Tutorials/Things not to do

The Minecraft community has developed some standards of gaming which will help any new Minecraft players to get a hang of the game. Millions of users have at some point been very inefficient or died unnecessarily. Therefore, a collected list of things the player should not do or forget has been compiled below in order to make the game experience as enjoyable as possible. However, making mistakes is an important step to learn the way of things in Minecraft. In a way, this tutorial acts as a collection of frequent Minecraft mistakes.

These are just rules to keep the player safe. If the player gets bored following or doing any of these rules, they should feel free to break them all and play the game their own way.

Possible death
The following things not to do in Minecraft could possibly result in the death of the player.

Excessive movement
Movement such as sprinting and jumping drain hunger and saturation more quickly than walking. This will have a serious effect on the player's hunger levels, even if it is more useful for getting around. It is important for the player to try to conserve their hunger bar during the first few days, as renewable food production takes time. A player who lets the hunger bar get too low will not be able to sprint at all anymore (6 hunger points or less ). A player who encounters hostile mobs should sprint only if necessary. On hard difficulty, the player can die of starvation if the hunger bar reaches zero; on easy and normal, the health of the player drains quickly. It is safer to sprint after the player has a steady food supply.

This is less important as of 1.11, as the player's exhaustion increases at a slower pace.

Food poisoning
The player should be careful when eating rotten flesh and raw chicken as each may inflict the Hunger status effect on the player, draining the player's hunger bar. A piece of rotten flesh has an 80% chance of inflicting food poisoning for 30 seconds, and a piece of raw chicken has a 30% chance. The player should avoid eating these unless there is no better food available. Pufferfish, on the other hand, is extremely dangerous and should not be eaten at all (unless trying to obtain A Balanced Diet or How Did We Get Here?), as it causes Hunger III for 15 seconds, Nausea II for 15 seconds (makes the player's view wobbly) and Poison IV (the highest level of Poison that any item can inflict, so the player simply cannot out-heal the effect forcing the player to wait till it wears off before healing themselves.) So, even if the player's hunger bar is completely drained, eating a pufferfish will not actually help them because of the hunger and the poison. The player can, however, nullify food poisoning by drinking milk.

Remembering shelter locations
After the first few days of work, the player should have some basic facilities for their survival (e.g. farms, a small house, and a mine). Many players are tempted at this point to venture farther from their base to look for resources and explore.

However, the player should always keep in mind the location of their house. Even a brief moment of activity in an unfamiliar place can make the player lose their sense of direction and could result in them never finding their house again. Without knowing where their base is, the player is in danger of losing valuable time and may have to start over most of the game.

Here are some orientation tips:
 * Coordinate notation: Coordinates can be displayed in the game settings without enabling cheats. The player can also record their base's coordinates from the Debug screen (done by pressing in Windows/Linux, or  for Mac). The coordinates are also reported when the player teleports using, and also copied to the clipboard in the form of  when  is pressed, if cheats are enabled. A screenshot can be used or writing down, but the coordinates should be kept in a secure place. If the player does not want to write it down in real life or take a screenshot, they can craft a book and quill and write the coordinates of their home down there.
 * Lit landmark: Perhaps for smaller distances, one can build tall towers with some torches on the top as they travel, as well as placing one on top of their house. Keep in mind that the towers can only be seen if one's render distance is high enough. A Beacon can also be used for this purpose.
 * Keeping a running list of important coordinates is recommended.
 * Make a compass: If the player has four iron ingots and a piece of redstone, they can easily craft a compass. It will always point towards the world's spawn point, which cannot be changed by sleeping in beds(that changes the individual spawn point), making a compass only useful if the player built their house close to their original spawn. It should be noted that the world spawn can be changed if cheats are enabled by using the command.
 * If the player has a compass and 8 paper, they can craft a map to prevent themselves from getting lost, additionally a single paper and a compass can be used in cartography table to make a map. A zoomed out map can also be crafted by surrounding a map with 8 paper on a crafting table, or by combining a map with 1 paper in a cartography table.
 * While traveling, leave a trail of cheap but visible blocks, such as wood planks or cobblestone, every few blocks (torches also work).

Not carrying essential items
If the player is going to venture far away from their house, they should always pack wood, building blocks, a pickaxe, plenty of food, a sword, some quality armor, a bow, and plenty of arrows.

Not bringing enough food
If the player runs out of food, they must either locate more or risk starving (possibly to their death).

Beds in the Nether or End
The player should not attempt to use a bed in the Nether or the End and only use a bed in the Overworld. Using a bed in the Nether or the End will cause it to explode violently with a larger blast radius than TNT. Additionally, it will set nearby ground on fire, which is also potentially lethal. In the Nether and/or the End, there is no day-night cycle that can be slept through. However, beds can be useful in PvP, as decoration, as an attack method (especially against the ender dragon), for explosive mining methods in the Nether, and possible other reasons. Note that the bed will not explode when placed, only once used. If it is within proximity of another explosion, it will be destroyed and not explode, unlike TNT.

Surrounding beds with blocks
Normally, when the player sleeps, they will wake up next to their bed, if the space around it is not taken. It is important to leave clear room around and above their bed. If there is not free space next to and/or above the player's bed, they may wake up inside a block and will begin to suffocate. If this happens, the player should remove the block quickly or else they will possibly die. If the player is killed, they will not be able to respawn at their bed; instead, they will spawn at the world spawn, which can be very far away from where the player was trying to sleep, along with a message saying, "Your home bed was missing or obstructed". In this case, it was the latter.

Also, the player should not place transparent blocks such as glass around their bed as the player cannot spawn on a transparent block if the spawn point is from a bed.

Carrying dangerous/Non-placeable items in the hotbar


Lava is a very dangerous resource. The player should not keep lava in their hotbar unless they are immediately (or very shortly) going to use it. If the player accidentally s a lava bucket, they may accidentally kill themself, as well as damage any builds in the immediate area. Also, the player should not leave items they won't need immediate access to in their hotbar. Unless the player is going to throw them or has nowhere else in their inventory for the items to go, leaving these items there just clutters up the player's hotbar, setting the player up to waste a bunch of time later.

Always bring a water bucket
During adventures, leave a bucket of water on the hotbar at all times. In the case of an emergency, it can do the following:
 * Extinguish the self-inflicted fire
 * Solidify pools of lava to a walkable surface of obsidian
 * Safely descend cliffs
 * Allow the user to scale cliffs
 * Repel endermen
 * Be placed on the ground to break a fall
 * Be placed on the ground, then used with a fishing rod, to generate a mobile food source

Jumping off tall structures
Jumping off the biggest mountain in Minecraft may seem enticing, however, the player is likely to die from fall damage. It is much safer to descend mountains or cliffs by climbing down normally, or even using water. Alternatively, the player can use the elytra to glide down the mountain. Be very careful on amplified worlds, as even Diamond Armor with Protection and Feather Falling may not reduce enough damage to survive enormous falls.

Shooting dangerously
If an arrow is shot directly upward, it will fall back down to hit the player. Also, the player should not charge at a target immediately after firing an arrow at them, especially if the player is wearing an elytra, as they will collide into the arrow. (It should be noted that the player can use this as a tactic to create longer-lasting elytra flight with a punch bow, but it is not the most effective way to do so.)

Acting carelessly with fire


While not as dangerous as lava, fire is still quite dangerous (as it can burn the player). In addition, it spreads every few seconds and can travel across trees. Fire is especially dangerous in dark forest biomes because the trees are larger (meaning they burn longer) and closer together. If the player is trying to clear the forest, it is advised they be careful with the fire, and it is best that they have a quick means of escape such as an elytra or a Fire Resistance potion.

Show off with Riptide
A trident enchanted with Riptide, will double as a means of quick transportation. If the player carelessly launches themselves into the air with Riptide, they can put themselves at risk of serious fall damage and death. The player should be careful not to launch themselves where they may be harmed. A player about to receive large amounts of fall damage may activate a worn elytra, drink a potion of Slow Falling, move towards, or place, while falling, blocks which reduce fall damage, throw an ender pearl to ground, or, if it is raining, use a trident enchanted with Riptide to move towards a softer landing.

Mining directly vertical (straight up or down)
By mining straight down or up, the player places them self in a situation which may easily lead to death. For example, if the player is mining straight down by mining the block they are standing on, they may fall into a cave system, ravines, or dungeon and take significant fall damage along with possibly getting swarmed by mobs. The player may also fall into lava. Digging straight down can also get the player stuck in the hole they dug. In that case, placing ladders or pillar jumping should get the player out.

Safer ways to dig downwards include: Should the player insist on digging narrow shafts downwards, they should try to listen for water, lava or mob sounds (this can be aided by turning on subtitles). This can alert the player to the presence of a cavern, lava, or mobs.
 * Mining in a staircase pattern
 * Finding an open-mouth cave on the surface
 * Placing ladders or scaffolding while digging
 * Digging a 2×1 hole while standing between both blocks or on the block opposite the one being mined
 * Repeating the steps of digging down 3 blocks from the surface, placing a ladder on the bottom block, standing on that ladder, then mining the blocks below

Almost as dangerous as mining the block the player is standing on is mining the block right above the player's head. Dangers of mining straight up include: A possible way to make mining upwards safer would be for the player to place a torch at their feet and keep a block in their hotbar that they can switch to easily. The torch will break any gravel or sand which falls onto it and if liquid comes out of the hole, they can quickly place a block to stop the flow of the liquid. These precautions are not perfect as there still is the possibility of mining into a cave with mobs or the player not reacting fast enough to a lava flow(especially in the Nether where Lava flows as quickly as water). As with digging straight down, the player should be cautious to noises (of mobs, water, lava...etc...) or particle effects (specifically, water/lava dripping from a block) which may signify the presence of lava, water, hostile mobs or a cave.
 * Water, which could drown the player
 * Lava, which could burn the player and their items
 * A cave or dungeon with hostile mobs, which will attack the player, making them low on health or possibly killing them.
 * Gravel, sand, or concrete powder, which could suffocate the player

Desert Pyramid trap
The player should never dig straight down in the center (the blue terracotta block) of a desert pyramid. Doing so may result in the player falling directly onto a pressure plate and triggering a TNT trap underneath the structure which may blow up the player. This quite possibly may kill the player, as well as destroy the treasure in the chests and anything the player was holding. There are safer alternatives to get down and back up: Once at the bottom, the player can safely mine away from the pressure plate, harvest the TNT, and take the treasure.
 * The simplest and quickest way is to dig a channel straight down the sidewall, collecting the sand blocks on the way down. To ascend again, jump while replacing the blocks underfoot.
 * Dig down in a staircase fashion, and simply walk up the stairs to ascend back up.
 * Use a bucket of water to fall down to the treasure room at a lower speed, making it easier to avoid the pressure plate. Ascending can be done by digging stairs or placing ladders.

Careless underwater digging
In Survival mode, blocks take five times as long to break while the player is underwater. Therefore, there is a high risk of drowning while digging underwater, especially if the player is not close to the surface. Digging an air pocket under the ocean floor or placing magma blocks or soul sand to create a bubble column can produce a place where the player can slowly recover their air supply. It takes time to recover the breath meter so players should come prepared.

Should the player need to dig underwater for long periods of time, a helmet enchanted with Aqua Affinity and/or Respiration, a turtle shell, or a Water Breathing potion can be used. A conduit can also be built if the player believes they will be underwater even longer. The player should be careful near ocean monuments, as the elder guardians (of which there are three per monument) will give the player Mining Fatigue III while they are near the monument, drastically reducing mining speed.

Finally, players may want to have light underwater. Torches only remain for a brief second so it is better for the player to come with full-block light sources such as sea lanterns, glowstone, or jack o'lanterns.

Acting careless around TNT


TNT explosions are very deadly at close range. Whenever possible, the player should use redstone wiring and repeaters to delay the explosion and/or remotely detonate the TNT. Should the player happen to have a bow enchanted with the Flame enchantment, they can also remotely detonate the TNT by shooting it. If necessary, the player should find cover to protect themselves from the explosion. If flint and steel must be used, run away as quickly as possible.

TNT has also a big effect on the environment, and by using it carelessly, you have a big risk of accidentally destroying your house, farms or storages.

It is recommended to wear armor while using TNT, especially armor enchanted with Blast Protection.

Bringing blocks for mining
There are many risks linked to deep mining operations. If the player brings a good supply of common blocks (e.g. cobblestone, dirt, etc.), it will provide them with material to overcome potential hazards such as lava pools, large cliffs, or mobs. It is also essential to have log or wood on hand for crafting.

Isolating rare ores before mining
Sometimes diamond ore may be the only block between the player and death. The player should mine away all blocks around diamond ore found while mining. Care should be taken to completely remove or replace any lava around the diamond ore if any is come upon to ensure that the player will not be in danger while attempting to extract the diamonds. The same principle can be applied to any rare resource the player would not want to risk losing. More common materials such as dirt, gravel, and stone should be gathered above ground, where it is safe, and lava should be collected from the Nether or from surface lava pools, as it is easier to use a bucket on source blocks in these places. The player should also remember to relight up areas after block light from any removed lava is gone.

Falling into the Void
Assuming the player has found a way to get past the bottom bedrock layer of the Nether or Overworld or has an active portal to the End, they will have access to the void. However, jumping in is suicide. Once the player falls below Y -64, they will begin to rapidly suffer void damage, which the player cannot be immune from. To survive the void, the player would need Regeneration VIII or higher, which is inaccessible without using cheats. Each half-second below y=-64 the player loses health. If the player dies in the void, all of their items will be lost if keep inventory is not set to true. It should be noted that the void can then be used to the player's advantage as a means to kill enemies.

Building nether portals too deep down
If the player builds a nether portal at the bedrock layer they will have a very good chance of spawning on a small island near the lava ocean, meaning that shelter area may be limited to only a few blocks of space. Lava oceans usually leave a lot of room which can also hide ghasts trying to snipe the player from the lava. This area thus leaves the player vulnerable to the possibilities of death or entrapment, depending on whether the fireballs hit the player or the portal. It is recommended that players build their portals above layer 20. Any expedition to the Nether should be taken with caution.

Mining gravity-affect blocks quickly
The Efficiency enchantment can cause problems if the player carelessly mines. If the player drills around in sand while moving forward, the game may glitch blocks and suffocate the player for a short time. The player should keep their distance with all gravity affected blocks while mining. Block glitches as described most often occurs on laggy servers or single-player worlds played on slower computers, so players are less likely to come across such issues while playing on fast computers or servers.

The player should note that death is extremely rare from this kind of scenario; a close call is far more likely. Another note worth taking is to be careful near desert ravines, as there are sometimes overhangs of sand with no sandstone beneath them. These blocks will update and fall as soon as they are updated by a player placing or breaking a block next to the sand. This can result in the sand falling away and dropping the player down large heights.

Leaving trails underground
One way the player can keep them self oriented in caves is to place torches on the walls on only a specific relative side (right or left). This makes it so the player can follow the torches back by keeping them on the opposite side of the cave that they originally place them(caves are known to split so the player knows which path leads to the surface). Another way to stay oriented is for the player to place blocks as markers in intersecting cave areas. Players can very easily get lost in a mineshaft. They have a complicated, three-dimensional, seemingly endless labyrinth-like structure that can span multiple biomes, with including lighting. In any mining situation, if the player becomes fully lost, they should mine back up to the surface in a safe manner.

Placing torches consistently at one side is an effective way to light a cave while giving the player directions.

Looking at endermen
If the player's crosshair touches any part of the upper body of an enderman while within 64 blocks of it, and it turns to see the player doing this, it will attack the player. If the player wants to hunt endermen without fear of provoking them prematurely, a player can wear a carved pumpkin on their head to prevent enderman from becoming hostile when looking at them. While this is an effective way to approach an enderman safely, the pumpkin will also make it significantly more difficult to see other monsters and fight them, unless one uses a third person camera view, though this too has its disadvantages if one is not accustomed to it. Another way to use a pumpkin as a helmet is to press F1 (fn + F1 on MAC). However, when in this view, it will hide the player's hand and the hotbar.If the player's armor is of high quality, such as enchanted iron or diamond armor, they may consider using a normal helmet instead of a pumpkin as the boost in defensive armor may allow the player to fight more efficiently.

If the player does not have a carved pumpkin or high-quality armor with which to fight an enderman, a simple strategy is to build a small roof two blocks high, and taking refuge under it while fighting the enderman. The player can enter a space that is two blocks high, but an enderman cannot as they are three blocks tall, so hiding under the roof and striking any enderman with a sword is an easy way to dispatch the mob without taking damage, although most other mobs can still hurt the player. Alternatively, constructing a pillar four blocks high and attacking from the top of it will produce roughly the same result, as an enderman cannot attack the player from that height. In all cases, the player should take care that a wandering mob does not kill the player while they are busy with endermen.

Getting too close to creepers
The player should stay away from creepers as they can deal very large amounts of damage from their explosion (A charged creeper in Hard Difficulty deals 145 damage or 72.5 hearts of damage, enough to kill an iron golem at close range). The danger of a creeper to an individual player depends on the game's difficulty setting and how prepared defensively the player is. If the player hears the sound of a creeper (which sounds similar to primed TNT) they should proceed with caution. If a creeper surprises the player, the player's first goal should be to gain distance from the creeper. Any bit helps, as the player moves faster than a creeper even at walking speed.

When combating a creeper, the player should prefer keeping their distance. The best option with this strategy is to use a bow, as this allows the player can kill creepers at such a large distance it will not be able to target the player. A creeper must get close to the player before exploding, enough so that the player can build a 5 block high “pillar” by jumping and placing a block underneath their feet to allow the player to safely shoot a creeper wandering around the base of the pillar without fear of the creeper exploding.

While fighting a creeper using melee attacks, the player can use a sprint attack by hitting the creeper while sprinting. This attack will hit the creeper farther away than hitting it normally. Usually, this distance is enough to keep the creeper far enough that it will not try to explode, but if it hits a block while being knocked back by the player's attacks, the creeper may not be knocked back very far. This or missing an attack on a creeper could leave the creeper close enough to explode. Using weapons with Knockback or Punch may help keep a creeper back easier.

A creeper can also be forced to explode if a player uses a flint and steel on it. After igniting the creeper, the creeper will stop moving and the player will have a short time to run out of the explosion's blast radius or hide behind a shield. A shield can also be used to completely negate all damage from its explosion if the player uses a shield while directly facing the creeper.

When all else fails, the player could at least get the creeper to explode as far away from themselves as possible. Ironically, this is the easiest to do on the "Hard" difficulty setting, since creepers can "count down" to detonation from further away from the player in harder settings than easier ones. It is even possible in some situations to persuade a creeper to explode without causing any damage to the player at all. Their explosion will cause damage to the environment unless the creeper is partially in water or the game rule mobGriefing is set to false. Thus, ideally the player may want to move the creeper into the water before it explodes to decrease damage to the environment.

If the player hears a creeper's hiss behind them, they should not attempt to turn around and knock it away or block the damage with a shield as it is completely/nearly impossible to kill a creeper at that point quickly enough to prevent the explosion. Sprinting away to attempt surviving the blast should be the player's highest priority.

Beginners playing on the wrong difficulty
Trying Minecraft in Hard difficulty may sound fun for beginners, but new players may not know enough about the game to do well in higher difficulty levels. High difficulties make mobs deal more damage, allow players to starve to death if they run out of food, and certain mobs gain harder to face abilities. New players have less experience dealing with these hazards and may not get the great gaming experience of exploring and experiencing Minecraft in a manageable difficulty for their experience, which may ruin the game for the player. New players should avoid playing a Hardcore world even more as the world in this mode is removed when the player dies, never to be seen again.

Venturing outside on the first night
Normally, the first nights are used to gather more resources, because the player is not well-equipped yet. The player should stay away from anything that can kill them during the beginning of the game, as the player does not have much in the way of resources such as armor, food, or weapons. For some experienced players, this not a problem, as it provides them a challenge which they are experienced enough to handle. Some mobs are more difficult than others and the player should be extra careful about them (see Tutorials/Combat). Players playing on peaceful mode will not have this problem. If the player plans on spending nights outside, certain biomes such as plains are safer than others such as forests and jungles as the player can see monsters coming from a distance. An area with lots of barriers can be dangerous because the player can easily be surprised by a hidden mob hiding behind a barrier. If you don't sleep for 3 nights or more, Phantoms (flying monsters) will come, so make sure to stay inside!

Forgetting melee weapons when caving
A good melee weapon, such as a sword, is a player's best friend when in dangerous situations. One of the worst places to forget a melee weapon is in a cave. In underground places, players come across mobs in tight spaces, making ranged attacks difficult. It is important for the player to be able to kill mobs which are near the player.

Short walls
A wall is an excellent means of defending a certain area, either as a way to keep monsters out or for players to shoot enemies from afar without posing any danger to themselves. However, if a wall is designed incorrectly, spiders can easily scale the wall and make the 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. The player should be careful to make walls tall enough because spiders can jump over low walls (shorter than three blocks tall). Note that enemy players riding horses can jump up to 5 or 6 blocks tall while an enemy player can wear the elytra to fly over walls completely.

Carelessness in mineshafts
Mineshafts are some of the most dangerous places in Minecraft. Have these points in mind:
 * Cobwebs slow down the player, but not cave spiders. A careless player could end up stuck next to a cave spider or a cave spider spawner. The fastest tool to break cobwebs is a set of shears, but a sword will work quite well in a pinch.
 * Cobwebs appearing underwater in flooded mine shafts are extremely dangerous as the player may become trapped and drown. Always keep a sword and/or shears handy when traversing mineshafts.
 * The player should be wary of fire, as they sometimes generate near lava which can set the wooden structures on fire.
 * Mobs can easily lurk behind one of the mineshaft's many corners. If the mineshaft intersects a ravine, mobs may drop from a ledge high up in the ravines and attack any unsuspecting player. Be wary of mobs which may be in these blind spots.
 * The player should keep themselves orientated to make exiting the shaft easy, as the maze-like corridors can be confusing and disorienting. One way to help find an exit is to make several exit points.

Gaps in shelters
The purpose of a shelter is to protect the player 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 the player. The player should make sure that their house or fort is secure from all monster attacks, and only has entrances that can be defended easily. If the player wishes to see what is going on outside of their shelter while standing within, windows made out of glass or glass panes are always better than just punching a hole in the wall as an uncovered hole will allow skeleton arrows to strike the player from outside of the house, and allow mobs to path-find to the player easier.

If a creeper sees a player next to such a hole, they can explode from next to the wall. The player can also use a collection of partially transparent blocks as windows such as wooden gates, stairs, slabs, or trapdoors as hostile mobs cannot see through them. If the players must have a hole and not a window, for instance, an arrow slit, a block such as stairs can be used. Two upside downstairs facing toward each other in the wall leaves a space almost impossible to shoot through unless very close, making it safe from skeletons. A trapdoor also works great for this purpose, as the trapdoor can be flipped up when the hole is not in use.

Sugar cane farms near bases
it is difficult to identify a creeper hidden within sugar cane. By the time the player may recognize the threat, the creeper may already be about to explode. If the player desires a sugar cane farm near their house, make sure it is completely safe with the correct precautions to prevent mobs from spawning or wandering into the area. Sugar cane does have its uses, such as the fact that a player can hide from mobs within the middle of a 2-block tall sugar cane. This may help the player avoid dangerous mobs, but it is not a perfect method.

Attacking iron golems
Iron golems can be a reliable source of iron, but getting this iron the wrong way may lead to more trouble and should definitely not be done with a player-made iron golem. They only drop 3-6 iron ingots when they are killed while making it requires 4 iron blocks (36 pieces of iron). Killing village iron golems is not a good idea either. It can also be dangerous to attack an iron golem from a village as they will attack the player if provoked and are significantly stronger than the player in both health and damage, and can easily kill a player who is not prepared in 1 hit. Worst of all, killing a village's iron golem lowers the player's popularity with a village by 5 points. If the player's popularity with the village drops to -15, iron golems will be indefinitely hostile towards the player, until the player's village popularity is restored to a higher amount.

This does not mean players cannot harvest iron from iron golems, but rather they just have to construct an iron golem farm, where the iron golems are naturally (technically) spawned and are not killed directly by the player. It is just that the player must provide conditions for the "natural" spawning of iron golems.

Spawning the Wither in the wrong place
If the player spawns the wither in the Nether, the Wither could destroy blocks in the floor and open up holes to lava or large caverns, increasing the chance of the player falling into lava or a pit. Destruction to the ceiling could result in lava pouring down from above. If the wither is instead spawned in the End, it could create holes in the end stone for the player to fall into the void.

If the player spawns the wither during a fight with the Ender Dragon, the player has to deal with two bosses. The player may attempt to have the wither kill the Ender Dragon or distract endermen, but for most players, killing the Ender Dragon is easier without the wither being there as well as the wither often is more of a hassle to the player than the Ender Dragon. Also, the wither can destroy end stone, which increases the chance of the player falling into the void. It should be noted that endermen can help the player in a fight against the wither by also attacking the wither. Sometimes the wither can create huge lagging when fighting enderman and the dragon due to the massive amount of wither skulls.

Exception: If the player knows the placement of the soul sand and wither skulls, they may try using the top bedrock layer in the Nether to help trap the wither during the fight. (This is not that hard, but has disastrous consequences if done incorrectly.)

Withers can easily destroy any structure except indestructible blocks. If the player is planning to fight the wither, they should move very far away from important land and buildings. Withers make huge explosions when spawned and shoot out wither skulls that explode. The player cannot stop the wither from dealing damage to the world. If a wither is spawned in the wrong location, it still takes a large number of hits to be defeated, even with diamond swords with smite enchantments and potions of strength. The best place to fight the wither is in a cave or mineshaft far underground. This will prevent the Wither from flying too high which will make it easier to hit, one can also use gamerule commands to prevent mob griefing.

Wooden doors in Hard difficulty
On hard difficulty, zombies can easily break down wooden doors and attack the player while they are within their base. There are multiple ways to protect a wooden door from zombies in hard difficulty such as placing a block front of the door anytime they are not using it, using an alternative door (fence gates, iron doors, trapdoors, etc.), placing a slab at the top of the front of the door (as of 1.14), or placing a door from inside the door-hole so it is opened to close off the door opening. Another way to block Zombies from doors is to place the door in the opened position, as the Zombie's A.I. treats it as open and prevents the Zombie from smashing it down. Tutorials/Traps has more ways to protect the player's door from zombies along with other threats such as players.

Using Knockback enchantments on skeletons
Using a sword enchanted with Knockback on a skeleton knocks it away and gives it more time to attack the player, making it is harder to kill the skeleton. There are exceptions, such as when the skeleton could be knocked back into a position which kills it or removes it from where it can harm the player, such as over a cliff. They would probably die from the fall, and if the water broke their fall then they would not be capable of attacking the player (if the cliff was high enough). Also, a player with a shield could protect them self against its arrow if the player was using a sword enchanted with Knockback.

This is also true when attacking a Drowned that is using a trident (a ranged weapon).

Crossing rivers at night-time without a shield
Skeletons are especially dangerous if the player is swimming. Even if the player does not see any skeletons, there may be some out of sight which may walk out unexpectedly. If the player attempts to fight a skeleton while the player is in water and the skeleton on land, it will shoot very fast and try to knock the player away. Because of the fact that player movement is hampered in water, the player will not be able to reach the skeleton quickly while swimming, which may completely prevent the player from damaging the skeleton with melee attacks. It is even harder to fight a skeleton in flowing water if the water is flowing against the player. Meanwhile, diving into a pool may keep many mobs from attacking the player, but skeletons can still shoot arrows through water, even if the arrows move slower through the water.

Also, undead mobs such as skeletons will not burn in daylight if they are standing or swimming in a water block, however, they will sink underwater. One of the best ways to get a fight with a skeleton is to leave the water and wait for the skeleton to follow the player to sink underwater, where the player will then have an even playing field to kill it. It should be noted that either Depth Strider or Frost Walker enchantments on boots can allow fast player movement in the water. If the player has this enchantment, sprinting in the water may be utilized to beat skeletons in water.

Not bringing enough equipment for fighting bosses
If the player finds an End Portal, have the soul sand and skulls required to make the wither, or find an ocean monument, and the player decides to defeat these bosses, that player must bring enough equipment as well as the right equipment. These are some suggested items for boss fights:


 * High protection enchanted iron or diamond armor
 * A sword, preferably diamond or enchanted (Smite for the wither; Sharpness for the Ender Dragon and guardians)
 * A bow, also preferably enchanted (Infinity and Power for the dragon and wither and avoid using bows to kill guardians)
 * Impaling V trident to kill guardians
 * Golden apples or health potions
 * Building blocks or ladders to solve problems with terrain
 * Milk, since it removes the Wither and Mining Fatigue effects (Not needed for the dragon).
 * Note that Milk also removes beneficial potion effects such as Underwater Breathing & Night Vision. Be sure to bring extra potions to restore those desired effects that were removed from drinking Milk. This is important to remember when relying on potion effects to explore ocean monuments.
 * Friends: it is easier with more than one person, so if the player is on a server it is better to fight as a group. On singleplayer, wolves and golems could work as a partial substitute.
 * A helmet enchanted with Respiration and Aqua Affinity and boots enchanted with Depth Strider for fighting guardians and maneuvering around ocean monuments
 * Potion of water breathing (for guardians only)
 * If the player is fighting the wither, it is very effective to do so in a low-ceiling cave so the player can have the option of using melee attacks.
 * Do not fight the wither with melee attacks in the Nether without making sure there is no lava lake below the floor for the fight.

Attacking silverfish in strongholds without a weapon which can kill it in one hit
Once the player attacks a silverfish in a stronghold, it will awaken all other silverfish in the vicinity, meaning the player will have a lot of silverfish to deal with. If the player uses a weapon that can kill it in one hit, or if deals damage through indirect means (for example by lighting a fire with flint and steel), the silverfish will not call reinforcements and the player will be much safer. A diamond sword, or an axe that is stone or better, should be able to kill a silverfish in one hit.

Snow golems near beds
Because of the fact that snow layer counts as a block, any snow layers next to the bed a player slept in may result in the player waking up standing on their bed, and chancing waking up inside a block if the player's ceiling is only 2 blocks above, which may result in suffocation damage to the player. The player may also not respawn at their bed if they die, because it is "obstructed". To avoid this, keep snow golems away from player beds. Also, if the player must sleep in a snowy biome, the player may want to place their bed at least 1 block off the ground.

Not bringing the right equipment for ocean monuments
Ocean monuments are very dangerous unless prepared. Guardians spawn in them, which do 4.5 hearts of damage on hard, and 3 elder guardians, which will inflict Mining Fatigue III to the player, which makes breaking blocks near impossible. The proper equipment for some players is:

A Trident, with Loyalty and Impaling enchantments. Unbreaking would be good too. Conduits are excellent for this, as the large supply of prismarine (after drinking some milk, prismarine can be mined) makes it easy to build a frame. The conduit power also allows players to use milk without losing Water Breathing.
 * Potion of water breathing (essential, bring at least 4), should be brewed with redstone dust to lengthen the duration
 * Potion of Night Vision (bring at least 2)
 * Splash potion of Healing I or II (optional, but good for quick healing, bring at least 3)
 * Splash potion of Regeneration (optional, but helps a lot while fighting guardians and elder guardians, bring at least 1)
 * Potion of Strength (optional, but very helpful when fighting guardians and elder guardians, bring at least 2)
 * Enchanted diamond armor (good enchantments include Respiration, Aqua Affinity, Protection, and Depth Strider)
 * Fairly large amount of food
 * A diamond sword enchanted with at least Sharpness I but NOT any Knockback
 * Iron or diamond pickaxe (essential, if the player wants to get the blocks of gold in the monument, should be enchanted with at least Efficiency II if the player plans to mine with mining fatigue)
 * Milk (optional, but can get rid of the mining fatigue effect for a few seconds or after the player kills all the Elder Guardians)
 * A door to create an air pocket. The air pocket will replenish the player's air.

Not bring the right equipment for woodland mansions
While they contain plenty of chest loot and are absolutely massive, the woodland mansions also contain illagers, which are hostile versions of villagers. Two kinds are found: vindicators and evokers. Both are extremely dangerous to fight. These structures are designed for the end-game, so make sure to bring the best gear.

Fighting witches without proper defenses
Witches are dangerous. They throw negative splash potions at the player such as poison, instant harming, weakness, and slowness. Witches have hearts -  more than the player. Players should never go unprepared when fighting a witch, because no matter how strong the player's armor is, it will not protect the player from the potions unless it is enchanted with protection. Also, witches drink positive potions such as instant healing, speed, fire resistance, and water breathing. Lava, flint and steel and Fire Aspect weapons are almost useless against witches due to the fact that they can drink a potion of Fire Resistance to negate these effects. Witches are also impossible to drown since they drink potions of water breathing. Splash potions are also not very useful against witches due to the fact that they are 85% resistant to splash potions, which is almost equivalent to not taking any damage from them at all. It is suggested the player use a bow to kill a witch. Using good armor enchanted with Protection is a great help as well. If the player chooses to engage a witch in melee combat, then the player should kill the witch quickly as witches cannot throw potions at varying speeds, Milk is also great as it removes poison, a dangerous negative status effect that can drop the player down to heart, allowing the Witch to easily finish the player off with a harming splash potion.

Attacking villagers
Attacking (or even accidentally hitting) a villager will cause the player to lose 1 popularity (see Village). Killing one results in a loss of 2 popularity, which is not worth anything to the player as villagers drop nothing. Attacking a baby villager results in the player losing 3 popularity. If the player kills the village's iron golem, the player loses 5 popularity. If the player's popularity is -15 or lower, any naturally spawned iron golems will attack the player without being provoked. Also, the village popularity will not reset when the player gets killed and the only way the player can get their popularity back up is to trade with villagers. So the player should not ever attack villagers or iron golems. If the player plans on killing a villager or iron golem, they should use natural damage such as fire, lava, or dispensed TNT. Iron golems do drop iron ingots upon death. The player can also build an iron golem farm specifically to collect iron ingots. Remember, villagers are the player's friends, not their foes!

Spending the night near villages without sleeping
If the player is in a village at midnight, there is a 10% chance that a zombie siege could begin. Dozens of zombies will spawn regardless of how well-lit or walled-off the village is. A few good sieges can easily wipe out the player's local village, and it is extremely tedious to try to repopulate it with zombie villagers. Staying out of the village boundary is sufficient to prevent zombie sieges from occurring, but it is still advised to stay farther away from the village, in order to prevent random zombie spawns.

Attacking wolves
Remember that wolves can also be allied with the player. If the player attacks them, all the wolves around will get angry also, and when wolves are angry, they cannot be tamed, similar to zombie pigmen. Also, wolves do not despawn on Peaceful mode, but they will damage the player in the Bedrock edition and will not damage the player in Java Edition and the Console edition on Peaceful mode.

Polar bears with cubs
Polar bears are neutral mobs, but they can deal up to damage per hit on Hard mode. Also incredibly easy to provoke. An adult polar bear which is with a polar bear cub will attack the player without being provoked.

Enderman early in the game
This is especially important for beginners; players should not attack or look directly at endermen (since that will provoke them) if they do not know how to properly deal with them. Without adequate armor for the player, endermen can deal incredibly high damage compared to most mobs, and their teleporting abilities can make them unpredictable. If the player provokes an enderman and is unprepared to continue to engage it, the player can use water to pacify the enderman as they will stop being aggressive as soon as they step in water. They will also take damage. Another good way to kill it is to hide underneath a two-block gap, as the enderman will be unable to reach the player.

Not throwing potions far enough
If the player does not throw a splash potion with a negative effect far enough, they will be affected by the potion. The player may then be very adversely affected. Therefore, the player should make sure that if they are throwing a splash potion at an enemy, they should throw it far so that they do not get affected by their own potion.

Using melee on creepers in water
Creepers submerged in water cannot destroy blocks and structures by exploding, but the slowing effects of the water make it especially tricky to kill them effectively. Unless the player wants to make it explode to get rid of it quickly without affecting the terrain, the player should use a bow instead of a melee weapon to kill a creeper submerged in water.

Using carved pumpkins in the End
As the carved pumpkin severely impairs the player's vision, it may not be a good idea to wear it and fight the dragon head-on, even if it prevents endermen from attacking the player. However, if the player uses a resource pack, third-person view, or removes the GUI to remove the impaired view of the carved pumpkin, the player will be able to see the entire screen, and endermen cannot become provoked by the player looking at them. If the player would rather use a diamond helmet and they are confident they can keep their crosshair away from the endermen, using a diamond helmet might be a better idea. Some versions of the game may not have all the listed suggestions for using carved pumpkins, so be prepared to find alternative methods for different Minecraft versions.

Not keeping an eye on the ground
If the player does not watch for hazards at their feet while moving, they might fall off into a ravine, lava lake, or a patch of mobs, or instead, fall off a mountain. The player may die and lose their stuff. Nobody wants to be surprised by falling down into a dangerous place. The dangers from this mistake are easy to fix by keeping an eye on the ground while moving (Even if it is pressing F5 twice to change the camera view).

Standing next to blocks while mining
This is not quite so obvious either, but if the player mines the blocks directly in front of them while being very close to the block, several negative things could happen. The player could walk into a ravine, walk straight into a monster spawner, or even worse, have lava flow onto them. The player should use ambiance noise to their advantage. If the player hears a weird noise, lava, or water they proceed with caution.

Hardcore mode for beginners
Hardcore mode should not be played by beginners. Once the player dies in hardcore mode, the world becomes unplayable in survival. Players in Hardcore mode need to be extra careful to keep dangers away from them, such as by lighting up dark areas or preparing equipment for fights against mobs. The player should avoid dangerous situations, such as mining, if they do not have the proper tools. It will not end well for the player if they cannot fight mobs properly. If the player really wants to dig, they may want to stay safe and build a quarry. It should be remembered in Hardcore mode that there is absolutely no point in safe-keeping important items from dangerous places because the player will only respawn on Spectator mode if they die and cannot collect their items. Players should not try Hardcore mode until they are familiar with the game mechanics by playing a few games on lower difficulties first.

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 for the player to make sure that they 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 could set trees ablaze and destroy large areas of forest. These bolts are also nearly lethal to the player if they are hit by one, so standing outside during a thunderstorm is always a risky prospect. And, if that was not bad enough, lightning bolts can transform pigs into zombie pigmen, villagers into witches, and creepers into charged creepers. It also has a chance to spawn skeleton horseman. Overall, thunderstorms are a dangerous situation if the player does not have good armor. The player should not do it in real life, so do not do it in Minecraft.

Missing too much sleep
If the player goes at least 3 nights without entering a bed, phantoms have chances to spawn high above the player. The more nights the player goes without sleep, the higher the chance is that phantoms will spawn and the greater the number of them there'll be. To avoid phantoms, the player doesn't actually have to sleep through the night; they just have to enter a bed for any amount of time. Alternatively, the player could remain inside during nighttime.

Goofing around in the Nether
The vast space inside the Nether along with its environment comes with many risks and hazards than one would expect from the Overworld. The player should come well-prepared with a bow with at least Power I, at least three stacks of arrows, (or one arrow if the player has Infinity), enchanted iron/diamond armor, especially those with Fire protection, and an iron or diamond sword (preferably enchanted with Smite or Sharpness). However, unless the player is on Hardcore, they should leave their more valuable equipment such as diamond items at home: an inventory-incinerating death in lava is far more likely in the Nether than it is in the Overworld. The player should only bring along one or more stone pickaxes and a stone shovel (unless they plan to farm soul sand to plant nether wart in the Overworld) as tools, and torches, at least half a stack of food, flint and steel for relighting the player's nether portal if something happens to it, and two to three stacks of cobblestone. If the player does not want to risk losing anything else, then they should not bring anything else.

Next:


 * 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 rules, rather than the exception. It is best not to dig anywhere close to the player's feet with a diamond pickaxe with any level of efficiency, as netherrack breaks instantly with the said combination. The player should be careful on gravel as well—they may dig one block and discover they were standing on a gravel outcrop over a chasm or worse, the lava sea at the base of the Nether. Safe mining techniques work in the Nether, just as they do in the Overworld.


 * Do not carry valuable items in the Nether, unless the player has set up a secure Nether base and even if the player is carrying valuables, a diamond or Efficiency-enchanted pickaxe can be more trouble than it is worth, as it will blast through netherrack floors and walls entirely too fast. The player can break 4 or 5 blocks with a single click.


 * Do not build structures out of anything weaker than iron doors (25 blast resistance). Ghasts can and will blow up and possibly set fire to lesser materials. Nether bricks or cobblestone (both with 30 blast resistance) are good construction materials. Obsidian is more durable but harder to obtain.


 * Do not mine glowstone unless it can be collected safely constructing a cobblestone platform underneath it. Otherwise, a ghast might blow up both the player and the cluster or the glowstone may fall into a lava pit or a group of magma cubes. Also, players should not go out of their way to find glowstone if they know where a witch hut is – the player can kill witches every so often to have a chance to get a little more glowstone. For those who have the patience, building a witch farm is worthwhile, and circumvents the danger of ghasts. But so long as the player is alert and has a Power I bow, they can kill Ghasts in one shot, making them much less dangerous.




 * The player should not plan on using a water bucket as their defense against death in a lava pool, as water does not work in the Nether. By using the water bucket, some particles will appear and their bucket will become empty. The player should try to gain the necessary materials for Fire Resistance potions as soon as possible and use the potions as their defense instead.


 * The player should not attack zombie pigmen without ample preparation for the consequences. For example, the player should be at an advantageous position or must only be near a few zombie pigman to fight them. Zombie pigmen are so dangerous because they will attack the player as a group if one of them is attacked. This is similar to wolves, in that zombie pigmen in the area of an attacked zombie pigmen will all become aggressive to the player. Zombie pigmen hit harder and are faster than regular Zombies, so it is better to kill single, isolated zombie pigmen unless the player is well-equipped and experienced enough to take on large groups. A defensible building is advisable for players who combat against zombie pigman to wait in as needed. Adding parts such as holes to check on the pigman through are useful in such buildings. If the player cannot get away fast enough after angering some zombie pigmen, their best chance of survival is to hit the zombie pigmen away with a Knockback enchanted sword. The player can knock them into lava as a defense method, because lava will slow them down and give the player time to escape, but the player should remember that all Nether mobs are immune to fire and lava. If the player is quick enough, they can pillar up a couple blocks attack the zombie pigmen safely from the pillar. If the player wants to kill zombie pigmen without angering them, using a dispenser of TNT will not anger them as it counts as environmental damage and killing them in one hit will not either.(This can be done using a powerful sword and performing a critical hit, or using a potion of Strength.


 * The player should not catch them self on fire, since the player cannot easily extinguish themselves in the nether as water can only be placed in cauldrons while in the nether.


 * If the player right-clicks a bed in the Nether, it will explode and possibly kill them. If the player is on an overhang, they could even fall, potentially into lava. If the player dies in the Nether when not in Hardcore mode, the player will respawn in the Overworld. This can be a good thing, because in single-player or if no other players are near where the player died, the Nether chunk will unload and the player will have plenty of time to re-equip them self and maybe even go back to retrieve their stuff. See this section.

If the player is not playing on Hardcore mode, and want to preview the Nether, they may want to equip some cheap weapons just in case the nether portal spawns in a lava ocean.

Careless mining of netherrack
Note: This is true of any diamond pickaxe with Efficiency II or higher, any iron pickaxe of Efficiency III or higher.

The player should avoid bringing highly enchanted pickaxes with them. The Efficiency enchantment is useful for breaking blocks quickly, but using it in the Nether when mining netherrack may lead to death. Netherrack is a very soft block and high efficiency is not only not needed, but it will also mine netherrack, so fast by holding the mine button, the player could drill out large quantities of netherrack quite quickly. Players digging recklessly in the Nether environment, where lava flows as fast as water in the Overworld, can drill themselves into lava pools or rivers. Also, netherrack has very limited use and could end up wasting the player's Efficiency pickaxe.

However, if the player has potions of Fire Resistance to survive surprise lava and/or falling into a lake or river, and wants a ton of netherrack, then they could dig a tunnel without much worry with an Efficiency enchanted pickaxe. A player without active fire resistance must make any nether tunnels at least two blocks wide with one side of the floor a block higher than the other, so that if the player does hit surprise lava, it will be channeled to the lower side. The player should always stand on the high side of this type of tunnel.

The conclusion is: It is best to mine carefully and take precautions in a world like the Nether.

Not bringing fire resistance in the Nether
This advice is more relevant for more risky ventures in the Nether, where the player is likely to catch on fire. Of course, the player cannot get the ingredients for fire resistance potions without first entering the Nether. If the player has not gotten blaze rods or started brewing yet, it is best to have some spare food and have a full set of iron or diamond Armor on with a bow or tons of snowballs to kill blazes, because when they set the player on fire, it is hard for the player to extinguish themself as they cannot place water in the Nether. When the player enters the Nether, they could look for magma cubes to brew a potion of fire resistance, which could then help in future Nether expeditions. If the player has a hard time finding magma cubes, they can get magma cream from combining blaze powder and a slimeball in 1&times;2 arrangement. Enchanted golden apples cannot be crafted in Java and Bedrock Editions, and can only be found in loot chests in generated structures making them less available for their fire resistance effect.

Riding mobs in the Nether
Horse s are useful in the hilly Overworld, or flat plains, but the Nether is no horse paradise. There are many cliffs horses can fall off of, ghasts to shoot the player into a sea of lava, magma blocks and soul sand, and the place is one big cave. Players do not usually take a horse when they go mining because it is dangerous, and the Nether should be thought of the same. If the player must use a horse or donkey in the Nether they should take several precautions: Alternatively, if the player is making a transport system in the Nether, they can create a pathway exclusively for the horse to effectively create a “horse subway” that will travel extremely fast with the combined speed of the horse and the distance reducing the effect of the Nether. This is less convenient for the player while traveling through the nether but it does take much less setup than a minecart system which is less tedious and less dangerous to use, but harder to build.
 * Use a Fire Resistance potion
 * Use horse armor
 * Avoid Speed potions to help avoid running into lava or off cliffs

Make sure the animal used can be easily controlled.

Forgetting to bring tools for fire in the Nether
Even if the player secures their portal, there is always the possibility that a ghast will de-light it (not destroy it, as Obsidian is only destroyed by a Diamond pickaxe or the Wither). If this happens, the player cannot return to the Overworld easily, which is why the player needs their flint and steel to re-light the portal. If not, the player would need to do one of the following activities, many of which are dangerous:
 * Trick a ghast into shooting the portal again, to relight it. This does place the player in harm's way.
 * If the player has found a nether fortress, they can kill a ghast, blaze and wither skeleton, then craft fire charge. However, Wither skeletons and Blazes are dangerous.
 * Try to get lava to set wood next to the portal on fire such as the fire appears inside the portal frame.
 * Find a flint and steel in a nether fortress chest(or just iron, as flint can be obtained from gravel)

If the player is trapped in the Nether, they can also kill themselves to respawn in the Overworld. It is advised that players place their items in a chest if possible first. The player can return to the Nether (hopefully with a flint and steel this time) to retrieve their items. The player should remember that they will lose most of their experience if they do this.

Wasted resources
These things not to do will probably not result in death if the player does decide to do them, but will waste resources, sometimes valuable ones, unnecessarily.

Logs for fuel
A log burns the same amount of items as a planks (1.5 items). The player should craft 4 planks from 1 log and use the planks as fuel to multiply the burning efficiency by 4. Charcoal, which the player gets from burning 1 log, burns 8 items. Use 2 planks to burn 3 logs, to make a long lasting and efficient fuel source.

Crafting rabbit stew
Rabbit stew restores 5 hunger, making it seem like a great food source, as it restores more hunger than any other food that can be eaten all at once. However, the 3 edible ingredients (the cooked rabbit, baked potato, and carrot) combined restore more than 5 hunger. The carrot restores 1.5 hunger + the cooked rabbit meat restores 2.5 hunger + and the baked potato restores 2.5 hunger. 1.5 + 2.5 + 2.5 = 6.5 hunger. Therefore, crafting rabbit stew results in a net loss of 1.5 hunger, not counting the mushroom and the bowl used to craft it. Plus, rabbit stew does not stack, so it will hog up the player's inventory.

Drinking base potions
These base potions (awkward, mundane, thick potions) have no effects on the player. The player will instead consume nether wart and other potion ingredients, which are all valuable for brewing useful potions. Therefore, the player should avoid drinking awkward, mundane, and thick potions altogether.

Brewing mundane or thick potions

In addition to having no effect on the player, mundane and thick potions cannot be brewed into anything. All useful potions, with the exception of Weakness, stem from the Awkward potion.

Crafting a lot of one item
By conserving materials in their original forms, the player can save several slots of inventory and chest space. The player may also need to recollect the original item if they need more of it later. There are exceptions, such as how a player can "compress" 9 ingots into a single block and change the block straight back into 9 ingots.

Mining with the wrong tool
If the player does not have an a high enough level pickaxe for the block they are mining, no item will be dropped when the block is destroyed. A good indication on if the player is mining with the correct pickaxe is by the amount of time it takes for the block to be destroyed. If the player has been mining a block other than obsidian for more than 4 seconds, then the block will likely drop no resources when destroyed and the player will just lose the item they tried to mine. The player can just memorize which pickaxe is at least needed for each block over time.
 * Using wood for wooden tools wastes as these tools are weak and not durable. The player should only craft wood tools as needed to avoid wasting wood. When the player starts, they should make a wooden pickaxe, mine 19 stone blocks, and then they will never again need the wooden pickaxe, or any other wooden tool. The remaining stone can be used for a full set of stone tools and a furnace. The player can then burn the wooden pickaxe as fuel in the furnace.
 * The player should use golden tools only if they need an especially fast gathering of resources for a short period (for example, working underwater). Gold also enchants as higher levels, so gold tools are useful if the player wants any enchantment which would otherwise be difficult to obtain, such as silk touch or high levels of Thorns. However, note that gold pickaxes cannot mine anything a wooden pickaxe cannot (Including gold ore and blocks themselves!), regardless of enchantments, and they break very quickly.
 * Stone tools are fairly slow, but they are so cheap as to be disposable. Two stone tools will also last as long as an iron tool. (Longer, with item repairing.) These are good for bulk work. It may be a good idea to use a stone pickaxes to mine everything stone pickaxes can mine since they are far easier to make more of than iron pickaxes or diamond pickaxes and thus the other tools are used less frequently, saving durability. The same goes for other kinds of tools. This ties into the next section.

Wasting valuable equipment on low-value jobs
Diamond items last long enough that they are as likely to be lost to an unlucky death as they are to wear out, so the player must ask themselves when and where they are willing to risk their more valuable tools. The player should never use iron, gold or diamond for hoes, as the only gain is durability (All hoes till land instantly). In fact, golden tools have half the durability of a wooden tool.
 * Iron tools are faster than stone and have twice the durability of stone tools. Weapon damage is greater and armor can be created from this material. Iron ore is fairly common but not unlimited. Iron ingots can be infinitely acquired through an iron golem farm. These should be most player's go-to tools for traveling or adventuring. Players should avoid creating gold tools as there is no advantage to using these weaker, less durable, and more expensive items.
 * Diamond tools are for special missions where the player wants stuff without having to create large numbers of tools and work fast. However, the supply of diamonds is strictly limited, so the player should choose carefully how they use and risk them! Given that the player should try to get the most out of their diamond items, they should enchant their diamond tools with higher enchantments.
 * Shovels also get used up, but are much cheaper than other tools, only one diamond piece is consumed. If the player has many diamonds, an "eternal-shovel" may be a decent time-saver.
 * Swords only cost two diamonds and can give the player a key edge in fights, making them more worthwhile for everyday use by the player, but the player should also remember that the more expensive item will also increase the possible cost if the player does die.
 * Diamond armor should be carefully thought about by the player, as the player could lose a high investment (24 diamonds for a full set of armor) if they die. Just with diamond swords, the player does have higher chances of survival while using these items which makes this a real decision.
 * A diamond hoe is completely useless as it deals almost no extra damage compared to fists and there are no special enchantments for it. Hoes also all work instantly, making the only advantage of more expensive hoes being very long durability. This decision should be weighed against the choice of using those same diamonds for another tool or a sword.

Of course, if a villager blacksmith sells diamond tools, that makes diamond tools less costly as the player can trade renewable resources for emeralds, and then those for iron and diamond tools.

The player should also remember that time is another valuable resource in Minecraft. Someone could easily hollow out a 10×10×10 area with wooden picks and wooden shovels, but it could be a waste of time when one has diamond tools to use on the same project. Using iron and stone tools to mine in order to conserve diamonds takes away the point of gathering the diamonds in the first place, and most people do not want to spend their entire Minecraft experience digging with weak tools when they can finish digging quickly with diamond tools. If the player has a shorter time restriction for playing Minecraft, it may be more beneficial for the player to use up diamonds to save time. However, if the player does not have many diamonds, do not waste them on unnecessary tools, such as shovels and axes.

The Mending enchantment can make the use of diamond tools a much better proposition, especially when paired with Unbreaking and/or Fortune. A Mending pickaxe that is used to mine ores that give experience will never break because the experience from the orbs will repair it instantly. In this case, the durability from diamond will also allow it to mine other stuff and it can always be taken to an experience farm for more repairing. A diamond sword with Mending can last forever when killing monsters, making the high damage from diamond a much better investment.

Tools as melee weapons
The player should always carry a good melee weapon with them. Many tools cause less damage to mobs than a sword, are slower, and lose durability quickly when used for combat.

An axe deals high damage and can also chop wood faster. Many axes deal the same amount of damage, making any axe can deal at least as much damage as a diamond sword; however, axes are more expensive and have much slower attack speeds than swords, so the player may find them less useful if they often miss their melee attacks. Axes have another use in the ability to disable shields temporarily for any fights the player ends up in against another player.

A shovel is not a good weapon choice, and pickaxes are worse. The hoe deals the same damage as the player's fist.

For more details on what weapon causes what amount of the damage, see "damage".

A pickaxe with mending can be repaired by using it to kill monsters in a pinch, but it's usually better to set up an experience farm for that purpose.

Using gold for armor and weapons
Even though golden tools do work faster than diamonds (excluding stuff that golden tools cannot mine such as obsidian and most ores), and are much easier to enchant than diamond or iron (for example, a golden pickaxe can pick up an ender chest more quickly than a diamond one, and it is easier to get Silk Touch on it. This makes it seem like a good idea to have one to mine ender chests.), they have very low durability (half the durability of a wooden tool). Instead, the player should use gold to craft golden apples, golden carrots for potions or food, powered rails, or a clock.

The exception to this is if the player has a gold (zombie pigman) farm in the Nether. If they do, then gold becomes an easily renewable resource. Zombie pigmen drop gold ingots and nuggets upon death, making gold renewable in nugget, ingot, and block form. Gold is also better than leather armor in all cases (other than durability), so if the player does not have enough iron to make a full set of armor, gold is good for their armor. However, the player is likely to get more iron than gold, unless they spawn in a badlands biome, where gold can be found near the surface.

Here are some examples of how weak golden tools are:
 * A gold sword with Unbreaking III has around the same durability as a stone sword.
 * A gold sword with Sharpness V does the damage of a non-enchanted diamond sword.

Using tools on leaves, grass, vines, and flowers
Using a tool on leaves is a bad idea, because it will drain the uses the player's tool has. If the player were to use a tool on all of the leaves on a tree, not even an iron tool would last very long. It is just as fast for the player to use their fists or any non-tool items on leaves as it uses a tool other than a sword or shears on a leaf block or grass. The player should use shears on leaves or grass if they want to collect leaf blocks as an item. If the player will be cutting through a lot of leaves or cobwebs, they may choose to make a few disposable stone swords to use as machetes. However. if the player has extra axes or shovels enchanted with Fortune and wants saplings, the player may want to use them on the leaves. This is an especially good idea when trying to obtain jungle saplings, as their drop rate is much lower.

Using axes for beds
Breaking a bed with an axe takes just as long as breaking with hand. It will also use the durability of the axe.

Using pickaxes with rare enchantments
The player should not use a pickaxe enchanted with Fortune as they will not get any extra stone than the normal one stone each and will waste their enchanted pickaxe's durability. A good idea is to bring an iron pick to mine stone, iron, and gold, which are not affected by Fortune.

There are two exceptions to this:
 * If the player has a tool enchanted with Mending. With the advent of the Mending enchantment, players do not need to always look to use the perfect tool for each job as it is perfectly conceivable to have any tool such as pickaxes last indefinitely if the tools are enchanted and the player practices diligence in repairing tools with experience.


 * If the player can purchase that pickaxe (Tool Smith), or the enchants in book form (Librarian), from a villager vendor.

Disposing low-durability items
No player wants to use tools that are about to break, so many players just throw low-durability tools out, even if they are valuable. It is a big mistake to throw away low-durability tools and armor, as it still has some use. An item with low durability can still be used, so throwing out these items is wasting the potential use they could be used for. The player can also use old tools to repair other items. Low-durability items could be kept in a chest in case the player dies and loses their stuff. Any scrap tools or armor made of metal can be chucked in the furnace to obtain a nugget and old wooden tools and weapons can instead be used as furnace fuel.

The downside of using objects with a low durability is that they may break whilst being used, which forces the player to have to craft new tools or carry extra tools. This is a problem, especially for weapons and armor. The player could instead store low-durability items while new items are being used so the pieces of equipment can be combined later.

Fortunately, the Mending enchantment enables one to repair any item they are holding in their main hand, offhand, and any currently worn armor using experience from any source, even if some may not consider experience for 2 durability a good trade. (Note: All of the said items need an individual Mending enchantment in order for this to work.)

Disposing less valuable items
Most players do not want their chests and inventory hogged up with less valuable items such as rotten flesh or seeds. However, players should consider before throwing away items of any value, even almost seemingly useless items, as the items may come in handy later in the game.

For instance, rotten flesh is not only an efficient food for wolves, but it also makes a great emergency food for players. Also, if the player wants emeralds, they can use rotten flesh to trade with Villagers for emeralds(priests). Another example item is cobblestone. It can be used to create great emergency tools, smelted for experience points on demand, or used as a useful, everyday building block.

The player should always think about what they are throwing away before they do. No matter what, chests are cheap to craft. Space is not unlimited, though.

Wasting experience
As the player's experience level rises past a certain point, the experience orbs the player collects count less towards the next level each time they level up. In other words, each level takes more and more experience to fill up. Since the player will never be able to enchant anything at a level higher than 30, they should make sure to enchant as soon as possible as otherwise, the player will be wasting much of the experience that they gained after that point. Even worse, if the player dies, they will lose the majority of their experience permanently. For example, when the player defeats the Ender Dragon, they receive 12,000 experience points, which is enough to bring their experience level up to level 78. This is a high amount of experience, but a large portion of this experience is wasted because so much of it is used to achieve higher experience levels.

To aid in efficiently using experience levels, the player should create means to have easy access to books and tools for enchanting. The player will also need bookshelves if they want to have access to high-level enchantments, something which is necessary to allow the player to not be forced to either spread low level enchants across cheap gear, put low level enchants on diamond armor and tools, or waste experience from going far past level 30 and possibly dying.

Diamond is the best candidate for enchantment in most circumstances, so if the player has enough diamonds, it is always good to enchant diamond armor and tools first. Level 30 enchantments are usually the best since they usually output the highest levels of enchantments. Enchanting pickaxes early on can greatly help the player, as they could get the Fortune enchantment on their pickaxe which would increase their diamond output when they mine. If the player has run out of diamonds to make into gear and enchant and they do not want to waste their experience, a good candidate is a bow or a fishing rod. Since these items do not have tiers, the player is still making sure that they make the most out of their experience points. And then when they do get enough diamonds, they can use those.

Lastly, if the player has a very efficient mob grinder or villager trading hall with appropriate farms, they will not need to worry as much about efficiency of using experience points as the player will have plenty of experience points and will be able to enchant all of the tools and armor they use with enough patience. If the player uses these items well, their in-game activities will be much easier and efficient, so the player should make sure to make the most out of their experience points.

Avoid Overloading enchantments
Try not to over-enchant tools and weapons, as over-enchanting them will increase the risk of not being able to repair them. This is because the anvil has a limit of 39 levels for a task, so even if the player has enough levels, the anvil will still declare the repair work “too expensive” if the task costs more than the anvil's limit. The player can avoid increasing anvil costs by not renaming items early on, or combining other items and enchanted books with the item. The player can circumvent issues with high anvil costs by enchanting tools with the Mending enchantment, removing the need to repair these tools using an anvil. If a player does not have access to mending books, they could also enchant items with Unbreaking to increase the time between needing to repair items in an anvil.

Throwing away tools
The player should try to avoid throwing away tools that they think they do not need anymore, as they might need these extra tools as backups, in case any of their tools break. For example, if the player brought only 1 pickaxe with them and it broke, the player would have to stop mining and may need to return to their base/home and get the supplies they need.

The exception to this are wooden tools. Wooden tools are slow, they break easily, and the player usually still has a few from their first day lying around. It is not a bad idea to get rid of those; however, the player could put them in an item frame as a trophy to remember they survived their first day or they can use those as fuels to smelt ores and cook food (pretty much conserving coals, for later use). Also, stone tools are also slow, can only mine coal, iron ore, or lapis lazuli, and are usually only good for mining in bulk (or establishing a strip mining field).

Collecting excess items
Shears are made for collecting plants like leaves, vines, and grass, but the player should avoid collecting too many, as the extra items will hog up their inventory and chest space. The player should instead collect a number of items close to the amount they need for their projects instead of collecting large amounts of items for no reason. It should also be remembered that shears lose durability from breaking blocks, so if the player collected several stacks of leaves and did not know what to do with them, the player would have just wasted 2 iron ingots which could have been used for something else.

Cluttered inventories


The player has a limited amount of space in their inventory, so they should keep from carrying items they do not need everywhere and can collect more of the items they do need without much hassle. Many times, the player will think that he/she has enough space in his/her inventory, but in fact, that player may find many more important items and not have any room.

The player should consider organizing their inventory for quick access and perhaps a professional feel to help them self keep track of what is necessary and what is not. Organizing also helps cut down on the time it takes to find items the player needs or just collected. If the player needs to, they can increase the items they have on hand by using shulker boxes and ender chests, which retain their inventory when picked up.

Disposing of tropical fish items
Tropical fish are pretty much useless apart from restoring half a hunger point. Despite this, the player may want to keep some as an emergency food source or for giving to cats and ocelots.

Using fire charges
If the player has a flint and steel, they should not use fire charges to light casual fires. Fire charges require far more expensive materials to create than flint and steel and unlike flint and steel, each fire charge only has one use. Under normal circumstances, it is not worth wasting those hard-earned fire charges when the player could just use a flint and steel. However, if the player gets trapped in Nether without flint and steel, they can be useful for re-activating the portal, since all their ingredients appear naturally in Nether. (Gunpowder from ghasts, coal from wither skeletons and blaze powder from blaze rods obtained from blazes.)

Smelting ores rather than mining them
Except for iron and gold ores, ores can only be obtained using the Silk Touch enchantment. The player will always gain more experience from mining ores with the correct pickaxe to collect the raw material than from smelting the ore. Additionally, the player misses out on the chance to collect multiple items from each mined ore, especially if they own a pickaxe enchanted with Fortune, or if mining redstone ore or lapis lazuli ore.

Brewing weakness potions inefficiently
Potion of weakness can be brewed by adding a fermented spider eye to any of the following potions: By using a water bottle, the player uses the least resources, so using a water bottle is the best option for the player.
 * Water bottle
 * Awkward potion
 * Thick potion
 * Mundane potion
 * Potion of strength
 * Potion of regeneration

Crafting coal blocks when unnecessary
A coal block burns for 16 thousand ticks, which is equivalent to 800 seconds (13 minutes 20 seconds). A piece of coal burns 1600 ticks- that means a coal block is giving out an equal energy and burning time of 10 coal, despite the fact that a coal block is crafted with 9 coal. This may seem like a good deal, but however, one coal block is able to burn 80 items; that means if you do not have 80 items to smelt, the fire will die out soon, and you'll be wasting some of the coal. In here, you can get more info.

Not killing passive mobs with flint and steel when it is handy
If the player is already carrying flint and steel while they are hunting, they should save themselves some time. When hunting a mob that yields meat (porkchops, chicken, steak, mutton, rabbit), using a flint and steel cooks the meat for the player. This is especially useful on chickens, since they are easy to kill and the fact that raw chicken is not as useful, as it can inflict food poisoning. The player will save furnace fuel and time they would have spent cooking it, and also, a flint and steel costs less to make than most weapons. When using this tip, the player should be careful not to set fire to them self, or to try it on mobs near water. The player can also be more efficient by setting multiple animals on fire with the same flame. The player should watch out for wooden houses or trees while using this technique.

Lava also works similarly to flint and steel except that it does not have any durability and it spreads, requiring the player to quickly remove it. Also, lava is more damaging to the player than fire, so be even more careful when using lava.

The player should be careful using these methods in an animal farm since this tactic would kill the player's entire animal farm, and at least 2 animals are needed for reproduction. A good idea is to let a few of the animals out of the pen and then set fire to those animals.

If the player has a sword with the Looting enchantment, they may want to use it for killing animals as it provides a higher drop rate than regular weapons. Some may deem this far more useful of a tactic than the other suggestions due to the ease of collecting furnace fuel. The player should not use flint and steel or lava for killing animals if they want the experience points earned from killing animals or the raw form of an animal's meat.

Using swords in animal farms
In the Java Edition, swords have a sweep attack which can hit several targets at once. This is useful when fighting monsters, but can cause problems when slaughtering animals, especially in a crowded ranch. When trying to kill one mob, the player may accidentally hit or even kill another mob standing next to it. This can be avoided by using an axe instead of a sword, which has the added bonus of getting the job done in fewer hits. The player should remember that an axe will take two durability instead of one for each time it is used on an entity and hits slower than a sword. However, axes also cause more damage than swords.

Killing sheep for wool when the player has enough iron for shears
Sheep can only drop up to 1 block of wool when the player kills them. If the player has shears, they can right-click on a sheep with shears which will give them 1-3 blocks of wool. Also, if the player right-clicks a sheep with a dye in their hand, the color of the sheep will change to that color. If that same sheep is sheered then eats grass to re-grow their wool, it will have the same color of wool as the player dyed it earlier. This makes wool of any color renewable. Note that baby sheep cannot be sheared and will not drop anything when killed.

If the player plans on killing a sheep, they should shear the sheep first before killing them, as it will increase the wool gathered before the player kills the sheep for experience points and mutton. Also, the only essential use for wool is a bed, so the player should avoid killing more than enough sheep to collect the wool needed to make a bed on their first few days.

Shearing mooshrooms
Mooshrooms drop 5 red mushrooms when sheared, but no brown mushrooms. However, the player can get infinite mushroom stew out of them by right-clicking them with a bowl, meaning "milking" them with a bowl is more efficient, as this can be done infinitely. In addition, mooshrooms never grow back their mushrooms when sheared so the player needs to find another one on in a mushroom fields biome. If the player has enough mooshrooms to breed them, then shearing extra mooshrooms could be used to get cows and mushrooms.

Using weapons on tiny slimes
Tiny slimes have the lowest health in the game (only )–so low that they can be taken down with a single punch, with no weapon. They also deal no damage. Knowing this, the player should not use their sword or other weapons on them because it wastes the durability of tools for no reason. However, in some cases, the player should use a sword against tiny slimes such as if the player has a Looting sword and want to use it to maximize drops of slimeballs or if they are playing the Java Edition and want to kill a large number of small slimes with the sword's sweep attack. The player should not follow this topic's advice with magma cubes, as they all deal damage to the player even if they do only each have 1 health as well.

Breaking spawners
When in a dungeon, mineshaft, stronghold, or Nether fortress don't try to break any spawners. A spawner will drop only 50 experience points when broken, but a working spawner can be used for mob farms to gain more experience and rare drops. The spawner should simply be disabled by placing a torch on it (or in the case of blaze spawners, four torches). There is no other way to obtain a monster spawner in Survival mode, not even with a Silk Touch pickaxe.

Using torches to break anvils
Many players use torches to break gravel after having built a large tower of it. Unlike gravel, sand, and the dragon egg, if anvils fall on torches, the torch will be destroyed without dropping itself as an item, and the anvil will deal damage to the player if it falls on them. Use stronger non-solid blocks such as slabs, signs, cakes, and soul sand to break anvils, which will all make the anvil drop as an item.

Breaking bookshelves repeatedly without Silk touch
If the player needs to move bookshelves, they should use a Silk Touch enchanted tool to do so. Breaking a bookcase normally yields 3 books, which is results in the player losing 6 wooden planks (this is not a lot, but should be avoided when possible). Using a Silk Touch-enchanted tool gives the player the actual block back, saving resources and time.

Destroying ender chests without Silk touch
Ender chests will only drop 8 obsidian blocks when destroyed, meaning that the player loses an Eye of Ender. Ender chests will not ever lose their items, as all ender chests are linked for each player. If the player wants to not waste eyes of ender, they should use a Silk Touch enchanted pickaxe so the ender chest drops as an item instead of 8 obsidian blocks.

Destroying glass without Silk touch
Glass does not drop itself when broken unless the player uses a tool enchanted with Silk Touch. Thus, players should be very careful where they put glass, as if they place it in the wrong place and break it, they will not get it back. For this same reason, the player should also avoid holding glass in the hotbar, unless they plan to use it soon. This same advice is recommended for glass panes and glowstone.

Shooting paintings, boats, minecarts, item frames, or armor stands
Do not shoot these items. They count as entities, and as such, they can be hit off walls by arrows, using the arrow in the process. In fact, an armor stand will be destroyed and not drop as an item if shot. If the player wants to practice archery, the player should shoot somewhere else.

Exposing armor stands to creepers
Creepers explode when close to the player, and if armor stands are destroyed in the explosion, they will not drop as an item. Therefore, it is important to keep armor stands away from creepers, preferably inside, far away from any mobs.

Curing zombie villagers near zombies
If the player cures a zombie villager when other zombies are around, the cured villager will be attacked by the other zombies, reversing what the player just did. Even if the cured zombie is safe from zombie attacks, it will take longer to be cured, so zombie villagers should be kept away from zombies as they are being cured. Also, the player will have wasted golden apples and potions of weakness, losing gold and other valuable materials.

Smelting cobblestone excessively
Unlike cobblestone, stone and stone bricks cannot be used to make tools, should the need arise. In addition, having to mine stone out again after having smelted it will again leave the player without cobblestone, and the player will have wasted any fuel they used to smelt the stone unless they mined it with a Silk Touch tool. It is always a good idea to keep a decent stock of cobblestone to hand, in case the player requires it for various reasons. The player can also avoid having to waste time and resources by avoiding wasting materials by not excessively placing extra blocks.

Carelessness with the dragon egg
Many players want to show off that they killed the Ender Dragon, but many have lost the dragon egg, which is the trophy of the End, and it will be lost forever, because the second dragon will not drop an egg. If the player gets too careless, they may send it back to the Overworld. When collecting the dragon egg, the player should cover up the portal with blocks and use a piston to push the egg, or make it fall onto a torch. Here are some of the things the player should not do:


 * Try to mine it
 * Forget to cover the portal and send it to the Overworld

Also, never leave it where players can obtain it in a Multiplayer server. Lots of players play servers, and someone might see it and steal it from the player. The player should place it in a safe place such as an ender chest and only display it if the player is playing with friends or is in eyesight of it.

Not using end stone to build when fighting the Ender Dragon
If the player wants to build a house in the end, the player should not use anything other than End Stone and Obsidian because the Ender Dragon will destroy it. End stone is best because it is easy to mine and is renewable. Avoid using obsidian; it is harder to break or obtain.

Using Fire Aspect on an enderman
This is important for people who are purposely hunting for ender pearls. Fire Aspect will cast the enderman on fire and make it teleport around a lot, which means the player might never see that enderman ever again. Also, do not fight them near water, lava, fire, or rain. This makes it easier for them to get distracted and teleport away, as all 4 of those things make endermen teleport away. On the other hand, if the player does not want to fight an enderman and they've accidentally looked at it, they could go into water or rain, or use Fire Aspect on it.

Do not throw away emeralds
This is simple theory knowledge. Emerald ore is actually much rarer than diamond ore, and emeralds act as a currency between villager tradings and on some Multiplayer servers. There are multiple uses for emeralds such as beacons and villager trading, meaning this item should not be wasted.

Using golden apples on horses
The player should not use golden apples to breed horses, as golden apples are extremely hard to obtain. Instead, using golden carrot to breed horses consumes less gold as a golden carrot costs 8 gold nuggets while a golden apple costs 8 gold ingots.

Trading emeralds for obtainable things
The player should never trade emeralds for anything that can be obtained in the near future or will only be needed for a short amount of time, except if they are doing that in order to increase a Villager's skill level.

Wasting arrows
Until the player has a large collection of arrows, has built a mob farm or skeleton dungeon grinder, or has the Infinity enchantment on their bow, they should use their arrows sparingly. Arrows are best used for more dangerous mobs such as skeletons, creepers, and spiders. Enemies such as zombies are not as hard to kill with melee combat so the player can save their arrows by not using them on these easier mobs. Sometimes, exceptions should be made with easier mobs, such as when a zombie is burning or their sword is enchanted. Situations such as these in which the player is in extra danger may warrant the need to use a bow. Passive mobs pose no threat to the player and thus have no need to be killed from afar. A special case is the enderman, which will always teleport away from arrows before they get hit, which makes bows and arrows useless against them.

Coal blocks
Nine pieces of coal burn for 720 seconds in total, while a block of coal, which can be crafted with 9 coal, burns for 800 seconds. This gives the player one free coal's worth of burn time.

Besides, blocks of coal are more efficient for the inventory. This is also called compacting (Compacting also works for diamonds, redstone, lapis lazuli, gold, iron, emeralds and more).

Warning: Do not use blocks to smelt only a few items. Whole blocks are consumed at a time, so only use coal block when you are smelting something like a stack of iron. For only a few items, it's a good idea to just put in any number of coal.

Hay bales
Similar to the above involving the 9 coal and the block of coal, each wheat crop can heal a horse health; however, an entire bale of hay can heal a horse  health, and hay bales are crafted with only 9 wheat. Effectively, this will heal the player's horse an extra health.

Plus, just like how blocks of coal store 9 coal, hay bales act as a storage unit for wheat, as 9 wheat can be crafted from one hay bale.

The only exception to this is if the player's horse lost only about a few health points, they should not feed the horse hay bales and instead feed it wheat, as the horse does not need the extra wheat.

Other
The following things to not do in Minecraft do not fit any of the categories listed above. Still, they are just as important.

Using a water superflat world
The player should avoid creating a superflat world with water as the only block preset. This setting does not generate land. The player will swim and eventually drown, or run out of food and starve to death. A superflat world with just water can be boring. The player should only use this preset if they are making a Creative Mode world, enjoy painful experiences, or have set certain structures to spawn within the world.

Building weak or flammable structures
The player should avoid building with dirt, sand, snow, and netherrack, because they are weak materials with a low blast resistance. They are quite easily destroyed by creepers or TNT. Wood is a flammable block with half the blast resistance of stone-based blocks. Instead, the player should use cobblestone, which is a cheap, abundant, and tough alternative. Later on in the game, the player may want to make their main base out of more varied blocks.

A list of low blast-resistance materials can be found here.

Players with the ability to have infested blocks in their inventory (such as in creative mode) should careful not to use monster eggs for most building projects as monster eggs release silverfish when broken.



Wood is efficient to collect in large quantities. A stack of wood blocks can be harvested at the same time as a stack of cobblestone, but yields four times as many blocks when crafted into wooden planks. For large constructions, such as mob traps, wood planks are a good choice. Wooden roofing may be easy and look nice, but it is vulnerable to being set on fire by lightning. Either the player should make the roof in a fireproof material or have a fireproof layer beneath to limit the spread of fire. If the player does use wood walls they should consider buttressing or trimming with either a non-flammable block to have better blast resistance against explosions.

Building with obsidian
Obsidian is a blast-proof block which provides great protection but takes a lot of time to collect. The time requirement for collecting obsidian makes it difficult to use in large quantities. Also, despite the fact that obsidian has a high explosion resistance, it can still be destroyed by blue wither skeleton skulls from the wither. If the player is concerned about protecting valuables from explosions, they do so in an efficient manner to use less obsidian.

In some multiplayer war games, the player may want to build the exterior of their base out of obsidian because most explosions have no effect on it.

Non-reusable TNT traps
It is time-consuming to rebuild TNT traps. Instead, the player may want to use a more explosion-resistant material such as obsidian. Even using cobblestone helps, even if it is not fully explosion resistant. The player could instead use water to avoid terrain damage all together as water has the ability to absorb the destructive aspect of an explosion, but not the physics or health damage, which means that the target will still be damaged and launched as normal.

Fireplaces in wood houses
If you want to build a fireplace in a wooden house, make sure that it is surrounded on all sides by non-flammable materials, otherwise, you will not have a house left standing.

Destroying the world spawn
If the player wants to play with TNT, they should not use their world spawn as their area to do so. If the player dies after blowing up up the world's spawn and lose their spawn point from their bed, the player will spawn at this now cratered area. The same goes with digging up holes or building up pillars at the world spawn. To help avoid this, the player may want to mark the world spawn when starting a new world.

Living in the wrong biomes
Some biomes are better to live in than others. This also goes for the desert and badlands biomes; while both are devoid of trees and generally flat biomes, they are the perfect setting for pyramids and other exotic builds. The swamp and mountains 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. Also, in mountains biomes, there is also the danger of finding a silverfish block underground disguised as stone or its variants. However, a mountains biome makes a great spot for building an epic house in creative mode. The snow biome will periodically develop a layer of snow over dwellings, which can be annoying for some, or desirable for others.

The jungle biome and dark forest biome, while full of trees, are hard to build in because of the dense foliage, and can be very dangerous to navigate at night. The plains, birch, flower, and standard forests, savannas, deep forests, giant tree taigas, and taigas biomes are typically recommended for beginner players due to the availability of resources and spawn rates of friendly mobs. Many biome variants and technical biomes are suitable too. See biomes for more. Mushroom biomes are deceptive. No monsters can spawn, and mooshrooms make infinite food sources with bowls, but the player cannot grow trees easily and mobs can still cross over from other biomes. Also, mushroom biomes are very rare, making them difficult to find.

Extra nighttime dangers of certain biomes
Biomes with more vegetation and hills create greater risks of the player being killed at night as mobs can be hidden behind blocks and the player can become damaged from being knocked off edges. Terrain with lots of water can slow the player, making it hard to run away from some mobs.

Carelessness with dogs
A tamed wolf can be very useful as it can give the player a hand when fighting mobs and keep the player company when lonely. It can be easy for the player to forget to make their wolf sit down when not needed, which could prove problematic if the player hits an entity they do not want their dog to fight. Also, even if sitting, when the player is attacked by a mob or another player, the wolf will stand up and come go to its owner. After the player spends enough time with their dogs, the player is less likely to make those mistakes. The player may want a couple of dogs to ensure that they can have a new pet dog if one dies.

Also, the player should beware of walking on ice, because if they are too far away the wolf will teleport to the player and end up trapped under the ice where it will drown.

Not having equipment for trips from the base
It is important to be prepared if the player wants to go adventuring. There are a few things that the player will always need to carry with them when they leave their base:

General Cases

 * Armor (Full Iron+)
 * A good sword (Iron+)
 * Pickaxe (Stone+. Stone pickaxes can only mine iron, lapis lazuli, and coal. The player will need an iron pickaxe or better to mine any of the other ores, and diamond to mine obsidian.)
 * Optional bow and arrows, but recommended for killing skeletons
 * At least one stack of dirt or cobblestone (The player should remember to dig up more along the way.)
 * Water bucket
 * Food
 * Torches
 * Compass and/or map (if the player plans to just explore)
 * Bed
 * Crafting table (this will come in handy, especially at night)
 * Fishing rod (in case the player runs out of food).
 * Wood (useful for crafting while the player is away from home)

Stronghold

 * Armor (Full Diamond)
 * A good sword (Diamond enchanted)
 * Bow, Infinity bow recommended
 * Food
 * At least a stack of torches.
 * 12 eyes of ender (unless the player has already activated the portal and is revisiting it. If the player has not yet found a stronghold, they will need more.)

Mining

 * Shovel (Stone+) (For underground dirt and gravel patches)
 * Armor (Full Iron+)
 * Pickaxe (Iron+)
 * Sword(Iron+)
 * A stack of torches
 * Wood (For crafting)
 * Furnace
 * Coal (For the furnace and extra torches)
 * Chest or shulker box (to carry more items)
 * Food
 * Bucket of water
 * Bed (It is a good idea to set up a small room to sleep in if the player plans to mine for a long period of time)
 * Building blocks

Mineshafts

 * Milk (optional, to get rid of poison effects)
 * Sword (Iron+)
 * Bow and arrow (Useful in caves with lava)
 * Pickaxe (Iron+)
 * Building blocks
 * Buckets
 * Shears to cut cobwebs.
 * Armor (Full Iron+)

Being careless with horses
Horses, donkeys, and mules are quick and some can give the player a place to keep excess items. The player should always keep a lead and a fence on hand when out with their horse to tie it up if the player dismounts it. If the player is going far, they may want to take a mule or donkey to help carry food and resources while providing a ride. The player should never dangle their horse from a high place with a lead. The player should be careful not to hit a horse if they own dogs, as the dogs may kill it. The player can name similarly-colored horses to help tell them apart.

Settling in villages carelessly
Villages are great places to live. They provide you with free food, resources and shelter. However, you may want to take some precautions when settling in.


 * Add an iron door to your house
 * Secure the lava in the blacksmith's house
 * You may want to build bridges and walls where necessary

Mining bedrock
Outside of Creative mode, bedrock is unobtainable. It also is unbreakable outside of Creative mode without the use of glitches or hacks and as such, attempting to break it will just waste the player's time. If the player really needs to remove some bedrock, they will need to be in creative mode or use one of the glitches shown in Tutorials/Breaking bedrock.

Taking risks
If the player's hunger bar is full, they regenerate lost hearts quickly, at the cost of hunger points. Sometimes, an earlier risk is better then a long term one such as if the player were jumping down a mountain when night is about to fall. It may in this case be is a safer option to jump down, then to build their way down when night is about to fall. Risk sometimes depends on what the player is carrying with them, as rarer items could be lost in more dangerous situations. Creeper explosions can help fight mobs. Spider eyes can be useful as food, even though they cause a very short effect of poison. If the player has low health, has the gamerule for regenerating health turned to false, or is playing in Hardcore Mode they may need to judge the risk of certain situations differently.

Carelessness around redstone contraptions
Redstone mechanisms can be dangerous if not used correctly. For example, the player might make a mistake and push a block into their own head and suffocate, blow them self up, drown, get pushed off a cliff, or even miss a slime block and fall somewhere to their death. Also, fast redstone clocks can cause the game to lag.

Using cursed items
Curse of Binding and Curse of Vanishing are enchantments with negative effects. Unlike other enchantments, which can be removed using a grindstone, you cannot “uncurse” an item. If you obtain a cursed item, consider throwing into lava.

If you wear armor that has Curse of Binding, the only way to remove the armor is to die (if not playing on Hardcore) or to let the armor run out of durability. Even if you do not think that you will need to remove the armor, you may later acquire an enchanted book that you want to add to your armor. Doing anything to a piece of armor on an anvil requires that you temporarily remove the armor. You may also want to wear different armor with different enchantments depending of what you are doing. For example, you may normally wear armor with Protection but want to use Fire Protection when exploring in the Nether. You cannot put both Protection and Fire Protection on the same item, so you will need multiple pairs of boots. If you wear a chestplate with Curse of Binding, you will also not be able to use elytra.

Curse of Vanishing causes an item to disappear when you die. While it is not dangerous to use an item with Curse of Vanishing, you should not put additional enchantments on such an item, unless playing in Hardcore.

Equipment for PvP
If the player engages in combat against another player but does not have the correct equipment, they could die and lose any items they have in their inventory.

In a PvP (player vs player) battle, players normally take the best equipment to fight other players. Most use enchanted diamond armor or diamond swords. For PvP, the player should not use anything made out of leather, wood, or gold as armor and tools made of these materials are extremely weak. Some other less straightforward tools such as lava buckets may also be used as weapons.

Bow attacks
With a few shots from a bow, a player can be killed. Any player who leaves themselves sitting out in the open where they could easily be shot on a server that allows PvP leaves themselves open to this danger and may want to find somewhere with more cover.

Attacking players wearing Thorns enchanted armor
Attacking players who are wearing Thorns enchanted armor with a melee weapon will harm the attacking player as well. The player should use non-melee attacks if they do not want to be hurt by the Thorns enchanted armor..

Trusting strangers
The player should be careful with trusting players they do not know. A player could be dishonest and appear otherwise until they find ways to harm another player or their base.

Setting off redstone contraptions carelessly
The player may never know what a redstone contraption may do. It could trigger a trap! The player may want to dig around a pressure plate or button to first discover what it triggers. The player may instead decide to destroy any activation switches to avoid activating anything dangerous.

Breaking tripwires
Destroying tripwire without shears will trigger the tripwire and any connected traps, similarly to walking over the tripwire. Breaking the tripwire with the shears will damage the player's shears by one use, but will not trigger any nasty traps, which may be a necessary tradeoff.

PvP in water
The player's movement is hampered in water,and while engaging other players in PvP, they may knock the player further into the water so they cannot get out. In this case, it is extremely advisable to stay away from bodies of water.

Joining PvP servers earlier
If the player knows the server has newly been made, they should prepare themselves before the rest of the server's players grief the spawn point or begin killing all new players. Now there might be custom set spawn radius (in 1.9) or spawn protection, however, this will not protect the player from being killed for fun once they step out of the area.

gamerule KeepInventory on Hardcore multiplayer
Usually, when the player dies, they drop their items and respawn. However, in hardcore mode, once the player dies, they do not respawn. If the player then kept their inventory in a hardcore world, then it actually consumes their items rather than dropping them which would in Multiplayer not allow other players to retrieve the dead player's items they lost. This system could be used if a player does not want items dropped upon the death of a player.

Moving beds
Beds can be helpful by letting players skip through night and set their spawn point. At the same time, if blocks are placed around a bed, the player's bed is destroyed, or a second player sleeps in the same bed the player last slept in, their spawn is set back to the world spawn instead of next to the bed. Players can avoid angering fellow players by not messing with their beds.

Keeping bases away from griefers
When playing on a public multiplayer server, the player should build their base away from the spawn, and even better in a hidden area. Having a base near spawn to easily allows newcomers to come in and mess with the player and their possessions. Players have less need to worry about hiding a base on a private server with their friends and on servers with plug-ins which protect player's bases.

Hiding valuables
If another player finds someone's secret stash of goods, there is a good chance that they will steal these items. If the player wants to hide a stash of goods, the items should be well hidden and possibly even defended with traps.

Make large chains of hoppers for transporting of items without placing a furnace on top of most of them
This causes lag, and makes the server much less responsive. A hopper with nothing on top of it constantly tries to suck up nearby objects within a radius, while one with a chest or furnace on top only tries to pull stuff from the container itself. Furnaces are ideal for this because they are crafted purely with cobblestone, which is very easily obtained.

Hacking server consoles
Hacking into a server's console is very illegal. A player who hacks into a server console risks the possibility of arrest, and criminal charges. No server owner wants their servers hacked.

Using X-ray mods, hacks, or cheats
Administrators and other players do not appreciate the use of X-ray mods or resource packs on their servers, as it gives some players an unfair advantage over the other players and most likely will lead to punishment and ultimately being banned from the server! It is never a good thing to X-ray, no matter how far away the player thinks admins are because they never know where admins are and what tools they may have to catch rule-breaking players. If the server allows it, or the player is given permission on a server, then they may use x-ray mods or resource packs, as long as they turn off these resources when done with them.

Going past the edge of the world
The player should not do this, as the player may be automatically kicked from the game. This is only in versions older than 1.8. If the player does get automatically kicked, it may be worse than being stuck at X/Z 30,000,032 since the player may continue to get kicked from the game upon logging in and not even external programs can help. These kick messages will be displayed when a player is kicked for going too close to the world's edge:

Disconnected by server. You are kicked by: Null. You are kicked from this server! Reason: Went to illegal point.

Exception: There is an invisible wall blocking past the edge of the world, and does not work beyond X/Z 30,000,000, which means the player is usually safe. There are still means to glitch through the wall though.

Traveling near the world edge
In Minecraft worlds, there is a world border, which prevents the player from falling into fake chunks. However, the environment near this edge affects players, just as they did in the past. Huge lag spikes may occur, paintings and various textures become distorted, and entities spawn oddly all which hindering the player's chances of survival. Not only that, the lava textures could become lopsided and thus the player could unknowingly step into lava because it becomes unnoticeable particles. Worse of all, if someone moves the world border, when the player is near the edge, then they cannot escape quickly and may die of damage from the world border. Sometimes, TNT can become an entity at another location then it was primed and could blow up things which the player does not expect.

Updating certain superflat worlds
If the player tries to build on a snow layer in a superflat world, the snow will update and begin destroying itself, which may destroy all the snow layer blocks for the entire rendered area.

Teleporting excessively
Teleporting a lot requires the game to load and unload lots of chunks, which is a lot of work for the computer running the game. This can create large amounts of lag. It is also a waste of ender pearls and health if the player is in Survival mode.

Triggering large amounts of TNT
This may seem fun, but doing this will create lots of lag as the game has to calculate each TNT's explosion individually. A large enough set of explosions could crash the game multiple times. Also, don't make TNT superflat worlds for a similar reason.

Using extremely high looting levels
Looting increases the amount of items that mobs drop and increases the chance of rare drops. If the player is using commands, they can get a sword with a very high-level looting enchantment which is not usually possible in the game. The player should not use such a weapon to kill a bunch of mobs, as the killed mobs could drop enough items to lag the game, possibly to the extent of crashing the game as well.

Dropping large numbers of items
If the player drops too many items at a time by activating a lot of dispensers and droppers or by destroying a lot of chests full of items, or even by rapidly destroying a large number of tall kelp at their bases, then a large number of items could add lag to the world. Enough lag makes the game harder to play and may even crash the game. On Multiplayer servers, the player may get kicked for doing this for crashing the server.

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