How to Get Sulfur in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: Sulfur generates in sulfur caves alongside cinnabar, in sulfur pools, and in sulfur springs - mine it with any pickaxe. It's renewable: sulfur spikes grow slowly under sulfur blocks, and 4 spikes craft into 1 sulfur block.

What you need

Any pickaxe (wooden is enough)
Access to a sulfur caves biome
Optional: trident to break spikes instantly
Stonecutter for the decorative variants

Step by step

Find a sulfur caves biome: the yellow-orange cave biome from the 26.2 / Drop 2 of 2026 update. Sulfur generates throughout it, in sulfur pools, and in sulfur springs.
Bring any pickaxe: sulfur only drops when mined with a pickaxe (wood works) - by hand it drops nothing.
Harvest sulfur spikes too: the dripstone-like spikes in the caves drop with any tool or hand (pickaxe is fastest, a thrown trident breaks them instantly).
Craft spikes into sulfur: 4 sulfur spikes in a 2x2 grid make 1 sulfur block.
Farm it renewably: spikes regrow - a spike hanging under a sulfur block slowly grows a stalactite (max 3 blocks), with a matching stalagmite if there's a solid floor within 11 blocks below. Each growth step takes about 5 in-game days on average.
Mind the ceiling: breaking a stalactite's support drops the whole spike like a falling anvil and damages anything under it - harvest from the bottom up, or weaponize it.
Cut building variants: on a stonecutter, sulfur becomes slabs, stairs, walls, polished sulfur, sulfur bricks and chiseled sulfur, just like cinnabar.

Java vs Bedrock

Sulfur works the same in both editions. Bedrock previewed it behind the Drop 2 of 2026 experiment (Preview 26.20.23) before it went vanilla in 26.30; Java added it straight into 26.2 snapshots. One Bedrock-only oddity: a wandering trader killed while offering sulfur spikes can drop 2 of them (25% chance, +1% per Looting level) if you're holding an emerald.

Versions: Announced at Minecraft Live in March 2026 and added in Java 26.2 and Bedrock 26.20 (experimental) / 26.30 (vanilla), as part of the Drop 2 of 2026. The renewable sulfur spike recipe arrived in a later 26.2 snapshot.

Frequently asked questions

Where do you find sulfur in Minecraft?

Only in the sulfur caves biome: generating alongside cinnabar, in sulfur pools, and as part of sulfur springs. Sulfur spikes hang and rise through the caves too.

Is sulfur renewable in Minecraft?

Yes. Sulfur spikes grow slowly under sulfur blocks (about one growth step per 5 in-game days), and 4 spikes craft into 1 sulfur block - so a spike farm yields sulfur forever.

What tool mines sulfur fastest?

Any pickaxe works, even wooden - and sulfur only drops with a pickaxe. Sulfur spikes are different: they drop to any tool or bare hand, and a thrown trident breaks them instantly.

What can you make with sulfur?

Decorative variants on a stonecutter: slabs, stairs and walls; polished sulfur and its variants; sulfur bricks and their variants; and chiseled sulfur. Spikes themselves work like dripstone for traps and decor.