops light entirely and gives off no light. Stack size is 64 — the standard full stack. It renews, so a single world will never run out. The block is tagged for shovels, and only that class gets the speed bonus; everything else mines at bare-hand rate.

Drops

Mined with any, Mud drops itself.

Mud

Used to craft

Mud is an ingredient in 2 recipes, producing Muddy Mangrove Roots and Packed Mud.

Muddy Mangrove RootsPacked Mud

Guides and tools that cover this

• GuidesHow the Minecraft Crafting System Works→
• GuidesThe First Ten Things to Build in a New Minecraft World→
• ToolsStack & Shulker Calculator→

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

Packed MudMud BricksMud Brick SlabMud Brick StairsMud Brick WallMuddy Mangrove RootsIceGravel