How to get & use Echo Shards in Minecraft

Jessica Filby
Echo Shards in front of an Ancient City

The Echo Shards are a very elusive resource in Minecraft. However, players need to gather plenty of them as they’re required to craft a very important item. So, here’s how to get Echo Shards in the game as well as what they are used for.

Minecraft is an ever-expanding game that adds new biomes, mobs, animals, and items throughout every update. That way, they constantly give the players something new to collect or explore, keeping them invested. However, along with new elements comes confusion on how to find them and what you can do with them.

One of the primary confusions comes in the form of Echo Shards. These items are particularly mysterious and hard to find if you don’t know where to look. So here’s where you can grab some and what you can use them for.

Ancient City in Minecraft
You’ll have to dive deep to find some Echo Shards.

How to find Echo Shards in Minecraft

Unfortunately, since Echo Shards cannot be crafted and can only be found, they are relatively elusive. That being said, you will only find them in one location, making the search a little smaller.

To find Echo Shards in Minecraft you will first need to head into an Ancient City which can be found in a Deep Dark biome at -51. Once you’re in an Ancient City, you’ll want to search for all the chests dotted around. The Echo Shards will be found inside those chests.

You’ll need to be patient when searching for this resource because there’s a 29% chance that it’ll spawn inside a chest, and even then there will likely only be a maximum of three inside.

What can you use Echo Shards for in Minecraft?

Despite Echo Shards being so challenging to find, they are only used to craft one item in Minecraft. Although, that item is extremely useful to keep near your spawn.

You can create a Recovery Compass with Echo Shards. To do this you will need:

  • Echo Shards (x8)
  • A Compass (x1)

Simply place the eight Echo Shards into the outer boxes of your Crafting Table and put the compass in the middle. This will craft the Recovery Compass, which allows the player to pinpoint their last death location.

That’s everything you need to know to get and use Echo Shards in Minecraft. For more game content, check out our other guides:

How to craft, copy, alter, & use maps in Minecraft | The best Minecraft skins in 2022 | How to make a Brewing Stand in Minecraft | Shaders and texture packs | Best cheats and commands | How to join Minecraft roleplay servers | What does Depth Strider do? | The best servers for all types of gameplay

About The Author

Based in Cumbria, England, Jessica is a Senior Games Writer who joined Dexerto after stints at Game Rant and The Gamer. You can find her covering everything from Minecraft, CoD, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Pokemon Go and more. You can contact Jessica at jessica.filby@dexerto.com