Tutorials/Home defense

If your house is often blown up by Creepers, this article is right for you!

Murder Holes
Dig some holes around your house that are at least four blocks deep (The amount of holes varies at the size of your house). At the bottom of the hole, one of these blocks/items need to be at the bottom.


 * Burning Netherrack
 * Cacti
 * Lava
 * Traps (suffocating traps or drowning traps)

(You can also make a moat around your house.) For experience, dig the holes farther down so the mobs will be damaged by the fall, then simply kill them. Alternatively, use water to direct the mobs into a single area, where experience can be gathered safely and efficiently.

Sniping Tower
If you are bored in your house, you can use a 'sniping tower' to snipe hostile mobs. Make sure that the tower is high enough, so that the mobs cannot attack you. An enchanted Bow is recommended, but if you really want to keep your enchanted bow then that is fine.

Note: You will need lots and lots of arrows!

Perimeter wall
You can build a perimeter (outer wall) by using strong blocks like:

Bricks and Stone Bricks are not recommended since they are expensive to create in large quantities.
 * Stone
 * Stone Brick
 * Cobblestone
 * Obsidian
 * Brick

If you have obsidian, it is highly recommended for protection against many mobs. If you are low on resources, use a double wide or triple wide cobblestone wall. A strong wall is at least 6 blocks high, but the minimum is 3 blocks high. You can fence off your home area. Be sure to use 2 fences stacked up, because Spiders can jump your Fences. To prevent this, create an overhang so spiders cannot climb over.

Optional: Dig murder holes around the perimeter wall to trap mobs.

Land Mines
To create a land mine, you'll need:


 * Some TNT
 * Pressure plates
 * Any block except obsidian or bedrock

To make a landmine, first you need to dig a two meter (block) deep hole. At the bottom of this hole, needs to be a single block of TNT. Next, place any block (besides obsidian or bedrock) on top of the TNT. On top of that, place a Pressure Plate on top of the block that was placed on the TNT. Once an entity steps on the plate, the TNT will explode, thus causing damage to the entity and the terrain. (Unless the terrain is made of obsidian or bedrock.)

Advantages

 * Mobs are usually killed in one blast
 * Landmines are relatively easy to make
 * They can be triggered from a safe location with redstone

Disadvantages

 * Landmines must be recreated after each use
 * The blast may set off other landmines
 * You or your shelter could be destroyed
 * The mob may go past the TNT while chasing you
 * In most cases, TNT is more valuable than the killing of a single hostile mob.

To counter terrain or structures being destroyed, place water on a side of the TNT. This trap will still damage mobs, but the surrounding blocks will not be destroyed. However, the trap won't be as effective.

If you want to make sure that the mob is killed in the explosion and that your base won't blow up, dig a deep hole (break the block NEXT to the one that you're standing on. Jump in, then replace the bottom block(s) with Obsidian and pillar back up. Break the blocks again, and put a TNT block two blocks down, followed by a gravity affected block (either sand or gravel). Put a pressure plate on top and you're done!

Snow Golem Legion
To create an individual Snow Golem, you'll need:


 * A pumpkin
 * Two snow blocks

Place 2 snow blocks on top of each other, then place a pumpkin on top to create a Snow Golem.

Unfortunately, Snow Golem legions don't do damage to mobs (with the exception of blazes). However, placing snow golems in fenced off "watch towers" may help protect you from hostile mobs as:


 * The mobs will then attack the Snow Golems as opposed to you, and
 * Snow Golems snow balls push away hostile mobs.

See more about this strategy on the Snow Golem page.

Iron Golem Legion
To create an Iron Golem, use 4 iron blocks in a T shape, then put a pumpkin on top. These are more powerful than the Snow Golem, but also much more expensive, since they use 36 iron ingots.

If you're planning on protecting your house with Iron Golems, stock up on Iron and place them in areas which might have a risk from mobs.

TNT Cannons
TNT Cannons: The best weapon usable. This should be put outside your perimeter. Go to Tutorials/TNT Cannons to find steps to build these.

Panic Room
You can make a room made of obsidian, with an iron door and the lever in, you need to have at least: Optional:
 * 2 stone pickaxes
 * a sword
 * a bow and some arrows
 * food
 * a set of iron armor
 * an infinite source of water
 * some TNT
 * a bucket of lava
 * wheat farm (a hoe would be needed)
 * trees (although you can always keep saplings and wood in a chest)
 * a cow for milk
 * a furnace
 * enchantment table

Sticky Piston Crusher
If a mob crosses your perimeter, you can use pistons to crush those Hostile Mobs like insects! However, you cannot get their drops without going there yourself. Using string, it may be possible to get the drops and kill the mob, especially if using Snapshot 13w01a or later