Minecraft wiki entry for Obsidian_farming, associated text: Most methods of obsidian farming require manual mining. Obsidian is one of the toughest blocks in the game, so you'll need the right tools to take care of it. Enchanting a pickaxe with Efficiency greatly speeds up the farming process. With a beacon, the Haste and Haste II effects can be used to reduce mining time further. Below are the mining times for each level of enchantment.