Sword

Swords are weapons that kill mobs or players (if multiplayer PvP is on) more quickly than bare hands, but swords are not required to defeat enemies. They also can remove several blocks faster than using bare hands (such as leaves, wool,and Soul Sand), but instead of one use of the Durability Bar, it counts as two uses. Killing larger slimes with a sword will also prevent more slimes from spawning. In The Nether you can find Zombie Pigmen that use Golden Swords, but they do not drop their swords when killed. Because mobs require fewer hits to kill with higher level swords, you will use these swords less, which causes diamond swords to last an extremely long time.

Stone (or better) swords revert minecarts in one hit with no decrease in durability, whereas wooden swords require two hits.

On your first day in Minecraft or in a shortage of materials, it is best to make a stone sword, as this is the most powerful type of sword made with common materials.

Crafting
Swords are created with 1 stick and 2 units of a tool material:

The following table summarizes the damage that different quality swords inflict.

As of Beta 1.5, all melee weapons, including the hands, do half a heart more damage, making the stone sword as effective as the iron one at killing mobs with 10 hearts of HP(3 hits).

Lifetime damage inflicted
Diamond: 8591 hearts

Iron: 1129.5 hearts

Stone: 462 hearts

Wood: 150 hearts

Gold: 82.5 hearts

The formula to find the total lifetime damage is below:

Durability x Damage per hit = Lifetime damage

Combat
The sword is a potent weapon if you can use it properly. Depending upon the type of material you use when crafting, you can severely injure your enemies. The best choice for a sword is diamond, however, this is a rare material, so it is suggested to use iron instead. The weaker swords are not recommended for creeper combat (especially on normal or hard). If it comes to a stone sword or a bow, the better choice is the bow, having a much longer range. If you approach a creeper with a sword, a recommended strategy is to use hit-and-run tactics. Hit the creeper and run away until the hissing stops, then run forward and hit it again, as many times as necessary. The gold sword is extremely inefficient, and due to the rarity of gold, it is advised to use stone or iron instead of gold to craft your swords. Attacking while falling will deal bonus damage, so jumping and attacking will kill enemies faster.

A way to use swords without being hit (and thus closing the gap between swords and bows) is to dig a trench such that the player's head is the same level as the mob's feet.The player must of course have blocks over his head so that mobs do not come into the trench. It is then possible to hit mobs without them seeing the player: this prevents mobs from retaliating. This method is efficient when defending a fortified building, but is nearly useless when exploring.

where the lit pumpkin represents a mob and the unlit pumpkin is the player.

Schwert Zwaard