For the longest time, Minecraft mods have always envisioned unique mechanics to make it easier to acquire your items upon dying. Whether it be storing your items in some form of death-themed chest, or setting a waypoint on your map right where you died, the idea has always been there. Now, Mojang has added a new item in the form of the Recovery Compass, which seems to take lots of inspiration from these mods. Today, we’re going to go over the Recovery Compass, how it works, and how you can make one for yourself. Let’s begin.
The Recovery Compass
The new Recovery Compass is an item that is used to point to the location of the player’s last death. It looks almost identical to the normal compass, but it has a new Sculk-like color palette. When held by the player, the Recovery Compass will point toward the spot where they previously died. It will only work when held by the player, so someone else cannot pick up your compass and use it to track your items that you’ve dropped. The player must also be in the same dimension where they’ve died, or the item will have the dial spin around randomly.
Kingbdogz, a Minecraft developer, recently implemented this in the latest snapshot to add something rewarding to the Ancient City loot for players to obtain. He also is curious to see how players will use it, and is interested in how the players feel about it. You can give your opinion regarding the recovery compass on Twitter here.
How to get the Recovery Compass
Although the Recovery Compass is an item that is totally craftable, it unfortunately requires some exclusive materials. If you want to craft one of these bad boys, we’re going to need some Echo Shards. Echo Shards are one of the newest items added in 1.19, implemented in snapshot 22w14a, these shards are simply crafting materials for the new compass.
Echo Shards can be found in the relatively new and yet-to-be implemented Ancient Cities. Simply tip-toe your way around the Sculk sensors and disgustingly powerful Warden until you happen upon some loot chests. If you’re lucky, the chests will house some Echo Shards! Snag ‘em all until you have at least eight, and then bolt outta there asap! Be extra careful when opening these chests as well, since they may or may not trigger the Warden depending on their proximity to a sensor. These shards are fairly uncommon, so don’t feel demoralized if you’re unable to find them in your first run. You may need to check multiple cities. All of the spawn rates are subject to change, so let’s hope they’re more common in the future.
Trivia
Even after you’ve collected all of your items, the recovery compass will not update until you die again.
The Recovery Compass will not point towards your death spot until you pick it up.
Not so much of a fact, but a tip: for obvious reasons, don’t take this item out with you!
Conclusion
Welp, that’s all there is to it! A fairly simple item, but complex in nature. Minecraft mods have been doing things like this for quite some time now, but it’s nice to see a vanilla take on the matter. It can be agitating to lose all of your great gear and items to a death where you haven’t the faintest idea of where you fell. Now, at least near the end game content, Minecraft has a unique way of allowing players to collect all of their lost loot. I’m sure that this won’t be the last of the dope content that we can discover in the ancient cities, and I am excited to see what Mojang has planned. With that being said, I wish you all the best!
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