What is the best way to get terracotta in Minecraft?

Terracotta is a colorful and versatile Minecraft block that is ideal for building due to its appearance and ease of accessibility. It naturally generates in badlands biomes.

Obtaining terracotta in the game is fairly easy. Players simply need to find a badlands biome and start digging. However, there are many alternatives available for players who aren't near a badlands biome.

Players can create terracotta by smelting clay, and those who have cheats enabled can use console commands to give themselves terracotta directly. However, which of these methods is the easiest?

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

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Console commands are the best way to obtain terracotta in Minecraft, but it all depends on the player's situation

A grid of each colored terracotta variant in Minecraft, glazed terracotta excluded (Image via Mojang)

Obtaining terracotta isn't a difficult proposition in Minecraft. However, some methods will be easier than others, depending on the player's situation.

For the most part, the cheat console is the best way to go. However, if cheats aren't available, the easiest method will depend on what's most convenient for the player.

If a Minecraft player is playing in Survival Mode, they won't have access to Creative Mode's inventory, which features most of the available blocks in the game.

Steps to obtain terracotta via commands

1. Ensure that cheats are enabled on your world or server. In single-player for Minecraft: Java Edition, you can enable cheats from the pause menu by opening the world to LAN and enabling cheats. They can also be activated during world creation. For Bedrock Edition users, cheats can be activated via world creation or by editing your world in the main menu's world list and enabling the cheat slider.
2. Open your chat console and enter "/give @s minecraft:terracotta X" (the X represents the number of blocks you'd like to obtain). This command will give you the requisite number of uncolored terracotta blocks you desire.

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Other ways to acquire terracotta

Steps to obtain terracotta in a badlands biome

1. Traverse to a badlands biome. All three variants of badlands biomes are warm in climate, meaning they'll often generate near biomes such as deserts. They're not particularly rare, but they can still take some time to find, depending on your world seed. Alternatively, you can use the command "/locate biome minecraft:badlands", which will provide you with specific coordinates.
2. Be sure to bring a pickaxe, as it's the necessary tool to break terracotta blocks. Once you've arrived in the badlands, simply pick away at the blocks. They should break in short order, even with a low-quality pickaxe, thanks to their relatively low durability.

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Steps to forge terracotta from Clay

1. Collect some clay. This material is often found underwater in lakes, swamps, oceans, and rivers. You can also find it in abundance in lush cave biomes. Clay can occasionally be found in plains, savanna, desert, and taiga villages. If shoveled or mined without Silk Touch, you will receive balls of clay instead of blocks. However, you'll need blocks to make terracotta.
2. Create your clay blocks. This can be achieved by opening the crafting menu in your inventory or via crafting table and placing four clay balls in a square pattern. Four clay balls will create one clay block, so be sure to collect plenty of clay balls or directly mine the clay blocks with a Silk Touch-enchanted tool.
3. Head to a furnace block and stock it with fuel (any kind will do) in the bottom slot of its UI. Place your clay blocks in the top slot. After a short amount of time, the smelter will begin heating the blocks and turning them into terracotta, which can then be retrieved from the furnace.

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Minecraft players should now have all they need to create terracotta blocks through various means.

For extra flair, players should try combining eight terracotta blocks with a dye of any color to create colored terracotta. They can even form glazed terracotta by popping their dyed terracotta back into the furnace and re-heating it.