In Minecraft’s sandbox, many Coral blocks are mined each day. Some of them survive, while others are not that fortunate. Dying coral blocks has always been a problem, especially when the cause is this shrouded.
The Coral blocks can be obtained from natural sources and by trading. However, dead Corals are relatively useless for what they’re worth. Trying to extract living corals without knowing the proper method will always kill them.
You need to have your pickaxe enchanted with Silk Touch to obtain Coral blocks. This enchantment causes the blocks to drop themselves as is instead of their mined versions. If Silk Touch is not used, the player will obtain a dead coral block instead.
With that said, the Silk Touch mechanic has certain ins and outs that can make it a bit tricky to use on Coral Blocks. Therefore, it is recommended to have a comprehensive knowledge of how Coral extraction works in Minecraft.
How to Obtain Coral Blocks
There are two unique ways to gain Coral Blocks in Minecraft. While some of these are relatively facile than others, it is still recommended to go for the one you deem fit.
Mining / Breaking
As mentioned, a coral block can be obtained with a pickaxe. You need to have the Silk Touch enhancement on it to get the same coral block. Otherwise, you will end up with a dead variant. Here are the stats for mining Coral Blocks with a Wooden Pickaxe on different materials.
Type | Breaking Time |
Default | 7.5 |
Wooden | 1.15 |
Stone | 0.6 |
Iron | 0.4 |
Diamond | 0.3 |
Netherite | 0.25 |
Golden | 0.2 |
The hardness of a Coral Block is 1.5 and can be extracted using any pickaxe with Silk Touch enchantment.
Trading
You can purchase Coral Blocks from the Wandering Traders. They are passive mobs that are intended to spawn near a player. You can initiate a trade with them and purchase Coral Blocks for 3 emeralds each.
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The Wandering Traders can also purchase items that are harder to obtain otherwise. You can find them within a 48-block radius of the player.
Are the Dead Variants Completely Useless?
The dead variants can be placed as decoration blocks or under the note blocks to produce “bass drum” sounds. There is not much usage for Coral Blocks in Minecraft. Therefore, they cannot be considered completely useless.
How to Keep Coral Blocks from Dying
Coral blocks will not die unless one of the following requirements is left unfulfilled:
- The Adjacent blocks should be water. At least one out of six will do the trick, so there is no need to submerge the poor thing into the water again.
- The Game Rule randomTickspeed should not be set to zero. These customizable options can be useful, but sometimes one can do more harm than good. Therefore, try to keep them off for your specific in-game world.
All in all, make sure to have the Silk Touch activated to collect living coral blocks. They have no other mining requirements. However, placing them in an incompatible environment will surely kill them. Therefore, keep a tight check on your Coral Blocks to prevent them from dying.