How to keep your items after death in Minecraft in 2022

Minecraft is a survival game in which players have one goal: collect materials and resources so that they can survive the nights filled with monsters and travel to the End dimension to defeat the Ender Dragon.

However, getting these resources can send players thousands of blocks from their base. Should they die, all of their items will be scattered on the floor, cursed to despawn if the player does not get them back quickly.

How can Minecraft players avoid losing their items after dying?

Recovery Compass

Players who do not want to use cheats but still want an easy way to recover their lost gear can use the recovery compass after the 1.19 The Wild Update. This item will point players towards the location of their last death.

The recovery compass can be crafted by surrounding a compass with echo shards. These echo shards can be found within the chests that players can loot within the newest game structure: the ancient city.

If the player makes a recovery compass, they should leave it, along with some emergency gear, including armor and tools, near their base’s exit so that they can quickly gear up to go find their lost items. When holding the compass, players will want to follow the indicator until it does a full 180.

If they find the point where the compass spins, players are above their lost items and will need to dig down.

Keep Inventory

Players who do not want to worry about making and using a recovery compass can change a game rule so that their inventory does not drop upon death. They can do so by following the steps below:

Open up the game’s chat, either by pressing T or hitting the forward slash key
If the forward slash is not in the text box, add it in using the keyboard
Type “gamerule” followed by a space
Type “keepInventory” followed by a space and then type “true”

This will turn on the keepInventory game rule and will ensure that players do not drop their items on death anymore. This mitigates any potential frustration that would normally come with losing all loot, items, and gear.

How item despawning works in Minecraft

A recovery compass pointing towards a player's items on the ground (Image via Minecraft)

Whenever a player dies, their items will be scattered on the floor in a circle where they died. After 6000 in-game ticks or exactly five minutes, the items will despawn. However, they will only despawn if the chunk they are in is loaded for five minutes. Thus, players need not hurry until they get close to where they died.