Minecraft: How to never get lost in the nether

Getting lost in Minecraft's nether can be a scary experience for the average player.

Days of dying in the nether and respawning back in the Minecraft overworld will now be a thing of the past, as the days of getting lost inside it's hellish landscape are now gone.

Two of the must-have blocks for the nether dimension are the lodestone and respawn anchor - blocks with the purposes of directing compasses and respawning inside the nether. These should be the first things a player begins working towards after starting up a small base inside of the nether, as their utility far outweighs the crafting cost. Make sure to also be fully equipped with either diamond or iron gear, and tools.

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Five stages of the respawn anchor. Image via Minecraft

Ways to keep track of where you are in Minecraft's nether

Respawn anchors

Dying in the overworld is almost always the worst thing that can happen, however, perishing in the nether can be even worse. Grabbing extra armor, weapons, blocks, food, everything else needed to reenter the nether, all takes time. Precious time wasted gathering resources to safely trek the nether, means less time to gather items dropped by a player upon death. Luckily, respawn anchors can lock a player's respawn point to anywhere inside the nether.

Respawn anchors can be crafted by use of six crying obsidian, and three glowstone blocks. Glowstone grows near the nether ceiling, as seen in the first image of this article, whereas crying obsidian can be found in either ruined portals or chests inside of bastion remnants - large, castle-like structures that generate in every nether terrain except basalt deltas.

Once crafted and placed inside of the players nether base, use four glowstone blocks to charge it as seen above. Once right-clicked with an empty hand, the players respawn point will be anchored to that block as if it were a bed, and every respawn will use a charge. Worry not, as charges can be replaced anytime by adding more glowstone blocks.

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Lodestones and compasses

Lodestone, and lodestone compass. Image via Minecraft

Crafted with just four iron ingots and a redstone dust, compasses always point to the players respawn point, as long as the player is in the overworld that is.

Minecraft's nether makes beds explode, and compasses run haywire. The respawn anchor showed a way to circumvent beds, and now, with the lodestone, compasses will return to normalcy. Lodestones, once right-clicked with a compass, will turn the compass into a lodestone compass. As long as the lodestone isn't broken or moved, the new compass will always point to it as long as both the compass and lodestone are in the same world.

Lodestones can be found inside bastion remnants alongside the crying obsidian, or crafted with one netherite ingot surrounded by chiseled stone.

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Image via Minecraft

Correctly utilizing both the respawn anchor and lodestone will ensure that players never get lost inside of the nether again. Just don't forget to refill the respawn anchors.