Blocking



Blocking is a gameplay mechanic that was added in 1.8. When the player holds the right mouse button while wielding a sword, he or she will raise their sword in front of themselves, allowing them to block attacks, including arrows and explosions; blocked attacks deal only half the normal damage of said attack. Before Minecraft's Full Release, blocking could decrease fall damage, allowing the player to fall 42 blocks without dying instead of 22. Blocking works with any sword and does not decrease the sword's durability.

The player moves at a speed slower than the speed of sneaking when blocking while moving.

History

 * Blocking was implemented in the Beta 1.8 Pre-release 1. Prior to the Beta 1.8 Pre-release 2, blocking didn't block any damage in multiplayer.


 * Prior to the 1.9 Pre-release 1, the player only changed the position of their sword. This was changed in said update, where the player also moved their hand outwards. Players used to be able to rise faster when blocking while swimming underwater, and attacking while blocking used to only register when the player stopped blocking.

Bugs

 * If you press the attack and block button at the same time whilst in third person perspective, the sword appears to cut the player's head.

Trivia

 * The blocking movement complemented with the sneaking mechanic is the gradable opposition of the sprinting mechanic.
 * Taking damage while blocking does not decrease the durability of your sword.
 * Blocking allows for the slowest movements possible in Minecraft. This can occur when the player blocks, sneaks, and moves backward while under the effect of the slowness potion while going through cobwebs placed above still water on top of Soul Sand that is placed on top of ice. This causes the player to move at about 1/32 blocks a second,(needs recalculation after new additions) or 1/2 pixel a second on a default 16x16 texture pack. Blocking while sneaking and with the additional events (but without slowness potion) allows the player go at roughly 0.023854961832 blocks per second (1 block every 41.92 seconds).
 * While the above is very well thought out, it leaves out a key element that can make you move significantly slower. Build the same setup, however, have the cobwebs at the same height as your head, and then where you would be standing, place water (or lava). then drink a slowness potion, go backwards, etc., and it will take approximately 12–13 seconds to go a single pixel on the default texture pack, making the time much longer, and thus making the time to traverse one block around 192 seconds(based on a 16 pixel texture pack at 12 seconds per pixel).


 * It is possible to mine blocks while blocking, which causes the mining animation to be combined with the blocking position giving a strange animation.