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The highly anticipated Minecraft 1.19 update brought a ton of new features to the game. One of the biggest was the addition of an entirely new set of blocks and items based around a unique substance known as sculk.
This substance is a part of a biome called the Deep Dark, where blocks made of sculk are quite abundant. They have a dark-bluish appearance and appear to have a certain glow.
When mined, these blocks drop a small number of experience points, which can be a decent passive method of gaining XP. Since 2020, they’ve undergone a bunch of changes and are now in the game's official release.
This article will guide players on how they can farm sculk blocks in Minecraft.
Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's opinion.
Exploring best ways to obtain sculk blocks in Minecraft
1) Mining
The most basic way to farm sculk blocks is to mine them inside the Deep Dark biome. They are easy to break down with any tool; however, the fastest way to do so is to use a hoe.
When mined with a hoe that does not have the Silk Touch enchantment equipped, sculk blocks will always break and drop XP, as mentioned above. However, if the enchantment is present, the entire sculk block can be collected by mining it.
2) Making farms
Farms can be made for almost anything in Minecraft, for blocks, XP, food, plants, metals, and even mobs. Since the release of Minecraft's 1.19 update, many content creators have come up with designs for a sculk farms; over time, these have only become more efficient.
A great example of an efficient sculk farm is the 5-in-1 Sculk, XP, Vein, Sensor & Shrieker farm by Minecraft YouTuber Rays Works. As the title of the video suggests, players can obtain every sculk-based block from this farm.
When it comes to sculk blocks in particular, this architecture serves as a great AFK farm that can be used to collect both XP and sculk blocks. Before players build it, however, they should make sure that they have atleast two hoes - one to collect XP, and the other with the Silk Touch enchantment to collect sculk blocks.
3) Killing mobs near sculk catalysts
Sculk catalysts can only be found inside the Deep Dark biome. While they don’t generate in any other biome or as chest items, they can be obtained as drops from a Warden when it is killed. However, this is a rare occurrence as defeating the mob in single combat is nearly impossible.
Sculk catalysts help increase the production of sculk blocks wherever they’re placed. This is because every time a mob dies near a catalyst, a block is spawned. As such, this mechanic can be utilized in the construction of farms.
4) Chest loot
Finally, you can obtain sculk blocks in the form of chest loot. However, the only place where this occurs is within chests that spawn inside an ancient city. Ancient cities are fortress-like structures that spawn within Deep Dark biomes. They are divided up into tons of sections and have a decent amount of chest items exclusive to the structure.
The Deep Dark biome is located deep below the surface of the Overworld. Being essentially made out of sculk blocks, it offers almost no lighting and generates no mobs other than the most powerful one in the game, the Warden.
When collecting sculk blocks, be careful not to make too much noise as this can set off any sculk sensors in the area, which are followed by sculk shriekers. If a sculk shrieker is set off three times, the Warden appears.
