Minecraft Medieval Builds: ULTIMATE Guide, Tips, Hacks & Ideas

There’s a reason why medieval  builds are so common in Minecraft.   They look good pretty much anywhere, the materials  are easy to get hold of and once you get the   hang of it, the possibilities are endless. So, if you’d like to improve your building skills,  

Then medieval is the right place to start. In this build guide I’m going to talk you   through everything you need to know to make  a good looking medieval build in Minecraft   without making you want to tear your hair out. I’ll go through the best materials to use, tons of  

Tips on how to make the walls and roof look good  and how to go a step further by adding texture,   supports and even the exterior details  that bring the whole build together.   So I hope you find this video useful and  pick up some helpful tips along the way.  

Feel free to take notes or come back to  this video whenever you need a refresher,   it will always be here if you need it. First off, what actually is the   medieval style of building in Minecraft? Now I don’t have a real definition for this,  

But the medieval style is typically seen as  builds made using several different types of   wood, stone, the classic high peaked  roof and of course a ton of detail.   The builds often give you the  sense that they are older,  

Have fantasy elements and are definitely  not the type of thing you’d see if you   looked out of your window in our  more modern towns and cities.   For example, here we have one of  my small medieval house designs.  

As you can see, we have all the features I  mentioned above. So the high peaked roof,   several different types of wood used for  the walls and supports, stone down at the   bottom with stairs, slabs, leaf blocks and  lanterns used to add in the extra detail.  

But in this second example, we have the huge  railway bridge that I built in my survival world.   Although this is very different to the house  I just showed, it still screams medieval with   the huge amount of wood used, the massive arches  between the supports, with the smaller ones above,  

And all the detail you can see from the  layering of the wood in the arches to the   buttons on the logs that stick out. The medieval style is amazing because   you can build anything you want! From an  endless supply of houses to larger manors,  

Nether portals to farm builds, huge towers and  castle buildings.. The opportunities are endless.   But there are still a few rules that you should  follow when building in this style, which I’ll go   into in detail shortly. So don’t stick a peaked  roof on a modern build and try to pass it off  

As medieval, that.. just doesn’t work. So, now that we’ve spoken about what the   medieval style is, let’s move onto  the materials that you can use.   The basic sets of materials that  work best are wood and stone.  

In the wood category we have spruce, oak and dark  oak as the best types to use. This includes the   planks, logs and the stripped logs as well as the  stairs, slabs, trapdoors, fences and buttons.   Birch can also be used if you want a  lighter look but I’d avoid using the  

Normal logs due to their texture. The more colourful wood types like   crimson and warped can also be used if  you’re going for a more fantasy look   and these colours work best for the roof. When it comes to stone, the types I always  

Use are cobblestone, stone bricks, stone and  andesite as well as their stairs and slabs.   If you’re after something darker, then  deepslate and blackstone can also be used.   And if you want a more run down kind of look, you  can also use the mossy and cracked variants too.  

Another couple of block types that can work well  in medieval builds are terracotta and brick.   With terracotta, there’s a few types that fit  right in with the medieval style of build, such   as white, green, light grey or the default  colour. Bricks can also be added in the  

Roof to add a warm colour to your builds. Now, for the extra details that we’ll want   to add, this is where greenery  and decorative blocks come in.   Greenery includes all of the leaf blocks,  sweet berry bushes, azalea bushes,   grass blocks and even grass and flowers. And then decorative blocks include lanterns,  

Flower pots, item frames, barrels, chests or  anything else that you think will work with   the theme of your build. Just make sure that you  don’t overdo it so it doesn’t look too cluttered.   So, here’s a quick overview  of what I’ve just mentioned.  

We have the classic wood variants  and all of their block types.   Stone variants with their stairs and slabs. Coloured wood for fantasy roof designs.   Darker stone blocks for contrasting  against the darker wood types.   Mossy and cracked blocks  for a more run down look.  

Terracotta to add extra colour plus greenery and  decorations to add more life into your builds.   So now that you’ve got a good idea of what  materials work best for medieval builds,   I’m going to go a bit deeper into  this and talk about adding texture.  

Adding texture is basically just mixing up block  types that share similar colours to make your   walls, floors, paths or whatever it is you’re  building look less flat and easier on the eye.   The simplest blocks to add  texture to are wood and stone.  

So, for stone, my go to for texturing  is to mix cobblestone, stone bricks,   andesite and stone together. All you have to do to add texture to   stone is use a random mix of these blocks when  you’re building your walls, floors or paths.  

So, to go from this simple stone brick  path to something a lot more interesting,   simply add in cobblestone, stone and  andesite, placed randomly just like this.   To texture wood, all you have to do is use  the stripped log types along with the planks.  

So spruce planks go with stripped spruce logs  and so on, as you can see in this example here.   When texturing wood I tend to do this  when I’m building walls, so instead of   having it all as planks I just add in a few  stripped logs to bring in that extra detail.  

Now, as you can see here, the  walls of this house are made   using only stone bricks and spruce planks. Currently, it looks a bit plain and flat.   By adding texture in the stone and wood walls,  we can transform the build and turn it into  

Something that looks a lot more interesting. Okay, that’s enough about the kind of materials   you need, so let’s get onto the building. First up we have the walls.   A few rules to stick to when making any type of  wall are to make sure they are an odd number in  

Length. Think about the structure and size  of the build, use plenty of supports, make   them indented or with overhangs and include lots  of detail so they don’t look flat and boring.   Making sure the walls are an odd number in  length is very important. This is because  

When we have an odd number, there’s a clear  middle point. This is key as it means the   elements of your build can line up easily. So, when your walls are an odd number your   roof will join up nicely with  a single block in the centre.  

On the inside you can have a feature right  in the middle, rather than it looking off or   having to make it two blocks wide. And when it comes to other builds,   the details can line up perfectly, whether they  are arches with support beams, windmill blades,  

Shop signs or different roof types. When it comes to the structure of your   build, think about the weight of the  blocks and the size of your build.   For example, I’ll often build the base of a  medieval house out of stone and use wood for  

The upper floor and the roof. This way it looks  like the stronger material, which would be stone,   is holding up the wood and gives it a solid base. If you used wood for the base and stone for the  

Upper floor, it would look a bit strange  as the weight balance would be off.   And for the size of your build, you want to  make sure that there’s enough room on the inside   to fit in what you need, without there being  large empty spaces or feeling very cramped.  

An easy way to work this out is by creating  an outline before you do any building. This   is something I do before starting any build  so I can figure out how big it’s going to   be and how much space I’ll need, where the  main features will go on the inside and I  

Can easily check that everything lines up  and that all the walls are odd numbers.   Plus, this gives you a rough plan to go  off when you start the main construction.   All you’ll have to do next is build up  the outline and add in your details.  

When I mention supports, I’m talking about logs  that are placed at the sides of each wall section,   across the tops of the walls and also the  extra logs that stick out with stairs,   slabs or trapdoors below or on top of them. Adding in all of these will make your build  

Feel solid and often brings it all together. So,  instead of looking like a box with a roof on top,   the supports make the build feel more  realistic and like thought has gone into it,   as well as adding extra detail and  breaking up longer sections of wall.  

For good looking supports, use logs that are  darker in colour than the materials used for   the walls. So, with stone you could use oak logs,  with spruce you can use spruce logs and so on.  

It’s also a nice idea to use slightly different  logs at the top and bottom. As you can see here,   I’ve used oak logs at the bottom with stripped  spruce logs at the top to break it up a bit.   By placing the supports out by a  block, you can then get indented  

Walls and will be able to build overhangs. Indented walls are just when the wall is   set back slightly with logs on either  side. I do this in pretty much all of   my builds as it’s a great way to break the  walls up and add structure to your build.  

Doing this also creates a gap in front of the  wall that you can then fill in with leaf blocks,   planters or other decorations. I also do this for the upper walls,   but for medieval builds these look great when  they slightly overhang the walls at the bottom.  

To do this, you just add beams  between the supports on the bottom   and build these walls on top of them. And where you’ve placed these beams,   add in extra logs that stick out from  the supports to provide extra structure,  

Detail and to also hide the transition if  you’ve used a different log type at the top.   And finally, to make sure that  the walls aren’t completely flat,   we can make use of support pillars, add in  plenty of windows, add texture to the blocks  

That you’ve used and bring in some greenery or  other details to fill in gaps and add structure.   For other types of builds like towers, you can  build shorter sections of wall that stick out,   like you can see here, and add in some  supports along the bottom to break it up.  

For bridges you can use layering so the main  details are set back from the supports or   even add a lip with smaller supports along  the top if you don’t have as much room.   And for builds that you don’t want to be  completely filled in you can make use of fences  

With small arches to give the illusion of a wall. So now that we’ve been through everything you   should do to make the walls of your medieval  build look great, let’s see it in action so   you can really get the hang of it. First of all, I’m starting with the  

Outline – making sure everything lines up,  all of the walls are odd numbers and I’m   marking out where the supports will go. Next, I’m just building up from this. So   as you can see here, I’ve got my supports on  either side with a short section of wall in  

The middle using textured stone blocks. Then I’m adding in a window, using stairs   to mark it out and fences to fill it in. And once that base design is marked out,   I’m just going around the rest  of the build and doing the same.  

When that’s done, I’m adding in the beams  at the top of the supports for the next   set of walls to go on top of, with extra logs  sticking out for the supports up here too.   After that, I’m adding in the extra details  around the base. So I’ve got upside down  

Stairs below the logs to add support  with extra logs at the bottom too.   Then I’m adding in some buttons  and leaf blocks for decoration and   repeating this around the whole build. For the second floor, I’m starting with  

The supports again, this time one block out  from what we have below, and marking out some   textured wooden walls with windows in between. Then, I’m adding more beams above these walls   for the roof to go on and adding in upside down  stairs, slabs, trapdoors and extra logs to give  

This floor more structure with buttons  and planters for decoration and colour.   Then I’ll just repeat this all the  way around to finish off the walls.   Okay, now let’s move onto the roof design. The roof of medieval buildings in Minecraft  

Is usually their most prominent feature,  so it’s important to put the extra time   and effort into it to get it right. A few tips to get you started are to   always mark out the outlines first  before filling anything in.  

Use a darker coloured material for your  outlines and fill in with a lighter material.   For extra structure, add smaller roof sections  on the level below, even if it means sacrificing   some space from the upper floor of your  build, or adding on an extra section below.  

And finally, add in plenty of detail, like small  windows, extra blocks, stripes or even towers,   so the roof doesn’t look flat and boring  compared to the rest of the build.   So, starting with outlines, let’s go  over a few different styles you can use.  

The most common medieval roof  style would be the peaked roof.   This style is made using slabs, stairs and  blocks and can easily be made bigger or smaller   by altering the number of slabs used at the  start or blocks and stairs used in the middle.  

Just be careful that you don’t make it go up  too high as it can start to look strange.   If you have a tall build or are going for a more  fantasy look, then you can make a taller and   more pointed roof, like this here. Again, this is made using slabs,  

Stairs and blocks and can be made bigger  or smaller by adjusting the amount used.   When using this style of roof, it’s  good to add a lot of detail into it,   like a small tower or windows, so you don’t  have long flat sections when you fill it in.  

If you’d like something a bit simpler then  you can use this gently sloping roof design.   This style uses only slabs and stairs and is  great for builds that are shorter or have longer   sections of wall so you don’t end up with a  roof that looks far too big for the build.  

By using more or less slabs at the start, you  can adjust this roof outline to fit your build.   You can also change this design up a bit by  flattening the top out slightly using slabs.   Here you can see that the outline follows  the same pattern as the previous outline,  

But instead of using stairs right up to the top,  I’ve added slabs instead to flatten it out a bit.   This creates a really nice curved roof  design, which doesn’t overshadow the   detail from the rest of the build. And finally, if you’ve built a tower,  

There’s a few different designs  that you can use for the roof.   First up we have this very simple style which  uses upside down stairs, slabs and blocks.   All you have to do is place some upside down  stairs around the top and add alternating blocks  

And slabs on top of them, like you can see here. If you have quite a large tower you can even use   the classic medieval roof style  that I spoke about earlier.   Again, this style uses slabs, stairs and  blocks but the bottom slabs connect on  

All sides to create a much smaller roof  than you’d have on a house for example.   Lastly, there’s the pointed roof design,  which is unique to tower builds.   This one is a bit more complicated  to do, but if you take your time  

You should be able to do it just fine. For this style, you start by marking out   small and low roof outlines just like this,  making sure you have a set middle point,   where an upside down stair will go. On top of this stair, you’ll add  

Another stair, then start to come up  using blocks and stairs behind this,   leading into the centre of the tower. Do this on all sides until the outlines   meet in the middle then add a final  block at the top followed by a wall,  

Fence or iron bar to create the point, like this. Again, this can be made bigger or smaller by   adjusting the amount of blocks  used in both the lower outlines   and the parts leading into the middle. Here’s a quick overview of the different styles  

Of roof you can use before we move onto how to  fill the roof in and what details you should add.   Once you’ve got your outlines marked out, to fill  in the roof it’s easiest to go in and across.   So, starting at your outline, using  the same block that is placed there,  

Start adding more going in towards the build.   When you’re roughly in line with your next  outline, come across to join the two together.   Then all you have to do is repeat this for each  layer to quickly and easily fill the roof in.  

As I mentioned earlier, it looks best to use  a darker material for your outlines and fill   the roof in with a lighter material. For example, you can do your outlines   with dark oak and fill the roof in with  spruce. Or, you could do your outline with  

Deepslate and fill the roof in with dark oak. An exception to this would be if you’ve made   your outlines out of stone bricks, for  example. Here, you can fill the roof in   with spruce and it still works because  the stone bricks give more structure.  

If you’ve added smaller roof sections to the  floor below, try to keep the outline the same   as the main roof but for these sections you will  just need to fill the roof in going back towards   the build until you meet up with the wall. Finally, to finish your roof off it’s  

Important to add in some extra details. This can easily be done on any sized roof   by adding a darker border of slabs  across the top, using stairs at the   top of the roof outlines that stick out  and by adding some slabs spaced one block  

Apart going across the very top of your roof. For even more detail you can add in a chimney,   a small tower, windows or even extra blocks or  stripes to fill in any flat or boring sections.   Then to fill in the space below your roof  outlines, you can use alternating logs,  

Add in some windows or place some extra  slabs and stairs to make a nice pattern,   which also doubles as more supports. And that’s pretty much all you need to   know about making a medieval style roof.  So, following the advice I’ve just given,  

Let’s see this done on an actual build. I’m starting off here by adding a small   roof over the doorway to add that extra  detail that I keep going on about.   After that, I’m heading round to the back to  mark out the outline for the lower roof section.  

I’m then filling this in with spruce,  going back to the wall of the house and   adding in some stripes and extra stairs at  the top so it doesn’t look completely flat.   Finally, I’m filling in the area below the outline  with some alternating logs and adding a few extra  

Slabs and a lantern for decoration and support. For the main roof, again I’m starting with   the roof outlines on all four sides  before I start filling anything in.   When that’s all marked out, I’m filling the  roof in using spruce with dark oak stripes,  

Going in and across like I mentioned  earlier to join the roof outlines together.   As you can see, the outlines at the side are  smaller than the ones at the front and back,   so these will join up to the larger sections until  the top, where I’ll then join the front and back  

Sections together going all the way across. Now that the roof is filled in, I’m adding   in alternating logs below each of  the outlines with some extra slabs,   stairs and windows in the larger sections,  as well as adding lanterns for decoration.  

After that, I’m adding in some extra  slabs across the top of the roof with   more in the middle to raise this up where the  smaller roof sections meet the larger ones.   Finally, to finish it off I’m adding in a  chimney to give the build a bit more life.  

And there you have a highly  detailed medieval build.   But to make this fit into the landscape better,  that’s where the exterior details come in.   It’s simple enough to build a few medieval  houses and call it a day, but if you’ve  

Flattened the land and removed all of the grass  in the area then it can still look quite empty.   A few easy ways to fix this and bring  everything together is by adding paths,   using bonemeal on the grass to get  long grass and flowers, adding in some  

Trees and even by placing some decorative  blocks like barrels, chests or hay bales.   Adding paths to link up your builds is  a great way to bring the area together   and make it look more lived in. You can make paths using a mix  

Of stone blocks or even by right clicking  on grass or dirt to create a path block.   Try not to make the paths completely straight  like you would see in normal minecraft villages,   instead make them slightly curved and  irregular so they look more natural.  

You can also add extra blocks and slabs  around the outside for more depth.   When your paths are built, you can then  take a few minutes to fill in the areas   around this by simply using bone meal to  bring back the long grass and flowers,  

Add in a few trees or even hide some torches  underneath moss carpets to light the area up.   And if there’s still some empty spaces after all  of that, fill these in using piles of barrels and  

Chests, hay bales or other small features  like a bench, a small well or a cart.   So that’s pretty much everything  you need to know about building   medieval style buildings in Minecraft. Thank you so much for watching. I really  

Hope you enjoyed the video and found it useful. Feel free to take notes or come back to the   video whenever you need some tips in the future. If you did enjoy the video, I’d really appreciate   it if you could leave a like and consider  subscribing if you aren’t already and please feel  

Free to leave any suggestions for future videos  that you’d like to see in the comments section.