20 Minecraft base ideas

When it comes to building your very own base in Minecraft, the limitless possibilities offered by the game can make it difficult to decide what to create. Thankfully, a thriving online community of content creators post their creations on popular websites like YouTube, offering fellow players tips, advice, and tutorials about building with blocks.

Whether you’re lacking inspiration, need a secure base for survival purposes, or are simply seeking a general starting point, here are 18 Minecraft base ideas to help guide you.

20) Tower base

This style of base is simple and practical for any Minecraft player’s survival gameplay. Players can build a sleek tower in any biome and gain a vantage point of the surrounding world and any mobs that may try to sneak up on them.

While the tower contains everything you’ll need to craft, upgrade, and store your items, it can be helpful to construct farms and animal pens at the base of your tower. This secures a permanent supply of food, which is extremely helpful in high difficulties.

19) Glass base

If you’re the kind of player who likes to see everything that’s going on outside the safety of your base, consider building a base that is composed almost entirely of glass. Those pesky pillagers certainly won’t be able to sneak up on you if your base has a perfect view of every angle of the surrounding world.

This particular base features a man-made tree as a support pillar throughout the entirety of the tower. You could always replace this with a ladder system, or build a spiral staircase around the tree.

18) Cave base

The naturally paved tunnels and branches of a cave are perfect for setting up a base. If you’re looking to make a more natural home that fits a true survival lifestyle, caves are the perfect choice.

Combine various types of wood and stone with green elements like tree leaves and the new lush cave blocks to create a stunning natural-looking masterpiece. Just make sure you set up enough light sources to keep hostile mobs away from your architectural wonder.

17) Underground base

Using the existing ground blocks to make an underground base is a smart move that reduces the number of blocks players need to collect, allows for an authentic survival look, and offers players better safety away from hostile mobs.

If you don’t want to feel claustrophobic while living underground, you can replace the roof with glass blocks to get a scenic view while still staying protected from enemies.

16) Water base

If you find yourself looking for a challenge, creating a Minecraft base floating on water is one of the most difficult yet rewarding routes you can take. Minecraft water has complex mechanics that make building on it confusing. Similar to the problems faced with a sky base, those seeking to make an overwater base will also have to build a tower from the ocean floor up to build their structure.

Features like a glass floor to view a stunning coral reef below or a pier to dock boats at can make an overwater base a smart and stunning pick.

15) Simple base

Some Minecraft players are probably looking for a base on the simpler side. If that’s you, consider building a general house-shaped base in your preferred style and use whatever materials are your favorites.

When building this classic style of base, it is important to remember that you should surround your base with fences, walls, moats, or other kinds of obstacles to keep hostile mobs away from your precious loot. Nothing is worse than spending hours, days, weeks, or even months building the perfect house only to have a creeper sneak up behind you and explode it.

14) Fortified base

if you’re looking to build a simpler base, a fortified base with layers and protective walls could be the one for you. In addition to looking great, a fortified base will also help keep you and your belongings safe from hostile mobs and provide you with many lookout points to check on what’s going on outside of your base.

This particular structure features four guard towers connected by thick walls made out of wood blocks. This allows players to build storage and living areas within the walls, and have four different entrances and exits, which can be useful for exploration.

13) Treehouse base

These bases strike the perfect balance between stunning architecture and practical use. Treehouses are a natural fit into any Minecraft world and excel at keeping players safe from dangerous mobs.

While plenty of trees spawn throughout the world, the best treehouse builds typically involve crafting a custom tree that serves as the foundation for the entire base.

12) Snow base

Some people want to live in a snowy paradise, where they can enjoy endless holiday seasons while in the comfort of a cozy and warm home. This Snow base is built on top of a mountain, providing an easy defense against hostile mobs and pillagers.

To embrace the environment, the majority of the base is built with spruce wood, and accented with deep slate blocks. You can even decorate the interior with holiday decorations, or your own build ideas.

11) Mountain base

Mountain Minecraft bases do what every great base should; they use the terrain to their advantage to construct the entirety of the base around what is already there. Building off of what is already there results in a natural-looking base that is also very practical for gameplay.

While some mountain bases dig into the natural landscape, this particular tutorial creates multiple overhangs out of wooden planks and logs. Each of these areas serves a specific function, such as storage, farming, enchanting, or sleeping.

10) Desert base

If you’re building in a desert, then it can be nice to create a structure that matches the aesthetics of your surroundings. By building with sandstone and spruce planks, you can create the perfect base in the hottest of environments.

To make the base stand out, you can use the various types of sandstone to create details across the base walls, and wooden buttons to provide texture.

9) Mangrove Boat base

Another newer addition to Minecraft is the elusive Mangrove Swamp biome, which features water-filled areas filled with trees with exposed roots. Like all trees in Minecraft, Mangrove Trees can be turned into planks, which feature an iconic dark-red tint.

Since Mangrove Swamps are covered in water, you can craft a medium-sized boat within these murky waters. While the boat itself will never move without the help of some serious modding, you can use the ship to store any valuable materials. If you want to take on this aquatic project, then remember to collect a large amount of wool to build the sails.

8) Underwater base

Perhaps the most challenging kind of base players can choose to create is an underwater one. In addition to the same problems players will face while creating an overwater base, the underwater base will also require players to juggle watching how much longer they can breathe underwater with the struggle of getting rid of water blocks to create a true underwater base.

But if you’re up for the challenge, underwater bases are incredibly unique and offer an opportunity for massive creativity, safety, and an unbeatable view.

7) Sky base

Sky bases offer ultimate protection but require immense patience and precision to execute successfully. Minecraft players can’t start building in the middle of open air, which means that anyone hoping to construct a sky base will first have to build a tower from the ground upwards and then build off of that.

The challenging nature of building this kind of base is well worth it as it results in a rewarding structure floating far above the world below. In addition to increasing players’ safety, sky bases also provide a great view of the surrounding world and offer players the chance to get incredibly creative.

6) Futuristic base

Drawing inspiration from a futuristic style gives players an opportunity to incorporate protective glass domes and sharp edges into one unique Minecraft base. This style of base is certainly different and is good for players interested in using blocks like concrete and quartz rather than wood and stone.

However, these bases are typically very difficult to create, as they require finesse and feature large sections made out of glass, which can only be recovered by a pickaxe enchanted with Silk Touch. Furthermore, you should be careful where you build a futuristic base as it may not blend in with the surrounding environment.

5) Nether base

The Nether is one of the most dangerous areas you can explore in Minecraft, so it’s best to have a safe area where you can rest between mining for Netherite. This base is built with blackstone and warped planks, giving it a black-and-blue aesthetic that sticks out amongst the tones of this fiery dimension.

The most important aspect of this build is the protective exterior wall, which will defend against piglins and other hostile mobs.

4) Cherry Blossom Pagoda base

Now that Cherry Blossoms have finally been added to Minecraft, builders have created thousands of different bases inspired by these new trees. Just take this Cherry Blossom pagoda as an example, which features bright-pink Cherry Blossom Planks contrasting with Deep Slate blocks.

This tutorial requires players to build a massive pagoda that reaches high into the sky, so prepare to bring some bamboo stilts or use creative mode to complete the project. Once you are done, you can even craft custom trees around the base to make the area truly unique.

3) Enchanted Temple base

If you have shaders installed and are yearning for a fantasy aesthetic, consider checking out Jax and Wild’s build tutorial. This video teaches players how to create an ethereal, domed structure that can be used as a decorative temple or a regal home.

This build uses items from the End dimension, meaning you’ll have to defeat the Ender Dragon in survival mode or use creative mode to spawn in these glowing rods. While building a dome in Minecraft can be incredibly difficult, it’s a useful skill to have in your building repertoire.

2) Castle base

Are you up for a building challenge? The required fortifications for any Minecraft base make medieval-inspired castles the perfect inspiration.

Whether you go for a compact, closely reinforced castle or a sprawling castle, drawing inspiration from this period can make for a safe, secure, and stunning base. If you decide to craft your a castle, we recommend picking a color palette and diversifying the build with natural blocks, since repeating stone creates a monotonous pattern.

1) Japanese Castle base

Just because Minecraft is a game made up of blocks doesn’t mean you can’t take inspiration from real-world architecture. This includes creating structures inspired by ancient buildings, such as a Japanese castle.

The castle consists of a massive square foundation made out of Stone blocks, with a temple sitting atop the foundations made of Spruce Wood, Quartz, and Deep Slate blocks. The interior is also deceptively large, capable of housing storage and villager trading within the hollow foundation.