Tutorials/Nether survival

The Nether is a dangerous hellscape filled with Zombie Pigmen, Ghasts, Blazes and Magma Cubes. So why even go to this hellish place? Well, it has no creepers and is home to useful and rare potion ingredients. It can also be used for fast travel between far off areas. Nevertheless, it is a fun and dangerous place. This guide will aid you in becoming a Nether dweller.

Preparing For The Nether
The first step of preparing for the Nether is to make sure you have enough materials to build, or dig out, a small home within the Nether. Digging out a home is much easier than building one, Netherrack can be mined quickly with any pickaxe, much faster than stone or cobble is mined. It takes about a half second to mine Netherrack with a pickaxe and about 5 seconds by hand, but using a non-pickaxe item will not drop the resource if you want it.

Make sure you bring your Flint and Steel item, Nether Portals can be turned on and off if hit on the inside rim of the portal by a Ghast Fireball, especially when ducking into the portal to escape. Use your Flint and Steel to relight it if this happens.

You also want to bring a lot of Food - but not too much as dying in the Nether causes you to spawn back in the Overworld, and you will lose all your inventory items - and a full set of armour, preferably Iron. You will want at least a Stone Pickaxe/Shovel, or if you have loads of Iron to spare, use that. Swords aren't that useful in your first Nether visit, however a bow and some arrows should be brought in case of emergency. Most people won't attack Zombie Pigmen on their first visit, and you won't go searching for Nether Fortresses.

So your only real enemy in your first visit will be Ghasts. Ghasts are one of the hardest mobs to fight in Minecraft,except the Enderdragon, mainly because of their floating ability and their fireball, which does considerable damage (particularly in 1.9 pre5, where one direct hit will kill). Unless you're on a cliff and the Ghast is floating in front of you, the only way to take them out is with a bow and arrow or when their fireball nears you left click to hit it back, a direct hit from this will kill the ghast. However, aiming and hitting a Ghast can sometimes be challenging. Their hitbox is at the bottom half of their model (their tentacles, hitting the top of their head doesn't damage them). Once you have these tools, and enough arrows to take out a few Ghasts (a stack is usually good enough, less if you have experience with using a bow, more if you plan to stay longer and kill zombie pigmen safely) you will be ready to...

Enter The Nether
When you first enter the Nether, you may be awestruck by the amazing structure of it, however the Nether is a dangerous place, you will want to dig a small structure with a Crafting Table and a Chest. Once you have set up your base to your liking, you will be ready to explore.

Resources found in the Nether:


 * Netherrack, Soul Sand, Gravel, Lava.
 * Nether Brick, Nether Brick Fence, Nether Brick Stairs.
 * Red Mushroom, Brown Mushroom, Nether Wart.
 * Zombie Pigmen sometimes drop Rotten Flesh and Gold Nuggets.
 * Ghasts sometimes drop Ghast Tears.
 * Blazes sometimes drop Blaze Rods.
 * Magma Cubes which drop Magma Cream.

Exploring The Nether
When exploring the Nether, there are a few things to remember,
 * Monsters can spawn anywhere there is space. Almost no place is truly safe. Ghasts require a 5*5*5 space to spawn, and Blazes only spawn from Blaze Spawners with light level < 13.
 * Compasses don't work, clocks don't work (although the day/night cycle continues while in the Nether), and beds explode when you sleep in them, (also leaving fire), and maps made in the overworld don't work either, making navigation in the nether quite tricky. When exploring, try to keep going in one direction, and make sure you leave a trail of torches or dirt, something so you can find your way back.
 * If you encounter a blocked passage, a huge lava lake, or any other impassable obstacle, just follow your trail back to your base, and start off in another direction
 * Try to reinforce your base, if you attack a mob of Zombie Pigmen or have a Ghast on your trail, you don't want to run back to your base, only to realise that you don't have a door. Ghast fireballs can blow large holes in netherrack walls, so line your base with cobblestone, stone, stone bricks, wooden slabs are also good because they can be farmed in the nether, or any other block with a Blast Resistance of at least 20.17.

When exploring the Nether it is a good idea to take some food with you. Also, avoid sprinting as it may send you straight into a lava pool. There are only two sources of food in the Nether: Zombie Pigmen, and mushroom soup. Attacking one Zombie Pigman will send others nearby into a rage, so be ready to fight at least half a dozen at once. If you want to make mushroom soup, you need to have some wood at your disposal (If you bring dirt and saplings, trees can be grown in the Nether) and a crafting table to make bowls. You can then harvest some of the many mushrooms in the nether and easily make some mushroom soup from your 2x2 crafting square.

Nether Fortresses
If you happen to stumble upon a Nether Fortress while exploring, it is a good idea to head back to your base, or even back to the Overworld, to get more supplies. You will want at least an Iron Pickaxe, Iron Sword and lots, and lots of food. There are a few things that are of the utmost importance when exploring a Nether Fortress:
 * When exploring a Nether Fortress, always place torches to your right - that way when you want to get out you just make sure that the torches are on your left.
 * If you find a Blaze Spawner, make sure you place a lot of torches around it unless you want to farm Blaze Rods, Blazes can't spawn with light level > 12, so simply placing torches on the spawner won't stop them from spawning.
 * If you come across a Nether Wart plantation, collect as many (if not all) of them as you can, and then go back to your base and create a Nether Wart farm by planting it on top of Soul Sand. Placed Nether Wart does not grow in the Overworld, and you must be less than 150 blocks away in the Nether for it to grow.

Explore the Nether Fortress thoroughly. You might not find much, but every once in a while there will be a Nether Wart plantation, or a Blaze Spawner, these are great finds. You might even encounter a Magma Cube, which will give off Magma Cream if you have a hard time finding Slimes in the Overworld. Contrary to common belief, Magma Cubes do not spawn more in Nether Fortresses - the opposite is actually true.

Food/Supplies
As of 1.1, Oak trees can drop apples, so a tree farm provides both wood and food. You will also need wood for tools. Trees need space to grow, but that means Ghasts can spawn. Keep your farm height low and place blocks to avoid ever having a 5x5x5 space for a ghast to spawn in. You can place slabs, glass and glowstone all over the floor of your tree farm. You can plant saplings with glowstone adjacent and blocks with slabs on top of the diagonal blocks. You can do this in rows for max efficiency. Also, if you're low on glowstone, Jack o' Lanterns are useful, as are torches under glass. For the saplings to grow you need them to be well lit. You also need 4 blocks of air above the sapling. Using this method of tree farming, you can have a large enclosure for mass wood farming without Ghasts!

As of recent versions, pumpkins/melons can be grown from a stalk onto dirt. You can use pistons to make a large melon farm or pumpkin farm in the nether.

Wheat can be farmed in the Nether, but to do this efficiently, instantly place seeds after harvesting the wheat. Do this quickly so the farmland cannot degrade to dirt. Another good idea is to have a hoe on your hotbar to re-till any blocks that revert to dirt.

A good way to get eggs is to spawn chickens in a 1x1 tube with no corners. Chickens can't leave but you can gather the eggs by standing where the corners should be. You can use these eggs to grow/kill/cook chickens, or to make cakes.

Lava
Lava is most prevalent in the Nether, and is in huge lakes (a sea of lava is near the bottom) rivers, and falls from the ceiling. You must be very careful around lava as Water buckets will not work in the Nether, however, through inventory hacking, you can place ice, which will melt into water. Also, lava spreads much farther in the Nether (7 blocks from the source) than in the Overworld (3 blocks) A good way to get rid of lava is to use the Netherrack around you to direct lava away from you. Just remember, if you mine upwards, then watch for dripping red. It will not damage you, but if you mine there, lava will come out. If you wish to get rid of the lava flowing from the ceiling (fear of dying, in your way), you will have to block jump up to the source (or simply at the ceiling), and place a block of anything to stop the flow. One must be extremely careful about the placement of the block, however. If it were to be placed not at the source, the lava would simply use that block to spread even further, and you're left worse than you started. Most people would prefer to leave those alone. A good way of crossing the lava is to make a Potion of Fire Resistance. while this potion is active, you will be able to swim through lava without taking damage.

Cobblestone
Making a small base around your portal is a must, but making it out of Netherrack is not safe, as Ghasts can destroy Netherrack quite easily. Probably the best thing to use is Cobblestone. Cobble is very common in the Overworld and is completely Ghast-proof. Later on, you can start to make nice houses and bigger bases in the Nether, but for now, a cobble room with the portal and a chest (probably a crafting table) is sufficient. The chest is important if you don't wish to lose too many of your items if you happen to die. The only necessities are a stone pickaxe, a sword (iron), food, bow and arrows, dirt or cobblestone for stopping lava, a flint and steel and maybe a shovel. The rest of the items, or extra food can be stored in the chest.

Zombie Pigmen
See Zombie Pigmen

Zombie Pigmen are very common in the Nether and roam in packs of 4-10. They are neutral mobs, meaning that they won't attack unless you attack them. However, Zombie Pigmen have an interesting characteristic that make them unique from other neutral mobs. If you attack one Zombie Pigmen, the whole group will swarm you, which spells certain death for you. There is a set distance, around 14 blocks around the Pigman that is attacked, that designates the area in which other Zombie Pigmen will become hostile to you, if you are in that area. It is recommended to leave them alone, but if you want Gold Nuggets, or to increase your level (killing many Zombie Pigmen will give you a lot of experience), you can attack the Pigmen in various, safe ways. Also, if you have to attack the Zombie Pigmen, make sure there isn't much (or even better, no) lava or fire surrounding you. You will probably have to move around a lot to fight all of them at once, and distractions will only make it worse. NOTE, Zombie Pigman wield and carry golden swords, but they not drop golden swords upon their death, only Rotten Flesh and Gold Nuggets
 * 1. Bow and Arrows- Using a bow, you can pick off Zombie Pigmen. One at a time at a safe distance.
 * 2. Separation- Isolate the pigmen and kill them, but make sure they are far away from any other pigmen, or else they will attack you. Time consuming, but safer than the bow-method.
 * 3. Diamond sword, diamond (or iron) armour, and full hunger bar- If you have a diamond sword (preferably enchanted with something like Knockback, which will help for fighting multiple), a full set of diamond or iron armour, and you are regenerating, you may be able to beat the whole group. NOTE, this is not recommended as, if you die, you lose a diamond sword, and a full set of armour.

Ghasts
See Ghast

As said before, they shoot deadly fireballs at you when you're in their sight of 100 blocks, so stay very far away from them. Cobblestone is effective in neutralizing their fireballs. In emergencies, one can change the Difficulty setting to "Peaceful" to avoid a Ghast attack. Pro tip: when the magma bomb is within Steve's reach, aim at the ghast and punch. As long as the fire ball is in your FOV you can hit the ghast. NOTE: If surrounded by multiple Ghasts, constantly hitting attack whilst aiming at a Ghast will throw all magma bombs in that direction, regardless of which direction they are coming from (they still need to be within reach).

Blazes
See Blaze

Although they are not common in the "general" Nether, there are Blaze spawners in Nether Fortresses. A great way to kill them is to use the nether brick from the dungeon and build a casing over the spawner so you can see through a one block hole and either pick them off with your bow and arrows or use a sword, preferably a sword enchanted with Knockback.

Magma Cubes
See Magma Cube Magma Cubes are cube-like mobs that spawn in the Nether, generally near lava (hence the name Magma Cubes). They look like burnt slimes with yellow eyes, and seem to have springs under them (they jump fairly high and the "springing" is visible). Their properties are much like slimes, as killing a large one results in 4 medium-sized ones, once killed yield 4 small ones. The small Magma Cubes drop magma cream (since Minecraft update 1.1) and experience when killed. There isn't much you can do to prevent Magma Cubes from spawning inside your base, but you can reduce their ability to jump by giving your base a low ceiling.