Soul Sand

Soul sand is a block found naturally only in the Nether and ancient cities. Soul sand usually slows down the movement of mobs and players walking on it. It is also used for growing nether wart, for crafting soul-related blocks, for creating a bubble column, and for constructing a wither.

Obtaining[]

Natural generation[]

Soul sand is found below Y=34 in the nether wastes, generally in four-block-deep layers. It is also found naturally in nether wart rooms of nether fortresses.

Soul sand also generates in hoglin stables and housing unit bastion remnants.

Soul sand also generates in soul sand valleys as part of the surface terrain.

Soul sand can generate in the Nether in the form of ore blobs. Soul sand attempts to generate 12 times per chunk in blobs of size 0-23, from altitudes 0 to 31‌^{[JE only]} or 32‌^{[BE only]} , in soul sand valleys. It can replace only netherrack.

Soul sand is also found in ancient cities, making it the only location to find soul sand in the Overworld.

Breaking[]

Soul sand can be mined with any tool or by hand, but shovels are the quickest.

Block	Soul Sand
Hardness	0.5
Tool
Breaking time[A]
Default	0.75
Wooden	0.4
Stone	0.2
Iron	0.15
Diamond	0.1
Netherite	0.1
Golden	0.1

Chest loot[]

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Java Edition
Soul Sand	Bastion remnant	Hoglin stable chest	2–7	22.8%
Bedrock Edition
Soul Sand	Bastion remnant	Hoglin stable chest	2–7	22.8%

Bartering[]

Piglins may barter 2–8 soul sand when given a gold ingot‌.

Usage[]

Movement on or just above soul sand is slowed down for any mob or player that is not wearing boots enchanted with Soul Speed by 50%, and standing on soul sand causes entities to sink 2 pixels into the block. A cover with solid blocks of any non-zero physical thickness prevents sinking, and any solid cover thicker than half a block eliminates the slowing effect, too.

The effect applies to sneaking, walking, sprinting, and crawling (but not gliding^{[needs testing]}), and to both regular and sprint-swimming. It also applies to riding mounts. Traveling by boat is slowed down, too, although this requires water no more than 2/8 a block in depth for the boat to sit low enough to be affected. Furthermore, it does not matter whether the player or mob moves actively or is being moved, like by flowing water.

Most blocks that can be placed on full blocks can be placed on soul sand, with the notable exceptions of both types of fungi, both types of roots, and nether sprouts.^[1] In addition, a falling block that lands on soul sand turns into an item,^[2] which prevents gravel from replacing lava if soul sand is underneath.

A hopper underneath a soul sand block can collect items that are dropped on it.

Soul sand cannot be used in place of regular sand as a falling block because it is not affected by gravity.

Striders are slowed down by soul sand underneath a layer of lava.

Crafting ingredient[]

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Soul Torch	Charcoal + Stick + Soul Sand	4

Growing nether wart[]

Soul sand is used for growing nether wart, a primary base ingredient for many varieties of potions. Nether warts can be placed on soul sand like seeds on farmland and over time they grow through four growth stages (placing the nether wart on soul sand grants the "A Seedy Place" advancement‌^{[Java Edition only]}). Nether warts can grow in any dimension and do not have any light-level requirements. Nether warts can also be placed only in soul sand (and cannot even be placed in soul soil).

Withers[]

Four blocks of soul sand (or soul soil) are used in the construction of the wither. The four blocks are arranged in a "T"-like formation (similar to the summoning of an iron golem) and 3 wither skeleton skulls are placed in a row on top of the "T" to summon the wither.

Bubble columns[]

Placing soul sand under source water blocks creates a lifting bubble column, which causes items, entities, players, and mobs inside the column to rise to the surface. The bubble column extends upward through any number of empty water source blocks (not waterlogged blocks).

A player can restore breath by entering a soul sand's bubble column.

Note blocks[]

Soul sand can be placed under note blocks to produce cowbell sounds.

Fire[]

Fire lit on soul sand becomes soul fire, which burns indefinitely.

Because soul sand is not as high as a full block, a player is set on fire if standing next to lava while on soul sand.^[3] Standing near water while on soul sand extinguishes the player.

Sounds[]

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.soul_sand.break	subtitles.block.generic.break	1.0	0.8	16
	Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.soul_sand.place	subtitles.block.generic.place	1.0	0.8	16
	Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.soul_sand.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit	0.1375	0.5	16
	None[sound 1]	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.soul_sand.fall	None[sound 1]	0.5	0.75	16
	Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.soul_sand.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.soul_sand	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	dig.soul_sand	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.soul_sand	0.21	0.5
	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.soul_sand	0.4	1.0
	Players	Walking on the block	step.soul_sand	0.15	1.0
	Players	Jumping from the block	jump.soul_sand	0.12	1.0
	Players	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.soul_sand	0.14	1.0

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Item tags	Translation key
Soul Sand	soul_sand	Block & Item	soul_fire_base_blocks soul_speed_blocks wither_summon_base_blocks mineable/shovel	soul_fire_base_blocks	block.minecraft.soul_sand

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Item tags (JE)	Translation key
Soul Sand	soul_sand	88	Block & Giveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3]	minecraft:soul_fire_base_blocks	tile.soul_sand.name

Achievements[]

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
PS4	Other
		The Beginning?	Spawn the Wither	Be within a 100.9×100.9×103.5 cuboid centered on the Wither when it is spawned.	20G	Bronze

Advancements[]

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	Withering Heights	Summon the Wither	Spooky Scary Skeleton	Be within a 100.9×100.9×103.5 cuboid centered on the wither when it is spawned.	nether/summon_wither
	A Seedy Place	Plant a seed and watch it grow	Husbandry	Plant one of these 7 crops: Beetroot Melon Nether Wart Pumpkin Wheat Torchflower Pitcher Other crops and plants can be planted, but are ignored for this advancement.	husbandry/plant_seed

Video[]

History[]

Java Edition Alpha
October 8, 2010					Soul sand first appears on Notch's blog.
v1.2.0		preview			Added soul sand.
					Soul sand generates in the newly added Nether dimension.
v1.2.0_01					Gravel now generates where soul sand should generate. Some soul sand can still generate.
v1.2.0_02					Soul sand now generates where some of the gravel would.
Java Edition Beta
1.6.6					The player can now get out of soul sand to another block while sneaking.
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease			Added nether warts, which can be grown on soul sand.
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 6			Shovels now mine soul sand faster.
1.4.2		12w36a			Wither skeleton skulls can now be placed on a formation of soul sand to create a wither.
		12w38a			Soul sand now has new sounds when being walked on.
1.5		13w02a			In texture packs, soul sand now uses /textures/blocks/hellsand.png.
1.8		14w17a			Silverfish and endermites now take damage if they walk on soul sand.
		14w32b			One-way doorways can no longer be made with soul sand.
1.12		17w18b			Placing a nether wart in soul sand now gives the player the "A Seedy Place" advancement.[verify]
1.13		17w47a			Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 88.
		18w07a			Soul sand now produces upward bubble columns when under water.
1.14		18w43a			The texture of soul sand has been changed.
		18w46a			Soul sand has now lost the ability to support many blocks.[4]
		18w47b			Soul sand can now support many blocks they could not due to the above bug.
		19w09a			Soul sand can now be used to play the cowbell, if they are under note blocks.
		19w13a			Soul sand can no longer support such blocks.[5]
		19w14a			Soul sand and gravel now generate around lava sea level instead of between y level 60 and 65.[6]
1.15		19w41a			Soul sand no longer has an increased slowing effect when placed above ice, packed ice, or slime blocks.[7]
		Pre-Release 2			Soul sand now suffocates mobs.
		Pre-Release 3			Soul sand no longer suffocates mobs.
December 3, 2019					Maria Lemón confirms that fire set on soul sand does not become soul fire.
1.16		20w06a			Soul sand now generates in the soul sand valley biome.
					New unique sounds have been added for soul sand.
		20w07a			Soul sand now has a 10⁄109 (~9.17%) chance of being given by the new piglins when bartering, in a stack size of 1–4, making it renewable.
		20w09a			Soul sand can no longer be obtained by bartering with piglins, making it no longer renewable.
		20w10a			Soul sand now has a 40⁄411 (~9.74%) chance of being given by piglins when bartering, in a stack size of 4–16, making it renewable, once again.
		20w11a			Soul sand can now support many blocks, once again.[8][9]
		20w12a			Fire lit on top of soul sand now becomes soul fire.
		20w15a			Soul sand is now used to craft soul fire torches.
		20w16a			Soul sand can now generate in bastion remnants or be found in its chests.
1.16.2		20w28a			Sea pickles can be placed on soul sand.
					Soul sand now has a 40⁄459 (~8.71%) chance of being given by piglins when bartering, in a stack size of 2–8.
1.19		Deep Dark Experimental Snapshot 1			Soul sand now generate as part of ancient cities.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.12.1		build 1			Added soul sand.
v0.16.0		build 4			Soul sand can now be used to spawn the wither.
Bedrock Edition
1.5.0		beta 1.5.0.4			Soul sand now produces upward bubble columns when under water.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The texture of soul sand has been changed.
1.13.0		beta 1.13.0.9			Soul sand can now be used to play the cowbell, if they are under note blocks.
1.16.0		beta 1.16.0.51			Soul sand now generates in the soul sand valley.
		beta 1.16.0.57			Soul sand now has a 40⁄411 (~9.74%) chance of being given by piglins when bartering, in a stack size of 4–16, making it renewable.
					Soul sand is now used to craft soul fire torches.
					Soul sand can now generate in bastion remnants or be found in its chests.
					Soul sand now generate as a blob in soul sand valley.
					Soul sand now have their own unique sounds.
		beta 1.16.0.63			Soul sand is now a full block, so it no longer sinks entities down into it slightly.
1.19.40		beta 1.19.40.21			Soul sand is no longer a full block. It sinks entities down slightly again.
		beta 1.19.40.24			Soul sand has become a full block again.
1.19.50		beta 1.19.50.20			Soul sand is once again no longer a full block. It now sinks entities down slightly again.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added soul sand.
TU19	CU7	1.12			Soul sand can now be used to build the wither.
TU69		1.76	Patch 38		Soul sand now produces upward bubble columns when under water.
PlayStation 4 Edition
1.90					The texture of soul sand has been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added soul sand.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Soul Sand" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

• Soul sand has inner collision boxes every eighth of a block. However, these collision boxes have an effect only if entities are clipped into soul sand.
• If a water current is pushing the player diagonally against a wall and soul sand is the block adjacent to the player's head when the current ends, it causes the player to jump.
• Just like with other blocks of less than full height that can have (flowing) water above it, riding a boat on dry soul sand into an oncoming stream of flowing water leaves the boat itself on the sand while the player character is "carved" out of the boat by the water "blade".
• Before Village & Pillage, soul sand used to generate in iconic four-block-deep layers between y levels 60 and 65. It also occasionally generated on the floor of caverns and coasts of lava oceans below, only if it generated in the same column at Y=60 or above. Toward the end of Village & Pillage development, the generation range of soul sand was reduced so that it exists only below y level 34, close to the lava sea level. As a result, soul sand is much harder to find in Nethers that were generated in the 1.14 and 1.15 versions.

Gallery[]

• 

  Naturally occurring soul sand.

• 

  The first image released by Notch of soul sand.

References[]

External Links[]

• Block of the Week: Soul Sand – Minecraft.net on November 24, 2016