How to get infinite lava in Minecraft

Minecraft’s lava is a useful resource for furnace fuel or making your own obsidian (or for roasting mobs). Keeping a steady, endless supply of lava takes a bit of work, though.

In this Minecraft infinite lava guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know to create your own endless supply of lava.

Infinite lava farm

The first thing you need to create an infinite supply of lava is, obviously, lava. It can be collected in a bucket (3 iron ingots). Aboveground, you’ll usually find it near rocky cliffs or in caves and canyons. You’ll also find it underground, especially as you go deeper.

Next, you’ll need at least one pointed dripstone. You’ll find pointed dripstone as stalactites and stalagmites in dripstone cave biomes, but you can also grow your own.

You’ll also need a cauldron (7 iron ingots) and a few fireproof blocks (basically, anything that’s not wood or wool).

Image: Microsoft/Mojang via Polygon

Place the cauldron on the ground, and place a fireproof block two spaces above it. Place the pointed dripstone on the underside of that block (we tend to use dripstone block here, but it’s not necessary). Close in the area around the top of the block so the lava can’t escape and leave a space in the middle directly above the block, pointed dripstone, and cauldron. Dump a bucket of lava into the hole. It’ll take a bit, but the cauldron will slowly fill with lava until you can harvest it with a bucket.

How to use (infinite) lava

The most immediate use for lava is fuel for a furnace (or blast furnace or smoker). A bucket of lava is the longest burning fuel source in Minecraft. Place the bucket of lava in the fuel slot of a furnace and start smelting something. The empty bucket can be retrieved immediately, and the furnace will run until it runs out of inputs. A bucket of lava is enough fuel to smelt 100 blocks.

Lava can also be combined with water to create a couple useful blocks. Lava flowing into water creates cobblestone, and water flowing over lava creates obsidian. This basically means you can farm the supplies for a Nether portal or enchanting table.