The Top 5 Best Light Sources in Minecraft

Image: Mojang Studios, Microsoft Game Studios via HGG / Koby Gibson Ross

Human Made

Penned by Gibson Vasela

My name is Gibson Vasela. I am a freelance writer who has been playing video games for almost 20 years now. I play all kinds of games, but I especially love immersive sims and RPGs.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

Minecraft is a game all about creativity. It’s the ultimate tool for expressing yourself and building your own fun. The game gives players a huge variety of tools and resources for building whatever they can dream of. But building things can be difficult if you’re doing it in the dark! In today’s article, we’ll be covering the top 5 best light sources in Minecraft!

We’ll be discussing the best light sources that we love to use for building, and we’ll even walk you through how you can get your hands on some of these items quickly and easily so you can get right into building.

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The Top 5 Best Light Sources in Minecraft

Without further ado, let’s get right into the article!

1. Glowstone

The first one up on our list is the classic. Arguably one of the most-used and most recognizable light sources (outside of torches), we have glowstone! This shiny material has been in the game for a very long time, with its first appearance dating all the way back to October 2010! Ever since this first appearance, players have been using it in a huge variety of builds, from mansions to towns and everything in-between.

How Do You Obtain Them?

Glowstone can only be obtained inside of the Nether. This is a dimension that can only be visited by collecting at least 10 obsidian blocks. You’ll need to stack the blocks into a portal (like the one seen here) and then light it using a flint and steel. Flint and steel can be crafted with one iron and one flint. After that, just explore around the Nether, and it should spawn fairly often hanging from the ceiling.

What Are Some Good Build Ideas?

Glowstone works really well as a ceiling light, in my opinion. You can create chandeliers with it, or place it inside the roof of the interior of your home like an office light (it looks better than it sounds). Another classic use is to use it to light up your roads. You can place them on the ground next to a path with a cobblestone block on top, and a “fence” of cobblestone blocks bordering the pathway.

2. Lantern

For our next pick, we have lanterns! Lanterns are a relatively new block that was added to the game in mid-2019. Ever since, they have become one of the most popular light sources. They are incredibly useful for decorating all kinds of builds while also providing an adequate amount of light to keep monsters from spawning. They can also be hung down from roofs!

How Do You Obtain Them?

Lanterns are very easy to obtain. All you need to do is craft a torch using one stick and one piece of coal or charcoal. After that, take a bar of iron and put it in the crafting menu to make nine iron nuggets. Then just place a torch in the middle of your crafting table and surround it with eight iron nuggets on all sides. And voila, you have one lantern! Just make sure you have enough iron before you craft a lot of them.

What Are Some Good Build Ideas?

These light sources can look really good for lighting up your mineshafts, quarries, and other industrial builds! They are also very useful for just about any kind of house in the game as well. I like to hang one at the edge of each corner of my houses. I also use them for making bridges (see image above). Another really common thing I’ve seen them used for is in medieval builds, such as castles, taverns, medieval houses, and much more.

3. Froglight

Up next on our list of the top 5 best light sources in Minecraft, we have froglights (not to be confused with foglights). This is the newest light source added to the game, being added in the 1.19 Wild Update. They are a unique type of light source that functions very similarly to glowstone. They also come in three different colors (shown in the image): pearlescent (right), ochre (left), and verdant (middle).

How Do You Obtain Them?

First, you’re going to need two things: a frog and very small magma cube. You can bring these two things together by constructing a Nether portal and leading a frog through it. Then, bring that frog to a group of magma cubes. Let the frog eat the smallest possible magma cubes, and it will spit out a froglight! The type of frog that you use (warm, cold, temperate) will determine which of the three colors of froglights you get. It’s a good idea to set up a farm so you can acquire a bunch of these quickly.

What Are Some Good Build Ideas?

These blocks work very well with swamp-based builds. If you are building a cozy cottage on stilts in the bayou, this makes a great light source. You can use it in villages as well to spice things up and give the location a light source unique from glowstone. If you use boats to navigate through a swamp, you can set up a sort of “pathway” by lighting up the route you take using froglights to help guide you along.

4. Redstone Lamps

For our next pick, we have redstone lamps! These are a special type of light source normally used by people much smarter than I. These special light blocks were added to the game as a part of 1.2.1, which was released back in Spring 2012. Ever since, people have found loads of creative ways to use these lanterns to make elaborate and nice-looking builds and contraptions.

How Do You Obtain Them?

These blocks require one glowstone and four redstone dust in order to use (see glowstone section previously for a guide on how to obtain it). You can craft redstone lamps by placing one glowstone in the center of the table and placing four redstone dust evenly around the block. This will give you one redstone lamp. From here, you can light it up using a redstone torch or any other item that activates redstone devices.

What Are Some Good Build Ideas?

If you don’t use redstone often, don’t be afraid to use these things, there are plenty of devices that can be easily made with them. As shown in the image above, I’ve made a redstone street lamp that automatically activates at sundown! It, uh, didn’t work for me when I built it, but I’m sure you can figure it out! Redstone lamps can also be used as indicators in various different redstone inventions.

5. Candles

For our fifth and final pick on this list, we have candles! Candles are an absolutely beautiful light source, and they are one of my favorites in the game. Mojang added these bad boys to the game back in the 1.17 update, also known as Caves & Cliffs Part I. This special update came out in Summer 2021. While candles do not provide as much light as some other items, their value as decorates more than makes up for it.

How Do You Obtain Them?

Candles need one honeycomb and one string in order to be made. Honeycomb is acquired by shearing either a bee nest or a bee hive that contains honey. Bee nests can be found randomly out in the wild. String can be found by killing spiders, which are very common. Once you have these things, craft the candle by placing one honeycomb in a crafting table with one string on top.

You can also dye the candles by placing any color dye in a crafting table with a candle next to it. Once you have the candles you want, you can place up to four of them on the same block. Get a flint and steel (see glowstone section for how to craft) and right-click the candles to light them up.

What Are Some Good Build Ideas?

These things look good in just about any build, but I like to use them as decorations to place around or atop my fireplaces. Many players like to use them to decorate their enchantment areas as well! They can also be used for spooky Halloween-themed builds. Interestingly, unlit red and yellow candles look like ketchup and mustard, which are great for restaurant builds. And white and black ones can be used as salt and pepper shakers!

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Happy gaming!

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