Axes are tools used to ease the process of collecting logs, planks, chests and bookcases, but are not required to gather them. They can also be used on mobs as a weapon, but do less damage than swords of the same material.
Usage
The axe is used to break wood and wooden items faster. It is less necessary than the pick to advance in the game as the axe is not needed to collect items for which it is suited to breaking or, in the case of bookcases, does not help in collecting it. Most items the axe is rated for can also be broken reasonably quickly by hand. However, given most players expend fairly large quantities of wood through gameplay and the use of axes for logging and renovation will save a great deal of time in the long run.
An axe can also be used as a weapon in which role it deals less damage then a sword but more than any other tool in melee. Broadly speaking, axes require one more hit than the equivalent sword to kill a hostile mob and cannot be used to parry. Players that can reliably launch critical hits can nevertheless make axes compelling weapons, especially should a sword not be handy. They can be useful to kill passive mobs while logging.
Usage of the axe as a weapon will deal double durability damage to the axe. Moreover, axes cost more resources per tool than swords do to begin with. Hence, the axe's use as a weapon should be limited to last resort.
Crafting
Axes are crafted using 2 sticks and 3 units of a tool material:
| Ingredients | Input » Output | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Sticks + Wood or Cobblestone or Iron Ingots or Gold Ingots or Diamond Gems |
Template:Grid/Crafting Table | Used to chop wood-related
blocks faster than by hand. |
Speed and Durability
The following table summarizes the speed at which different quality axes perform.
| Axes | Bare hands | Wood | Stone | Iron | Diamond | Gold |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durability | ∞ | 60 | 132 | 251 | 1562 | 33 |
| Chest | 3.75 secs | 1.9 secs | 0.95 secs | 0.65 secs | 0.5 secs | 0.35 secs |
| Wood | 3 secs | 1.5 secs | 0.75 secs | 0.5 secs | 0.4 secs | 0.25 secs |
| Wooden Plank |
3 secs | 1.5 secs | 0.75 secs | 0.5 secs | 0.4 secs | 0.25 secs |
| Bookshelf | 2.25 secs | 1.15 secs | 0.6 secs | 0.4 secs | 0.3 secs | 0.2 secs |
Notes
- A wood block can be chopped until it almost breaks then switched to a non-tool item to complete breaking, saving a use of the axe (not recommended for gold or diamond axes, because they cut so fast that switching is almost impossible).
- After 1.2 Beta update, gold tools, including axes, remove blocks faster than diamond tools.
- Axes, as of Minecraft Beta 1.5, deal more damage to mobs and players than by hand, which means of all non-weapon tools, axes deal the most damage.