Talk:Lightning Rod

At the top it states that it will be added to Java edition only, but I was under impression that it would be added to all editions in 1.17 Am I misunderstanding something? NotRobotForSure (talk) 22:08, 15 November 2020 (UTC)

Will be, but isn't yet. The wiki doesn't do documentatiom regarding the behavior in an edition it isn't in yet. Dhranios (talk) 22:16, 15 November 2020 (UTC)

In BE when given a trident with Channeling and struck a mob with it by throwing the trident the lighting will prefer the lighting rod. As opposed to the statement written in the page. It may considered a bug... but no one reported it yet. IMO I consider it a feature but you may disagree (tbh it's kinda broken) Unrelated but lighting rods cannot be waterlogged (in BE). 190.164.106.114 17:50, 20 February 2021 (UTC) (Diego Jp)

I think when a copper golem oxidizes it stops moving and turns into a block. It's the same with a lightning rod: when a lightning rod oxidizes, lightning doesn't strike. Даниил (talk) 08:48, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

That's not what they mean. The topic is from 2021, before copper golems and lightning rods oxidising. --MinecraftExp123^{(talk|contribs)} 10:05, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

So I'm pretty sure that Java lightning rods provide significantly more protection than advertised. I ran an experiment:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/oanr1u/psa_lightning_rods_provide_over_120_blocks_of/

I don't have the exact numbers and thus I don't feel comfortable editing the Wiki page but I'm very sure 32x4x32 is incorrect and worth investigating by somebody smarter than me.

After testing in game, Java range appears to be a sphere, with radius 128 blocks. Where did 32x4x32 come from anyway? SamJNE (talk) 14:28, 2 July 2021 (UTC)

Wait a minute. So what is the protection area altitude then? It used to say that it's a sphere, but someone edited that away. Is it a disk then? How thick is that disk? What is the lowest block of that disk? Why can't you people make non-confusing edits? GMRE (talk) 15:31, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

In the page it talks about how they render when using /item replace. Considering we have pretty much every other 'special' item on heads as a render, could someone render this? -FezEmerald 👁 Image
Talk to me👁 Image
See what I've been up to 👁 Image
00:29, 12 August 2021 (UTC)

The current wikipage for lightning rod indicates that the distance of protection the lightning rod provides in Bedrock is 64x64x64. Is this a non-spherical 'radius', a composite distance in three dimensions from the northwest corner of the block? The description appears to apply radius to the java edition, and leave the reader to assume that in Bedrock it is the cubic approximation of a sphere (outer dimension of a sphere). – Unsigned comment added by FosterFlaxton (talk • contribs) at 04:42, 22 September 2021 (UTC). Sign comments with ~~~~

The article is wrong. I'm running a test now with command blocks. So far it looks spherical, with a 64 block radius in Bedrock Edition. I've made a change to the article. Amatulic (talk) 05:05, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

Added an image proving it to the gallery. Amatulic (talk) 23:33, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

I've had 2 incidents already in Java where a flat wooden roof (planks, stairs) still caught fire immediately next to a rod that was on the roof.

A have a town where every roof and even the ground is pretty well covered with rods, but somehow wooden roofs are still not safe. Maybe it only works some % of times average? GMRE (talk) 18:05, 10 October 2021 (UTC)

It's working as expected. A lightning rod attracts lightning toward it. Lightning starts fires within a 2-block radius of where it strikes, according to the lightning article. So if your rod is right on top of some flammable material, that material can ignite. To prevent lightning from striking roofs, you should position the rod at least 2 blocks above the roof, replace the blocks around your rod with non-flammable material, or put your rods away from the houses. Amatulic (talk) 18:33, 10 October 2021 (UTC)

I already fixed the situation.

• This wiki had misleading info about the area of effect, leading me to believe that the area of effect is a relatively small disk. Basically I removed about 3 stacks of surplus rods after finding out that not every village house needs one.
• And the ones I left, I made sure were all on top of chimneys and occasionally on top of 2 iron bars. Replacing roof blocks/stairs would look really bad.

GMRE (talk) 15:26, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

And of course someone had to edit again only today to again claim that the area of effect is possibly a disk. GMRE (talk) 15:31, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

Good. The setting-things-on-fire effect would be a sphere, not a disk. Putting the rod on top of a stone chimney makes sense, as it would in real life if the chimney is the highest point of the structure.

I just finished a range test in Bedrock Edition, and found that a lightning rod works exactly the same as in Java Edition in that the redirection volume is a sphere, but it's 64 blocks radius in Bedrock instead of 128 in Java. It isn't a cube as previously claimed in this article. If you play Bedrock, take that into account. I added a picture of my test File:Lightning distribution BE.png to the gallery. The game ran 20 hours to create that image. Amatulic (talk) 23:30, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

I'm at Java, but thanks. GMRE (talk) 12:12, 16 October 2021 (UTC)

Lightning diverted by a lightning rod can still start fires (on flammable blocks and inflict lightning damage) on mobs within a 5×5 horizontal area centered on the lightning rod.

or

Lightning diverted by a lightning rod can still inflict lightning damage on mobs within a 5×5 horizontal area centered on the lightning rod and start fires on flammable blocks.

– Unsigned comment added by 73.164.57.155 (talk) at 08:08, 13 May 2022 (UTC). Sign comments with ~~~~

Neither. The version in the article is best. Both of your suggestions above have different meanings. Amatulic (talk) 14:42, 13 May 2022 (UTC)

Fire area seems to be a 3×3×3 cube centered on the block above the lightning rod. Any air block that can be flint-and-steeled (including above non-flammable blocks) can catch fire. Mobs get lightning damage in a bigger 6×12×6 box. 193.32.127.237 07:59, 23 August 2022 (UTC)

I haven't tested this in a while, but I recall my experience in Bedrock Edition differing from that. Bear in mind that if you are testing in Java Edition, you are not testing the version that most people play. It is important for articles to include correct information for Bedrock, because that is most likely what readers coming to this wiki will be playing.

I'm curious what block arrangement you're using to test this. I was thinking a stair-step slope of wooden planks with a lightning rod in the middle would be best. Amatulic (talk) 23:32, 15 September 2022 (UTC)

The editor was really belligerent with me when I tried to add this image to the gallery at the bottom of the page. Could someone who's better at using this editor please add said image to said gallery (or wherever else is an appropriate spot)? I think a screenshot of what's being described in the trivia chapter could be really useful.

Thanks!

(It's 4 AM and I'm tired. Sorry if this was incomprehensible.) TheOneWhoAteTheCookies (talk) 08:19, 27 July 2024 (UTC)

👁 Image
 Done. I added the image to trivia section instead of the gallery, since that is the more appropriate place. By the way, we prefer that screenshots use one of the nine default skins instead of custom player skins, so I updated the image accordingly. Thanks a bunch for helping out though! - Harristic / Talk 👁 Image
10:14, 27 July 2024 (UTC)

Noted, and thank you! <3 TheOneWhoAteTheCookies (talk) 17:02, 27 July 2024 (UTC)

Hello, I extensively tested the fire spread mechanic of the lightning rod in Java 1.21.5. Here is a link to my reddit post: How to safely place a lightning rod in Java 1.21.5.

I would like to add the findings to the wiki page, because the information present at the moment is confusing and could be misleading to the players. Right now it says that "Lightning rod fire starts within a 3×3×3 cube centered on the block above the lightning rod." but the fire can actually start within a 2-block range in any direction from a block above the lightning rod. While the game tries to It set fire to the 3x3x3 volume around the block above the lightning rod, the adjacent blocks catch on fire as well. A reddit user WaterGenie3 left this comment on my post:

"Nice verification :)

I tried to cross-check in the code, and the logic matches up with your experiments:

• It tries to set fire to the 3x3x3 volume around the lightning, with each coordinate uniformly distributed between -1, 0, and +1 from the lightning, then fire spawning conditions apply;
• For fire to spawn, [the block itself must be air] and [is either 1. on top of a block with solid full top or 2. is adjacent to a flammable block]
  • So this creates the 2-block sphere of non-safe zone as described (the sphere is all the blocks adjacent to the 3x3x3)
  • The wool below the lightning rod in the picture is adjacent to the middle bottom block of the 3x3x3, but it is fine because any fire that tries to spawn there next to the wool will fail because it's not air (occupied by the lightning rod itself in this case).

This logic is the same in 1.21.5 and 1.17 when lightning rod was added to the game."

I also think that This screenshot from the experiment could be useful in the wiki page for players to easily visualize the danger area of the lightning rod and strategize it's placement accordingly. I've never edited a wiki page before so any suggestions and advice is welcome! CrystalDrug (talk) 10:46, 9 May 2025 (UTC)

I think this would be good to add. Be bold and do your best to add it. If you do anything wrong, you can revert yourself, fix it, or ask someone else to fix it. ~Anachronist (talk) 14:33, 9 May 2025 (UTC)

I want to point out that the Lightning Rod is functional if you place a Torch on top of it; the Wiki said this wouldn't work (I watched it work, unwaxed rod, lost oxidization) and the citation said to check the code, I'm guessing it meant this post. I'm playing on Bedrock edition, specifically the Android app.

On a completely different note, I got Vines from growing Oak Saplings (without Bonemeal) and this is not mentioned anywhere in the Wiki. 2603:8080:7A00:4C93:3092:B7DE:6A02:58A7 15:41, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

It's mentioned in the vines article that vines occur naturally on trees in Bedrock Edition. It's a low chance, and the article doesn't say what the probability is. The chance is higher in a swamp biome. ~Anachronist (talk) 19:25, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

For the torch, I changed it to say that blocks with a hitbox stop it from diverting lightning. I'm still not sure whether that's true though, hence the "check the code" tag. --MinecraftExp123^{(talk|contribs)} 23:36, 24 November 2025 (UTC)

"Lightning diverted by a lightning rod inflicts lightning damage on mobs within a 6×12×6 volume centered 4 blocks above the bottom center..." Shouldn't that be either 7x12x7 or 5x12x5? You cannot place the lightening rod at the center of a 6x6 area. Ferretwings (talk) 01:10, 18 May 2025 (UTC)

I assume it's 6 blocks from the center of the block. The area does not need to match exactly with block borders. -- 👁 Image
MarkusRost (talk) 20:46, 21 May 2025 (UTC)

Hmmm... I reread Thunderstorm#Lightning_mechanics and I'm guessing it follows the same mechanic. The area is not horizontally centered on a block, but rather "the northwest corner of the target block" (perhaps the point between 4 blocks?). Very odd mechanic. Anyway, thanks for your thoughts. Ferretwings (talk) 19:18, 23 May 2025 (UTC)

Could someone with Blender create those isometric renders? I don't have it on my computer and I don't really want to install some app that I'll barely use. --MinecraftExp123^{(talk|contribs)} 03:56, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

Why can't the devs add in a built-in render generator? Maybe there is a mod for it. -- Simanelix ^(T|C) 05:28, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

Yeah, but I've don't have Forge or Fabric and I've got no idea how to install mods. --MinecraftExp123^{(talk|contribs)} 05:29, 30 July 2025 (UTC)