Everyone knows that not all Minecraft blocks are equal to each other. They all have vastly different properties that affect the way you play: you’ll be better off using one tool over another to break certain blocks, some of them can’t be harvested without the proper items, and even fire spreads and sticks differently depending on the surrounding blocks.

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This means that, without a doubt, there are certain blocks that are stronger than others. Some of these you might want to try to collect to help protect your bases from creepers or ghasts, some are completely unbreakable in survival, and some of Minecraft’s strongest blocks can’t even be found unless you spawn them in with commands.

10 Ancient Debris

Minecraft Ancient Debris in the Nether

One of the most recent ores added to Minecraft is ancient debris. It’s one of the most useful ores in the game, and also one of the most rare.

Instead of mining in the Overworld for it like every other ore, you have to head deep into the Nether and risk the lava hiding behind every block. It’s worth chasing after though, for it’s the most durable ore in the game and doesn’t burn, either.

Thanks to its strength, it’ll be easier to find if you make use of some kind of explosive while you’re in the Nether, as the only way it will break is with a diamond or Netherite pickaxe.

9 Blocks of Netherite

Minecraft Blocks of Netherite in the desert

Blocks of Netherite are very hard to get. First, you need to mine in the Nether for ancient debris, each of which will give you one Netherite scrap when smelted.

You then need three scraps to make one ingot. This means you need to find 27 pieces of ancient debris in order to make one block.

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However, just like any Netherite tools or armor pieces, it has very high durability. If you have the time to spare and really need to make a blast-resistant base that looks good at the same time, this block just might work for you.

8 Enchanting Table

Minecraft Enchanting Table in a small room surrounded by bookshelves

One of the staples of a survival house in Minecraft is an enchanting table. Once you start collecting the resources to craft more durable tools and armor, you can start using the experience levels you gained along the way and enchant your items with them.

This helps give you an advantage and powers you up even more than just the base set of diamond gear might. Because it’s made out of diamond and obsidian, it’s extremely durable and almost impossible to destroy in an explosion.

This means that if a creeper finds a way into your house, the enchanting table is the last thing you need to worry about it breaking.

7 Respawn Anchor

Minecraft Respawn Anchor in a soul sand valley

Respawn anchors are very useful and resilient blocks. Though it can take a while to find enough crying obsidian to make it, they’re well worth the hunt if you frequent the Nether.

As long as it has enough charges, the respawn anchor lets you set a spawn point in the Nether and will teleport you back there after your death instead of back home in the Overworld.

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It has a high blast resistance as well, so you don’t need to worry about anything accidentally destroying it, and you can still move it with a diamond or Netherite pickaxe if you need to.

6 Obsidian And Crying Obsidian

minecraft ruined portal in a mesa biome

One of the blocks that is the most well-known for its strength is obsidian. It is one of the oldest blocks in the game, and can only be harvested with a diamond or Netherite pickaxe.

Even then it’s one of the hardest blocks to mine because of the time it takes to do so, especially if your tools aren’t enchanted. Crying obsidian is newer and can’t be made, but has the same durability as obsidian.

Because of the block’s high blast resistance as well as how easy is to find it naturally and farm it, it’s the most popular block when thinking of building blast-resistant structures.

5 Reinforced Deepslate

Minecraft Ancient City portal

In ancient cities, you can find a couple of Reinforced deepslate blocks. This is the only place they exist in the game without the use of creative or commands, as they cannot be crafted.

Unfortunately, they’re so durable they can’t be mined, either, so they aren’t useful to you in survival.

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This durable block is completely immune to explosions, however, and even the Wither is unable to destroy it. Though it’s not very useful to you in survival, if you need to make something blast resistant in creative mode, it's not only a smart option but a stylish one to boot.

4 End Portal Frame

Minecraft End Frame portal in the stronghold

End Portal Frames occur naturally in strongholds throughout your Minecraft world. Unfortunately, you’re not going to be able to move that portal any closer to your house any time soon.

Though most people are ready for the End when they find the stronghold and don’t even think to try, End Portal Frames are completely unbreakable.

While you might not like that if the Ender Dragon kills you and you lose all your things to the End because you can’t return easily, at least you don’t have to worry about accidentally breaking the portal and then never being able to finish the game, or having to hope the world spawned another portal you now need to find again.

3 Command Blocks

Minecraft Command Blocks in a plains biome

There are several blocks in Minecraft that you can only get through commands, and the command block is one of them. This is an essential block in much larger Redstone builds as it will trigger whatever command you type into it as soon as it is activated.

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While not useful in survival, they are completely unbreakable both by players and explosions. This is why they are useful to help build maps or servers with, as if you do miss hiding one, or the players somehow otherwise find them, it won’t mess up your build.

2 Bedrock

Minecraft Bedrock

The bottom of the world is obvious even when you’re mining, as you’ll run into bedrock sooner or later. This block is unbreakable in survival as it keeps you from falling into the void below, and you can’t find it naturally in any chests to use yourself, either.

The only way you can obtain or break it is with creative commands, and it’s completely immune to explosions.

There’s no doubt it’s abundant in every world, though, despite not being able to pick it up, as it spawns in the Nether and End too — it marks the top and bottom of the Nether, but only spawns a few blocks in the End, meaning you can fall into the void below.

1 Barrier

Minecraft Skeleton seen through invisble blocks, not attacking the player despite being in survival

Though many of the unbreakable blocks have the same blast resistance, the Barrier block takes the cake as the strongest Minecraft block by having 0.8 more blast resistance than the others. This block is only accessible through commands, as it is definitely not something you would normally need or use in survival.

Instead, it’s useful for maps or servers, as you can place these barriers to make invisible, unbreakable walls to keep other players from straying too far out of bounds in these otherwise endless worlds, or from straying into places you didn’t develop because there was no need for them to go in there.

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