What does copper do in Minecraft?

Copper is one of the new minerals that will be added to Minecraft in Update 1.7: Caves and Cliffs.

The copper block is a beautiful-looking block. There is an industrial feel to it, and it would look very nice in a factory or warehouse build.

Copper blocks can be crafted with four copper ingots.

What are the uses of copper in Minecraft?

A copper block would look very nice in a factory or warehouse build (Image via Minecraft)

While not the most useful mineral at the moment, it can be assumed that copper will be used to craft tools, armor, and possibly machinery.

Copper can also be used to craft a lightning rod. The lightning rod can be used as a base defense against lightning. It works by absorbing any lightning that strikes the player's house (in a 32x4x32 area), saving it from fire damage.

The lightning rod is a very useful tool for players who have a base completely made out of wood! It can be crafted with three copper ingots in a straight line.

A lightning rod can be seen on top of the Diorite block in the image below.

A lightning rod in Minecraft (Image via Minecraft)

Copper's last (current) use in Minecraft is to make the Spyglass. Spyglasses can be crafted with two copper ingots and one Amethyst Shard.

The Spyglass is used to zoom in on an area that the player is looking at. More specifically, when zoomed in, it changes the player's FOV from 70 (default) to 7. It will always be reduced to 1/10 of the original value. The Spyglass also slows the user down while zooming in.

The Spyglass is used to zoom in on an area that the player is looking at (Image via Minecraft)

The Spyglass is a great (and needed) addition to Minecraft as it has been implemented into Optifine for years.

Players who got used to the feature in Optifine were disappointed when they went to Vanilla Minecraft and lost the feature.