Top 5 uses of clay in Minecraft

Minecraft has plenty of naturally formed blocks, and one of them is clay. It is a block found in locations where sand, dirt, and water are present and can mostly be found in shallow water, especially along island coasts. When a clay block is mined, four clay balls will drop.

Clay may seem like a simple block, but there are more uses than the average person might think. Listed below are five different uses for clay blocks and clay balls alike!

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Best ways to uses clay in Minecraft

5) Miscellaneous usage

Clay blocks have quite a few miscellaneous uses: villagers will give them as gifts to players, and when placed under noteblocks, it will alter the sound of the latter.

Villagers will give players gifts if they have the "Hero of the Village" status effect. A mason villager has a chance of throwing the player a clay block as a gift, and it is the only renewable way of obtaining a clay block.

Below is a short video demonstrating what each block does in terms of changing the sound, and clay blocks are featured at the 21 second mark.

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4) Clay balls

The crafting recipe for bricks (Image via Minecraft Wiki)

When players obtain a clay ball after destroying a clay block, they can put the former into a furnace, with any type of fuel, to craft a singular brick.

Bricks can be used to make brick blocks by placing four bricks in a square on a crafting bench. They can also be used to create a flower pot, in which the players place three bricks in a "v" pattern on the crafting bench.

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3) Creating terracotta

The different colors of terracotta (Image via Minecraft101)

Terracotta is a block formed from clay, and it has a hardness and blast resistance comparable to stone. When it is one block away from a mob that can explode, such as a creeper, or TNT when it explodes, a block of terracotta will protect any block behind it, although the terracotta itself will be destroyed.

When the terracotta is dyed, players can put it through the furnace with any fuel, resulting in glazed terracotta!

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2) Glazed terracotta

Glazed terracotta variants (Image via Minecraft.net)

Glazed terracotta was added in Minecraft version 1.12, from the World of Color update! There are sixteen different kinds of glazed terracotta, which match the sixteen traditional colors of dye.

Due to the vivid appearance, glazed terracotta is primarily used for decoration. However, players will have to be careful because its hardness is slightly less than stone, and its blast resistance is even lower than regular terracotta.

When glazed terracotta is placed, the texture rotates relative to the direction the player is facing while placing the block.

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1) Decoration

A house created using mostly terracotta (Image via Youtube)

Clay and its variants (bricks, terracotta, glazed terracotta) are generally used for decorative aspects. In the picture above, a player mainly used dyed terracotta to make a modern, inspired home.

If players would like to build this clay house, they can find it here!

It might be wise to invest in terracotta in player's playthroughs, as they are proven to be good at protecting builds by being stronger than the usual building materials found throughout Minecraft worlds.

Note: This article reflects the author's views.