Crying Obsidian

Not to be confused with Glowing Obsidian.

Crying Obsidian

Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	1,200
Hardness	50
Luminant	Yes (10)
Transparent	No
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No

Crying obsidian is a luminous variant of obsidian that can be used to craft a respawn anchor and produces purple particles when placed.

Obtaining

Breaking

Crying obsidian can be harvested only with a diamond or netherite pickaxe.

Block	Crying Obsidian
Hardness	50
Tool
Breaking time
Default	250
Wooden	125
Stone	62.5
Iron	41.7
Diamond	9.4
Netherite	8.35
Golden	20.85

Natural generation

Crying obsidian can generate as part of ruined portals.

Chest loot

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Java Edition
Crying Obsidian	Bastion remnant	Generic chest	1–5	19%
		Bridge chest	3–8	11.2%
		Hoglin stable chest	1–5	22.8%
		Treasure chest	3–5	33.7%
Bedrock Edition
Crying Obsidian	Bastion remnant	Generic chest	1–5	19%
		Bridge chest	3–8	11.2%
		Hoglin stable chest	1–5	22.8%
		Treasure chest	3–5	33.7%

Bartering

Piglins have a ~8.71% chance (⁴⁰⁄₄₅₉) to barter 1–3 crying obsidian when given a gold ingot.

Usage

Similarly to obsidian, crying obsidian is a resilient building block. It has a blast resistance of 1,200. In addition, it cannot be destroyed by the ender dragon. It is used to make respawn anchors, a block that has the function of letting players respawn in the Nether.

When placed, crying obsidian occasionally produces purple dripping particles, as if it is "crying". These droplets are purely decorative.

Unlike obsidian, crying obsidian cannot be used as a nether portal frame.

Crafting ingredient

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Respawn Anchor	Crying Obsidian + Glowstone

Light

Crying obsidian gives off a light level of 10, which does not melt snow or ice. Its blast resistance distinguishes it from other light-emitting blocks.

Note Blocks

Crying obsidian can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sounds.

Piston interactivity

Crying obsidian cannot be pushed or pulled by pistons or sticky pistons.

Sounds

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.stone.break	subtitles.block.generic.break	1.0	0.8	16
	None	Blocks	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.stone.fall	None	0.5	0.75	16
	Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.stone.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit	0.25	0.5	16
	Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.stone.place	subtitles.block.generic.place	1.0	0.8	16
	Footsteps	Blocks	Walking on the block	block.stone.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.stone	1.0	0.8
	Blocks	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.stone	0.4	1.0
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.stone	0.37	0.5
?	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.stone	0.12	1.0
?	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.stone	0.22	1.0
	Blocks	Walking on the block	step.stone	0.3	1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	use.stone	1.0	0.8

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Resource location	Block tags (JE)	Form	Translation key
Crying Obsidian	crying_obsidian	dragon_immune mineable/pickaxe needs_diamond_tool	Block & Item	block.minecraft.crying_obsidian

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Resource location	Numeric ID	Form	Translation key
Crying Obsidian	crying_obsidian	544	Block & Item	tile.crying_obsidian.name

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	Who is Cutting Onions?	Obtain Crying Obsidian	Nether	Have a block of crying obsidian in your inventory.	nether/obtain_crying_obsidian

History

Java Edition Beta
1.3					The texture of crying obsidian has been added to terrain.png.
February 23, 2011					Jeb states he would like to add crying obsidian as a block.
March 30, 2011					Jeb states that crying obsidian would act as a way of setting a respawn point. The idea would later be discarded in favor of beds.
April 15, 2011					Jeb states that the grass edge tile has replaced the crying obsidian in the texture file.
1.5					The texture of crying obsidian has been removed.
February 9, 2012					Jeb states that he will bring back crying obsidian as soon as he's made preparations for more texture space.
Java Edition
December 3, 2019					Maria Lemón notes that many players suggest implementing crying obsidian alongside new Nether features.
1.16		20w09a			Added crying obsidian.
					Crying obsidian is currently obtainable only through bartering.
					Crying obsidian has no function.
					Crying obsidian produces a light level of 10.
					Crying obsidian can be harvested with any pickaxe.
		20w10a			Crying obsidian now uses its old texture when using Programmer Art.
		20w11a			Crying obsidian now requires a diamond or netherite pickaxe in order to be mined.
					Crying obsidian can no longer be destroyed by the ender dragon.
					Crying obsidian can no longer be moved by pistons.
		20w12a			Crying obsidian is now used to craft respawn anchors.
		20w16a			Crying obsidian now generates in bastion remnants chests.
					Crying obsidian now generates as part of ruined portals.
		20w20a			Crying obsidian is now required for the "Who is Cutting Onions?" advancement.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.1.0					The texture of crying obsidian has been added to the game's files.
v0.2.0					The texture of crying obsidian has been removed.
Bedrock Edition
1.16.0		beta 1.16.0.57			Added crying obsidian.
		beta 1.16.0.63			Crying obsidian now requires a diamond or netherite pickaxe in order to be mined.

Trivia

• When it was originally going to be added in Beta 1.3, it was going to act as a way to reset the player’s spawn point and would be crafted using lapis lazuli. When beds were added, they took this role instead. In 1.16 the respawn anchor was added which is crafted with crying obsidian.
  • More than 9 years passed between its initial planned addition and finally being available in-game.
  • The community had heavily requested crying obsidian return in 1.16 as a way to respawn in the Nether, as a callback to its initial intended functionality before beds were added, as an unspecified and likely implied to be undecided way of respawning was mentioned during the reveal.
• According to Brandon Pearce, crying obsidian was added when they wanted to have cracked obsidian for the ruined nether portals. They decided to add it as crying obsidian instead because it was more unique and due to high player demand.
• The team considered having crying obsidian be obtained by throwing obsidian through a nether portal, or by having regular obsidian be struck by lightning. However, they chose bartering with piglins as a way to make bartering useful.

Gallery

• 

  A comparison between glowing obsidian (left), crying obsidian (middle), and regular obsidian (right)

• 

  A bunch of crying obsidian placed in the Nether.

• 

  Obsidian and crying obsidian, as they appear in the Programmer Art resource pack. Note how it still produces purple particles.

• 

  A picture of crying obsidian part of a ruined portal.