At some point in yourMinecraftplaythrough, usually after you kill some Creepers, you’re likely to get the recipe for Firework Rockets. If you’re new to the game, you might wonder about acquiring this intriguing item and how to get the ingredients needed to craft it.

Aeronautics, demolition, self-defense, celebration, and more: Firework Rockets have plenty of applications and are the most flashy things in the game. They are also surprisingly complex, with many variations. So, whether you just want to light up the sky, spice up your fights, or improve your flights, we have all the info you need about Firework Rockets.

A freshly-launched rocket, flying upward away from where it was place, leaving behind a trail of white smoke.

How Do You Use Firework Rockets?

The most basic way to use Firework Rockets is to use them on a block, which will briefly place them before they launch themselves vertically. You can also use them as ammo in crossbows by wielding them in your offhand and then loading the crossbow, which will allow you to launch the rocket horizontally.

you’re able to also launch them from a dispenser, which will fire them off in the direction it’s facing when given a redstone signal, such as an adjacent or attached button or lever. Lastly, you can use them to assist your Elytra flights by using them midair.

A trail of white particles leading to a red explosion in a big, dark cave in Minecraft.

Using the default recipe for Firework Rockets is unimpressive, but if you add Firework Stars and extra gunpowder to the mix, it becomes much more useful.

What Are Firework Stars?

Firework Stars are an optional ingredient in Firework Rockets, but in most use cases, these are necessary. When added to a Firework Rocket recipe, these will cause the resulting rockets to explode at the end of their flight time or upon hitting a block (or entity in Java).

Depending on the ingredients used to make a Firework Star, the look and sound of each vary greatly. You’re not even limited to only using one Firework Star in the creation of Firework Rockets and increasing the amount of them leads to even greater results.

The crafting table menu with a bunch of possible Firework Rocket crafting recipes in red, and one highlighted with its parameters in a tooltip. On the right is the crafting grid with a single paper and gunpowder in it, which produces three basic Firework Rockets in Minecraft.

How Do You Make Firework Rockets?

Firework Rockets are not found in the world, meaning you have to make them yourself. The most basic recipe for Firework Rockets is one gunpowder and one paper, but you canadd up to two more gunpowder for extra range (total 3 max) and up to seven Firework Stars.

Note: To make the different types of rockets, you must fill in the ingredients one at a time;stacks will be counted as one instance of the ingredient.

A view of the landscape from above the clouds, with the sun setting on the right. The player is holding a rocket in Minecraft.

Since you must include one paper and one gunpowder in a Firework Rocket, you are left with seven remaining spaces to fill with any combination of extra gunpowder or Firework Stars if you’re using a crafting table. You get much less (only two additional ingredients) without one.

The composition of your Firework Rockets should be determined by how you intend to use them:

A trail of white particles leading to three tightly placed yellow explosions, in which a Witch has turned red from taking damage. In the hotbar, the crossbow has been circled in orange, having taken a significant amount of durability damage in Minecraft.

Elytra Boosting

If you’re planning to use your Firework Rockets for boosting your flights, make sure thatyou don’t add any Firework Stars to them.They will explode at the end of their flight duration, harming you.

For the best results, simplyuse three gunpowder (the default amount +2) for maximum flight time. you’re able to even craft these on the go, since it only requires four crafting slots.

The Crafting Table Menu with the search bar filled in with the query ‘Firework Star’. Below, a selection of available Firework Stars, with red ones being uncraftable from lack of ingredients. On the right is the crafting grid and the player’s inventory, which is filled with dyes, gunpowder, and other firework ingredients in Minecraft.

Combat

The coolest use of the Firework Rocket is in combat. Witha crossbow in hand and rockets in your off-hand, you load the crossbow with a rocket.After it’s shot, when it reaches the end of its flight or hits a block, it explodes, dealing damage to all entities within five blocks of the blast.

In Java Edition, the rockets explode instantly when impacting an entity. In Bedrock, they pass straight through. For the latter, aim for your targets’ feet for the best results.Firework explosions don’t damage blocks, so you don’t need to worry about blowing up the terrain.

A trail of white particles leading to a multiclored explosion in the night sky in Minecraft.

Each Firework Star used in the crafting of a Firework Rocket increases the damage of the blasts since each one is counted as a separate detonation. The amount of gunpowder and Stars you should use depends on the range you plan to fight in, keeping in mind that there’s some random variability in how long before a rocket explodes.

One gunpowder allows you to have the maximum amount of Stars and damage, but limits you to close-medium engagements. Two is decently reliable at midrange attacks, while three gives you the most distance options but dips your damage significantly.

A star-shaped explosion of magenta particles in the night sky kin Minecraft.

Firework Shows And Aesthetics

Firework shows are more a matter of artistry than practicality, so ‘the most beautiful firework show’ is largely subjective. That being said, there are a few things to keep in mind:

Fireworks, Crossbows, And Enchantments

There are important differences between using arrows versus using rockets in your crossbow beyond whether your shots explode or not. Landing hits with rockets is tricky, since not only do they have to travel, but there is a slight delay on the explosion. Also, shooting rockets deals more durability damage to your crossbow, three damage to the arrow’s.

Unbreaking and Mending are particularly valuable on your crossbow if you plan to use rockets as ammo, especially if it also has Multishot, since unmodified, it does a whopping nine durability damage every time you fire one.

A glittering, golden explosion in the night sky in Minecraft.

Enchantments to your crossbow affect both types of ammo in similar ways, with a very important difference: while Pierce and Multishot work with arrows, only Multishot works with rockets. Multishot is pretty fantastic when firing rockets anyway, since it allows you to fire a barrage of rockets while only using up one of them.

How Do You Make Firework Stars?

The basic recipe for aFirework Star is one gunpowder and one dye, which is all you need to fulfill its purpose as a Firework Rocket ingredient.However, you can also add extra ingredients to determine the effects of the rocket exploding.

While you’re able to make these without a crafting table, you can’t get the maximum amount of effects in a Firework Star without one.

A group of enemies consisting of skeletons, spiders, zombies, and creepers in a very dark cave. The creeper in front is getting ready to explode in Minecraft.

Between the quantity of Firework Stars you’re able to put in a rocket and what those Stars are composed of, the Firework Rocket has an endless number of permutations. There are three main things you can change that you can affect in a Firework Star:color and fade, shape, and additional effects.

Color And Fade

When making a Firework Star, you can use up to eight different dyes. Using just one will make the resulting Firework Rocket primarily that color, with each additional dye adding its color to the resulting explosion.

Similarly, you can add dyes to a finished Firework Star to make it fade to the colors you added. You can also add up to eight here, but the more different colors you add to the mix, the harder it is to tell that the fade is happening.

Shape

you may add an additional ingredient to each Firework Star to alter the shape that the explosion takes,but only one. By default, the firework pattern is a small ball shape.

Effect

There are two effects you may add to a Firework Star:the particles flicker, and the explosion crackles when you add glowstoneto the mix, andthe particles flying from the explosion leave behind a trail. You canadd both items to get both effects.

Diamond is found as an ore rarely in the Overworld, but gets more common as you get to the bottom of the world (-64). Glowstone is more common but is only found in the Nether.

Where Do You Get Paper?

Paper can be found inVillages with Cartographers, Shipwrecks, and Strongholds. However, it’s far easier to make your own paper, since it only takes three Sugar Canes and produces three sheets of paper.

Sugar Cane can be found in all surface biomes in the Overworld, but is more common in swamps and especially in deserts. They can be found on blocks adjacent to bodies of water. Once you have some, you’re able to make your own farm for an endless amount of paper (and sugar).

you may plant them on most types of dirt and sand (not tilled dirt, ironically), but they must be planted adjacent to a water source. They have no light requirement, so you can grow them everywhere except the Nether, where you cannot place water.

Where Do You Get Gunpowder?

Of the ingredients to make Firework Rockets and Stars, gunpowder is the hardest to gather and the most important since it’s used in the Firework Rocket, Firework Star, and Fire Charge. You can find it in chests in a few structures, you’ll most commonly find it from enemy mobs: Creepers, Ghasts, and Witches.

Creepers will likely be your most common source of gunpowder, since they’re abundant and found in dark places.Ghasts are only found in the Netherand drop the same amount as Creepers, but they fly and attack from range, making them much more difficult to defeat.

Witches are rarer and are tricky to beat, but have the potential to drop the most gunpowder when they die. If you have the know-how,the Creeper and Witch are both farmable.

Where Do You Get Dye?

Dyes can be found in a few different ways, including trades with the Wandering Trader. However, it’s far easier to find the ingredients to make most dyes, and they can all be farmed or mined. Green, Light Green, and Brown are notable exceptions, since their ingredientsare only found in specific biomes.

You can also mix dyes to get their combined color, and in fact, some can only be made this way. Doing so will yield the same amount of the combined color that went into making it. All flowers can be used to produce a dye, with one flower used per unit of dye. Generally, the color of the flower will be the color of the dye. Here are a few ways that you can get each color:

Green + White Dyes, Sea Pickle (Smelting)

Magenta

Purple + Pink Dyes, Lapis Lazuli + Red + Pink Dyes, Allium