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RedstoneCraftable

Dispenser

A redstone component that shoots, places, or uses items when given a redstone signal, depending on the item type.

Stack Size

64

Durability

N/A

Category

Redstone

Version Added

1.0

Item ID

dispenser

Dispenser at a glance

Redstone holds Dispenser: a redstone component out of crafting. Carrying Dispenser is cheap: 64 to a slot, 576 across the hotbar, 1728 in a chest.

Dispenser earns its place in redstone by what it does to a signal, and that behaviour is the building block under the farms, doors and machines that run without a player standing there. The game rates Dispenser at 3.5 hardness. It holds up against explosions exactly as well as it does against a pickaxe, and no better. Speed on Dispenser comes from a pickaxe, but the drop comes either way. It sits between Daylight Detector and Dropper in Redstone, number 6 of 29 there.

Crafting recipe

Crafting
CobblestoneCobblestone
CobblestoneCobblestone
CobblestoneCobblestone
CobblestoneCobblestone
BowBow
CobblestoneCobblestone
CobblestoneCobblestone
Redstone DustRedstone Dust
CobblestoneCobblestone
DispenserDispenser

How to obtain

  • Crafting

Notes

Can shoot arrows, fireballs, water, lava, and use items like shears, flint and steel, and bone meal.

Frequently asked questions about Dispenser

  1. Cobblestone, Bow, Redstone Dust going into Dispenser, the recipe this answer describes

    How do you get Dispenser in Minecraft?

    Dispenser is crafted from Cobblestone, Bow, and Redstone Dust at a Crafting Table, in a single step.

  2. Dispenser as a block, next to the pickaxe its 3.5 hardness asks for

    How long does Dispenser take to break?

    Dispenser carries a hardness value of 3.5, and it stands up to explosions at 3.5. Both numbers on Dispenser being equal is the usual case, and it is not built to hold off explosives. Speed on Dispenser comes from a pickaxe, but the drop comes either way. Java 26.2 stores Dispenser with those figures unchanged, so it reads the same here.

  3. 64 Dispenser drawn together, the full slot the answer counts

    How many Dispenser can you stack?

    64 Dispenser fills a slot, and that slot costs 448 Cobblestone, 64 Bow, and 64 Redstone Dust, which is 64 crafts at the crafting table.

  4. Dispenser on its own, since nothing in the game is crafted from it

    What is Dispenser used for?

    A redstone component that shoots, places, or uses items when given a redstone signal, depending on the item type.

  5. Dispenser coming forward out of the past, in the game since 1.0

    When was Dispenser added to Minecraft?

    Dispenser was added in the 1.0 full release.

Building with it

A bow in the middle of a dropper recipe gives a dispenser, and it uses what it holds: arrows fire, water buckets place, bone meal fertilises, TNT lights. Almost every automatic farm has one at the point where something needs to be done rather than moved.

In practice

A dispenser uses what it holds rather than dropping it: arrows fire, buckets place and pick up, bone meal fertilises, shears cut wool from a sheep standing in front of it. Anything it has no use for is simply thrown, which is the fallback most farms rely on.