The Minecraft overworld is a giant place with many different biomes. So it's easy to lose track of your surroundings while you traverse the landscape looking for every resource available. That's why it's always useful to have a compass with you.
The navigation device works differently in Minecraft than it does in the real world. Instead of pointing north, the compass directs you towards your spawn. It makes it easy to find your way back home - assuming you've set your spawn at there.
However, most new players don't know how to make a compass immediately upon starting the game. Thankfully, it's not too difficult if you know what you're doing. Here's all of the information you need.
The Resources You Need
To make a compass, you'll need four iron ingots and one piece of Redstone dust. They're not among the most obscure resources in the game. Yet, they're also not as easy to find as wood or sand as you have to go underground.
Get Four Iron Ingots
First of all, make sure you've got at least a stone pickaxe as a wooden one won't be strong enough to mine iron. With the right tool in hand, you can then head below ground. Even though iron spawns everywhere down there, it can sometimes be tricky to find. But keep mining, and it shouldn't take long to locate four blocks.
Once mined, the iron ore will need to be smelted in a furnace to get the ingots you need. It's also possible to occasionally find them in chests, but searching for those will take longer than just mining.
Get A Piece Of Redstone Dust
Redstone ore is also located beneath the overworld. However, you need better than a stone pickaxe to mine it - an iron version of the tool works.
Other than it, the process to find Redstone is pretty much the same as getting iron. Simply spend some time mining underground, and you're bound to find some. A furnace isn't needed this time as once you break a Redstone ore block, it bursts into dust pieces.
Crafting Recipe
When you have the Redstone and the iron, go to a crafting table and put the piece of dust in the center with a diamond of iron ingots around it, as shown by the helpful crafting recipe above. Together they create a brand-new compass.
Making A Lodestone Compass
Compasses are no longer just tied to spawn points. If you want to point them at something else, you can use lodestones. The block takes quite a bit of effort to make as it requires eight chiseled stone bricks and a netherite Ingot.
But once you make one, creating a lodestone compass is easy. All you need to do is put a regular compass in your hand and right-click on the lodestone. The device will then transform and start pointing towards the block instead of your spawn.
This can work in all dimensions, yet it can't pass through different ones. For instance, a compass in the overworld will not direct you to a lodestone in the Nether. It's still one of the most useful items in the game, though.