Tutorials/Combat

The Enemy
A mob is any creature in the game, whether Hostile, Passive, Allied or Neutral. Mobs come in various shapes and sizes, and all have different health, damage, strength and weaknesses. Each mob will require a different tactic to defeat.

Hostile Mobs
As of 1.9pre3, there are 12 Hostile Mobs in the game. This list is sorted by chance of encounter.

If caught in a difficult place without a weapon, the player can run away if he or she is outdoors or tunnel down towards bedrock and wait for the mob to de-spawn before surfacing. A failsafe is to set the difficulty to peaceful, removing all hostile mobs.

Zombie
Zombies are often said to be the easiest Mobs to beat, as they use only weak melee attacks and they burn in sunlight. However, they have an extended reach, and it is difficult to land a hit on them in melee combat without taking damage. Also, they often spawn in large numbers, they can quickly overcome you. Zombies aren't that fast, merely a nuisance, especially when mining underground. When surrounded by multiple mobs, cut down the zombies first to escape. If possible, lure them out into sunlight during the day. They drop rotten flesh, which is only useful if you (or a wolf) are low on food or far from a permanent food source.

Skeleton
Skeletons can be quite difficult to slay in melee, as they lay down arrow fire as you approach. When attacking them in melee, strafe while approaching, and spiral around them closer and closer. Never use sprint hits on skeletons, unless they are near a hazard, as knocking them back will give them a free shot at you before you can approach. Skeletons can appear to hide behind corners in caverns and ambush you, so ensure to light up the entire tunnel before exploring further when moving underground. If you have a height and distance advantage and are attacking with a bow, you can make short work of a skeleton by firing upon it while staying out of its search range. On equal ground with a skeleton, charge your bow directly after dodging a skeletons arrow to prevent yourself being shot while under the slowing effects of a charging bow. If you are low on health and ammo, waiting until daylight will kill all skeletons due to their vunerability to sunlight.

Creeper
Not only one of the most notorious and infamous mobs in the game, but also one of the most deadly.

The safest way to engage a creeper is from a distance by shooting two fully charged arrows at it with a bow so it cannot explode near the player.

Swimming creepers can be easily dealt with using melee attacks while the player is underwater. Players can also take advantage of the creeper's countdown system by hitting it, retreating a few squares away, and repeating this until it dies. Alternatively, the player can find sufficiently high ground to strike a creeper from above with a melee weapon without the detonation sequence being activated. However, the player should keep in mind that creepers move forwards and to the right (your left) when in pursuit.

A creeper can be hit and knocked out of reach with the sprint hit ability. This allows a player to slowly work down a creepers health while remaining out of the explosion radius. Jumping and hitting a creeper while falling during a sprint will kill the creeper quickly while still keeping it out of reach.

If a creeper is below the player, the player can suffocate a creeper (and many other mobs) by placing a block of sand or gravel above the creeper as long as the block they are placing is on a wall or a block in front of the player and above the target mob. It will usually take one to two blocks to cover the creeper and when it is covered, the creeper will slowly suffocate to death. This is a slow way of eliminating a creeper but it will keep the player out of harm's way and preserve the durability of their weapon.

Spider
Spiders can be a nuisance if handled incorrectly. Spiders are the only mob that are 1 block high, and as such they are able to sneak into your house if a hole is sufficient. However, spiders are also 2 blocks wide, so a 1x1 hole will not let spiders pass. Spiders have a special feature in which they can climb blocks. If you hear spider noises, but can't see one, usually they are on top of your house. In the daytime, spiders will become neutral. They will only attack you if you attack them. Spiders drop string, (as of 1.9 pre 3 they also drop spider eye) and string is extremely useful. You can use it for a fishing rod to get quick and easy food, or ( what most players do) you can use 3 string and 3 sticks to make a bow. Spiders have a jump attack, and so it is best to swing a sword while walking backwards to avoid most damage. During the day, they can be killed by lava or flint and steel without becoming hostile to you.

Passive Mobs
Most passive mobs are easy to kill, as they do not fight back. However, they will run and this can often be a nuisance. You can counter this by killing them with one hit. This is achieved by either using a diamond sword, a fully charged bow, or a critical strike from a stone or iron sword. Lava and Flint and steel can also be used to make the animal drop the cooked version of its meat. Although it will run away it will probably die from the burning.

Do not attack a passive mob without a tool or weapon. This will not only lead to frustration, but also wasted daylight, due to the time taken.

Chickens
Chickens can be quite difficult to hit because of their small hitbox, but they have the least health. A single strike from any sword or from most non-wood tools will finish them off.

Sheep
Sheep are one of the easiest passive mods to kill along with pigs and cows. Sheep have five hearts before 1.9 pre-release 3 and four hearts after the pre-release. Two successive strikes from a diamond, stone or iron sword will finish them off easily. For a one hit kill, critical hit them with a stone sword or better so they won't run away.

Sword

 * Style: Offensive
 * Range: Melee
 * Damage: Physical

The primary weapon which is the most versatile, effective and cheapest to use. A sword's damage varies on material and a rule of thumb is the rarer the material, the stronger the sword (with the exception of gold). A sword deals far more damage than by hand, and will greatly increase a player's chance of survival upon being faced with hostile mobs. Even the wooden sword, the lowest tier of sword, deals four times as much damage as the fist. (and each further increase in material increases the damage of the sword by half a heart) The sword is the only tool that has the ability to block, which reduces melee and ranged damage dealt by mobs by half. A sword, like many of the weapons mentioned here has a limited amount of uses, and disappears when its uses reach zero. Again, the higher tier the sword is, the more uses it has, and each tier approximately doubles the uses that a sword possesses.

Tools

 * Style: Offensive
 * Range: Melee
 * Damage: Physical

When a player is out performing tasks in the world, they may forget to bring a sword or set a sword onto the hotbar. Tools that have a shaft (more specifically, the Shovel, Pickaxe and Axe) can be used to deal mediocre damage when a sword cannot be drawn. The same rules apply to a tool that apply to the sword, except the tool cannot be used to block. Players should note that the wooden and golden shovels deal no more damage than the fist, and therefore the player should avoid using these in combat to prevent consuming their uses. The Axe deals half a heart more than a Pickaxe of the same material, and the Pickaxe deals half a heart more than the Shovel by the same criteria. Again, each tier of tool deals half a heart more than the previous tier.

Bow
Style: Offensive Range: Ranged Damage: Physical

The bow is the longest, most easy to use, and widely employed ranged weapon in the game.

Bucket
The bucket can be filled with either Water or Lava to become arguably one of the most powerful weapons in the game. It also does not have a use limit, and therefore can be used infinite times. A bucket is primarily used as a defensive weapon against approaching mobs, as the player must place the contents of it between the mob and themselves for it to be effective.

Water Bucket
Style: Defensive

Range: Liquid: Area of Effect

Damage: None (Except for Endermen in 1.8)

A water bucket can be used to reduce approaching mob speed, leaving them highly vulnerable to arrow fire and sword damage. Combining this with height, a player can hold off hordes of mobs with little effort. A water bucket provides advantages over the lava bucket in the fact that it is safe to use, is easily removable, and also doubles as a fire extinguisher should the player be set alight. However, it cannot be used in the nether.

Lava Bucket
Style: Defensive

Range: Liquid: Area of Effect

Damage: Fire

A lava bucket can be used to cause immense amounts of damage to multiple mobs. It will provide light and will greatly slow mob movement, even more so than water. A player can dump it on the ground for quick use, however this will provide difficult for cleanup and the player may end up burning themselves or trapping their escape. A strategic player can quickly dig a 7x1 trench and fill the middle block with lava to hinder mob advances, inflicting enough damage on them to allow for an easy kill. However, this method is inneffective against spiders unless the trench was 7x2. Lava buckets are almost completely inneffective against all Nether mobs - their only use is to slow down land based mobs such as the Zombie Pigman or the Magma Cube in the same way that a Water Bucket is used.