Closer Minecraft, zooming in on a faraway object was previously only possible with the OptiFine plugin. Since version 1.17, the first portion of Caves and Cliffs, however, Mojang has included an easy way to zoom into the horizon and explore things from afar.
A new item, the spyglass, was included in the initial half of the update and requires a number of new materials. Naturally constructing a spyglass can be challenging due to the lack of glass blocks or glass panes required. Here’s the best way to make a spyglass quickly so you can get out there and start exploring as soon as possible.
The Making of a Spyglass Part 1: Gathering Supplies
To make a spyglass, you’ll need two components, neither of which are particularly common.
- One Piece of Amethyst
- Double Copper Ingot
Minecraft 1.17 Copper Resource Locations
A quantity of raw copper must be mined before any copper ingots can be made. Thankfully, raw copper is now as common in Minecraft’s caves as coal or iron ore. Copper can be mined from a single ore block, however it may yield several individual shards.
There is a good probability of discovering copper in any cave or mountain biome, as copper ore develops at almost any height between 0 and 96. Copper ingots can be obtained after the raw copper has been smelted in a furnace or blast furnace.
Amethyst Shards: Where to Discover Them in Minecraft 1.17
Unlike other gemstones, amethyst is more difficult to track down. To begin, track down an Amethyst Geode, which is a dark, spherical space inside of a rounded, circular stone that, from the outside, looks like an egg.
Using a Night Vision elixir, one can easily locate them at the ocean floor.
To find geodes, look between Y=70 and bedrock.
If you’re mining in an area with a lot of solid stone, you might stumble into one by chance, but if you’re located near a huge body of water, it’s well worth your time to get in a boat and explore the ocean floor.
If you come upon a geode, use a pickaxe to open it up and look inside. You should expect to find a number of purple blocks inside the geode, with amethyst clusters developing on a few of them.
You should look for the largest, healthiest cluster you can discover. Amethyst shards can be mined from this rock using a standard iron pickaxe or a more advanced tool.
Minecraft Spyglass 1.17 Tutorial
Once you have all the materials you need, you can quickly and easily make a spyglass by assembling them in a vertical fashion on a three-by-three grid on a crafting table.
The amethyst fragment should go on top, followed by the two copper ingots.
Tutorial: Using a Spyglass
Right-click the mouse while hovering above the magnifying glass icon in your toolbar. This should activate the spyglass perspective, allowing you to gain detailed up-close observations of your surroundings.
The view is unfortunately framed by a vignette; to remove it, you can either press F1 or look in different directions.
Using the spyglass on certain objects will provide you access to new areas in the Java Edition of the game.
- A Bird, Perhaps? Parrot-related unlocking triggers.
- Could It Be A Balloon? Activated by staring at a Ghast.
- What Is That Noise? Activated by staring at the Ender Dragon.
