Blocking



Blocking is a gameplay mechanic which allows players to block attacks, including arrows and explosions, by holding down the right mouse button while wielding any type of sword. Blocked attacks deal only half the normal damage they normally would. Blocking does not decrease the sword's durability.

While blocking, the player moves at a speed slower than if they were sneaking.

Bugs

 * If the player presses the attack and block button at the same time whilst in third person perspective, the sword appears to cut the player's head.

Trivia

 * The blocking movement complemented with the sneaking mechanic is the gradable opposition of the sprinting mechanic.
 * Taking damage while blocking does not decrease the durability of your sword.
 * Blocking allows for the slowest movements possible. This can occur when the player blocks, sneaks, and moves backward while under the effect of the slowness potion while going through cobwebs placed above still water 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 (1 Pixel every 12-13s w/ new calculations) on a default 16x16 texture pack. Blocking while sneaking and with the additional events (but without slowness potion) allows the player go at roughly 0.023854961832 blocks per second (1 block every 41.92 seconds).
 * It is possible to mine blocks while blocking, which causes the mining animation to be combined with the blocking position giving a strange animation, making the sword appear to be spinning.
 * If a player continuously presses the attack and block keys in quick succession, the player can deal damage at a higher clip rate. This exploit is called flailing.
 * If the player blocks while being shot by a skeleton, the arrow the skeleton fires may sometimes bounce off of the player, but it will still deal damage.
 * When using a slowness effect instead of a potion in the newer update to achieve the slowest possible speed, the command /effect (playername) (slowness ID) (time) (efficiency ,1-255) can be used. but when the amount of the effect is to high, the effect will not take place but will be shown in the character's screen. this can be undone by drinking milk, logging off or type the same messages the player used to get the buff, which was bugged, this also works for working buffs but these need to be added by the /effect command.
 * Some people block on multiplayer to show they are a friend or foe.