How to make TNT in Minecraft

TNT or dynamite is a powerful explosive element used in Minecraft to destroy blocks and cause major damage. Crafting TNT is an important part of the game, as it can be used to make tunnels and other structures, or to destroy unwanted blocks. Crafting TNT in Minecraft involves two basic ingredients: Sand and Gunpowder.

To craft TNT in Minecraft, you will need Sand and Gunpowder. Sand is not hard to come by, as you can find it near rivers, oceans, and other bodies of water. The Deserts provide an almost infinite supply of Sand, and the Badlands also offers an abundance of Red Sand. Both normal and Red Sand can be used for TNT.

The next resource, Gunpowder, requires more effort to obtain since it is primarily acquired by hunting down certain hostile mobs. More specifically, Gunpowder drops from slain Creepers, Witches, and Ghasts of the Nether. Occasionally, you might encounter a Wandering Trader selling Gunpowder in exchange for Emeralds. The Minecraft Wiki additionally states that you can find Gunpowder as Chest Loot within Dungeons, Desert Temples, Shipwrecks, and Woodland Mansions. However, out of all the available sources for these materials, Creepers are the most abundant and the most manageable to farm. There are many “Creeper Farms” that industrious players have created over the years, but finding a natural Creeper Spawner is the most effortless means of farming this creature.

Creeper farms are created in various ways and formats. Some farms are designed to be fully automated, and some are designed to be semi-automated with the use of Spawn Eggs. Automated farms are usually more efficient and yield more Gunpowder, but require more effort and resources to construct. The semi-automated farms are usually created by filling a large area with blocks and luring Creepers onto pressure plates. The pressure plates then activate a trap, killing the Creeper and dropping the Gunpowder.

Once you have five stacks of Gunpowder and four blocks of Sand, place the Gunpowder on a 3×3 crafting grid in a way identical to the “5-dotted side” of a dice. Place the Sand in the remaining slots, and the result will be a block of Minecraft TNT. Remember that TNT must be detonated before it can explode. Priming sources include Flint and Steel, a Redstone signal, or flaming projectiles, such as the flame arrow of a Bow.