Minecraft Banners
Last modified on Aug 4, 2021 in General
By Kevin Lott
Overview
In the world of Minecraft, the world is an expression of your creativity. Your builds and your way of living are an extension of yourself, and offer a good indication of your person to other players. But today, we don’t care about any of that. We need something simpler. Something that can strike fear into the hearts of your enemies, or be the perfect signifier of your allies. That’s right, this will be a general guide on all things Banners, so strap in and let’s get started!
Banners
So, what are Banners? Banners are these awesome 2×1 block placeable objects which are essentially…Banners! Place an awesome coat of arms on it by creating original designs to express your creativity. Not only can these banners decorate your builds, but they can also be combined with shields. This is a little niche, providing no actual benefit besides aesthetics, but it’s still pretty cool. Roll up with your squad, all with matching shields and armor. Decorate your base with the symbol of your people. Express yourself however you see fit. But first, we gotta figure out how they work.
The Loom, Dye, and Banner
To craft and design banners, you’re going to need a LOT of things.
– 6 Wool (all the same color)
– 1 Stick
– 2 String
– 2 Wooden Planks
– Dye (any color)
– Paper (Optional)
– Banner Pattern Ingredients (Optional)
Now that you have the necessary materials, we can get to work. Don’t worry about the Paper and Banner Pattern Ingredients, we’ll get more into those later. First, the basics.
To start, you’ll need to craft the Banner. You can make the starting color any Wool color, but you’ll need 6 matching Wool of that color. This is why it’s easiest to use a White Banner as your blank canvas, since it’s the easiest color of Wool to obtain. Next, craft the Loom, which will be the main way you customize your banner.
To customize your banner, place the Banner inside the Loom with any Dye of your choice. You will then have a selection of patterns to choose from which will then be applied onto the Banner, consuming the Dye. This can be done any number of times, and will work on a ‘Layer’ system. To those who have worked with Photoshop, this will make more sense, but basically, if you want one pattern 1 behind pattern 2, you’ll need to apply pattern 1 first.
Now, let’s take a look at Banner Patterns. Besides the default patterns that can be applied in the Loom, there are special craftable patterns that can be placed in the third slot in the Loom along with a Dye which can be placed onto Banners. These aren’t simple shapes, but rather advanced patterns. To craft them, just place the necessary item along with a single Paper in a crafting table. The items for each recipe are: A Wither Skeleton Head, a Creeper Head, a Oxeye Daisy, an Enchanted Golden Apple. There are also two other special patterns which can only be obtained from trading with Villagers and bartering with Piglins respectively.
Warfare!
So, design is cool and all, but so is combat. To strike fear into the enemies you face, you can apply your Banner design to a Shield. All you have to do is place the Banner and the Shield in a Crafting Table, and you’ll have yourself a Custom Shield. As I said before, there is no actual benefit to this, but an oversight of many failed businesses is branding.
Here at Apex, we do not make that mistake.
Trivia
– With all the customization options, there are over 809 quadrillion possible Banners!
– The Mojang Logo pattern is called “thing” in-game. Mojang translates to “thingie” through google translate, and the Swedish translation of the game calls the pattern “Mojang”, so it makes sense.
– The texture of the backside of a Banner is the mirrored version of the frontside.
Conclusion
Quite a mouthful of information, but the process for creating and designing Banners is pretty in depth. Over the course of multiple updates, Mojang has streamlined the process with the creation of the Loom and other additions, so although it might seem that it’s all tedious, just remember it can always get worse. With that being said, I hope this guide helped you, and have a great day!