With the upcoming release of update 1.17 known as Caves & Cliffs, players are getting some interesting new pieces of content for Minecraft. One addition to the game’s overall foundation is a useful item called the Lightning Rod.
The Lightning Rod will have a number of features that will be beneficial for the player in survival. For players interested in what the Lightning Rod will do, aside from the obvious of course, then here’s everything you need to know.
5 Redirect Lightning
The primary function of the Lightning Rod is to draw lightning strikes to it instead of something else. Lightning is an uncommon phenomenon that comes with a number of dangerous results. It can strike the player killing them instantly, cause fires if it strikes flammable materials, turn Villagers into Witches, and super charges Creepers giving them even more destructive potential.
Having a Lightning Rod nearby will cause the lightning to prioritize it instead of another target. You’ll most likely use this device to stop a flammable house from catching fire and make survival much easier.
4 A Redstone Power Source
Lightning Rods will also come with another interesting ability aside from redirecting lightning. When struck by a lightning bolt the Lightning Rod will emit a Redstone charge of 15. This is the equivalent power put off by a Redstone Torch, but it will only be a for a brief burst instead of a continual output.
How to utilize this power is another story entirely. Players without mods can’t guarantee lightning strikes and they honestly don’t happen all that often. It could be utilized to trigger a sound or light source to let you know there’s lightning outside the base. You could also build a cool tower and recreate a scene from Frankenstein in a mad scientist’s lab.
3 The Cost To Build A Lightning Rod
Building the Lightning Rod will require a crafting bench and three Copper Ingots. The Copper Ingots must be stacked on top of each other in a vertical tower.
Copper Ingots are another new aspect of Update 1.17. Players will now be able to find Copper Ore and smelt it into Copper Ingots, almost exactly how Iron functions. The frequency of Copper Ore found in the environment is said to be as common as finding Iron Ore. Copper so far is only used to craft Lightning Rods and Spyglasses, which are used to see long distances.
2 How To Remove Lightning Rods
If you want to remove a Lightning Rod at any time, all it takes is a Pickaxe. At the moment, it seems any Pickaxe will do the trick, but some players suspect that at least Stone may be required when the update comes out. That would mean a basic Wood Pickaxe is out of the question when it comes to removing Lightning Rods. This is due to the fact that it takes a Stone Pickaxe to mine Copper Ore.
1 Other Noteworthy Features About Using Lightning Rods
Lightning Rods can be stacked up to sixty-four units at a time, like most blocks in the game. The Lightning Rod itself is considered a single solid block that’s also transparent. It has a blast resistance of six which puts it on par with common blocks like Cobblestone for resisting explosions.
