Blocking



Blocking is a gameplay mechanic. When the player holds the right mouse button while wielding a sword, he or she will be able to block attacks, including arrows and explosions; blocked attacks deal only half damage. Before Minecraft Full Release blocking could decrease fall damage, allowing to fall without dying 45 blocks instead of 22. Blocking works with any sword, and does not decrease the sword's durability.

The player moves at a speed slower than the speed of sneaking when blocking while moving.

History
Blocking is a feature implemented in Beta 1.8. Prior to 1.9 pre-release 1, The Player only changed the position of their Sword; This was changed in said update, where The Player also moved their hand outwards. Players used to be able to rise faster when blocking while swimming underwater, and attacking while blocking used to only register when the player lets go of the block button.

Bugs

 * If you press the attack and block button at the same time, the weapon seems to shake.
 * If you hold the attack and block button whilst in 3rd person perspective, the sword appears to go through the players head. This is easier to view when facing the front of the player.
 * It is possible to mine blocks while blocking.

Trivia
The blocking movement complemented with the sneaking mechanic is the gradable opposition of the sprinting mechanic.

Blocking allows for the slowest movements possible in Minecraft. This can occur when the player blocks, sneaks, and moves backward while under the effect of the slowness potion while going through cobwebs placed on top of Soul Sand that is placed on top of ice. This causes the player to move at about 1/32 blocks a second,(needs recalculation after new additions) or 1/2 pixel a second on a default 16x16 texture pack. Blocking while sneaking and with the additional events (but without slowness potion) allows lets the player go at roughly 2.38549618320 x 10-2 blocks per second.