Tutorials/Defeating a bastion remnant

Defeating a bastion remnant allows the player to obtain lots of loot, including valuable gold items, the Pigstep music disc, and the Snout banner pattern. Due to having magma cube spawners (treasure room bastion variant only), bastion remnants also provide a good source of magma cream. Bastion remnants are one of the toughest and most dangerous structures to beat, so extra care has to be taken to survive. You will see piglins and piglin brutes in the bastion so be careful!

What to bring

 * Strong, durable armor of netherite tier, enchanted with Protection IV.
 * At least one piece of golden armor if you don't want piglins to aggravate. Please note that brutes will still attack you with gold armor.
 * A sword and tools of at least diamond tier, enchanted with Sharpness V and Unbreaking II or better.
 * A bow, especially with the Power and/or Infinity enchantments, is very useful in dispatching piglins and piglin brutes with ease from a safe distance.
 * At least one shield, as they can prevent taking damage.
 * Food with high-enough saturation and hunger restoration. (such as, , and s). s (optional) can heal the player quickly.
 * Bring some and/or  to craft boats, which will be very useful against piglin brutes and melee piglins (see the Mobs section below on how to use them).
 * Expendable blocks you can easily obtain, place, and break. Good examples include, , and.
 * A pickaxe of at least iron tier, to mine gold blocks if there are any.
 * Potions can improve combat. Fire Resistance is incredibly useful, and can be obtained by simply bartering with piglins (optional).
 * Soul torches or other soul-fire items can be used to scare piglins (optional).
 * Gold to distract piglins and gather precious resources but not piglin brutes (ex. ender pearls)
 * TNT (optional), and a (not flint and steel) to light the TNT.
 * Hoppers for looting chests without aggravating any piglins (optional).
 * Blocks of Iron and carved pumpkins for Iron Golems (optional).
 * Pistons and levers, buttons or redstone torches to move gilded blackstone from under chests so you can put hoppers there to get the items (optional).
 * A lava bucket to easily kill piglins and piglin brutes (optional).
 * A respawn anchor and, to respawn in the Nether (optional).

Your main goals

 * Get as many s and as you can.
 * Also, since some netherite items reside in loot chests, also aim for getting, , , and s from the chests.
 * Defeat as many s as possible.
 * Get the and.
 * Convert the bastion to a bartering hall or magma cube farm.

General
Unlike most areas of the Nether, the Flame and Fire Aspect enchantments can help here! While magma cubes are immune to fire, piglins, piglin brutes, and hoglins are not.

Piglin Brutes
Piglin brutes are very tough mobs to engage in combat, due to their high health and damage. To add on to their combat strength, their axe also disables shields, and are very strong in numbers. Being ambushed and cornered by a piglin brute can lead to a swift death no matter how prepared, and it is important to avoid engaging in direct melee combat with them unless you have maxed out gear. It is imperative that you see them before they see you. It is worth noting that piglin brutes are much tougher on Java Edition than Bedrock. This is due to the different combat mechanics, and also their base damage on Java is several points higher than on Bedrock. On Normal mode in Java Edition, a piglin brute can kill you in 4 hits with full diamond/Netherite armor. Fortunately, piglin brutes do not respawn after being eliminated.

Here are some tips and tricks on how to defeat piglin brutes:

Ranged Weapons

In dealing with piglin brutes, the use of ranged weapons is your best bet. Try to shoot them off ledges and preferably into lava. If they land in lava, there is nothing they can do and they burn to death (although you will lose the XP for the kill too). This will have to be done from a long range, so that they don't rush up at you while you are charging your ranged weapon. Engaging in head-to-head melee combat with the piglin brute is to always be avoided especially if playing on Java Edition.

3-block tall pillar
When piglin brutes are rushing towards you, and there is no low ceiling, you may want to pillar up 3 blocks. Standing on a 3 block tall column will allow you to safely attack the piglin brutes while they are unable to reach you. When doing this, you must make sure there are no piglins with crossbows in the vicinity as they can shoot you off your pillar and into the hands of the piglin brute. You can also pour lava on top of enemies to kill them. If you have a lava bucket, try to drown the piglin brute(s) in lava, as they aren't immune to fire.

Boats
When piglin brutes are rushing towards you, you can simply place boats in front of their pathfinding. If you do this correctly, the piglin brutes will enter the boats while running towards you. Once they are in the boats, they are stuck; they are unable to exit or break the boats. You still do not want to go too close to the boats, as the piglin brutes will still attack players near them.

Lava Bucket
Piglin brutes are not immune to fire damage, which makes lava buckets a very efficient way to kill them. Simply use the lava bucket on the block underneath the piglin brute to make them receive high amounts of damage without aggravating other piglins. However, remember that lava flows faster and further in the Nether, so a single lava source could potentially kill lots of piglins or make exploring the bastion harder. This is why you might want to quickly refill your bucket and place the lava again over and over until the brute dies.

Summoning Iron Golems
If you have enough inventory space to hold iron blocks and carved pumpkins, then consider how powerful iron golems are. Iron golems automatically attack piglin brutes, and can kill them in 3 to 8 hits, with an average of a 4-hit kill (Observing that on average, the iron golem will do damage). Also, because iron golems have so much health, they can take 6-20 hits (Depending on two factors, difficulty and edition. The easier the difficulty, the smaller the damage piglin brutes do, and Bedrock Edition piglin brutes do less damage). Healing the iron golems with iron ingots will make the golem last longer.

Blocking Yourself Off
If a piglin brute is closely chasing you in a corridor with a ceiling too low to build a pillar, your best bet is to rapidly place any solid block to block yourself off. Once the piglin brute is blocked off, you can then mine one of the blocks away, making sure the piglin brute doesn't have a gap to get through and reach you. Once you can see the piglin brute through the gap in the wall you built, shoot the piglin brute until it dies. Or more riskily, kill it with a melee weapon. The latter is risky as there is a chance they will still be able to hit you and deal massive damage.

Piglins
There are many ways to overcome piglins. Here is a list:


 * Wear at least 1 piece of gold armor. This stops the piglins from being initially hostile and allows you to travel safely through the bastion.
 * However: Attacking a piglin brute will make all the piglins in range become hostile.  As usual, so will using a chest or barrel, or mining any golden block including ores,  However, if you can block them off or otherwise shelter yourself from them, their aggro will wear off in the usual 30 seconds after the brute is dealt with.
 * 3-block tall pillar (not recommended for piglins with crossbows)
 * Boats (works best for melee piglins)
 * Summoning iron golems
 * Distraction by dropping golden items
 * Taking advantage of their fears by placing soul torches or using other soul fire.
 * To prevent angering the piglins:
 * Using TNT. However, don't light up the TNT with any tool, where the game knows that you lit up the TNT (Don't use flint and steel or fire charges, as that can anger piglins if they take damage). Instead, use buttons to light up the TNT, as the piglins will not get angry at you for hurting them that way.
 * Placing hoppers under their chests.
 * If you can kill the brutes and perhaps the crossbow piglins from shelter or a pillar, you can then wait for the others to calm down, which will take about 30 seconds. Throwing gold at them will help.
 * For crossbow wielding piglins, you might want to do traditional ranged combat by simply shooting at them with bows and crossbows. Melee is also viable if you can get close to it and you have a shield to negate all of the damage and knockback taken. A shield is incredibly helpful in general when fighting them, as it can prevent you from getting knocked off of ledges.
 * When groups of piglins become hostile, RUN AWAY. Get as far as you can away from the bastion, and simply return later. Being surrounded in piglins is NOT a good feeling. Alternatively, if you can find a corridor and block off the passageway with blocks letting none of them through. Then simply wait for them to calm down, and problem solved!
 * Pouring lava on them.

Hoglins
Hoglins don't appear in bastion remnants too often, neither do they respawn in them once killed. Keep these in mind when fighting them:


 * Hoglins can attack from a 3 block tall pillar, but not a 4 block tall pillar. Although you cannot hit them from 4 blocks, you can still shoot them. If you make a 3 block tall pillar, it is possible to kill Hoglins with melee weapon as long as you don't lean too far over the edge.
 * Piglins will never hunt any hoglins generated in bastion remnants. Don't rely on piglins to kill the hoglins for you.
 * It is extremely hard for hoglins to get in boats. Instead, take advantage of the fact they can't fit through 1 block wide spaces.
 * If you must engage in melee combat with a hoglin, use a sword with Knockback II, Sharpness I-V, and Fire Aspect.
 * It's a good idea to bring some warped fungus to scare away the hoglins.

Magma cubes
Magma cubes can come from spawners hanging from chains over lava. They are very hard to reach and the cubes can knock you into lava. Although breaking these spawners works and protects you, the problem is that you can no longer use them for magma cream farms. Here is a list of some strategies:


 * Attack the big magma cubes first. This is because they have high health, do heavy damage, and jump high enough to knock players off 3-block tall pillars. The other magma cubes are much less dangerous, and can easily be killed in one hit with a decent weapon from atop a 3-block tall pillar.
 * Summoning iron golems is almost a perfect solution. Because they are immune to slimes and magma cube damage (knockback too), and deal massive damage, this is a good approach. But one problem: Lava. The area where magma cube spawners exist is filled with lava, which iron golems avoid and take damage in.
 * If you don't have those kinds of resources, consider shooting them from afar. You should be far enough away to kill all of them before they make their way to you.
 * You can fill in their lava pool piecemeal, making the area much safer. A potion of fire resistance can also help.

Magma cube spawner disabling
There is always a magma cube spawner in each bastion remnant of the treasure room type. It is located close to the bottom of the large room, above a lava pool, guarding the ultimate treasure: a pile of gold blocks, and a chest. Most players would just easily disable the spawner by breaking it, as magma cubes spawn at any light level, torches won't do anything, and it takes a lot of time and blocks to fill up the entire 9×3x9 spawning area, enough time for the local piglins, piglin brutes and magma cubes to tear you into pieces. However, there exist a simple way to disable a magma cube spawner entirely and reliably, using as little as 9 blocks.

This disabling grid makes use of the mechanic that a magma cube, no matter large, mediu or small, checks for the space requirements of a large magma cube before it spawns. Since a large magma cube is slightly wider than 2 blocks, there is no horizontal space within the 9×3x9 area for it to fit in. Also, a spawner can only spawn a mob's "feet" at 3 heights: one block below the spawner, same height as the spawner, or one block above the spawner. No matter which layer it chooses, even the lowest layer, since a large magma cube is slightly taller than 2 blocks, its "head" will slightly intersect with at least one of the solid blocks, cancelling the spawn attempt.

Defeating the bastion
General

Regardless of what part of the bastion you're trying to explore, it's a good idea to start exploring from the top and work your way down. Piglins won't hesitate to take fall damage to get to you, which can easily result in you getting ambushed if you start exploring from the bottom. A Piglin Brute landing on top of you is especially deadly, as they can disable your shield, leaving you completely vulnerable to their high damage attacks. Because of this, it is highly recommended to bring at least one Totem of Undying to a bastion remnant.

Getting to the top can be treacherous though; building to the top carries the risk of being shot off by a crossbow-wielding Piglin (If you've angered them or aren't wearing gold armor) or a Ghast, which can cause you to fall to your death or into lava. Digging through nearby netherrack to the top avoids these threats, but can result in you digging into a lava pocket and getting yourself melted. A Potion of Slow Falling can help protect you from the dangers of building up to the top and a Potion of Fire Resistance will keep you safe from any lava pockets you dig/fall into.

Once you have reached the top of the bastion, it is highly recommended to secure a respawn area, set a Respawn Anchor and lay a nearby chest or hopper with a supply of glowstone, should you need multiple respawn attempts. If you die in the bastion, getting your items back will be extremely difficult since Piglins can be very tough without armor, and will steal your armor leaving you unable to get it back. Because of this, it is also worth having a chest with back-up armor so you can safely retrieve your stuff without being instantly killed again by Piglins and Piglin Brutes.

Because the bastion remnant is almost completely made of blackstone, navigation can become difficult as the monochrome makes it hard to spot un-explored stairs or corridors. Marking your path (especially where you entered the bastion) with torches or brighter blocks like cobblestone can help you can see where you've already been. The ruined pathing of the bastion also means you should have a good supply of blocks to fill in the holes in the paths so you don't fall through them.

Remember that all nearby Piglins will become hostile if you attack a Piglin Brute, even if you're wearing gold armor. Most of the time, this makes it a better idea to avoid or trap brutes instead of fight them. You can also pour lava on the brutes to kill them, since this does not count as player damage, other piglins will not become hostile. If they're guarding a chest or there's no practical way to avoid fighting them, it can be a good idea to take out the surrounding Piglins first, especially the ones with crossbows, so that you can have an escape route ready if things don't go as planned. This also holds true for when you want to loot a chest or gold blocks, although you may not have to do this if there aren't any Piglins around; they can only detect you doing this from up to 16 blocks away.

You'll likely find your inventory filling up easily, given how much loot and equipment bastion remnants can hold. Shulker Boxes and an Ender Chest can greatly expand your maximum item capacity, but you can store the excess loot in chests that are already there if you're okay with making return trips. A Furnace can also be used to smelt all the gold weapons and armor you'll come across into nuggets; just make sure to leave one piece of gold armor unsmelted so you can equip it in case the one you're wearing breaks while you're exploring. Enchanted items can be disenchanted for experience with a grindstone.

Specific Bastion Types

When exploring a Hoglin stable, you should kill the Hoglins first. They have more melee range than the Piglins, are inherently hostile, and deal a lot of knockback, which can easily push you off the pillars and bridges of the bastion. Be careful not to hit any Piglins while doing this; Hoglins are dangerous enough when fought by themselves.

When exploring a Treasure Room, after clearing out the areas above, you should fill in the surrounding lava and disable/close off the Magma Cube spawner. Gravel and Sand can help you fill in the lava from above, as the lava pool is only 2 blocks deep with the exception of the occasional hole in the base of the bastion. A Potion of Fire Resistance can save your life if a Magma Cube knocks you into the lava pool while you're trying to fill it. Note that because Magma Cubes spawn at all light levels, the only way to disable the spawner is to completely cover it with blocks in a ~9x5x9 area with the spawner being in the center, one block under the top of that area. It's usually more practical to wall off the 9x5x9 area they spawn in instead.