Tutorials/Nether survival

The Nether is a dangerous hellscape filled with Zombie Pigmen, Ghasts, Blazes and Magma Cubes.

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.

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. 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, 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. 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 and out a Crafting Table and a Chest. Once you have set up your base to your liking, you will be ready to explore.

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 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 or any other explosion resistant with at least a value of 20.18.

When exploring the Nether it is a good idea to take some food with you. If you run out of food, you better hope you can make it back to your base before you die. Also, avoid sprinting as it may send you straight into a lava pool. The only source of food in the Nether is Zombie Pigmen, and attacking one sends nearby ones into a rage, so make sure you can handle half a dozen at once. Also, if you have some wood and a crafting table at your disposal, you can make a bowl out of wood and harvest some of the many mushrooms in the nether. Then, you can make mushroom soup instead of eating rotten flesh from zombie pigmen.

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 most 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 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 leave, follow your torches out, go back to your base, then 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.

After you have secured the Nether Wart, explore the Nether Fortress thouroughly, 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, however they do not drop anything.