What is your favorite material to make lanterns out of?

[SnapJelly]

Hello friends!

Let me know what your go-to material is for lanterns and why!

Early game I usually end up going for whatever I have on hand so usually copper, but later in game I usually go for meteoric iron kind of as a flex and because I don't use it for much else

What about you guys?

[Rainbow Fresh]

Tin Bronze. Got tons of since iron replaced it all and looks well enough with most wood-based lamp post designs I have.

[Mushroomancer]

Brass, personally, but bismuth bronze gets a close mention for second place. Meteoric Iron is a natural choice because as a limited resource, it's perfect for something like lanterns that don't have durability.

Generally if I really feel like flexing, gold/Silver/Electrum is a way to go, considering you get to double down on their use for bright lanterns and show off how much money-element you have at your fingertips.

[LadyWYT]

Bismuth. I really like the shimmery colors. That being said, most of my lanterns end up being made from brass or copper, because those are cheap materials that I frequently have on hand.

[Sparticus247]

As of the current version I use molybdochalkos, however you pronounce/spell it. My current world had plenty of lead near spawn, and I like the look of it when hanging off my structures, or up on posts.

Once I find an area rich in copper. I switch over to straight copper lanterns for when I'm doing caving, and I want to keep an area lit long-term for return trips.

[Demoncyborg]

i am on the bismuth crew, if it's my personal lantern, i want it to be shiny rainbow.

[MobiusvanMars]

Bismuth, hands down. Magical texture, looks like copper with a rich patina which has been preserved with copious amounts of oil paint base..

Molybdo is a good second, for a weathered cast iron appearance. 

If there is not enough bismuth or lead, tin bronze or brass will do.

 

Bismuth bronze is a hard pass, its appearance is deep in the uncanny valley of corrosion between bronze/brass on the "fresh" side and the heavy patina look of bismuth or molybdo.

 

Edited Thursday at 06:01 PM by MobiusvanMars

[Zaph42nd]

Hard to say, I find myself making more tin bronze than anything, but I really like the black bronze ones (even if they are pretty expensive). Also small lanterns I think look a lot prettier than regular lanterns, but that'a just my 2 cents

[Jhoryn]

6 hours ago, Sparticus247 said:

As of the current version I use molybdochalkos, however you pronounce/spell it. My current world had plenty of lead near spawn, and I like the look of it when hanging off my structures, or up on posts.

Once I find an area rich in copper. I switch over to straight copper lanterns for when I'm doing caving, and I want to keep an area lit long-term for return trips.

Moly is my go-to (and I won't even attempt to spell it). I tend to end up with a plethora of it, and I think it gives the lanterns an old-world or aged look. I'd do black bronze for the same reason if it wasn't so expensive. I need the gold and silver for liners! 

[Maelstrom]

My first lantern is always molybdechalkos with a gold plate liner.  After that copper.  And I make a ton of them once I'm making iron/steel tools and armor.  Since I make so many I'd rather only hit up one mine for resources than two or three.  Why so many?  I'll take a stack with me into caves instead of torches since they light up a larger area.

[Vexxvididu]

molybdechalkos!!!!  It by far makes the coolest look in my view.  Honorable mention to bismuth.

[Bruno Willis]

20 hours ago, Sparticus247 said:

As of the current version I use molybdochalkos, however you pronounce/spell it. My current world had plenty of lead near spawn, and I like the look of it when hanging off my structures, or up on posts.

Ever since I discovered this unspellable metal, I can't get enough! To be fair though, I haven't needed to make a single lantern this play-through, because I pull 1-2 lanterns from each of the new dungeons I've explored, and I've been exploring a lot of them. I've found more lanterns than torch holders, easily.

[RationallyParanoid]

On 9/10/2026 at 10:34 PM, LadyWYT said:

Bismuth. I really like the shimmery colors. That being said, most of my lanterns end up being made from brass or copper, because those are cheap materials that I frequently have on hand.

Seconding with the Bismuth - it adds a delightful pop of colour. I really like it for interior builds.
I also like Molybdochalkos or Black Bronze, especially for exterior and industrial builds.

[Dilan Rona]

My go to for lanterns is actually paper lanterns. But that of course requires a mod to give it a recipe.

[ArgentLuna]

Molybdochalkos. It looks good and is used for nothing else and its core components are common/ past a point under used for anything else

[Juwan Alexander]

Pretty sure common consensus is copper because it is impossible to run out of the stuff. For aesthetics? That would honestly depend on if I can get my hands on enough pretty metal to use for that purpose. Primitive survival does add wooden lanterns, though. I think they look better than the metal ones and make a tad bit more sense.

Edited 16 hours ago by Juwan Alexander

[Teh Pizza Lady]

copper because it's cheap and I'm cheap.

[KishiWolf]

Black bronze.

 

It's for the very simple reason of it being my first lantern. So I like to try and make one for every playthrough as homage to that. It's also a pretty lantern colour. Hard to hate black as a colour. Though it might have be a secondary or third option now considering the changes to the og lanterns' recipe. For a first time lantern, I'm probably gonna go for whatever metal is available or whatever lantern I find in ruins until I can craft my preferred lantern.

[Juwan Alexander]

I must be doing something wrong because I've yet to find the ore I need to make black bronze in the 300 hours I've spent on this game in the last month lol.