Action: Soul sand + nether wart + light = everything you need. Set up the farm before your second trip.
TL;DR:
- The four Nether farms worth building first: nether wart, blaze rods, glowstone, and Piglin bartering.
- Nether wart is the foundation — no wart, no potions, no fire resistance, no survivability.
- Blaze farms use the spawner in Nether fortresses and produce the fuel for your entire brewing operation.
- Glowstone stations give you anchor charges and light sources without using torches.
- Piglin bartering chests automate a loot table that includes Crying Obsidian and Fire Resistance Potions.
- Build the wart farm first. Your second Nether trip should carry fire resistance — that requires having brewed it first.
Most players go into the Nether, see something dangerous, run back, and then go again slightly more prepared. That cycle works, but it is slow. What makes it faster is infrastructure — a few simple setups near your portal that generate the materials you keep needing.
This is not about building something fancy. It is about setting up four small systems so that your third and fourth trips into the Nether are meaningfully better than your first.
Here is what to build, in order of priority.
Farm 1: Nether wart (build this first, before anything else)
You need soul sand and nether wart stalks. Soul sand spawns naturally throughout the Nether — harvest it with a shovel. Nether wart grows in Nether fortress stairwell areas.
Plant nether wart on soul sand in any lit area. It does not need sunlight, just a light level above zero. A row of 9 soul sand blocks with one stalk each is a reasonable starter farm. Wart grows through three stages — when it looks full and dark red (stage 3), harvest it. Each stalk produces 2-4 wart when harvested at stage 3.
Why it matters: nether wart is the first ingredient in almost every useful potion. No wart, no Awkward Potions, no Fire Resistance, no Healing, no Strength. Everything in the brewing system depends on this plant. Build this farm before you explore.
Farm 2: Blaze rod collection (use the spawner, not random Blaze encounters)
Nether fortresses have Blaze spawners. Once you find one, build a simple enclosure around it — four walls, a floor you can stand on, an opening to fight through. This is a mob farm in its most basic form. Blazes spawn at the spawner, walk into the kill zone, and you collect rods.
You need Blaze Rods for: Brewing Stand construction, Blaze Powder (brewing fuel), Blaze Powder (Strength potion ingredient), and Blaze Powder (Eye of Ender for finding the stronghold later).
Two rods gets you started. An ongoing spawner farm means you are never short on fuel for the brewing stand.
Farm 3: Glowstone harvesting station
Glowstone grows on the ceilings of most Nether biomes, especially Nether Wastes. It drops 2-4 Glowstone Dust per block, which you can craft back into full blocks (4 dust = 1 block). A Silk Touch pickaxe gives you whole blocks without the conversion step.
Build a scaffold or platform near a dense glowstone cluster — somewhere you can mine without falling. You do not need to automate this. Just build access.
Why it matters: Glowstone blocks charge your Respawn Anchor (4 blocks per full charge). It is also the best light source in the Nether for visibility and mob control. Having a reliable glowstone supply matters more the longer you spend in the Nether.
Farm 4: Piglin bartering chest
This one is the simplest. A Piglin bartering chest is just: a Gold Farm (or a stockpile of gold from Zombified Piglin farming) and a Piglin nearby.
Throw gold ingots to Piglins and they throw something back. The loot table is randomized, but it includes Crying Obsidian, pre-brewed Fire Resistance Potions, Ender Pearls, Gravel, Obsidian, and Iron Boots with Soul Speed. Over time, the chest fills with useful material.
You do not need an automated gold farm to do this. A chest with 30-40 gold ingots and 20 minutes near a Piglin produces a useful mix of drops.
The "farm before you explore" argument
Here is the reason to build these before going deep into the Nether: your second trip should carry Fire Resistance Potions. That requires a wart farm, a brewing stand, Blaze Powder, and Magma Cream. None of that is available if you went straight to exploring.
The pattern that works: Trip 1 — collect nether wart and blaze rods. Trip 2 — build the farm, brew fire resistance. Trip 3 — explore with fire resistance active. The third trip is genuinely different from the first two.
Common mistakes
- Planting nether wart on regular dirt or sand. It only grows on soul sand. Nothing happens on other blocks.
- Mining glowstone from the ground, not the ceiling. Most glowstone is on the Nether ceiling, not at floor level. Build up, not across.
- Fighting Piglins instead of trading with them. They have a barter table that beats their drop table. Trade first.
- Building the Blaze farm too close to lava. Rods fall. If they land in lava, they are gone. Build the kill area over solid floor.
- Skipping the farms because "I'll do it later." Later usually means after you have died five times for lack of fire resistance.
A closing thought
Infrastructure feels like a detour right up until you have it. Then suddenly you walk into the Nether with potions already in your hotbar, you know where your anchor is, and the place that used to feel impossible feels like home turf.
Four small farms. Two or three sessions to set them up. The return on that time is every session after.
Pair this guide with Nether Wart Farming, Blaze Farming 101, and Piglin Bartering Cheat Sheet.
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