Soul fire in Minecraft: Everything you need to know

Minecraft has a lot of different blocks and items, and sometimes, multiple variations of one can lead to confusion. While most of the time the differences are negligible, sometimes these can be major and have a big impact on the gameplay experience. For example, the game has two different types of fire - soul and normal.

While much is known about normal fire in Minecraft, what exactly is soul fire and how is it different from normal fire? In this article, we will explain everything you need to know about soul fire. Let’s get started.

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What is soul fire in Minecraft?

Soul fire in Minecraft (Image via Mojang Studios)

Just like normal fire, soul fire is created when flint and steel or fire charge is used. The difference is that normal fire can be started by burning most blocks, while soul fire can only be ignited by burning soul soil and soul sand found in Minecraft's Nether dimension.

Soul fire has a distinctive blue color to it, unlike normal fire that burns orangish-yellow. Soul fire also does not extinguish by itself unless you punch it or put it out. Apart from these two, there are some more major differences between normal fire and soul fire.

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Soul fire vs normal fire in Minecraft

The two types of fire (Image via Mojang Studios)

Unlike normal fire, soul fire does not spread to adjacent blocks. The former will consume everything flammable, such as wool, carpets, wood blocks, etc. But since the soul fire can only burn on soul sand and soul soil, it is incapable of spreading to any other block.

When standing in soul fire, you will take damage of two health points or one entire heart. When standing in normal fire in Minecraft, you take damage of one health point. Moving away from soul fire after taking damage will result in you taking damage of one health point or half a heart.

Another question that you might be thinking about is the use of soul fire in the game. While there are not many, one thing you can use it for is to ward off piglins as they can start attacking you in the Nether when they find you without gold armor or mining gold.

That was all about soul fire in Minecraft and the possible uses for it. You can have soul fire in the overworld as well if you transport soul sand and soul soil out there.