Offbeat Inventory
Pixel illustration of lodestone
Redstone & Utility Blocks

Lodestone

A lodestone anchors a compass to a chosen location, including a portal or landmark in another dimension.

SurvivalJava & Bedrock

What is Lodestone?

A lodestone lets you set the destination of an ordinary compass. Use the compass on the block and its needle points back to the registered location while you are in that dimension. This is especially useful in the Nether, where an ordinary unlinked compass cannot guide you to your portal.

Why players overlook it

The original recipe used netherite. That reputation outlasted the recipe, so some players still reserve the block for expensive projects. Compasses are also easy to overlook when signs or coordinates already handle a familiar route.

How to get it

  • Place an iron ingot in the middle of eight chiseled stone bricks in a crafting table.
  • Search ruined portal loot chests or bastion bridge chests if you want to find one on an existing trip.

Crafting recipe

Shaped crafting

  1. Chiseled Stone Bricks
  2. Chiseled Stone Bricks
  3. Chiseled Stone Bricks
  4. Chiseled Stone Bricks
  5. Iron Ingot
  6. Chiseled Stone Bricks
  7. Chiseled Stone Bricks
  8. Chiseled Stone Bricks
  9. Chiseled Stone Bricks
  • 8×Chiseled Stone Bricks
  • 1×Iron Ingot
1× Lodestone

What is it used for?

  • Bind a compass to the lodestone by using it on the block. Leave the lodestone at your base, portal or another repeat destination.
  • Keep separate compasses for different routes and rename them at an anvil if you need the destination visible in the inventory.

When it comes in handy

Put the lodestone at the portal you actually use to enter a Nether hub, rather than somewhere along the tunnels. A new visitor can bind a compass before leaving and use the route markers as a secondary reference.

Limitations

The compass does not guide you across a dimension boundary and cannot select a safe path through lava or solid terrain. If the lodestone is removed, the linked compass no longer has its original target.

Editorial recommendation

Is it worth using?

Make one for a shared hub or a long route where signs are easy to miss. For one short path between rooms, marking a wall uses fewer items.

Alternatives

Use a recovery compass to locate a previous death. Use coordinates or a written route when you also need to record the height or safest approach.

Java and Bedrock

The iron recipe replaced the netherite recipe in Java 1.21.5 and Bedrock 1.21.70.

Sources

Checked for Java 26.3 and Bedrock 26.60 series (including 26.63 where available).

Related items

Back to category