Tutorials/Hardcore mode

Intro
This is a guide for Hardcore Mode written by a man who was still in the middle of his second game of Hardcore and edited by those who shared his vision. The following is what he wished to share with those of us who feel the need to beat video games on their hardest setting.

First, thank Notch we now actually have something to work towards, not that you minded aimlessly wandering the wilderness in search of... of.... an even more epic mountain than that last one; and the endless hunt for more diamonds is still a core part of the average Minecrafters psyche. But now, with the addition of this horrific terror, new challenges have been laid out before you. The last of which being to slay that beast you lovingly know as the Enderdragon, and all the while the slightest slip, burp, or Explosion; the slightest lapse in judgement or one too many careless impressions of the jump key, could dash your dreams and aspirations to bloody pieces.

Welcome to Hardcore Mode!

Secondly, this might be one of the hardest games ever to beat on its hardest setting that has ever been made. So beware travelers, this may end up driving you to a deep state insanity. Even now, the author of this guide teeters on the brink of such a state.

Lastly, this is not only a guide on conquering The End. While that is the author's personal goal, this guide is intended to offer strategies for the every day survival of Hardcore Mode.

Without further adieu, The Guide to Hardcore Survival:

Important!
Here is a list of guiding Principles/Standards/Commandments/HardLearedLessons, that should always be practiced while Hardcoring.


 * In no specific order:


 * Always Kill Chickens! Feathers > Diamonds
 * Break Gravel Blocks Often! Flint > Diamonds
 * Live every moment like there is a creeper behind you, chances are there is.
 * Keep your Hunger meter full at all times, regenerating health is salvation.
 * Always sprint out of doors and cave openings.
 * As soon as possible, get a Bucket of water and keep it on your hot-bar for the rest of time.
 * Assume there is Lava behind that block you are breaking.
 * Assume your next seemingly safe step will drop you into an ocean of Lava, oftentimes in caves, what looks like a safe step may be a 20 level drop into the said sea of Lava.
 * Listen for Lava. It makes a popping sound similar to the sound a Slime makes.
 * By now I hope you get that Lava is probably going to be what kills you.
 * Iron Armor is the difference between life and death.
 * Pick a system for placing your torches and stick to it so you don't get lost.
 * if you are in a Taiga biome,it may be a good idea to keep Snowballs in your GUI. snowballs do not do damage, but they do push mobs away by shooting the snowballs at the mobs.

Step by Step Guide to Hardcore
Now that the basics have been established, let's move on to the more nitty gritty details, shall we say. At the time of writing this guide, the author was in the middle of a game of Hardcore. Using the following strategies he was at least able to reach level 38 and have endless stacks of iron, 4 Enderpearls, 37 Diamonds, and of coarse a pack of wolves which was ever growing. He was proud of his accomplishments, but also very aware of how much of the challenge was left to complete. The looming and ever closer threat of the Nether is most likely what prompted him to pause and write down this "guide". No one can be sure...

Step #1 - Day 1
Daytime:


 * Find the closest tree and punch it. If there are no trees... kill yourself.
 * Craft a Crafting Table. No, this is not a paradox.
 * Craft a Wooden Pickaxe.
 * Find the nearest Stone and mine around 20 blocks to start. One strategy for finding stone quickly is to dig diagonally down through the dirt you are standing on, and about 4ish levels you should hit stone.
 * Craft a Stone Axe and clear cut a stack or two of Wood.
 * Turn part, not all, of the wood into planks and build a tiny shack.
 * What you do after this is pretty much up to you, and depends on how much daylight you have left, here are some suggestions:
 * Look for a few sheep so that yo can make a Bed for your little shack. Being able to skip the night isn't necessary, but it is nice!
 * Kill nearby animals for food and grab any nearby coal that you can before you hide out in your shack for the night.
 * Craft a Door so that you can peak around outside and keep an eye on the zombie hoard. And remember that Zombies can break doors now, so if you are too scared just block yourself in and turn up the brightness in your settings or throw up a Torch if you have one.

Nighttime:


 * Craft an Oven.
 * If you don't have any Coal, use 2 Sticks to cook a piece of raw wood into Charcoal. Use that piece of charcoal to cook 8 more pieces of raw wood in to 8 charcoal.
 * Use 7 pieces of charcoal to craft torches.
 * Use 1 piece to cook any food that you may have.
 * Craft 3 stone Swords, 2 stone pickaxes, 1 stone Shovel, and 2 Chests.
 * Wait for the pretty sunrise.


 * Day 1 Complete! Good Job!

Step #2 - Should I stay or should I go?
If you really like the area you spawned in then you can stay. If not, just pickup your stove, crafting table, and bed; and set off at the first sight of the Sun. Leaving your shack behind as a monument to the start of this grand adventure. Day 2/3ish priority, regardless if you stay or not, is always... COWS! Take any food you can get at the start but your main prey is of a bovine nature. You will dash through the wilderness in search of your mooing friends in hopes to gather enough steak and leather to last a life time. If the great Notch in the sky is feeling kind that day, the bounty will be plentiful! But he is not always in a kind and giving mood, he may test you in ways you never thought possible, so be willing to compromise. Also keep in mind that Villages tend to spawn in Plain or Desert Biomes. So keep an eye out and your hopes up for such a town.

While hunting these heifers, watch for coal and iron at cave entrances, and if you think you have found a good cave system, it might be a good idea to setup your first base of operations.

If you are lucky you will have killed enough cattle to make a Suit-O-Betsy. You need 24 pieces of armor material to make a full set so make sure to rejoice when the holy Notch has seen fit to grant you said pieces. But don't kill yourself with boredom trying to get leather, take what you get and once you have a good supply of food, a stack or two, you are ready for a serious trip into the bowels of the planet.

Step #3 - 'UnderEarthly' Supplies
For your first spelunking adventure make sure to bring a few items:
 * 2 swords(in case one breaks on you in the heat of battle, it is good to have backup).
 * 4+ stone pickaxes and 4+ stone shovels(carry a bunch of pickaxes so that you can get into a groove and not have to bother making new pickaxes very often)
 * A full stack of Raw wood.
 * As many torches as you have been able to craft up to this point.
 * Whatever leather armor you made before you got bored of killing cows.
 * 1-2 stacks of Raw Steak and Chicken.
 * If you happened to find some iron around and can craft a bucket, craft it and fill it with water. If you are quick this can save you if you find yourself waste deep in lava or on fire.
 * Keep a couple crafting tables and chests on you so that you can leave them in convenient places throughout the cave.
 * It is also a good idea to keep a bucket of Milk or 2 on you if you end up exploring an abandoned mine shaft. The Cave Spider poison can spell disaster for the Hardcore Player.

A couple things to keep in mind while underground:
 * Kill Slimes when you see or hear them. Slime Balls are part of the recipe for fire resistance potions which can be very useful.
 * If you run across a dungeon with a spawner, disable it. It may be hard but there are sometimes valuable items in the chests next to the spawner.

Step #4a - The Coalden Rule
Once you have found your first good cave system and you have enough food to do some serious delving, it is time to bank some serious coal. You almost can't have enough of the stuff... almost. Cooking food, Smelting iron ore, and crafting torches will quite literally burn through your coal stacks at a time. As mentioned in the Important! section at the beginning, be strategic about your torches! Here is the Authors system for torch placement. On the way in to unexplored cave, always put torches on the right wall. If a tunnel is particularly wide and you need more light, put two torches on the same block on the left wall. This way when you need to head back to the surface, just follow the reverse pattern. Torches on the right wall on the way in will be on the left wall on the way out. Light up big rooms as quickly as possible, not paying too much attention to strategy, but caring more about stopping monsters from spawning all around you. When in doubt, use more torches than less, there is plenty coal to go around, but only one life!

Step #4b - The IRON Rule
Get Iron, get lots of iron, and get it fast. The sooner you can trade your flimsy armor for some of the manly stuff, the better. As you collect Iron keep a central-ish location where you can have a bunch of ovens putting all your coal to good use by smelting your iron. Make an iron sword as fast as possible and maybe 1 iron pickaxe, then focus on the armor. Iron armor is the most important thing up to this point. Get in it as fast as possible and your chances for survival will be greatly increased. With a full suit of iron armor no single Mob(excluding the dragon) poses any real threat, even an Enderman. You still need to play carefully, in groups these Mobs can still be dangerous, but you can now be confident while fighting off the zombie hoards and the creeper ninjas.

Step #5 - Robin Hood Rule
When you have killed enough spiders make a bow, they are awesome. Get good with your bow. Your bow will come in handy against the Enderdragon so get good. Also, killing Skeletons can sometimes drop bows for you, sometimes even enchanted bows. There is no easier way to take down a Skeleton than with your Bow and Arrows.

Step #6 - Diamonds!
It is time to go get you some diamonds! They live almost exclusively at levels 5-13. You can press F3 to see what your location is, the Y coordinate is what level you are on. Two main methods are used to find these rare gems. You can just look around in the cave at that level, or once you reach the right levels just pick a wall and dig a 2x2 hallway. Both methods yield... DIAMONDS! There are other mining methods that you can look up too, some include... TNT. Remember to be careful of LAVA though, it is literally all around you. What you do with your diamonds is up to you. Craft a set of armor, and some tools. But you shouldn't use the armor until you have at least a low level 1-5ish, enchantment on them. Your Iron Armor should be sufficient until then. Technically the only non-enchanted diamond item that you need to use is your first diamond pick, which you will need so you can harvest the Obsidian required in the crafting of an Enchantment Table. Learn about Enchanting here -> and here ->

Step #7 - Adventure and Beyond!
By now you have almost all the supplies you need to get out there in the world. Now Pick a direction and go. If you find Wolves feed them Bones and they will join your roaming gang. Feed them food so they mate and your gang will get bigger. If you do collect a wolf gang be careful that creepers don't explode near them. Many a wolf-friend have been lost to a ninja creeper attack. Don't bring the wolves with you underground, or climbing mountains! They tend to bump you off cliffs or into lava or they just kill themselves. Wolves are for the plains/forests/desserts. Even though they might seem more irritating than helpful, the can save you if you get into a pinch.

Soon, you will start to eagerly await the night. Monsters will fear you. When the night eventually comes, and it always comes, you will terrorize every monster you can find; always hungary for another kill. They all drop useful items. Zombies drop Wolf Food. Skeletons drop arrows/bows/Wolf Bait. Creepers drop TNT powder. Spiders drop... ok string kinda sucks but hey, it is still XP! And most importantly, Enderman drop those Pretty Pearls that are oh so crucial!

Now, don't let your blood lust distract you! This trek is not aimless, you should still be looking for a village if you have not found one already. And remember they spawn on flat places usually. Once you find one, search the buildings for Bookshelves to use on your enchantment table. If, there are no bookshelves, look for another village or you can, also grab any sugar cane you happen upon and farm it. Craft Sugarcane to Paper to Books to Bookshelves and an Enchantment Table. Once you have your enchantment table, it is your choice what you want to spend your hard earned levels on. You can even spend some time grinding XP for a bit if you prefer. This is a little dangerous, but it might be worth it in... The End. Once you reach level 40+, which you are probably close to already, pick one item and enchant it to level 40. The choice is yours, no one can choose which item you should enchant, although you could enchant a Bow, since they are so important! After that it is just some quick grinding to level up anywhere from 1-5 and enchant each of your unused diamond armor pieces, diamond tools and bow. All the while hunting for enderpearls at night. Plan to collect Enderpearls until you have more than enough to find the Stronghold, around 20.

Now, it is time to venture into the Nether.

Step #8 - Nether
Adventure in Nether will be very dangerous so make sure you have:
 * Flint and Steel to light your portal in case it's fire goes out for some reason.
 * A lot of Arrows. At least 2ish stacks.
 * Your shiny new diamond armor and tools. And the rest of your normal Hardcore gear.

In the Nether, Archery and enchanted armor are key to making survival easy. Archery will help with lowering the Ghast population. Fire resistance in potion form or enchantments is also extremely helpful! You cannot get water into the nether, so be careful, there is a lot of fire. If there are no Fortresses nearby, you may be forced to spend a lot of time in the Nether. Food supplies can be easily replenished, using very abundant mushrooms. If you start to travel, be sure to leave an easy trail to follow. Leaving a trail of cobblestone blocks with a torch on top of them is a great method since the cobble stone stands out against the red of the Nether.

You can be killed by a lot of things in the Nether, but most notable of them are:
 * Ghasts. They shoot flaming balls of exploding fire.  Remember that you can block their attacks back towards them.  Use your bow to take them out fast!  And be careful not to let their explosions bump you into lava!
 * Zombie Pigman. If you plan to fight one of these, remember that they will call all of the other close by Pigmen to attack you and/or knock you into lava or fire.  They are best left alone.
 * Blazes. They are not very challenging alone and in controlled circumstances, but if three or four spawn at once, or they catch you unaware, things might turn really bad.
 * Falling down huge distance/in lava. Remember to use even more caution than you did in the caves before.  Your carelesness or tricky holes in a Nether Fortress could lead you to an early lava filled grave.

What you need from the Nether:
 * Blaze Rod - it is necessary to craft Eyes of Ender. It also used to craft a brewing stand and Strength potions. To obtain them you will need to kill blazes. It can be done most easily by finding enclosed spawner and killing them in melee. Do not try to fight blazes in the open. Even if you were masterful enough to manage both blazes and ghasts at a time, your arrow supply wouldn't. Anyways, most of the loot would land out of your range. 20 blaze rods should be more than enough.
 * Nether Wart - they are necessary to brew any useful potion. They are found quite often in Nether fortresses.
 * Ghast tear - used for regeneration potion, which might save your life.
 * Glowstone dust - useful in terms of prolonging potion duration. Glowstone appears quite often in Nether Fortresses.

When you have gathered all the supplies that interest you, use your Portal to get back to the Overworld.

Step #9 - The End
It is time to convert your Enderpearls into Eyes of Ender. Read here about how to get to the end. Remember to be conservative while using your enderpearls, they are the only ones you have and you MUST have 12 to open the portal to the End. Collect a few dozens of blocks of sand during your search, so you can make bottles. Once you find the spot of the portal, begin to descend down. Don't dig right below your feet, because you might end up falling into the End portal. When you are in the Stronghold, break the Silverfish spawner and pillage the place. Set up your last base before fulfilng your destiny (or not).

To make sure that it won't be your end, prepare yourself properly. You will need:
 * Diamond sword, pickaxe, bow and diamond armor. All unenchanted tools, enchant with level 1-5 enchantments.
 * A full stack of cooked food, preferably steak or porkchops.
 * Around 4 stacks of arrows. 1 arrow if you have an Infinity bow
 * 64 blocks, 2 buckets of water.
 * Setup your brewing stand and then read about Brewing Potions <-- here.
 * Potions of regeneration. They should come in two variations (about 4 items each):
 * Extended potions of regeneration. Should be active each time you take damage or are at big risk of severly wounding yourself.
 * Splash potion of regenration II. They can be used to save yourself from death.
 * Potion of Strength. If inventory space is not a problem make them all tier two potions. Take two extended potions or 6 tier II ones.
 * Splash potion of healing II. If you have melon avilable, fill all remaining inventory space with them. Before fighting Enderdragon, learn to differ them from regeneration potions.

Outro
More detailed updates may come, once the Author has finished his own adventure... if he makes it that is.

Lastly, here is a screen shot of the Author's inventory setup that he runs when spelunking/adventuring. If you have a base of operations and are just going out to kill things you can run a simpler setup, but these items are all very important to the Hardcore Minecrafter.



Some quick screenshot notes:
 * Keep dirt next to your pickaxe in case of lava spillage.
 * You can use the pumpkin head on Enderman, so they won't run away. Wolves are also really awesome for killing Enderman and not having them run off on you.
 * Learn to use the 1 key to switch to your sword fast.
 * And there is that water bucket, just in case of you know what...

Happy Hardcoring! And remember don't ever let your guard down or get comfortable, all it takes is one perfectly placed creeper explosion and 3 disastrously timed skeletons and you can kiss your hard work goodbye. Also.... LAVA!