How do you make banners in Minecraft? Minecraft banners are a great way to spruce up your base, pinpoint locations on a map, or even customize your battle gear in the popular survival game. However, knowing how to use and make a banner in Minecraft isn’t all that obvious, so we’re here to help.
One of the best PC games of recent years, and among the greatest building games, Minecraft has a massive creative inventory – mostly full of cuboid blocks. Unlike most items in the sandbox game though, these tall, thin blocks are highly customizable. Particularly creative Minecraft builders have even come up with ways to incorporate them into complex builds, such as using them as curtains, headboards, and even bathroom towels. Whether you’re that imaginative or not, you can still use Minecraft banners in a variety of ways, so read on to find out how to make, color, customize, and use a Minecraft banner.
How to craft Minecraft banners
Crafting a banner in Minecraft is easy, although there are countless designs to choose from, which makes it a little bit tricky. First, you’ll want six wool and one stick. Go into your crafting table screen and arrange the pieces of wool with the stick in the bottom middle slot and the top six slots all occupied by wool – this will give you a plain-colored banner.
To add a design you need to craft a loom, interact with it, and place the banner in the top left slot, and any dye materials in the top right slot, which should bring up a menu of possible designs. Alternatively, you can use the crafting table and arrange dyes around your banner until you find the pattern that’s right for you.
Minecraft banner designs
There are a huge number of Minecraft banner patterns out there, from simple brickwork backgrounds to skull and crossbones designs, and you can even match the two.
Most patterns and designs are easy to figure out by simply arranging your dyes around the banner in various quantities and positions, but here are some more complex banner patterns:
- Brickwork pattern: combine brick block and banner
- Colorful brickwork pattern: combine brick block, dye, and banner
- Fancy border: combine dye, vine, and banner
- Creeper face: combine Creeper head and banner (dye optional)
- Skull and crossbones: combine Wither head and banner
- Flower: combine oxeye daisy and banner
- Mojang logo: combine an enchanted golden apple and a banner
Remember, you can mix and match any of these designs by simply layering over the top of your banner with a new design, meaning you can mix borders, colors, and logos. For more great banner designs in Minecraft, you can check out this website.
Minecraft banner letters
If you get really creative, you can even make letters for your Minecraft banners. While the limited space means it’s hard to create every letter convincingly, most are possible, such as placing your initials on your shield. However, bear in mind you need a lot of resources for these designs.
Check out this video for a quick and effective walkthrough of how to make each letter:
Minecraft banner uses
Decorate your base
One of the main uses for a Minecraft banner is simply to decorate your base. Seen those banners up over a Pillager outpost or dotted around End Cities? Do the same, and make it clear who built and lives in your remarkable house. Of course, this is especially useful if you play on a multiplayer Minecraft server.
Map locations
If you use a map to get around your massive Minecraft build or local Minecraft village, you can pinpoint specific locations using colorful banners. Simply place the banner down in the special location, and use your map on it (click the action button on the banner while holding your map in your main hand). A new icon will appear on your map and can be removed again by clicking on the banner another time. The color of the map icon matches the banner color, so you can place multiple and still know which is which.
Shield customization
Stand out in battle by adding your own personal banner design to your Minecraft shield. Simply pop a banner and a shield in a crafting table and – voila! – you have your own unique, stylish shield to protect you from harm. Just remember that your shield will still deteriorate as usual, so keep an eye on its durability level.
Other Minecraft banner tips:
- In Java edition, banners can be equipped as helmets, but only by using a console command.
- You can copy a banner, provided both have the same basic pattern, and there is only a pre-existing pattern on the banner you are copying.
- Water and lava flow around banners.
- In an emergency, you can use banners as fuel for furnaces, and you can smelt 1.5 items per banner.
There you go – everything you need to know about Minecraft banners. Don’t stop there though, we’ve got a guide to the best Minecraft texture packs, our favorite Minecraft mods, and the best Minecraft build ideas if you want even more resources on the popular crafting game.
Contributions by Gina Lees and Joe Robinson.