block

Polished Basalt in Minecraft | MinecraftBible

Polished Basalt is a block in Minecraft 1.21.4 that requires Wooden Pickaxe or better to mine, dropping Polished Basalt.

What is Polished Basalt?

Polished Basalt is a Minecraft block classified under the mineable/pickaxe material group. It has a hardness of 1.25 and a blast resistance of 4.2. It stacks up to 64 per inventory slot. It is a solid, opaque block. Polished Basalt does not emit light. Polished Basalt filters 15 levels of light passing through it, which is why it blocks skylight below it.

Namespaced identifier: minecraft:polished_basalt. Command: /give @p minecraft:polished_basalt 1.

How to mine Polished Basalt

Polished Basalt requires one of the following tools to drop its item — mining with a lower tier or by hand destroys it:

Break times (unenchanted, no Haste or Mining Fatigue):

  • With the correct tool: approximately 1.88 seconds
  • By hand (no tool): approximately 6.25 seconds

Using an Efficiency-enchanted tool, Haste beacons, or a Diamond/Netherite tier drastically reduces these times. Water and being airborne slow mining by 5×.

Polished Basalt drops

When broken, Polished Basalt drops:

Silk Touch preserves the block itself; Fortune increases quantity of ore-style drops but has no effect on ordinary blocks.

Block tags & properties

  • Opaque
  • Requires Tool
  • Craftable

Polished Basalt technical properties

  • Flammable: No
  • Burns from lava: No
  • Renewable: Yes
  • Emits light: No (luminance 0)

Values sourced from Minecraft Wiki: Polished Basalt (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Verified for Java Edition 1.21.4.

Technical properties

  • Namespaced ID: minecraft:polished_basalt
  • Material family: mineable/pickaxe
  • Hardness: 1.25
  • Blast resistance: 4.2
  • Stack size: 64
  • Transparent: No
  • Blocks light: 15
  • Emits light: 0
  • Diggable: Yes
  • Craftable: Yes
  • /give command: /give @p minecraft:polished_basalt 1

Overview

Polished Basalt is a block in Minecraft 1.21.4. This page covers mining requirements, real drop data, and crafting relevance.

Prerequisites and materials

  • Bring the correct tool tier before mining - breaking Polished Basalt with the wrong tool will destroy it without dropping anything.
  • Expect to collect Polished Basalt once it breaks.

Step-by-step walkthrough

  1. Bring the correct tool tier before mining - breaking Polished Basalt with the wrong tool will destroy it without dropping anything.
  2. Expect to collect Polished Basalt once it breaks.
  3. With the correct tool this takes about 1.88s to break (unenchanted); by hand it's roughly 6.25s.

Pro tips

  • Use /give @p minecraft:polished_basalt 1 in creative mode to prototype builds before committing resources.
  • Carry a spare tool of the correct tier - breaking with the wrong one wastes the drop.

Difficulty and time commitment

  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Estimated time per run: 1-5 min

Frequently Asked Questions

What tool do I need to mine Polished Basalt?

You need one of: Wooden Pickaxe, Stone Pickaxe, Golden Pickaxe, Iron Pickaxe, Diamond Pickaxe, Netherite Pickaxe. Mining with a lower tier tool (or by hand) will break the block without dropping its item.

What does Polished Basalt drop when mined?

Breaking Polished Basalt drops Polished Basalt.

How hard is Polished Basalt to mine?

Polished Basalt has a hardness value of 1.25. That works out to roughly 1.88s with the correct tool or 6.25s by hand (unenchanted, no Haste/Mining Fatigue).

Can I craft Polished Basalt?

Yes - this page lists 2 known crafting recipes for Polished Basalt.

What is the internal Minecraft ID for Polished Basalt?

The namespaced ID is minecraft:polished_basalt, usable with /setblock, /fill, and /give.

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