How to Put a Torch in Your Left Hand in Minecraft

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Ever wonder how to put a torch in your left hand while still mining with a pickaxe in your main hand?

This sound convenient at first, but is it actually that useful? Let’s find out!

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To put a torch in your left hand in Minecraft, you have to move the torch to the off-hand slot in your inventory GUI or hover on the torch item and press “F” on your keyboard, assuming you haven’t changed any of the control settings.


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How to Put a Torch in Your Left Hand in Minecraft

This action is only available in the Java Edition of Minecraft. In Bedrock and Education Edition, you can’t put a torch in your left hand, no matter what you do.

If you play JE, let’s see how to do this!

  1. Manually move the torch into the off-hand slot

In the game, press E to open your inventory. You will notice on the bottom right side of your character is a slot with the shield placeholder icon.

If you don’t see this slot, check your Minecraft version because this feature is only available for Minecraft 1.9 and later versions.

Use your mouse and left-click on the torch to move it, then drag it over the new slot above and left-click again to release a torch there.

You’ve successfully put a torch in your left hand!

Press E again to close your inventory. Now you can see the torch appear on the left hand!

Do note that there is a main hand option in the Skin Customization menu that allows you to change your main hand to left (the default is right), so another way to put torches in your left hand is to change this setting, then hold a torch normally in your hot bar.

  1. Use hotkey to move a torch to your left hand

By default, you can press the F key on your keyboard to quickly swap the item in your main hand (right hand) to your off-hand (left hand).

With that being said, simply put a torch in your hot bar, choose it with the correct number, and press F.

You can also use this hotkey in the inventory GUI. When you’re hovering on any item in your inventory and press F, that specific item and the item in your left hand will switch place.

If your left hand is empty, the torch will be moved to the off-hand slot.


Frequently Asked Questions

Can you hold torches in your left hand in Minecraft Bedrock?

Maybe you missed this, but you can’t hold torches in your left hand in Minecraft BE. You can only hold a shield, totem of undying, map, arrows, and firework rockets in Bedrock.

How do you use your left hand to place a torch in Minecraft?

While the torch is in your left hand, you can right-click on any block to place the torch. Assuming your right-hand hold unusable items. For example, if your right hand holds a pickaxe, you can easily right-click to place a torch on your left hand.


That’s how to put a torch in your left hand in Minecraft!

You can also try putting other items in your left hand for faster action, saving more time doing tasks in Minecraft!

Binh Tran

As a game writer, my goal is to craft engaging, informative, and concise articles. Whether it's diving into the latest gaming trends or writing game guides, I'm always excited to share my insights with others.

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