Overview
A respawn anchor sets your spawn point in the Nether, which is otherwise impossible because a bed placed there explodes. Charge it with glowstone blocks — it takes 4 charges, and each charge is one full glowstone block, not dust — then use it to bind your spawn to it. Each death spends one charge, so a fully charged anchor is four respawns before it needs refilling, and an empty anchor does nothing at all: dying with an uncharged anchor sends you back to your Overworld bed or world spawn. The anchor is aggressively unforgiving about location. Using a charged one in the Overworld or the End detonates it with an explosion comparable to a bed's, strong enough to kill an unarmoured player and blow a crater in whatever it was standing on. That is not a bug to work around but the intended limit: the block exists to make long Nether expeditions viable, not to give a portable spawn point everywhere. Its glow brightens as it charges, which is a useful at-a-glance indicator of how many respawns you have left before you need more glowstone.
Setting a respawn point at a Nether base, a fortress camp or an ancient debris mine, so a death does not cost you the whole journey back through the portal.
Minecraft classifies Respawn Anchor as a functional block. A crafting table turns its ingredients into Respawn Anchor. A hardness of 50 makes it slow going without the right tool.
Anything below a diamond pickaxe breaks it without leaving a drop. It drops as the same block you mined. Its blast resistance of 1,200 shrugs off creeper explosions.
Sixty-four fit in one inventory slot. The recipe calls for Crying Obsidian and Glowstone. It is not used in any crafting recipe.
How to get it
Craft it from 6 crying obsidian and 3 glowstone blocks. Crying obsidian comes from piglin bartering at roughly 9 percent per gold ingot, or from ruined portals, so 6 blocks is a serious barter session.
Tips
- Charging takes glowstone blocks, not dust — 1 block per charge, 4 charges maximum, and it shows how many remain.
- Never use a charged anchor in the Overworld or the End: it explodes with roughly the force of a bed.
- Refill it before it empties; an uncharged anchor silently sends you back to your Overworld bed instead.
- Pair it with an ender chest at the same spot so a death costs you the walk back and nothing else.
How long it takes to break
Respawn Anchor has a hardness of 50. By hand that is 250 seconds per block; with the correct tool at netherite tier it is 8.4 seconds.
An iron tool takes 42 seconds and a diamond one 9.4, so the jump that actually matters for this block is the one to diamond.
The block still breaks with a weaker tool, but below diamond it yields nothing at all — the time is spent and the drop is lost, which is the single most common way players waste a vein.
Each Efficiency level adds level² + 1 to the tool's speed, so a level V tool clears this about 3.9 times faster than an unenchanted one.
| Tool | No enchantment | Efficiency III | Efficiency V |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand * | 250 s | 250 s | 250 s |
| Wooden * | 125 s | 21 s | 9 s |
| Stone * | 63 s | 18 s | 8.4 s |
| Iron * | 42 s | 16 s | 7.9 s |
| Diamond | 9.4 s | 4.2 s | 2.3 s |
| Netherite | 8.4 s | 4 s | 2.2 s |
| Golden * | 21 s | 11 s | 6.6 s |
Properties
Respawn Anchor resists blasts at 1,200, which survives a creeper and a point-blank TNT charge. Light does not pass through it, and it emits none of its own. 64 fit in a slot — a full stack. The block is tagged for pickaxes, and only that class gets the speed bonus; everything else mines at bare-hand rate.
- Transparent
- No
- Required tool
- Diamond Pickaxe
Crafting recipe
Crafting Table
Respawn Anchor
Drops
Mined with Diamond Pickaxe, Respawn Anchor drops itself.
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
How do you get Respawn Anchor in Minecraft?
Respawn Anchor is crafted from Crying Obsidian and Glowstone.
What tool do you need to break Respawn Anchor?
Diamond Pickaxe or better is required; anything weaker destroys the block without dropping it.
Is Respawn Anchor blast resistant?
Respawn Anchor has a blast resistance of 1,200, so it survives creeper and TNT explosions.
How many Respawn Anchor fit in one stack?
Respawn Anchor stacks to 64, which puts 3,456 of them in a double chest.
How long does Respawn Anchor take to break?
About 8.4 seconds if you bring the correct netherite tool; 250 seconds with your fists.
