Tutorials/Things not to do

Most tutorials are about what to do. This one is about what not to do.

Don't dig straight down
This one is obvious. If you mine the block you're standing on, you're quite likely to fall straight into a cave system and take potentially fatal (or extreme) falling damage, killed by mobs, dig into lava and lose your inventory, or fall into a dungeon and be massacred. Notch has even added a splash text to this effect. It is always safer to mine in a staircase pattern, or simply to find an open-mouth cave on the surface.

A 2×1 hole straight down is still not great nor totally safe but it will reduce the problem significantly, since you won't have to stand on the block that you're removing. Another way if you want to dig straight down is mine 4 blocks in a square shape, stand on one and break the one next to it, hop onto that, and do the same for the next. Make sure you don't dig two down from the one you step onto, you have to be able to jump back up. This will take more resources, but will let you dig a hole down that you can return with. Note that in order to get back into your mine/hole, you need to descend a ladder, and in a large hole you are liable to miss said ladder, fall down the hole, and die from fall damage.

An even safer method is to dig a 3×1 hole, with a ladder down the middle. (multiple ladders may also work) It's worth (re-adding) some side blocks every 5 to 8 levels, in case you fall off the ladder (if necessary). If you manage to get buckets, you can also make some water at the bottom to protect you from fall damage. The wider hole gives you room for both those side blocks and torches, and means you always have someplace safe to stand when digging. Such a shaft is also a good start for shaft mining the area.


 * Note: If you happen to find a cave this way, it would be wise to go back to the surface and get better supplies if you don't have any with you, as the odds of coming across a dungeon are much higher than some would think.

Digging straight down can also lead to getting stuck in the hole you've dug -- but pillar jumping can help there.

A safe way to dig straight down is to get a stack of ladders and dig a pit 3 down (without standing on it!) then build ladders down one side of it. jump in, and hit shift. This will cause you to hold on to the ladder, where you can safely dig under you (if you're still holding shift). If it is still safe to drop down, do so, building more ladders. Repeat until you reach an ore or an obstacle, taking measures to collect ores or removing the obstacle, then continuing your pit. Your mining will be decreased from being on a ladder, but it's a small price to pay for your life.

Be careful not to dig straight down while mining ores! This is a video that illustrates that.

Don't dig straight up
This isn't quite so obvious. However, if you mine the block above you, all sorts of nasty things could fall onto you. Water, lava, or hostile mobs can kill you by drowning, burning, or attacking you to death. Gravel and sand can also suffocate you, although this has been slightly nerfed. Placing torches underneath where you dig up can prevent suffocation, but you may still drown or burn. Placing ladders, if you have any, will protect against everything but mobs (in a single-block-wide shaft, the ladder may slow the mobs down somewhat). Be extremely wary if you hear noises above you, as you may happen upon a dungeon. As of the 1.9 beta, if there is a fluid one block above you, you will observe a dripping effect (assuming particles are turned on); blue means water, red means lava and green drips mean there's a slime above you. If you see this, be very careful! Remember that you will not see a drip if you're digging up next to the edge of a lava or water lake, but the fluid may still pour out over you. Always have somewhere safe to retreat to.

Don't stand right in front of the block you are mining
This isn't quite so obvious either, But if you mine the blocks in front (while being very close to the block) all sorts of things could happen, You could walk into a ravine, or walk straight into a monster spawner, or even worse, have lava flow right onto you. Use the ambience to your advantage. If you hear a weird noise, lava, or water, proceed with caution.

Don't look at Endermen
If your crosshair touches any part of the upper body of an Enderman, it will attack you. If you want to hunt Endermen without fear of provoking them prematurely, wearing a pumpkin on your head will prevent them from becoming hostile when looking at them. While this is an effective way to approach an Enderman safely, the pumpkin will also make it more difficult to see other monsters and fight them, unless one uses third person to fight the Enderman, though this too has its disadvantages if one is not accustomed to it. If your armor is of high quality, such as enchanted iron or diamond armor, consider using a normal helmet instead of a pumpkin in order to fight more efficiently.


 * If you don't have a pumpkin or high quality armor with which to fight an Enderman, a simple strategy is to build a small roof of cobblestone (or another cheap building material) up to three blocks high, and taking refuge under it while fighting the Enderman. You can enter a space that is two blocks high, but an Enderman cannot, so hiding under the roof and striking it with a sword is an easy way to dispatch the enemy without taking damage.  Alternatively, constructing a pillar four blocks high will produce roughly the same result, as an Enderman cannot attack you from that height.  Take care that a wandering skeleton or spider doesn't knock you off the pillar, though.

Don't try to kill Creepers without a bow
Creepers aren't quite like other monsters, as they explode when they get too close to you. This means that you should get a bow and kill them from a distance. If you are inexperienced or have not developed mob fighting skills or do not have a bow, do not attack them with a melee weapon unless there is no other choice or have a diamond sword-Be extremely careful, however. If you do, try critical sprint-hitting them to knock them back and do extra damage. The creeper should be knocked back a fair distance, enough for you to launch a second attack.

Or build a 5 block tall structure and attack them from there. If you do decide to do this, try to use a sword or tool so you can do more damage to them. If you are fighting close range with a creeper near an area of importance (your house, rare ores etc.), you should lure it away to a safe area before engaging it. If that fails, try hitting the Creeper, then back away. Do this until the Creeper dies. If your sword has Knockback enchanted then you will not have to move back. In relation, if the Creeper is in water, it will be knocked back further, hopefully enough to cancel the countdown.

Another method is to place obstacles in the path of the creeper, although this doesn't work in recent snapshots, which feature enhanced mob pathfinding (As of 12w05a, Creepers will find a way through obstacles, so unless you're 12w04a or lower obstacles may not work as intended). Building a pillar at least three blocks higher than the surrounding terrain beneath yourself and remaining on top of the pillar may prevent the creeper from getting close enough to you to detonate, although it may be best to pillar up a few extra blocks for safety. Be careful, though: one skeleton can quickly ruin your fun. Digging a hole at least two blocks deep in front of the creeper can trap it, but since the creeper's AI was improved, creepers will most likely just walk around the hole unless you put a sign in the top-most block, which will trick it into falling in.

The very simplest solution for encountering a creeper if you are ill-prepared is to simply run away. Creepers are slower than the player, even when the player isn't sprinting, making a getaway feasible. You may not have this option in caves or other tight spaces, but this tactic works well in wide-open spaces such as plains or deserts. Be careful, however, not to run into even more trouble, such as other mobs (especially other creepers), deep pits, or pools of lava.

If all else fails, try to get the creeper to explode as far away from you as possible. Ironically, this is the easiest to do on the "Hard" difficulty setting, since creepers can "count down" to detonation when they are further away from you than on other settings. It is even possible in some situations to persuade a creeper to explode without causing any damage to the player at all.

If you should ever face a creeper and you only have a wooden sword or axe, just hit it, take one step back and repeat until it is killed. The loot will come in handy for future encounters and, with practice, can even be done with bare fists, which means you can beat one even if you just entered a newly created world.

Don't try to kill zombies or Endermen with a bow
Until you build a mob farm or skeleton dungeon grinder, use your arrows sparingly. They are best saved for more dangerous mobs, such as skeletons, creepers (look above), and spiders. Zombies are easier to kill with a sword, and safer as well, because the high attack speed will keep them away from you. The exception is when the zombie is burning or your sword is enchanted with Fire Aspect, in which case, you will be set on fire when hit. This also applies to passive mobs. Endermen are completely immune to arrows, and you should avoid shooting them entirely. If you have a wolf or two, why bother wasting your sword's durability on the zombie? Just punch the zombie and the wolves will take care of the rest. Meanwhile you can get on with killing creepers and skeletons.

Don't venture outside on your first night
Unless you are an experienced player or are on Peaceful mode, venturing outside during the night is very dangerous. You will almost certainly be killed by mobs. Deserts and plains are the safest places to be outside at night, because you can see monsters coming from a distance; forests and jungles can be extremely dangerous, because you can easily be cornered, or surprised by a creeper coming around a tree. So it would be way better if you stayed inside your first night, or stay away from any thing that can possibly kill you or can get you hurt. However, some people enjoy fighting mobs with little supplies, as it provides a challenge.

Do not explore caves in Hardcore Mode without a ton of equipment
Monsters spawn anywhere it's dark enough. That includes outside at night (the moon doesn't help), and in caves anytime. If you do not have a bow and a bunch of arrows as well as a high-damage sword, don't mine. If you do it, it won't end well. Dig a quarry. You shouldn't be playing Hardcore if you can't fight mobs. Remember that it if you die once in Hardcore the world gets deleted, so there is absolutely no point to safe-keeping items far away from dangerous places because you won't be respawning to collect them if you die.

And don't even try Hardcore until you're familiar with the game mechanics by playing a few games on lower difficulties first.

Don't dig underwater
In survival mode, blocks take five times as long to break while the player is underwater. That's why there is a high risk of drowning while digging underwater, if you are not close to the surface. Placing signs, ladders, iron bars, glass panes, a door or fence on nearby blocks can be used to produce air pockets where you can catch a breath and recover your air supply. Also, placing a torch at head height will replenish your air supply, and the torch will break, and return to your inventory. Since all blocks displace a full block of water as long as there is something in the block space, placing a "partial" block (such as an iron bar or a sign) will create a full block air pocket. You can also create air pockets by digging out dirt or sand under an overhang (the block above must not be sand or gravel). You can also breathe under water with the aid of a bucket or a helmet enchanted with Respiration and (optional) Aqua Affinity.

Don't venture outside during thunderstorms
Thunderstorms are a particularly dangerous form of weather, as the sky darkens enough for monsters to spawn, even during the daytime. An unprepared player with few supplies can be killed quite easily if a thunderstorm begins and monsters start to spawn. While thunderstorms do not occur often, it is always a good idea to make sure you have enough supplies and weapons to survive should one happen. Additionally, a biome with extensive vegetation, such as a swamp or jungle, is at additional risk during a thunderstorm, as a bolt of lightning can set trees ablaze and destroy large areas of forest. These bolts are also lethal to the player if he is hit by one, so standing outside during a thunderstorm is always a risky prospect. And, if that wasn't bad enough, lightning bolts can transform pigs into Zombie Pigmen and creepers into Charged Creepers. Overall, thunderstorms are a dangerous situation.

Don't build a wall that spiders can climb over
A wall is an excellent means of defending a certain area, either as a way to keep monsters out or for a player to shoot enemies from afar without danger to himself. However, if a wall is designed incorrectly, spiders can easily scale the wall and make your wall far less effective. Spiders treat all vertical surfaces as ladders, allowing them to climb any wall with ease. However, they cannot pass through a block that is directly above them, so building an overhang on the outer side of a wall will deter spiders from climbing any further.

Don't goof around in the Nether
If you're in the Nether, come well-prepared with a bow, a few stacks of arrows, lightly enchanted iron armor, and iron or diamond sword, unless you're playing on Peaceful or Creative (you can only die in Creative by the /kill command or falling into the Void). However, unless you're on Hardcore, leave your really valuable equipment at home: an inventory-incinerating death in lava is more likely in the Nether than it is in the Overworld.


 * Do not dig straight down—this is even more important in the Nether, where one-block thick overhangs above lava or high drops are the rule, rather than the exception. Be careful on gravel as well—you may dig one block and discover you were standing on a gravel outcrop over a chasm.


 * Do not carry full stacks of diamonds or valuable diamond gear in the Nether, unless you've set up a secure nether base or are playing in hardcore mode. And even if you are, a diamond or Efficiency-enchanted pickaxe can be more trouble than it's worth, as it will blast through netherrack floors and walls entirely too fast.


 * Do not build structures out of anything weaker than iron doors (25). Ghasts can and will blow up and set fire to lesser materials.


 * Do not mine Glowstone unless it's near the ground without first constructing a cobblestone platform underneath it. Otherwise a Ghast might blow up the Glowstone and send you falling to your death.


 * Do not venture into the Nether without flint and steel. Ghast fireballs can deactivate portals, and you'll need to relight them or suicide will be your only ticket out of the Nether. Ghasts' fireballs can also relight them, but this is dangerous. This is now slightly less dangerous as Fire Charges can be obtained in the Nether, although Wither Skeletons are still dangerous.


 * Do not plan on using a water bucket as your defense against death in a lava pool. Water, in any form except for hacked in water blocks, doesn't work in the Nether. Try to gain the necessary materials for Fire Resistance potions as soon as possible and use the potions as your defense instead.


 * Do not attack Zombie Pigmen without ample preparation for the consequences. Zombie Pigmen work as a team; attack one, and all the Zombie Pigmen in the area will become aggressive. They're harder-hitting and faster than regular Zombies, so it's better to kill single, isolated Zombie Pigmen unless you're well-equipped and experienced enough to take on large groups. A building of sorts to retreat in is advisable at all times, preferabely with firing holes in the walls, even if you don't have a bow, you still can see through them. If you can't get away fast enough if you hit one, your best chance of survival is to hit them away with a sword with a knockback enchantment. ( don't try to hit them in lava though. Zombie Pigmen don't burn in lava)


 * Do not try to sleep in the Nether. If you right-click a bed in the Nether, it will explode and possibly kill you. If you are on an overhang, you could fall into lava. If you die in the Nether (other than Hardcore mode), you will wake up in the Overworld. This is a good thing—in single-player or with no other players near where you were, the Nether chunk will unload, and you'll have plenty of time to re-equip yourself and maybe even go back to retrieve your stuff.

Don't leave gaps in your shelter
The purpose of a shelter is to protect you from the outside world. Leaving any sort of opening in that shelter defeats the purpose of having one, as monsters will simply be able to walk right in and attack you. Make sure that your house or fort is secure from all monster attacks, and only has entrances that can be defended easily. If you wish to see what's going on outside of your shelter while standing within, always make windows out of glass or glass panes instead of just punching a hole in the wall. An uncovered hole will allow skeleton arrows to strike you from inside the house, and Creepers can see you from outside and explode next to the wall. Using glass will prevent monsters from attacking you in this manner.

Don't be careless with the command
Don't do this, as you will suffer from effects like blindness, instant damage, poison, wither or something more terrible.


 * Exception: You can use the /effect command for getting positive effects.

Similarly, don't use the maximum number of health boost and absorption, the hearts block your view and you might fall into lava or you cannot see hidden mobs.
 * Exception: You will have lots of health.

Don't set off TNT from up close
TNT explosions are very deadly from close by, especially chains of explosives set up. Whenever possible, use redstone wiring and detonate from a distance to ensure safety. After the Beta 1.7 update, it is no longer possible to set off TNT by using your hand. If you decide to set off some TNT from a distance it is advised to use repeaters to give more time to get away from the explosion/explosions. This is recommended if you have a lot of redstone. Running is a good suggestion as well.



Going around a corner will put said corner between you and the blast, and for underground mining this is the easiest method if you haven't found any redstone yet.

Don't place TNT on a Redstone Block unless it's necessary
TNT can explode if placed on an Redstone Block since redstone blocks acts as an power source and can detonate upon placing it, exploding at you and at other blocks. Unless you're doing this for mining or if necessary, find cover so you won't get hurt from the blast.

Don't run around with a bucket of lava in your hand
Lava is one of the worst ways to die since you usually lose everything you were carrying. It is easy to accidentally right click laying the lava spring right in front of you leading to a horrible death. Even if it doesn't kill you, it may destroy whatever you were working on, or perhaps trash your lair. Do not keep lava in the hotbar unless you are immediately (or very shortly) going to use it, for exactly the same reason (perhaps unless you're playing PvP).

(Also never keep a bucket of lava in your hand when opening a door).

Don't forget to carry a bucket of water at all times
If you are going to carry anything with you at all times, it should be a bucket of water. A bucket of water is more useful and more vital than any other item you could ever carry. Leaving it in your inventory simply is not sufficient as in a life or death situation you don't have time to find it in your inventory. Always leave your bucket of water on the hot bar. Water buckets rarely come into use, but are instrumental as life-saving devices when they do. If a player falls into lava, placing water will extinguish the fire and allow them to climb out. Water can also create obsidian walkways over pools of lava. Water buckets provide a fast method of safely descending cliffs: players may place water, wait, then reclaim the water and fall into the disappearing waterfall. If falling near a wall, players may even save their lives by placing water on that wall and holding the jump key. Pick up your water after using it, so it can keep saving your life.

You can also use them to cross dangerous lava fields in deep caves - just place the water on a surface other than lava (such as stone) and then you can cross the lava field happily! Remember: you only need 1 bucket, just pick the water back up after. You can also use them to place above you to climb up walls. Don't underestimate water's ability to help you out of a tough situation.

You'll almost never need more than 2 or 3 buckets of water at any time -- one full of water, one empty to pick up springs, and perhaps a spare to take home some lava. Remember that a 2×2 "infinite water" pool works both ways -- you can bucket springs and empty the buckets into it.

Another use for a water bucket would be repelling Endermen. Endermen are hurt by water, and if they come into contact with it, they teleport away.

Don't start a sugarcane farm right outside or near your home
It's hard to identify a creeper hiding in sugarcane in the fraction of the second you have before he starts his timer, and by the time you've gotten your sword out, your house will have a hole in it. However, it is completely safe if you use double fences, light up your farm, close the gate(s), and remove any higher ground near the farm.

Don't forget to bring at least one full stack of gravel or sand if you're mining deep
Lava is the biggest problem when mining. Find yourself trying to mine through a large lava pit? Mine up until you're above it, then sneak to the edge and keep dropping gravel or sand into the pit to fill it. No need to reorder your mine plotting or mess around with obsidian and no worry about accidentally tunneling into a hot spot.

Don't forget to isolate diamond ores before mining
If you see diamond ore, especially on the ground, mine away the blocks around it. If you see lava, take care to completely remove it and ensure you won't come into danger while attempting to extract the diamond. Though Diamond is rare, it's not worth losing iron and gold ores. This goes for gold, redstone, obsidian, mossy coblestone and to a lesser extent iron, coal, Lapis Lazuli, and emerald. Everything else should be gathered where it is safe, on the surface (dirt, gravel, stone), and lava should be collected up to 36 at a time from the Nether or from surface lava pools. If you wouldn't risk your life in real life for it I don't recommend risking your Minecraft life for it!

Don't break into the void
Don't try breaking in the void. Once you die, you can't get your stuff back. Don't try to fly into the void in Creative, because as of one of the updates, even in creative you can and WILL die after going below Y:-64.

Don't surround your bed with blocks
If there is not a free space next to your bed, you're gonna wake up standing on your bed. If there is only one block of free space over your bed, you're gonna wake up inside a block. When you are inside of the block, you lose your health. Redstone may kill you too. You can remove the block where you are, but must be quick. If you are too slow, you will die. After your death, you will respawn in your original spawn point. A notification comes up when you get there, reading "Your home bed was missing or obstructed". Sometimes when that happens, you could be in some random spot in your world. So, again, BE CAREFUL!

Don't attack more than one creeper at a time
Even if you have a diamond sword and can get in enough hits before the creeper blows, don't do it (unless you have enchanted diamond armor)! Especially in hard mode where you won't be able to get away fast enough to escape the blast. This isn't especially obvious, but if there's a creeper behind another creeper and you do this, you will very likely be blown up. If you have a (diamond) sword with knockback, it's safer to fight more monsters at one time. But still be (very) careful!

Although, it can be useful to use a creeper's explosion to kill other hostile mobs attacking you, including other creepers.

Never ever leave home without a sword or bow
Monsters like Skeletons and Zombies like to hide in the shade. They will not be hurt because the sunlight will not hit them directly, making them invincible to being burned. Unless it's on peaceful, get a sword. Once you have string, craft a bow.

Don't attack Iron Golems
Iron Golems sound like a reliable source of iron, right? Think again. Iron Golems only drop 3-6 iron ingots (a rose too) when they're killed, have 50 hearts (compared to your 10) and have an attack strength of 7.5 to 11 hearts of damage per attack.

Don't teleport to the Nether without Fire Resistance Potions
When you first enter the Nether you obviously won't have Fire Resistance Potions. While exploring in the nether it is easy to spawn on a cliff or mountain side, it is also easy to get knocked back into an ocean of lava and never see your stuff again. If you haven't gotten blaze rods or started brewing yet, it is best to have some spare food and have a full set of iron armor on with a bow to kill blazes, because when they light you on fire, it's hard to extinguish yourself when you can't place water in the Nether. When you enter the Nether immediately go look for Magma Cubes to brew a Fire Resistance Potion.

Don't use a wooden door on Hard mode unless it's protected
On Hard mode, zombies can easily break down wooden doors and attack you in your base. You can either use an alternative (fence gates, iron doors,) protect your door (e.g. making a courtyard around it with fences and a gate, or place a door from inside the door-hole and open it. See Tutorials/Traps for advanced ways to protect your door.

Don't hit a skeleton with a sword enchanted with Knockback
This knocks it away and gives it more time to attack and knock you back so you can't kill the skeleton. This could kill you too so watch out when near a cliff, fire, or lava. Smite is good for this. With the new 1.5 skeleton AI (shoot faster, shoot farther) this is more important.

Don't fight mobs in water (except creepers or endermen)
If you try to fight a skeleton in water, it will shoot really fast and try to knock you away. This could kill you if unarmored. If you are fighting zombies, even in the daytime, they will have the advantage of not burning. Creepers can still hurt you, but the damage is reduced when fighting them in water, and you will benefit from increased knockback. However, remember that your movement is hampered too. If the Creeper explodes in the water, they don't do damage, as water removes the explosion's ability to break blocks

Don't ride horses carelessly in the Nether
Horses are a great way to get around, whether you're in the overworld or the Nether. However, one must be careful in the Nether when riding, otherwise they could ride into lava, set their horse on fire (either by riding into lava, being shot by a ghast or Blaze), and get it blown up by Ghasts. To minimize these dangers, here are some tips:
 * Splash potions of Fire Resistance: These can keep you and your horse safe from being burnt and if you accidentally ride into lava.
 * Horse armor: This reduces the damage taken by your horse if a Ghast shoots at you.
 * Splash potions of regeneration or instant healing: These can heal both you and your horse, and harm any Wither Skeletons or Zombie Pigmen that you encounter.
 * Armor for yourself: Wear this, for obvious reasons.
 * Food for the horse: This will heal your horse whenever he gets hurt.

One good thing about riding on horses is that you can outrun Zombie Pigmen if you accidentally attack one. Also, make sure your potions are splash potions, so you can share them with your horse.

Don't build a Nether Portal on bedrock in survival mode
If you build a Nether Portal at the bedrock layer you will have a very good chance of spawning on small island near the lava ocean meaning that shelter area may be limited to only a few blocks of space and since there is likely a lot of room around you. This type of area can also hide ghasts trying to snipe you from the lava and deactivate your portal. Also glowstone and quartz may be very rare in this type of spawn and ladders will easily be destroyed by ghasts. It is recommended that you build your portal above layer 20. You may even spawn on top of the lava and your first steps into the nether will be your death.

Don't fight bosses without the right equipment
If you find a End Portal or have the blocks to make the wither, get high protection enchanted iron or diamond armor, a sword, a bow, golden apples, useless blocks or ladders, and a pumpkin (Ender Dragon) or milk (wither) before fighting a boss. Also, it's easier with more than one person.

Don't use a fire aspect sword on a zombie
If you enchant a sword with fire aspect, don't use this on a zombie. It is much harder to get knockback on a zombie if he is on fire. If he can't be knocked back enough, he may attack you. When you are attacked by a zombie on fire, you will be set on fire, too. However, If you do this and just run away, the zombie will be weakened by the fire, so you can come back later and finish what you started. Unless you are experienced and can kill a zombie without knockback then fire aspect can be quite useful.

Don't drink poison
Poison is very deadly and spider eyes boot out 2 hearts, but potion of poison can boot out more until the time runs out or you die. It's a waste of spider eyes and you need them for food. (Even if it can boot out 2 hearts.) It's also a waste of potions and you should've used them for splash potions. The poison itself will not kill you, but if you drink (or get splashed by) a potion, you will be reduced to .5 heart, leaving you wide open for a single hit from a mob, fall damage, or really any damage at all.

Don't go to The End without a pumpkin
Wearing a diamond helmet in the end instead of a pumpkin is one of the worst desicions you can make. You will almost certainly die from accidentally staring at endermen. Endermen are much faster than the player, because they can teleport. You may be distracted by the ender dragon and an enderman you looked at teleports behind you. Of course, wearing a pumpkin on your head avoids that. Or, you can just kill everything. Your vision will be slightly worse, but its a small price to pay for not being able to stare at endermen. You can also play on peaceful.

However, if you have a diamond sword (preferably enchanted) then you can kill the Endermen easily, and having your vision obstructed can leave you unable to aim a bow at the Dragon.

Some people also build snow golems and iron golems while in the Overworld, then send them to the End. They distract the enderman, leaving you able to attack the dragon.

Don't attack a silverfish in a stronghold (unless you can kill it in one hit)
Once you attack a silverfish in a stronghold, it will awaken all other silverfish there, meaning you have a LOT of silverfish to deal with. It is a better suggestion to just run away until it enters a new block. Getting into an inacessable location for the silverfish is a good idea as well. If you have a enchanted diamond sword that can kill it in one hit, thats a different story. You can just hit the silverfish once and it will die, not awakening other silverfish. A failsafe is to enchant a diamond sword with any Sharpness or Bane of Arthropods enchantment. No matter how low or high, it will always 1-hit kill.

Don't let a snow golem run free near your bed
Since snow counts as a block, you will wake up standing in your bed. You will wake up inside a block if your house is 2 blocks high. You will take suffocation damage if you wake up inside a block. To avoid this, cage up your snow golem, make your house 3 or more blocks high, or put torches near your bed.

Don't get careless in a mineshaft
Abandoned mineshafts are some of the most serious places in Minecraft. If you get too careless, you could walk right into a cobweb, or cave spider spawner. Also, dont goof around near lava lakes in a shaft, because the wood around you could catch on fire and you will too. If you are standing on a bridge, you might fall into the lava lake. You can also get lost and never see day again until you die. So please, don't get careless in mineshafts.

Don't drill around with Efficiency V in Netherrack
Yes, Efficiency is useful for breaking things quickly, but using it in the nether when mining netherrack can lead to death or other problems. Netherrack is a very soft block and high efficiency will mine it so fast that with just one click, multiple blocks will break. Especially don't dig straight down, as your super drill pickaxe could lead you into lava. Even without efficiency, try to mine it slower as it's a good habit to keep you safer. Also, as of 1.5, there is hidden lava in the nether that could spill out and kill you any time, which can be randomly found by digging netherrack. However, if you have potions of Fire Resistance, and want a ton of Netherrack for whatever reason, then it may be a good choice to dig a tunnel. However, make it wide, as to ease up on space if you need to run. If you don't have fire resistance, then bring a lot of wooden pickaxes and possibly a potion of mining fatigue.

Don't sprint around lava
If you're sprinting to get through a long cave or mineshaft, stop when you come to lava. If you are walking at normal speed, you could accidentally double-tap (default) and sprint into lava. It is recommended to sneak when you are within 2 blocks of lava.

Don't use a bed in the Nether or the End
Using a bed in the Nether will cause it to explode, so don't try to get your night's rest in this hellish dimension. Beds don't have much use in the Nether anyway, even if they didn't explode. Having your spawn in the Nether is rather unsafe, and there is no day-night cycle for you to sleep through. Do not use beds for anything but decoration in the Nether. Same thing applies to the End. It's best not to place any whatever the case, to prevent accidental explosions.

Don't fight the ender dragon (unless you are on peaceful.)
Ender dragons are the hardest boss. They can inflict a lot of damage to you and once you go to the End you can't go back. Endermen make the boss fight harder. Pumpkins prevent you from provoking endermen but can blind you from shooting the dragon and you might shoot an Endermen instead.(Yep, wearing a pumpkin can turn everything black including your hand.) Peaceful mode is much safer due to no Endermen and the ender dragon not attacking you.If you do try to fight the dragon it is a good idea to carry diamond armor, lots of food and especially a bow so you can hit the ender dragon from a distance. At least one piece of diamond armor will be good enough. However, bring an enchanted iron or diamond sword (lightly, at least) to deal with the Endermen, and bring a heavily enchanted Bow to deal heavy damage to the Dragon.

Interestingly, if you're in Creative mode, using snowballs will actually kill the dragon quite quickly, as they do nearly as much damage as a fully charged arrow, but shoot much faster.

Don't jump off a mountain even if there is water to land in
Jumping off the biggest mountain in Minecraft may seem fun, but you should not attempt it, even if you think the water below will save you. You are likely going to miss the water entirely, and you will get game over if you are playing on hardcore (Who would be dumb enough to jump off a cliff on hardcore?). It is much safer to just use feather falling boots or descend the mountain safely by the sides. Usually it is safe if you can't see the bottom, and it's wide. Lakes are good choices. Waterfalls are even safer, as you can slide down the water.

Don't forget to light every room in your house
When you think you are safe in your dark house, you are not. Mobs can easily spawn when you leave the house and when you come back, you might be killed because you are not ready to battle. Using torches is good enough, but for advanced players they may use glowstone or redstone lamps. Nobody wants to be surprised by uninvited guests in their home.


 * Exception: If you want to have a mob spawn room to collect the drops and experience.

Don't turn all your Bones into Bone Meal
When you turn your bones into bonemeal, it now takes up 3x the space in your chest. The same thing applies to wooden logs and other multiplying blocks. You also want to keep some bones in case you come across some wolves.

Don't hold the food you are eating (Unless you have minecraft 1.4.6 and under.)
Yes, you need to eat food to survive, but there is a bug in 1.4.7 and above that causes you to eat 2 pieces of food instead of 1. For example, you have 2 cooked chicken, you eat the chicken, Minecraft forces you to eat 2 therefore wasting your food. If this is all you have, you die. This death message will appear if you die of starvation: '[Player] starved to death'. You should move the food to an empty slot prevent that disaster, especially in hardcore or during shortage of animals.

Don't use liquids as block ids
Yes, they are more stackable than water/lava buckets, but once you place them, you can't get them back. Think about placing the liquid blocks before you do.

Don't mine valuable blocks with low-level equipment
If you don't have an iron pickaxe for gold, diamond, redstone, and other valuable ores, they won't drop their contents. Instead, they'll just break (eventually). Likewise you need a diamond pickaxe for obsidian. A good indication is the amount of time it takes for them to appear to be destroyed. If you have been mining a block for more than 4 seconds (with the exception of Obsidian, for which it takes 9.4 seconds with a diamond pickaxe), then it is very unlikely to drop resources when destroyed and you will just lose the item you tried to mine. However they are not good for mining, as they only gain you a miniscule amount more net iron per minute, and a lot less of everything else, plus, you find fewer caves with the slow mining, meaning that they aren't even good for mining iron.
 * Wooden planks have better uses than tool crafting, and should only be used as such when there is no alternative or when you are just starting. When you start, you should make a wooden pickaxe, mine 19 stone blocks, and then you will never again need the wooden pickaxe, or any other wooden tool.  11 of the 19 can be used for a full set of stone tools, and the remaining 8 for a furnace. You can then burn the wooden pickaxe in the furnace.
 * You should use golden tools only if you need especially fast gathering of resources for a short period (for example, working underwater). Gold also enchants very well, so gold tools are useful if you want any enchantment which would otherwise be difficult to obtain, such as silk touch.  However, note that gold pickaxes can't mine the advanced ores (Including gold ore itself!), regardless of enchantments.
 * Cobblestone tools are fairly slow, but they are so cheap as to be disposable, and two of them will last as long as an iron tool. (Longer, with Item Repair.)  These are good for digging out lakes, harvesting jungle trees, and other bulk work.

Don't waste valuable equipment on low-value jobs
Diamonds are worth their weight in... well, DIAMOND! Using your diamond pickaxe for bulk mining may be faster, but will damage the pickaxe a little more every time. Using it for digging dirt won't even be faster. Pretend that every diamond you have is the last one you will ever have - plan for the worst, be pleasantly surprised by everything non-bad that happens. Diamond items last long enough that they're as likely to be lost to a "bad death" as they are to wear out, so the other question is when and where you're willing to risk them. Never use iron, gold or diamond for hoes, as the only gain is durability (and for gold, not even that), unless you have more diamonds than you know what to do with.
 * Iron is faster than stone and lasts twice as long. The sword and armor are also noticeably more powerful.  Iron ore is fairly common, but not unlimited, so don't get careless about spending it.  These should be your go-to tools "in the field", that is when travelling or adventuring.  Enchantments can make them much more useful, and getting "the wrong enchantment" is much less annoying when it's just iron at stake.
 * Diamond tools are for special missions -- when you want stuff that will last a long time (but not forever), and work fast. However, the supply is strictly limited, so choose carefully how you use them and risk them!  Given that you want to get the most out of your diamond items, you should enchant them as powerfully as you can.
 * Branch mining with a diamond pickaxe can easily use it up before you find enough diamonds to replace it. This goes double for using it for large excavations or building, or digging your way around the Nether.
 * Similarly, a diamond axe will be used up by a few jungle trees
 * Shovels also get used up, but are much cheaper than other tools, only one diamond apiece. If you have many diamonds, an "eterna-shovel" may be a decent time-saver.
 * Swords only cost two diamonds, and can give you a key edge in fights, so they are worthwhile, but remember they also increase the possible cost if you do die.
 * Diamond armor should pretty much be saved for the Ender Dragon, until you've got enough diamonds stockpiled that you can risk losing your investment. (24 for a full set of armor!)

Of course, if a villager blacksmith sells diamond tools, that changes things! You can trade renewable resources for emeralds, and then those for store-bought iron and diamond tools, so use those to your heart's content.

Don't use non-weapon tools for damaging mobs
Carry a sword with you until you craft a bow. Other tools cause less damage to mobs, and they lose durability faster.

An axe has the added advantage of the ability to chop wood faster as well as being a decent weapon. At some point you WILL want to replace it with a stone or better sword though. A diamond axe does more damage in the long run than an iron sword, but only do this if you are desperate (i.e. your sword breaks in the middle of combat.) Axes are more expensive (3 material (wood, stone, iron, gold, diamond) and 2 sticks instead of 2 material and 1 stick) and are really not worth it.

An axe is one tier worse than a sword. A pickaxe is two tiers worse, meaning a stone sword does as much damage per hit as a diamond pickaxe.

Don't kill passive mobs with a sword if you have flint and steel
If you're already carrying flint and steel while you're hunting, save yourself some time. When hunting a mob that yields meat (pork, chicken, steak), using a flint and steel cooks the meat for you. This is especially useful on chickens, since they are easy to kill, and raw chicken can inflict food poisoning. You'll save coal and time you would have spent cooking it, and a flint and steel costs less to make and has fewer uses than your trusty iron or diamond sword. However, be careful not to set fire to yourself, or to try it on mobs near water; if the mob extinguishes himself, he will not drop cooked meats when re-lit. Try and set as many on fire at a time to maximize efficiency, and watch out for wooden houses or trees. Lava also works, and it doesn't have durability, but it kills mobs quickly, so be sure to remove it. Plus, remember that lava will destroy any items that fall into it, so be careful if you decide to use lava to hunt mobs. Another alternative is to use the Looting enchantment, as it provides a higher drop rate than regular weapons. Some may deem this far more useful due to the massive amounts of fuel they may possess. Coal is easily obtained anywhere, and blaze rods are easily obtained through a blaze farm. The time required to cook it could be bypassed by farming, mining, etc.

Solution: Fire Aspect.

Be careful using these methods if it concerns a chicken, cow or pigfarm, since you might kill all your flock/cattle and you need at least 2 of each for reproduction.

Beware of the durability level, too. If it goes down, you'll need to waste another iron ingot on it, not to mention a flint, too.

Don't kill sheep if you have shears
Sheep drop only 1 block of wool when you kill them. If you have shears, you can right-click on a sheep with shears which will give you 1-3 blocks of wool. Not only that, if you right-click a sheep with a dye in your hand, the color of the sheep will change to that color. Sheep eat grass to re-grow their wool, and will have the same color they had before. This makes wool of all different colours renewable. Note that baby sheep cannot be sheared.

Don't make too many planks
Think of your stack of logs as a "compressed" version of a stack of planks. As soon as you make planks, your wood takes up four times the room. You could also need to make charcoal if there is a coal shortage and a low supply of logs, however this is pointless if there is a forest nearby.

Similarly, don't make too many sticks. If you have a lot of extra planks, turning them into sticks will double the amount of space they consume and lower their usefulness (if your planks have been turned into sticks, then you can't craft a new chest for your ridiculous amount of sticks).

Don't use gold as your Tools or Armor
Even though gold tools do work much faster than diamonds, they have very low durability. So rely on iron tools and armor. Iron tools and armor are important for Survival Mode until you find enough diamonds to craft diamond tools and armor. Other than that, you can rely on gold for golden apples, Golden Carrots for potions or food, powered rails, and a clock.


 * Unless you have a gold farm in the nether. If you do, then gold becomes an infinite resource.


 * Gold is also better than Leather armor in all cases, so if you don't have enough Iron to make a full set of armor, Gold is good for your Helmet or Boots.

Don't destroy bookcases without silk touch
Don't do this, as they can only drop 3 books when destroyed, meaning that your 6 wood planks are gone forever.

Don't use Glass carelessly
Glass doesn't drop itself when broken, so if you change your mind on creating a window, you just lost glass. If an NPC Village is not nearby, lost Glass can become an issue. Before you place Glass, make sure to use a block substitute such as Iron Bars or Leaves instead of Glass. It's also important to not hold glass in the hotbar unless you plan to use it soon, since, if you accidentally place glass, a Silk Touch tool would be needed to retrieve it. This is the same with Glass Panes.

Don't use an axe on leaves
Using an axe on leaves is a bad idea, because it will drain the uses your axe has. If you use it on all of the leaves on a tree, not even an iron axe will last very long. It is just as fast to use your fists, or any non tool items, so never use an axe on a leaf. However, the one tool that is made for leaves is shears, which can be used to collect placeable leaf blocks. However, these leaf blocks could potentially hog up your inventory, so you may not want to do this, unless you wish to make a structure out of leaves. If you'll be cutting through a lot of leaves, you may choose to make a few disposable stone swords to use as machetes; this also works on the cobwebs you find in abandoned mineshafts.

Don't use the wrong tool for the job
Using a pickaxe on dirt or wood will only waste the uses on the pickaxe. Avoid using anything other than a sword or bow on a monster, for the same purpose. Instead of using a pickaxe on gravel, break the bottom piece of gravel and place a torch quickly to mine all of the gravel in a vertical line. And avoid wasting valuable diamonds on a shovel or hoe when a shovel breaks quickly and a hoe really needs to only be stone or wood.

Don't attack tiny slimes with a sword
Tiny slimes have the lowest health in the game - so low that they can be taken down with a single punch. They also deal no damage. Knowing this, you shouldn't waste your sword on them because it's unnecessary, and will waste your sword's durability. Tiny magma cubes, however, have more health, meaning you can't kill it with one punch. And since they can damage you, a low tier sword could be handy.

Don't shoot paintings, boats, minecarts or Item Frames
Don't shoot these; the arrow will disappear. Also be careful with fishing rods, as they will destroy paintings.

Don't make a hoe out of anything other than cobblestone or wood
Although it may be tempting to have a diamond (or gold) hoe, DON'T BUILD ONE! Any hoe can till a dirt block at the blink of an eye. The only thing you can gain with making hoes out of minerals better than cobblestone is durability, but since wood and cobblestone are both renewable, making a hoe out of rare materials is a waste. In the early game, cobblestone is the optimum material for hoes. If you are like many players, you may find yourself with a surplus of iron after several hours of game play. If you intend to build a VERY large farm, making an iron hoe will save you a lot of time, running back and forth to make hoes. In this case, an iron hoe is a good idea. But if you are building a small or medium sized farm, stick to cobblestone. Having a diamond hoe is considered being "high class" so if you have a lot of diamonds, it does have some bragging rights.

Don't heal a Zombie Villager if there are other Zombies around
If you heal a zombie villager when other zombies are around, when the villager goes back to normal, all of the zombies will gang up on that one villager, and kill it, reversing what you just did. This does, however, buy you time to escape, as the zombies will be distracted by the villager.

Don't use Fortune on low-value blocks
Why would you use a Fortune-enchanted diamond pickaxe on stone? You will not get any extra cobble and you waste your pick's durability. A good idea is to bring an iron pick into a mine to get stone, iron and gold, which are not affected by Fortune.

Don't throw away valuable equipment that has lost most of its durability
None of us want tools that are about to lose durability. So, many of us just throw them out, even if they are valuable. It's a big mistake! For example, let's say a zombie attacked you while you were wearing diamond armor, and the armor lost most of its durability. DON'T THROW IT OUT. Yes, just think about all your hard work and the diamonds you wasted. It still has some use! The same goes for tools. You could also use them to repair other armor with powerful enchantments or low durability. And anyway, It's always good to have a extra pair of tools in a chest in case you die and lose your stuff.

Don't immediately throw away your items with lesser value
Admit it. We don't want our chests hogged up with less valuable items right? You think in your mind: "Just throw it into lava." Don't make that mistake! Items made of materials with lesser values still have a use. For instance, a creeper blows a hole in your animal farm and you are left meatless, then think about all that rotten flesh you just threw away? Rotten flesh is not only efficient food for wolves, but it also makes a great emergency food as it's easy to kill zombies, and fills your food bar more than the hunger effect drains it. Also, all that cobblestone that filled 500 chests in your storage room still has a use. Cobblestone can fit great with mossy and cracked cobble when building a fake jungle temple, and can make great emergency tools. Even though it has a lesser value with not much durability, it still has some use in it. So you tried to mine a bookshelf and it dropped 3 books only, you think it is useless. THINK AGAIN. If you throw them out, then you cannot craft a new bookshelf.Think about what you are throwing away before you do.

Don't turn all of your cobblestone into stone bricks
Don't do this, just in case your pickaxe breaks and you have no cobblestone. Stone bricks cannot be crafted into a pickaxe and just think about all of your cobblestone you wasted. You need them to make stone pickaxes.

Don't overload your enchantments
Speaking about tools and armor, over-enchanting them can risk being unable to repair them. (In survival mode, anyway.) The anvil has a limit of 39 levels. Even if you have enough levels, an anvil will declare the repair work "too expensive". You can get into this fix by not renaming your items early (the repair penalty adds up), or by adding on more enchantments from other items or books.

Don't use silk touch on all blocks
Silk touch is a very useful enchantment for mining some blocks, such as glass and glowstone. However, do not use it all the time. For example, ores mined with a silk touch pickaxe will drop as ores and have to be smelted to get the material. Using a silk touch tool on items that drop itself when mined (e.g cobblestone, dirt, wood) will waste the tool's durability as using silk touch will not affect the item drops. On the other hand, using it to stockpile diamond or emerald ore, can let you later use a Fortune pick to get more drops from them. (This also works for redstone, lapis, and coal, but is less worthwhile.) On SMP, they are often used as decoration blocks, and are considered quite valuable.

Don't throw away your tools
You might need extra tools as backups, if any of your tools break you may need an extra. If you had 1 pickaxe and it broke, you have to stop mining and go to your base/home and get the supplies you need.

Don't use shears to collect too many leaves (or vines)
Shears are made for collecting plants like leaves, vines, and grass. But don't collect too many, as they will hog up your inventory. It is better to have a "leaf chest" where you hold all the leaves you collect with your shears. Another thing is that each time you collect a plant with the shears, it tweaks the shears a little more every time. If you collect several stacks of leaves and you dont know what to do with them, you will have just wasted 2 iron ingots. You could have used those ingots for something else.

Don't hog up your inventory
Don't do this or you can't get anymore stuff. Lava is a good thing to destroy the annoying circling items on the ground, but it destroys the item and it's a waste of rare stuff. Don't forget a lot of wooden planks( like 64) to make chests or you have to go back towards you home again to empty your inventory into the chests and you might lose your cave by griefers which blocks caves by covering them with soil/grass block, or you might forget to make a trail of torches, or you make multiple paths of torches and you will go to the wrong cave and then you have to make a new mineshaft to mine resources again. What a waste of time and resources.

Don't fight the wither on peaceful mode
Gathering up those wither skeleton skulls was difficult, right... But let's say that spawning the wither on peaceful can reverse what you just did. Yep that's right. If you build the wither on peaceful, it will disappear like almost every other hostile mob. Not only that, but you will have lost those items you used to make it, so there goes 3 wither skelly skulls and 4 soul sand down the drain. Now you have to get that stuff all over again. Don't fight the wither on peaceful or you will lose those precious skulls used to make it.

Don't use tool enchantments in the nether
Netherrack with its fast breaking speed makes you tools seem to not last long(even diamond ones). You may be waiting to give it a good unbreaking enchantment but don't know what you are wasting. The unbreaking enchantment will make hardly a difference with the such fast breaking speed, which will make it seem useless(because it is). Your best bet is to bring 2 unenchanted diamond picks. Also, unbreaking usually comes with efficiency which another post tells about that. Also, fortune is useless because of how much quartz ore spawns.

Don't get careless with the dragon egg
So many players want to show off that they killed the ender dragon, but many have lost the dragon egg. If you get too careless, you may blow it up or send it back to the overworld by accident. To obtain it, you should cover up the portal with end stone and use a piston to push the egg. Here are some of the things you shouldn't do:

-Blow it up with TNT, this might not drop the egg, but will blow it up

-Try to mine it with a weak pickaxe

-Forget to cover the portal and send it to the overworld

Also, never ever leave it where players can obtain it in a SMP server. Lots of players play servers, and might take it from you and grief your house.

Don't use diamond armor in the nether
Diamond armor is very strong and lasts longer, however in the nether it is still very easy to die. Falling into a lava lake means your 24 diamonds are gone forever. Even with high enchantments, zombie pigmen will still do a half heart (sometimes full heart) each hit. Then if you die, the zombie pigman will attack you while trying to get your stuff back. When exploring in the nether, iron armor is better as iron is much easier to find (most people have stacks of it) and still provides lots of protection. Also if you don't die, zombie pigman battles wear the armor down very fast and will break it.

Don't use all of your string just to make bows
String can be made into tripwire or fishing rods, fishing rods can be used to catch fish which you can be used to tame ocelots and is a good food source.

Don't mess up with redstone elevators in the nether
Don't do this, as you may have to start again. As of 1.5, there is hidden lava in the netherrack and it can spill out and ruin your lift, especially if it's made out of wool or wood. Plus, ghasts can blow up parts of you lift if you build it out of weak materials. Also, never ever build it on survival mode because you will die of fall damage.

Don't even throw your valuable items out
Don't do this, as you will waste you hard work and stuff. If you did throw your diamonds/gold out, then you have wasted all of your rare stuff. Similarly, don't delete you world where you lost everything. Otherwise, you can never see you beautiful castle, land, swamp biome, nether shelter and you friends again.

Don't play with fire
This is a no-brainer. Fire, wood and leaves result in even more fire! Though as of Beta 1.6 that wildfires no longer burn indefinitely, this can destroy chunks of forests, as well as accidentally burning down part of your house. Follow what Smokey the Bear says: "Only you can prevent wildfires."

Also, never, ever carry a bucket of lava in the hotbar unless you're about to use it! You should even avoid carrying flint and steel (or a Fire Charge) in the hotbar, at least when you're in a forest or other flammable area. If you are making use of lava or flint and steel, have a bucket of water handy. Then, if you make a mistake (we all do), you can quickly put out the flames. You can also try to punch the fire when it's created, and it will be immediately extinguished (hopefully it hasn't spread already).

Don't use 9 coal when you can craft them into a coal block
9 coal burns for 720 seconds while coal blocks, which can each be crafted with 9 coal, burn for 800 seconds when smelted. Use coal blocks instead when you have to smelt large amounts of items. Using coal to smelt stacks of items wastes room because coal blocks are also useful for storing coal. This is a good reason to use coal blocks instead of coal in smelting if this is reasonable. Fair warning: Do not use blocks to smelt a few items. Whole blocks are consumed at a time and you will waste the block's burning time that way. Note: you cannot use charcoal to make coal blocks.

Try not to sprint in your first days of game
Sprinting depletes the hunger bar at a rate of 1/2 a food unit every 40 meters, or 7 seconds, and at the beginning of the game, food is essential. Sprinting with no food can prove deadly.

If you feel up to it, you could hunt zombies during the night, or wait at dawn until all the zombies and skeletons have died and collect the rotten flesh and bones. The rotten flesh may poison you, but it will still heal more than you will lose by poisoning (on Easy & Normal, if you have been poisoned), and the bones can be crafted and used to create your first little wheat patch.

Now that you have a steady food supply it's safer to sprint.

Avoid building a weak house
Dirt, sand, snow, and Netherrack are weak materials with a low blast resistance, so they are quite easily destroyed by creepers. Avoid building your main base out of dirt. Instead, use cobblestone, which is a cheap, abundant, and tough alternative.

Later on in the game you may wish to make your main base out of bricks, stone brick, stone, and possibly, obsidian. You could also use End Stone if you make an Ender chest, or go to The End, and kill the Ender Dragon and mine some End Stone.

A list of low blast-resistance materials can be found here. Also, if you use an inventory editor, be extremely careful not to use stone, stone bricks, or cobblestone with silverfish in them (also known as Monster Eggs, silverfish blocks, or "Block 97").

Don't build a house with blocks that can be destroyed by creepers or TNT
Speaking about blocks, cobblestone is a cheap material and has a blast resistance of 30, but it can be destroyed by TNT or creepers. Use obsidian or if you are in creative mode, use bedrock. Be careful about building, that don't use blocks under the blast resistance of 500! However, for aesthetic purposes, using obsidian and bedrock may be unfeasible. In that case, just be careful.



Don't build houses mainly out of wood, especially, in multiplayer


Yes, wood may look pretty, and everyone loves the texture. It also, however, has a great number of practical disadvantages, compared with other materials.


 * Wood has about half the blast resistance (15) of cobblestone and most stone-based blocks (30). This means that explosions will do far more damage to a wooden structure.


 * Wood is flammable, and other than wool, is the only building material where this is the case.
 * Because wood is flammable, Netherrack can't be used as light sources in a wooden building, and building fireplaces is dangerous as well.
 * Aside from the fires you provide, lightning can set a wooden roof afire. While walls might be set afire by an adjacent strike, this is rare, and can be made more so by an overhang on the roof.  Of course, this is no hazard in a desert biome.


 * Wood is however, efficient to collect in large quantities. A stack of wood blocks can be harvested in the same time as a stack of cobble: but yields four times as many wooden planks. For large constructions, such as mob traps, wood planks are a good choice. (Be careful around fire and lava!)

Wooden roofing may be easy and look nice, but it is vulnerable to being set afire by lightning. Either do the roof in a fireproof material (brick is classic), or have a fireproof layer beneath to limit the spread of fire. If you do use wood walls, consider buttressing or trim with either smooth stone, cobblestone, sandstone, or obsidian. It will not only look better, but will have better blast resistance against explosions.

Don't build TNT traps out of dirt
It is time consuming to rebuild dirt traps. Instead, try a more explosion-resistant material, such as obsidian. Cobblestone also works, but some blocks will be destroyed. Or you can use water to avoid terrain damage.

Water has the ability to absorb the destructive aspect of an explosion, but generally not the physics or health damage, which means that your target will probably get launched. (Or killed, if it was a mob or a non-creative-mode player.)

Don't make a fireplace in a wood house
Fireplaces look very nice, especially in homes made of logs or planks. However, you are discouraged to do so, because of the chance of the fire spreading. You can, however, build a fireplace and make sure no flammable blocks are around (at least six blocks away) unless they're well-shielded by non-flammable blocks. However, be aware this is not foolproof and your house may still catch on fire. As of Beta 1.6, fires don't spread forever, but fire can still destroy a good chunk of your home.

If you really want to make a wood house and still have a nice fireplace, make it in a swamp biome. It turns out that in swamps, fire doesn't actually spread. It's a neat trick to try out!

Hint: Make a fireplace ONLY with blocks of bricks, Nether Quartz, Nether Brick or cobblestone/stone/stone bricks. They look nice and don't burn. Or just use a furnace or a torch if you don't want to risk.

Don't build a portal underground
Don't build a portal underground or caves in the overworld. You could teleport to a low Y level in the nether. Nether quartz ore are rare and it's impossible to find glowstone in that area. Plus it's dark with TONS of mobs crawling around.

Avoid eating poisonous foods without Milk on hand
When eating rotten flesh, it is wise to drink milk after eating it or you have chances of losing some of your hunger. Likewise, use spider eyes to make splash potions instead of eating them. However, if you stay completely still after eating, you can eat rotten flesh with a complete benefit and only half a hunger joint taken away from what you gained on normal difficulties.

Exception: Spider Eyes have a great nourishment value. They will quickly reduce two hearts upon consumption, but the hearts will be quickly restored and your food bar will not deplete as quickly. In non-threatening situations (daylight, at home, well lit mine) eating a spider eye will do more good in the long run. It's not advisable to eat a spider eye while battling mobs. Another alternative is to eat a lot of rotten flesh at once, because it just resets the timer to 30 seconds, so the hunger effect doesn't stack.

Don't grief up your spawn place
If you want to play with TNT, please don't use your spawn place for this. If you die and have not made or slept in a bed, you will spawn at this place, so if you dug where you spawn, you will spawn at the bottom of the hole, and may not be able to get out as you have no pick or materials. And always remember to mark the spawn point when spawning into a new world! You can always create a new world in creative mode to prevent this.

Don't get too cocky
You may be doing well in that Hardcore world or Super Hostile map. However, all it takes is one careless mistake to see it all be for naught. Always make sure to wear the best armor available, and have some emergency armor, usually the second-best you have. (Unless you are in hardcore or you set the game rule keepInventory to true!) Try to keep some stone tools, and put away your tools when they get worn out. You never know when you will buy the farm. The only exception is if you are in a big fight - say, the Wither boss. Iron armor will work fine and it is good not to risk diamond armor.

Try not to live in certain biomes
Some biomes are better to live in than others. Oceans are, of course, not advisable to build a beginner house in, due to the lack of trees, materials, or caves, however for advanced builders the flat aspect and monochrome surroundings might fit into their design. This also goes for the desert, which while devoid of trees is generally a flat biome, and is the perfect setting for pyramids and other exotic builds. The swamp and extreme hills biomes are not recommended as build sites due to witch and slime spawns in the former and long drops and few trees in the latter. However, an extreme hills biome makes a great spot for building an epic house in Creative. The snow biome will periodically develop a layer of snow over dwellings, so build at your own risk. The jungle biome, while full of trees, is hard to build in due to crowding, and can be very dangerous to navigate at night. The plains or standard forest biomes are typically recommended for beginner players due to the availability of resources and spawn rates of friendly mobs. If you spawn near a mushroom biome, by all means, settle there! No monsters can spawn, and mooshrooms make infinite food sources with bowls.

Don't venture out at night in certain biomes
Some biomes are better when venturing out at night and the forest and jungle biomes are the worst. It's crowded and a creeper can corner you to a tree. The extreme hills are not recommended due to long drops, although it is very easy to stay on top of a mountain, and punch mobs off the cliff. The swampland is also not recommended, but for advanced gamers it's the second best, due to slimes, and slimeballs create leads and sticky pistons, and there are a fair amount of trees. That also goes for the taiga biome. Snow hills biome are the second worst due to multiple hills and you can get lost. The desert biome and plains are the best due to no obstruction, although desert biomes have cactus. If you spawn near a mushroom biome, by all means, then go there! No hostile mobs will spawn and you have unlimited food - mooshrooms!

Don't fight the Wither near important land
The Wither is a very easy way to grief your beautiful world or diamond castle. If you are planning to fight the wither, move very far away from important land or buildings. Withers make huge explosions when spawned and shoot out wither skulls that explode. Even your protection IV diamond armor or sharpness IV diamond sword won't stop the wither from destroying the world. The wither still takes a number of hits to be defeated from the most powerful of your weapon supply. The safest area to fight the wither is underground, in a cave. That way you can easily hit the wither without it going too far. When planning to fight the wither, pick the area carefully!

Don't be careless with your new pet wolf
A tamed wolf can be very useful. It can give you a hand when fighting mobs, create guards, or just keep you company when lonely. It can be easy to forget to make your wolf sit down when not using it since it will kill any mob you punch possibly resulting in your farm that was once teeming with animals to end up empty. Also when you are attacked by a mob or player, the wolf will stand up and come to you. That can be annoying when you are miles away from your house. After you spend enough time with your wolves, you are less likely to make those mistakes but still don't get too careless! Try to befriend two wolves and then start breeding them to ensure you can easily replace a wolf who didn't have the same survival instinct that you do. Beware walking on ice though, because if you get too far away the wolf will teleport to you, and end up trapped under the ice, and will drown.

Don't adventure from your home when you aren't sure you're prepared.
If you want to go adventuring, but you aren't sure that you're ready, DON'T GO. Even if you're sure you're ready, you may not be. For example, you're going on a trip to the nearby dungeon. You bring leather armor and a wood sword. Ready, right? Nope! Leather or gold armor should ALWAYS be avoided for these things. There's gonna be a boatload of zombies! Make sure you have these things when traveling to these places:

Stronghold

 * Iron or diamond armor (Thorns or Protection and Feather Falling Boots)
 * Diamond sword (Any good enchantment)
 * Infinity bow (Self-explanitory. Bring 10 arrows just in case.)
 * Mushroom stew or other good food
 * LOTS of torches.
 * DON'T FORGET 12 ENDER EYES!

Dungeon And Mining

 * Iron Armor (if you're mining where you can see the sun, leather's okay for newbies.)
 * A pickaxe for the ores or cobble.( Also for the mossy cobble.)
 * Iron sword (or wood for newbies.)
 * If you're feeling extra-sensitive, bring an iron golem if you don't have armor.

Mineshaft and Temples

 * Milk.
 * An infinity bow or sword.
 * Diamond pickaxe.
 * A stack of some kind of blocks.
 * A bucket, smarty!


 * And last but not least, for all of these, your brain!

Don't be careless with a horse
Horses, donkeys and mules are quick and donkeys and mules give you a place to keep your stuff! So, if you see a horse or donkey, tame it. They're rare, so don't be picky - a slow horse with low health and poor jump height is better than no horse at all (unless you already have a better one). Just remember, if you want to tame a horse, always keep a lead and a fence on hand to tie them up. Make a pen to keep them safe, and give it a sturdy cobble roof. Make sure you have a two fence gate door to make sure you can leash up your pet and take it for a ride. If you are taking a survival journey, take a mule or donkey! they'll carry food and resource while providing a ride. Keep your horse healthy and never dangle it from a high place with a lead. And if you have other pets, pen them up in another area of your home; if you accidentally hit a horse, your pet wolves will kill it. You can name your similarly-coloured horses so you can tell them apart.

Don't pass a chance to settle down in a village
Villages are DIAMOND MINES. They have farms if you're hungry. They have guards in large ones. They have a population. They have non-hostile villagers. Villages are very good for players. They give shelter to the people without it, and a town. They also give you something to build on! Make a pool, a garden. Turn it into a city, while you have no effort building a home first. But first, before you settle down, try these things: - If you have pets, especially young pups and kittens, board up the blacksmith's lava with cobblestone or iron bars. That way, they can't be hurt in the lava. - Large villages have wells. Board them up, pets can drown. - Villagers will go into your house. BUILD an Iron Door. It keeps villagers AND zombies out! - Look at your house. A villager won't settle down if you don't make it sustainable to them. Look here for a guide on that : NPC Village

Don't smash a monster spawner if you don't need the 50 Experience Points
When you are in a dungeon, mineshaft, stronghold, or nether fortress, don't break the spawner if you don't need any more experience points. The spawner will only drop 50 experience points when broken and you can use them later in the game for mob drop traps. Unless you are sure you don't want to make a mob drop trap and you would like to receive the 50 Experience Points, don't break spawners.

Don't be afraid to take a little damage
If your hunger bar is full, you regenerate lost hearts quickly. Perhaps jumping down that mountain is a safer option than taking ages to build your way down when night is about to fall. Letting a creeper blow up can be useful when mining.

Don't tame just ocelots
Ocelots only scare away creepers, they don't attack any mobs and they take a while to tame due to their shyness, tame wolves along with ocelots instead so you can deal with any mobs ranging from creepers to cows!

Don't PvP without the right equipment
It is dangerous to fight players without armor or weapons. And even worse, they can take your hard earned valuables such as diamond, gold, and iron. In a PvP battle players normally take the best equipment to fight the other player like enchanted diamond armor or diamond swords or worse, they have cheats on and they have the strength VI! Don't take gold weapons as well, but you can use lava to burn the player if he has no fire resistance potion on him.

Don't punch a griefer
Don't do this, as the griefer may pay attention to you attack and he might kill you, so always hide when you attack him.

Don't stand in the open in a PvP server with bows
This is very dangerous, especially when towering. One hit could sent you falling to your death, into lava, or into a group of enemies. A good idea is to tower up high and make an enclosed room.

Don't attack players wearing armor with the thorns enchantment
Don't do this as the armor can deal damage to you. Worse of all, you can die from it. It can even pierce through armor you are wearing, so always attack a player not wearing armor with the thorns enchantment.

Don't show new faction/clan members your base
Do not trust players looking for factions/clans. If they teleport to your house/base they could steal your stuff and grief your base/house/land or kill you every time you come home. They may invite other people to do the same. Keep a close eye on new recruits, and only invite people who you know in real life or trust deeply.If you do they may grief and you dont want that to happen (and or they may tell other factions)

Don't move beds without telling fellow server members
Beds can be helpful but tricky. Helpful by letting you sleep peacefully through the night with no disturbance. But, they can also kill you. If you pick them up, your spawn is back to where you entered the game. Once you move your bed to the location you want. Remember, they are used to set your spawn in case you die. Don't underestimate the power of the bed. You can use it for safety or to be a troll.

Don't live near the spawn in multiplayer
If you are in multiplayer, live away from the spawn in a hidden area. It is easy for a newcomer to come in and see your house and just grief it or come into your house, kill you and steal your stuff. Try to remember the way to the spawn and the way to your house. Ideally, you should always build your home underground or underwater on a multiplayer server (when you can't protect your home from griefing using a plugin), especially if you're playing on a server where griefing is allowed.


 * Exception: Servers with Factions/Clans where you can claim land to protect it.

Don't use X-ray mods
Administrators and other players do not appreciate the use of X-ray mods on their servers, it gives you an unfair advantage and most likely will lead to penalization and ultimately banning from the server! It is NEVER a good thing to X-ray, no matter how far away you think admins are, because you never know when they could be using an invisibility potion to spy on and ban you!

Don't PvP with strength VI or over
Don't do this even if you win. It gives you an unfair advantage for beginners and it will result in banning in the middle of the battle or a second battle with the same server! We trust that you should have no cheats on, and strength potion effect must not be over II!

Don't corrupt your world
Don't do this as all your hard effort will be gone, meaning you wasted your stuff. That means you need to create a new world.

Don't fly over fake chunks
Don't do this as you be trapped in the air and you have to restart your world again. However, this is no longer happens in 1.3.1 and above versions.

Don't go to the illegal point
Don't do this, as you may be kicked from the game and sometimes not by another player.

Don't follow any of the rules on this page blindly
These tips were made by players, just like you. Some of them make sense, some are exaggerated, and some forget that Minecraft is just a game designed to be fun. If you find some of these rules boring, break them! Always keep in mind that having as much fun as possible is the ultimate goal in Minecraft. As said by Vareide, "With no rules to follow, this adventure, it's up to you." But don't throw your diamonds in lava! Unless you want to.