How to dye armor in Minecraft Pocket Edition (2022)

A player with fully dyed leather armor equipped (Image via Minecraft)
A player with fully dyed leather armor equipped (Image via Minecraft)

Minecraft Pocket Edition is an experience centered around player agency and creativity. Everyone has their own unique playstyle. Players get metiricukous with their designs. Often their goal is to craft excellent armor that grabs attention and protects. Looks is important too. One way to modify an armor's look is to add color to it by dyeing.

Dyeing armor requires players to use one of Minecraft’s dyes and apply it to their leather armor. The game allows players to dye armor multiple times and each layer changes color depending on the previous color chosen. Players have over 5.7 million potential color options.


Exploring leather armor customization in Minecraft Pocket Edition

1) Preparing your dye station

A cauldron in a witch's hut (Image via Minecraft)
A cauldron in a witch's hut (Image via Minecraft)

The first thing you’ll need to do is prepare the area you plan on dyeing your armor. With Minecraft Pocket Edition running on the Bedrock edition of the game, you’ll need a cauldron filled with dyed water.

Players can create a cauldron with seven iron ingots. The cauldron will need to be filled with water. This can be done with either three bottles of water, a bucket of water, three potions, or even rainwater. Once filled, the water is ready to be dyed.

Players will also need leather armor to dye, which follows normal armor crafting recipes. The easiest way to get the leather required is to have a cow farm, as the leather needed can take a long time to find naturally, though you can do so.

Leather horse armor, which has to be found, can also be dyed, so players can have a horse that matches their armor.


2) Deciding what color armor is needed

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The 16 base dye colors in Minecraft Pocket Edition include:

  • Black (Ink Sacs in PE)
  • Red
  • Green
  • Brown (Cocoa Beans in PE)
  • Blue (Lapis Lazuli in PE)
  • Purple
  • Cyan
  • Light Gray
  • Gray
  • Pink
  • Lime
  • Yellow
  • Light Blue
  • Magenta
  • Orange
  • White (Bone Meal in PE)

Minecraft Pocket Edition uses certain items in place of dyes for certain colors. These colors have been noted in the parenthesis above, stating the item that replaces the dye.

Minecraft has a complicated formula for figuring out exact color combinations. Unless the armor needs an exact color, focus on the base 16 colors or two dye combinations.


3) Preparing a cauldron

Cauldrons with dyed water (Image via Minecraft)
Cauldrons with dyed water (Image via Minecraft)

To dye your armor, you’ll need to prepare your cauldron. Once you’ve decided what color you want your armor to be, go ahead and get the necessary dyes in your inventory. Then right-click on the cauldron to dye the water.


4) Dyeing the armor

An inventory filled with everything needed to set up a dye station. (Image via Minecraft)
An inventory filled with everything needed to set up a dye station. (Image via Minecraft)

Once your cauldron is ready, equip the piece of armor to dye and right-click on the dyed water. This will use 1/6 of the dyed water in the cauldron and dye the armor. This means that a single cauldron is enough for a full set of leather and horse armor.


Sets of dyed leather armor (Image via Minecraft)
Sets of dyed leather armor (Image via Minecraft)

5) Changing armor color after the fact

If you decide later that you don’t like the color you picked, you can redye your armor. If you want a shade close to your current color, add the color you want to push the color of your armor in that direction.

For drastic armor color changes, however, it’s easier to reset the color first. This can be done by filling a cauldron with normal, undyed water and right-clicking it with your dyed armor in hand. This will remove the color and allow you to begin dyeing your armor anew, making cauldrons even more useful for Minecraft Pocket Edition.