What is shroomlight?
Shroomlight is a light-giving block from the Nether. It glows at light level 15, the brightest any block in the game can be, which puts it in the same tier as glowstone, sea lanterns, and jack o’lanterns.
You find it growing on huge crimson and warped fungi, the giant mushroom-like growths that tower over crimson forests and warped forests. The orange, pockmarked blocks sit tucked into the caps and stems of those fungi, and they stand out against the dark red and teal of the surrounding wood.
Because it grows from fungus, shroomlight is fully renewable. Once you have a small Nether tree farm running, you can produce as many of these blocks as you want without ever hunting down another one by hand.
Shroomlight arrived in the 1.16 Nether Update, the same patch that added crimson and warped forests, nylium, and the whole cast of new Nether blocks. Up to that point, glowstone was the only bright block native to the dimension, so shroomlight gave builders a second option with a warmer look and a much friendlier harvest.
Where to find shroomlight
Shroomlight only generates in the Nether, and only around huge fungi. Two biomes grow them:
- Crimson forest, where huge crimson fungi rise out of crimson nylium. Their dark red caps hold clusters of shroomlight.
- Warped forest, where huge warped fungi grow from warped nylium in that blue-green haze. They carry shroomlight too.
Look at the underside and the sides of the fungus caps. Shroomlight blocks are set into the nether wart blocks that make up the cap, so you often have to break a bit of wart block or stem to reach them. A crimson forest is usually the easier place to gather a stack, since the fungi there tend to grow densely and the shroomlights are easy to spot against the red.
There is no shroomlight in the Overworld or the End. If you want it, you are going through a Nether portal to get it.
How to mine shroomlight
Shroomlight drops itself no matter what you break it with, so you never need Silk Touch to keep the block. You can punch it out by hand and still walk away with it.
The catch is speed. A hoe breaks shroomlight faster than anything else, so a decent hoe is the tool to bring if you plan to harvest a lot. Any other tool works, it just takes longer. This is one of the quiet upsides over glowstone, which shatters into dust unless you mine it with Silk Touch. With shroomlight, what you break is what you get.
Shroomlight does not catch fire, so you can place it next to lava or in the middle of a Nether build without worrying about it going up in flames.
How to farm shroomlight
The reliable way to get shroomlight in bulk is to grow your own huge fungi. Here is the loop:
- Gather a few small crimson or warped fungi (the little ones that sprout on nylium) and a stack of bone meal.
- Plant a small fungus on matching nylium. Crimson fungus needs crimson nylium, and warped fungus needs warped nylium.
- Use bone meal on the small fungus. It has a chance to shoot up into a huge fungus several blocks tall, complete with a cap.
- Break the cap apart and pull out the shroomlight blocks embedded in it. Grab the wart blocks and stem wood while you are there, since both are useful building materials.
Not every bone meal use grows a tree, and not every tree carries the same number of shroomlights, so expect some variance. Even so, a patch of nylium and a composter for bone meal will keep you in shroomlight for as long as you want. If you want to move nylium closer to your base, mine it with a Silk Touch tool and it keeps its type instead of turning back into netherrack.
Crimson and warped fungi drop the exact same shroomlight, so it does not matter which one you farm. Pick whichever nylium is closer, or grow both if you also want the red and blue wood for building. Players who need shroomlight by the hundreds usually box in a small nylium floor, plant fungi across it, and sweep through with bone meal in one pass, breaking down each huge fungus before starting the next batch. A piston can knock the caps apart if you want to speed up the harvest.
One thing to plan around: a huge fungus can grow into the ceiling or into nearby blocks, so give it headroom. If a fungus is boxed in too tightly, bone meal may fail to grow it at all, which wastes the meal.
What shroomlight does
The main job is light. At level 15, a single shroomlight lights up a wide area and stops hostile mobs from spawning nearby, the same as a torch but built into a full, solid block instead of a fragile stick on a wall.
That solid shape matters. You can stand on shroomlight, build on top of it, and place redstone components, carpets, or slabs on its upper face. Torch-lit and glowstone-lit builds often leave awkward gaps, while shroomlight lets you light a floor or ceiling and keep a flat, finished surface.
It is a full opaque cube, so it blocks light from passing through and casts a clean pool of brightness around itself. Mobs will not spawn on top of a shroomlight because it is already too bright there, which makes it handy for mob-proofing platforms and walkways.
Shroomlight vs glowstone and other light blocks
All the top-tier light sources sit at level 15, so the choice between them comes down to how they behave, not how bright they are.
| Block | Light level | Drops itself? | Renewable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shroomlight | 15 | Yes, always | Yes, from huge fungi |
| Glowstone | 15 | Only with Silk Touch | Yes, but slowly |
| Sea lantern | 15 | Only with Silk Touch | Limited |
| Jack o’lantern | 15 | Yes | Yes |
Shroomlight wins on convenience. It always drops itself, it farms cleanly once you set up a fungus patch, and its warm orange color fits Nether builds and cozy interiors better than the cold white of glowstone or sea lanterns. Glowstone still has its place for anyone who wants that pale, even glow, but shroomlight is the friendlier block to gather in quantity.
Building tips and common mistakes
A few things worth knowing before you build with it:
- Space your lights out. One shroomlight covers a good radius, so you rarely need them packed together. Sinking one into a floor every several blocks keeps a room lit and mob-free.
- Use it for hidden lighting. Because it is a full block, you can bury a shroomlight under a slab or carpet and still get most of the light bleeding out, which hides the source and keeps a build clean.
- Bring a hoe, not a pickaxe, when you harvest. Players reach for a pickaxe out of habit and then wonder why the blocks come out so slowly.
- Do not mix it up with the plain nether wart block. Only the glowing orange block gives off light; the wart block around it does not.
The most common mistake is trying to Silk Touch it like glowstone. You do not need to. Save that enchantment for blocks that actually require it.
Frequently asked questions
What light level does shroomlight give off?
Light level 15, the maximum in the game. It is as bright as glowstone, a torch, or a sea lantern.
Do you need Silk Touch to mine shroomlight?
No. Shroomlight always drops itself, whatever tool you use, including your bare hand. Silk Touch does nothing extra here.
What is the fastest way to mine shroomlight?
A hoe. It breaks shroomlight faster than any other tool. Other tools and your hand still work, they are just slower.
Is shroomlight renewable?
Yes. Grow huge crimson or warped fungi with bone meal and harvest the shroomlight from their caps. A small nylium patch gives you an endless supply.
Can shroomlight catch fire?
No. It is not flammable, so it is safe to place near lava or fire in the Nether.
Where does shroomlight spawn?
Only in the Nether, on huge crimson and warped fungi in crimson forest and warped forest biomes. It does not appear in the Overworld or the End.
Can mobs spawn on shroomlight?
No. It gives off light level 15, which is far too bright for hostile mobs to spawn on or right next to it.
Can you grow shroomlight in the Overworld?
Yes, if you bring the ingredients. Carry crimson or warped nylium and a few fungi back through your portal, place the nylium down, and grow huge fungi with bone meal just like you would in the Nether. The shroomlight you harvest works the same anywhere.
What color light does shroomlight give?
A warm orange glow that matches its block texture. It reads cozier than the pale white light from glowstone or sea lanterns, which is part of why builders like it for interiors and Nether-themed bases.
Should you use shroomlight?
If you spend any time in the Nether, grab a stack on your way through and set up a fungus patch back home. It is the easiest maximum-brightness block to farm, it drops itself every time, and its warm glow looks better in most builds than the cold light sources players default to. For a block you can grow on demand, that is tough to beat.