How to make a compass in Minecraft (plus the recovery compass)

How to make a compass in Minecraft: put four iron ingots around one redstone dust on a crafting table, in a plus shape. The compass points to the world spawn, not to your bed. With echo shards you turn it into a recovery compass that leads you back to where you died, and with a lodestone into a compass that points wherever you like, even in the Nether. Below: all three, plus how compasses behave on a server with a set spawn. Checked against the game data of Java 26.3 on 27 October 2026.

How to make a compass in Minecraft: the recipe

Iron ingots come from smelting raw iron; redstone dust from redstone ore, deep underground. One compass costs four iron, so an iron farm pays off if you need many.

Prefer to buy or find one? An expert librarian can sell compasses for four emeralds. Compasses also turn up in chests: in stronghold libraries, shipwreck map rooms, cartographer houses in villages, trial chamber barrels, ancient cities and, since 26.3, abandoned camps.

Where does a compass point?

A normal compass always points to the world spawn of the Overworld: the spot where new players appear. It does not point to your bed or to your respawn anchor. Some things to know:

• Nether and End: the needle spins at random, because the world spawn is in another dimension.
• Changing the target: the command setworldspawn moves the world spawn, and every normal compass then points to the new spot.
• In an item frame: a framed compass keeps pointing at spawn, which makes a nice signpost on a wall.

A compass is also an ingredient. Surrounded by eight paper it becomes a map, and a cartographer wants one with the emeralds for an explorer map. More about that in how to make a map in Minecraft.

Recovery compass: back to where you died

A recovery compass points to the place where you last died, as long as you’re in the same dimension. Very handy when you died far away and want your items back before they despawn.

• Recipe: a compass in the middle of a crafting table with eight echo shards around it.
• Echo shards: found only in the chests of ancient cities, deep in the deep dark. Watch out for the warden there; see how to survive the warden.
• When it spins: if you haven’t died yet, or if you died in another dimension.

The recovery compass itself drops when you die, just like your other items, unless keep inventory is on. Keep a spare in an ender chest, or craft it after you respawn if you have the shards at home. In Hardcore it’s no use, because you don’t respawn.

Lodestone compass

A lodestone lets a compass point anywhere you want. Craft a lodestone from eight chiseled stone bricks around one iron ingot. In older versions it took a netherite ingot; since 1.21.5 it’s iron. You can also find lodestones in ruined portal chests and in bastion bridge chests.

1. Place the lodestone where you want to go back to, such as your base.
2. Use a compass on the lodestone. The compass gets an enchanted glint.
3. That compass now points to the lodestone, also in the Nether and the End, as long as you’re in the same dimension as the lodestone.

If the lodestone is broken, the compass loses its target and spins. Use it on another lodestone to link it again. A lodestone in the Nether is a classic trick: in the Nether a normal compass spins, but a lodestone compass leads you straight back to your portal.

Two details that save trouble. Lodestone compasses only stack with compasses linked to the same lodestone, so label them with an anvil if you carry several. And moving your lodestone? In Java, put the linked compasses in a chest first: while they’re in storage you can break and replace the lodestone without losing the link. Linking a compass for the first time also gives you the advancement Country Lode, Take Me Home.

Compasses on a server with a set spawn

On a server, every normal compass points to the world spawn. If you build a spawn town, set the world spawn there with setworldspawn in the console, and every player’s compass leads home. How to set the spawn point on your own server is in how to set the spawn on a Minecraft server.

• Spawn plugins with a /spawn command often keep their own spawn location. A compass only follows the world spawn of the game itself.
• A lodestone per group: put a lodestone at every base and hand out linked compasses. Everyone finds their way to the right base.
• Finding each other: since 1.21.6, the locator bar on the experience bar shows in which direction other players are. On a server you switch it with the game rule locator_bar.