Minecraft Respawn Anchor: All You Need to Know

With the new Respawn Anchor, gone are the days when death in the Nether sent you spiraling back upward to life at World Spawn. Part of the lovable chaos that was once Nether exploration came from the roguelike, progress-resetting death players had to contend with while searching out Glowstone in the Nether — but now, with the Respawn Anchor, players can travel deeper and further into the Nether than ever before without getting sent back up to daylight.

What does the Respawn Anchor do?

Minecraft Respawn Anchor gif

Part of the inspiration for this is in no doubt related to the way the Nether update is being implemented. All of the sweeping new additions being made to the Nether will only appear in chunks generated after the update — meaning you will have to cross to the outermost reaches of however much you’ve already explored in order to lay your eyes and angular hands on the newest features. The Respawn Anchor will certainly help get you there. Then again, you could make your life way easier with our guide on how to reset the Nether.

How Respawn Anchor Works

The Respawn Anchor allows players to set a spawn point in the Nether the same way you would a bed in the Overworld. And, similar to what happens when you try to place a bed in the Nether or the End dimensions, if you attempt to set a charged Respawn Anchor as your spawn point in the Overworld, the thing explodes.

To work, your Respawn Anchor must be charged by using Glowstone on it. The Respawn Anchor can hold up to four charges, with a single charge depleting upon each spawn. Keep in the mind that if you attempt to load up a Respawn Anchor with more than four charges, the thing explodes. Yeah, it explodes pretty easily.

Think of the Respawn Anchor like the Note 7 when it first came out; it’s definitely useful, you definitely gotta keep it charged, but there’s always a possibility it will spontaneously combust into fiery oblivion.

Respawn Anchor Recipe: How to make it

In order to craft the Respawn Anchor, you will need six blocks of Crying Obsidian and three blocks of Glowstone. Sandwich three blocks of Glowstone between two 3-block rows of Crying Obsidian in the middle row of a 3×3 crafting grid and bam! You have yourself a brand-spanking-new Respawn Anchor.

If you don’t reset your Nether, you will have to cross the entirety of currently explored Nether to get into the newer regions where you can find some of that deliciously creepy Crying Obsidian. Make sure to have a big stack of Glowstone ready to keep the thing charged once it’s built.


There you go! The means to explore the Nether with a little more insurance behind you. Make sure to put the Respawn Anchor in a safe spot, and check out our other guides on how to reset your Nether in Bedrock, or how Soul Speed and Soul Torches work.

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Will

Will Heydecker is a writer, screenwriter and illustrator who still likes dragons. As part of his bitter war against adulthood, he likes to distill art, gaming, technology, and entertainment info into digestible topics people actually enjoy reading.