Gold is one of those resources that many players may not consider the most valuable. For a long time, there wasn’t much you could do with it, but now there are great applications for gold bars and potential recipes that you must include in your Minecraft world! Gold not only looks stylish, but it also has many other uses. While it’s not the best choice for tools and defense, it’s crucial for trading. We’ll delve into all of this today, along with a guide for building a simple gold farm in the Nether.
Collecting Gold in Minecraft: Valuable or Unnecessary?
Gold is indeed something truly beautiful! And it’s something you’d certainly love to have plenty of in your chests. However, there’s not much you can do with it because it’s very soft and not particularly good for weapons and tools. But gold offers other options, mainly related to trading. There are also some delicious recipes available!
Piglin Bartering in Minecraft: How It Works
Piglins are some of the Nether’s inhabitants and are obsessed with gold. They’re crazy about it! Always wear at least one piece of gold armor, or they’ll attack you.
You can trade with Piglins, which is probably one of the best uses for your excess gold. Simply toss a gold bar at their feet, and they’ll give you an item from their inventory in exchange. This is always random, but each item has a certain probability. You can repeat this as often as possible and even build a trading station. We have an article on that if you want to know more. (Trading with Piglins in Minecraft: Guide & How to Build an Automatic Farm)
The best items are:
- Obsidian
- Nether Quartz
- Gravel
- Ender Pearls
- Potions of Fire Resistance
- “Soul Speed” Enchantment
Villager Trading in Minecraft: Exchange Gold for Emeralds
You can also use gold for regular trading with villagers. The Cleric will accept three gold bars and exchange them for an emerald. If you have enough reputation, you can even lower this price! The Farmer, on the other hand, accepts golden carrots and exchanges three for three emeralds. So having enough gold is also a valid method to gather some emeralds for trading with villagers.
Golden Food in Minecraft: The Best Recipes with Gold
Speaking of golden carrots, there are indeed some good recipes with gold. These may be a bit expensive, but they’re among the best foods you can craft.
The three golden foods:
- Golden Apple
- Golden Carrot
- Glistering Melon Slice
Gold Tools in Minecraft: Why They’re Not a Good Choice
Although gold can be found underground like many other ores, it’s not very suitable for tools, weapons, and armor. Like in real life, gold is a very soft material, so it breaks easily. This mechanic also exists in Minecraft, as the durability of gold tools is very low. It’s even worse than wood! So stay away from all practical items made of gold that have durability. It doesn’t help that gold mines faster than diamonds. The repair simply isn’t worth it.
The only armor you should craft from gold is for the Nether. One piece is enough to avoid being attacked by Piglins. But you can also obtain golden armor pieces without having to craft them yourself.
Building a Minecraft Gold Farm: Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners
If you want to trade gold bars, you’re probably wondering if there’s a better method than mining. You’ll find a lot of gold in caves or in the Mesa, but manually mining everything isn’t very practical either.
Thankfully, there’s a monster in the Nether that drops both gold bars and gold nuggets upon death. These are the zombified Piglins (formerly Pigmen), which should not be confused with regular Piglins. The Zombie Piglins are partially skeletal and appear in Nether Wastes, Crimson Forests, and on Nether Fortresses. They are neutral mobs, so they won’t attack you unless provoked.
There are some large and complex gold farms, but they are not necessarily required and are very complicated. Moreover, you’d have to get to the Nether and through Bedrock, which is also challenging. Today, we’ll show you a simple variant that you can build even at the start of a world or server. We’ll make use of the mechanic that causes Zombie Piglins to attack you when provoked.
Building Materials
- Building materials
- 6 slabs
- 5 hoppers + chest
- 6 trapdoors
- 7 ladders
- Bow and arrow
Step-by-Step: How to Build a Simple Gold Farm in Minecraft
Find a location where a lot of Zombie Piglins spawn. A Nether Wastes biome is probably your best choice! Dig a hole with the dimensions 3x4x4 in the ground.
At the bottom of the hole, on one of the short sides, place five hoppers in a U shape, all leading to a chest. Above the hoppers and chest, place slabs so that items can fall through, but the Zombie Piglins can’t attack you. Then build a wall with 6 building blocks above, creating a sort of trap pit. You can climb in and out of the hole using ladders.
Now, surround the trap pit and the ladder access with another two-block-high wall. The Zombie Piglins will fall in from the front, and you can descend the ladder to kill them.
Finally, you need to attach the six trapdoors to the upper edge of the trap pit. These serve to make the Piglins think they can walk over the hole. Instead, they fall to their doom!
You can now lure the zombified Piglins with a well-aimed arrow shot. All nearby Zombie Piglins will be alerted and attempt to kill you. Slip down the ladder and wait for all the monsters to fall into the hole. Kill them with your sword and receive gold nuggets, gold bars, and rotten flesh!
You can repeat the process as often as you like. Keep looking up to lure new Zombie Piglins with a shot from your bow. They should respawn fairly quickly. The gold farm may not be very fast, but it’s beginner-friendly and easy to build.
Conclusion: Farming and Efficiently Using Gold in Minecraft
Gold may not be the best choice for your armor and weapons, but in trading, it’s unbeatable! On one hand, you can obtain emeralds with villagers, and on the other, you can trade items with Piglins in the Nether. And there are some really cool things involved! Use a simple gold farm to take advantage of this and obtain exciting items. Rent your Minecraft server and gather enough gold bars with your friends to keep the trade going.
