Mining obsidian in Runescape

As new players to Minecraft will soon learn, finding resources such as sand, wood, dirt and stone is easy. They are all out in the open, or just a short distance underground. Resources such as iron, gold and redstone, along with diamond, are considerably harder to discover, but they are waiting for you if you’re willing to put in the hard work to unearth them. Obsidian, however, is then most difficult of all.

Obsidian isn’t naturally forming, so you aren’t guaranteed to find any already made when you’re playing. You can get lucky and find that the correct circumstances create a small amount for you, but generally you will need to manufacture your own. Obsidian forms when flowing water flows over still lava. After a period of time, a layer of Obsidian will form. Mining non-manufactured Obsidian can be challenging, due to the underlying lava.

Most players opt to farm Obsidian, in order to gather suitably large quantities of it. The most effective strategy for farming Obsidian is to dig a through that is 7 blocks long, and fill it with lava using the bucket. Then players simply have to lay some flowing water at one end, which will travel along the trough to cover the lava. After a little while, the obsidian will be formed and can then be mined.

Mining Obsidian takes 50 seconds with a non-diamond pickaxe, or 15 seconds with a diamond pickaxe. It can only be mined using a diamond pickaxe, otherwise it will be destroyed but not Obsidian will be gained. It can then be used to create extremely strong fortresses to keep away attackers. Obsidian can be distinguished by its dark purple colour.

For more information on mining, visit Minecraft: The Mining Layers. Alternatively, visit Minecraft: Crafting Your Pickaxes, for more on making a diamond pickaxe.

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