7 best Minecraft TNT launcher designs

TNT cannons are surprisingly useful Minecraft builds. They can help players take down opponents in PvP, mine out huge areas while dropping most of the blocks as items, and quickly terraform large areas with duplicated explosions. There are dozens, if not more, different TNT launcher designs out there, which can make it hard to know which ones are worth building.

Listed below are seven of the best TNT launcher designs that work in the latest versions of the game, along with what makes them so great.

Note: This list is subjective and reflects the opinions of the writer

---

7 of the best Minecraft TNT cannon designs

1) TNT flying machine

Simple flying TNT cannons are only possible on Bedrock Edition (Image via Mojang)

Flying TNT cannons blend Minecraft flying machines with TNT launchers to create mobile devices of destruction. They use a system of pistons and slime blocks to indefinitely travel, all while dropping explosives.

These devices can also be made to travel back and forth between a start and end point, converting them into very powerful mining machines.

---

2) Mining machine

Mining machines are an incredibly useful application of TNT launchers for survival. There are different designs of mining cannons out there, but they all function similarly. They utilize a wide line of dispensers, which then launch a spread of TNT.

This can clear out huge amounts of area in next to no time at all while simultaneously dropping many of the resources and items on the ground.

---

3) Slime TNT slingshot

A slime block sending a piece of TNT flying (Image via Mojang)

These TNT launchers drop explosives, which are then sprung forward using slime blocks and Minecraft pistons. While the timing involved in these machines can be quite precise, their advantage is that they use less TNT than other designs. This is due to the TNT being launched using pistons rather than extra explosions.

These launchers are also unique as they're more vertically designed than most others, which tend to build wide. This makes them easy to fit into compact areas.

---

4) Long-range TNT cannon

A long-range TNT launcher attacking a village (Image via Mojang)

This TNT cannon design specializes in striking distant targets. It features more dispensers on the back end of the launched explosive, greatly increasing the speed, and therefore distance, at which the TNT goes.

Due to the increased dispenser count and the need for TNT to power them, this is a more expensive launcher design. However, the range more than makes up for the added cost.

---

5) Compact starter cannon

A compact, but powerful, TNT cannon (Image via Mojang)

One of the most impressive aspects of modern redstone is just how compact it is when compared to older machines.

A great example of that is a compact TNT launcher build. These cannons smash four dispensers into a 3x3x2 area. This gives them quite a kick while not taking up much space. It also makes them very easy to build on new Minecraft survival worlds, as they're so cheap.

---

6) Micro-TNT cannon

A truly tiny micro TNT launcher (Image via Mojang)

Micro TNT cannons stand out from other designs due to just how simple and quick they are to set up. They use only a handful of resources and take up next to no space. Unfortunately, they don't shoot very far.

This makes them a launcher design particularly suited to ambush attacks, as they can be made so fast and only work at short range.

---

7) OG TNT cannon

A classic TNT launcher about to fire (Image via Mojang)

While there have been many advances in Minecraft redstone since the first TNT cannon designs, they're still worth knowing how to build. Rather than using dispensers, these designs utilize hand-placed TNT.

This makes the launchers feel much more analog, fun, and interactive than newer designs. However, it also makes them impractical for use on modern Minecraft servers, as they're quite slow when compared to modern TNT cannons.