Minecraft is a sandbox game that combines building using available resources with creativity. In Minecraft, players can craft a hundred different materials using blocks and items acquired throughout their journey. With the use of the crafting menu, players can create a variety of unique items that will be used to survive and progress in the game. And many items and blocks in Minecraft are inspired by real-life things that you see every day, such as grass, wood, and many others.
One item in the game is mainly featured in this guide: the campfire. Campfires in real-life are used primarily to cook food and become a light and heat source during camping. These are often made out of logs, twigs, and dead leaves, allowing the fire to burn throughout the night to keep campers warm continuously. Campfires, just like in real-life, are used in the game almost the same way. And not only is a campfire good at being a source of light, but it can also be used as a decoration as well.
Moreover, there is an alternate version of the regular campfire in Minecraft, which is called the soul campfire. A soul campfire looks similar to a normal campfire, except that the color of the fire it emits is blue. The use of a soul campfire and a regular campfire is the same, with the only difference being mainly in its color. However, soul campfires cannot be acquired until the player reaches the nether realm, which is particularly hard to achieve early in the game. Whether it is the normal campfire or the soul campfire, Campfires are a great addition to your base and only require a few materials to craft.
How To Craft A Campfire in Minecraft
To craft a campfire or soul campfire, you will need to collect a few materials—most of which are obtainable in an early game scenario. Each ingredient required is listed below, including the recipe in which the following items will be placed in the 3×3 crafting grid of the crafting table’s menu.
| NAME | INGREDIENTS | CRAFTING RECIPE |
|---|---|---|
| Campfire | 3 Sticks + 1 Coal or Charcoal + 3 of Any Logs or Stems or Any Stripped Logs or Stems or Any Wood or Hyphae or Any Stripped Wood or Hyphae | Starting from the top row, place one stick in the middle slot. Place one stick in the left slot on the second row, one coal or charcoal in the middle slot, and one in the right slot. Then on the last row, place 1 log or wood in each slot. |
| Soul Campfire | 3 Sticks + 1 Soul Sand Block or Soul Soil Block + 3 of Any Logs or Stems or Any Stripped Logs or Stems or Any Wood or Hyphae or Any Stripped Wood or Hyphae | Starting from the top row, place one stick in the middle slot. On the second row, place one stick in the left slot, one soul sand block or soul soil block in the middle slot, and place one stick in the right slot. Then on the last row, place 1 log or wood in each slot. |
Note that the crafting recipe of a campfire or soul campfire requires you to place each ingredient in the exact order as shown above, as this step is crucial in crafting. Otherwise, you will not successfully obtain the campfire or soul campfire on the crafting table.
How To Use A Campfire in Minecraft
1. Light Source
The main usage and most obvious way to use the campfire is as a light source. Campfires, when lit, emit a light level of 15, while soul campfires emit a light level of 10. This is especially useful during the night as it keeps your base well-lit and prevents the spawn of any hostile mobs in the area near where the campfire is located. Campfires are a great source of light as the fire cannot be extinguished by rain—the same as torches, although it can be extinguished when a water bottle is thrown into the fire, by waterlogging the campfire, or by using a shovel on the flame. Campfires have a wooden texture, and they work well as your main light source when used in medieval-themed bases or builds. These also fit well with almost any wooden block due to their slightly dark brown color. When a hay bale is placed below a campfire, its smoke signal can reach up to 24 blocks above them, making this a great way to locate your base from a distance easily.
2. Collecting Honey From Bees
With the Minecraft addition to honey bees with the 1.15 Buzzy Bees update, not only did they add adorable bees into the game, but they also added another use for the campfire as well. Just like in real-life, Minecraft bees routinely come out to pollinate flowers and return to their homes to produce honey inside beehives or bee nests. Like villagers with their jobs, the hardworking bees also have a set of schedules during the day they follow daily. As bees are mostly farmed for their honey, they will become angry if a player harvests or collects the honey they produce inside their beehive. They will also become provoked if the player destroys their beehive or bee nest. As such, it is quite difficult for the player to collect their honey without getting stung by many bees in the process. This is where the campfire comes in. Placing a lit campfire under the beehive or bee nest allows the player to safely harvest honey bottles or honeycomb without provoking the bees living inside of it. Take note that there must be unobstructed airflow between the campfire’s smoke and the beehive or bee nest when doing so.
3. Cooking Food
Whether it is in real life or Minecraft, one of the primary uses of a campfire is to cook raw food. In an early game scenario, cooking can only be done using a furnace—acquired from crafting eight cobblestones in a crafting table—and a source of fuel such as coal or charcoal. However, obtaining coal is difficult as it requires the player to mine in caves or underground. Getting charcoal is also tricky as smelting logs can only do it in a furnace—which then would require you to have a source of fuel in the first place. You may use wooden items as a substitute for regular fuel, but doing this will only cook you one food item for a single fuel source, making this option extremely inefficient. Therefore, the best way to cook raw food items is to use a campfire. You can cook an unlimited number of raw food items without needing any fuel source and without any risk of the fire being extinguished in the process.
4. Killing Mobs
As a campfire is lit, its flame damages any mob or player that walks over them. Players can use this mechanic to strategically place campfires in a way that kills mobs instantly. Campfires can also kill mobs in an automatic mob farm that you can build near your base. A regular campfire will deal mobs damage of 1 heart point per tick, and soul campfires will deal damage of 2 heart points per tick. Although campfires are easy to craft in singles, they can also be costly if the player crafts them in large numbers—especially campfires needed for mob farms. Luckily, the materials needed to craft them can easily be obtained and are natural resources easily acquired through constant farming.
5. Decoration Purposes
Using creativity and imagination, players can use campfires as decorative blocks for any of their builds or in their base. Campfires can be used as a flame design in brick furnaces inside a cottage and a centerpiece in an outdoor camping build. When a campfire’s flames are extinguished, they create a unique wooden texture and design that is excellent for building bridges, floors, and rooftops.
