How to Create an Infinite Lava Farm in Minecraft

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Make an endless lava supply with or without mods

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Last Updated: December 14, 2025 References

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Using Dripstone

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Using Cheats

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Using Create Mod

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Lava Uses

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Video

Lava becomes an important resource later on in your Minecraft games, but it can be hard to find a lot of it to use. Luckily, there are a few ways to farm infinite lava sources whether you’re playing the base game or using one of the many mods. Keep reading, and we’ll cover simple builds for infinite lava using dripstone, cheat commands, and the Create mod so you can build up your lava supply!

Best Way to Make Infinite Lava Sources in Minecraft

To make an infinite lava source in any Minecraft game, build a cauldron. Place a cobblestone block with a pointed dripstone on the bottom directly above the cauldron. Contain a pool of lava on top of the cobblestone, and wait about 20 minutes for the cauldron to fill up. Collect the lava with a bucket.

Section 1 of 4:

How to Make an Infinite Lava Source with Dripstone

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1
Place a cauldron on the ground. To make a cauldron, open a crafting table and place iron ingots in all the outer spaces except the top middle space. Place your cauldron in the world wherever you want to start your infinite lava farm.^{[1]
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- Dripstone lava farms work in Minecraft Bedrock and Java editions, and they’re the only way to create an infinite lava source in a vanilla Minecraft game.
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Build a cobblestone block with a pointed dripstone above the cauldron. Place a stack of 2 cobblestone blocks in the spaces directly over the cauldron. Remove the bottom cobblestone so the top block floats 1 space over the cauldron. Then, attach a dripstone to the bottom of the cobblestone so it points into the cauldron.^{[2]
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- This plan is for the most compact lava farm, but the cauldron can be up to 10 blocks below the dripstone as long as you don’t place solid materials between them.
- Look for pointed dripstones inside caves as stalactites or stalagmites.
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Make a pool of lava above the cobblestone. Surround the top of the cobblestone block with non-flammable blocks on each side. Locate lava somewhere in your Minecraft world, and use a bucket to collect some. Pour the bucket on top of the cobblestone to use as the farm’s lava source.^{[3]
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- Make sure there’s only 1 block between the lava and the pointed dripstone, or else the lava won’t drip into the cauldron.
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Collect the lava with a bucket. It usually takes around 20 minutes for a cauldron to fill up with lava once you build your infinite lava source. Use an empty bucket to remove the lava so the cauldron fills up again.^{[4]
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- Set up a few lava farms next to each other so you don’t have to wait as long for them to refill.

Section 2 of 4:

How to Make an Infinite Lava Source with Cheats

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Turn on Cheats for your Minecraft server. If you want an easier way to make infinite lava, cheats let you enter commands to change the rules of the game. To enable cheats:^{[5]
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- When you create a world: Switch the “Allow Cheats” option to ON.
- When you’re in a game: Pause the game and select “LAN World.” Switch the “Allow Cheats” option on.
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Enter “/gamerule lavaSourceConversion true” in the chat. Once you load into your world, open the chat windows at the bottom of the screen. Enter the text above and hit Enter. A confirmation will appear on screen letting you know the setting has been enabled.^{[6]
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- If you haven’t created your Minecraft world yet, click on More from the main menu and select Game Rules. Then, enable the Lava converts to source option to enable the setting.
- The lavaSourceConversion setting allows flowing lava to turn into a source block as long as it’s surrounded on 2 sides.
- This cheat does not work in Minecraft: Bedrock Edition.^{[7]
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Make a 2x2 hole in the ground. Dig a 2x2 hole into dirt, stone, or any other non-flammable blocks where you want your lava source. This is the minimum size you need, and the most efficient for a lava farm.^{[8]
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Place lava in 2 opposite corners of the hole. Collect 2 buckets of lava from a different lava pool in your Minecraft world. Pour 1 bucket into one corner of the hole you dug, and place the other bucket in the corner diagonally across from the first one.^{[9]
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- The lava will immediately flow into the empty spaces in the hole and transform them into lava source blocks.
- Alternatively, you can dig a 1x3 hole and place the lava on the ends so lava forms in the middle.
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Use a bucket to collect lava when you need it. Whenever you want to use lava, take an empty bucket to any block in your lava pool and fill it up. It doesn’t matter which lava block you take because the empty space will immediately fill up again.^{[10]
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Section 3 of 4:

How to Make an Infinite Lava Source with Create Mod

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Use pumps, tanks, and belts to transport lava from the Nether. The Nether contains large oceans of lava that you can pull from with the Create Mod’s new add-ons, like pumps and hoses. While people come up with multiple build designs that work differently, the basics are:^{[11]
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- Create a Nether Portal.
- Run a hose down into a large pool of lava.
- Connect a pump and tank to the hose.
- Build a conveyor belt leading from the tank through the Nether Portal.
- Connect a drain and tank to a conveyor belt in the overworld.
- Populate the conveyor belt with empty buckets.
- Place a spout from the tank in the Nether to fill the buckets.
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Super-heat cobblestone to make 50 millibuckets of lava. The Create Mod has new crafting tools called Mixers and Blaze Burners that allow you to super-heat and mix blocks into new materials. A YouTube video by Our Creation walks through a compact build to automate making lava, but you can also do it manually:^{[12]
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- To create a Blaze Burner, open a crafting table, and place a Netherrack block in the center and Iron Sheets in the 4 spaces next to it.
- To make a Mixer, place a Cogwheel, Andesite Casing, and Whisk from top to bottom in the center column.
- Place the Blaze Burner, and build a Basin on top of it. Place the mixer directly above the Basin.
- Add a Blaze Cake to the Blaze Burner to super-heat it.
- Place a cobblestone block in the mixer to generate lava.
- Each bucket contains 1,000 millibuckets, so you’ll need at least 20 cobblestone to fill a full bucket.

Section 4 of 4:

Best Uses for Lava

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Lava buckets are some of the most efficient fuel sources because they can smelt 100 items before running out. When the lava runs out, just remove the bucket from the furnace and refill it from your lava source.^{[13]
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Attack and burn enemies with lava. Carry around a bucket of lava with you while you’re adventuring in your Minecraft world. When an enemy approaches you, pour out the lava so they step into it. The lava will burn the enemies and cause damage so you don’t have to fight them.^{[14]
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- Make sure you take a few steps back after pouring the lava so you don’t hurt yourself.
- If the enemies die, they may also drop cooked meat because they were on fire.
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Create blocks or Blaze Cakes with lava in the Create mod. The Create Mod has new tools that let you use lava in crafting recipes. You can either make solid stone blocks with Lava or make Blaze Cakes, which are used to super-heat burners and create even more materials.^{[15]
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- Andesite: Put 2 Flint, 1 Gravel, and 100 millibuckets of lava in a Mechanical Press
- Diorite: Put 2 Flint, 1 Calcite, and 100 millibuckets of lava in a Mechanical Press
- Granite: Put 2 Flint, 1 Red Sand, and 100 millibuckets of lava in a Mechanical Press
- Blaze Cake: Fill a Blaze Cake Base with 250 millibuckets of lava using a Spout