Minecraft Survival Guide

☀️ Your First Day — Survival Basics

Your first day in Minecraft is a race against the clock. You have roughly 10 minutes of daylight before hostile mobs spawn. Here's what to do:

If night falls before you're ready, dig a 3-deep hole, place a block above your head, and wait for dawn. Don't try to fight mobs with wooden tools!

🏠 Building Your First Shelter

Your shelter doesn't need to be fancy — it just needs to keep mobs out. Here are quick shelter ideas:

• Dirt hut — fastest to build, ugly but effective
• Cave base — dig into a hillside, place a door (fence also works)
• Wooden cabin — 5×5 is a great starter size

Essential Items for Your Base

• Crafting table — for all crafting
• Furnace — cook food, smelt ores (8 cobblestone)
• Chest — store items (8 planks)
• Bed — set your spawn point & skip night
• Torches — prevent mob spawns inside (stick + coal/charcoal)

⛏️ Mining Basics & Tool Progression

Mining is the core of Minecraft survival. Here's the tool progression:

For detailed ore locations and Y-levels, check our Ore Mining Guide.

🌾 Farming & Food

Food is essential — your hunger bar depletes as you run, jump, mine, and fight. Keep it full to regenerate health.

Best Food Sources

• Cooked steak/porkchop — best saturation (8 hunger points)
• Golden carrots — best saturation in the game (for enchanting prep)
• Bread — easy to farm (3 wheat = 1 bread)
• Baked potatoes — good and easy

Starting a Farm

• Craft a hoe and till grass blocks near water
• Plant wheat seeds (break grass) — the easiest crop
• Water hydrates farmland in a 4-block radius
• Use bone meal to speed up growth

✨ Enchanting Guide

Enchanting makes your gear much more powerful. Here's the setup:

Must-Have Enchantments

• Pickaxe: Fortune III, Efficiency V, Unbreaking III, Mending
• Sword: Sharpness V, Looting III, Unbreaking III, Mending
• Armor: Protection IV, Unbreaking III, Mending on each piece
• Boots: Feather Falling IV (essential for caves and the End)

🧪 Brewing Potions

Potions give you temporary buffs. You need a Brewing Stand (1 blaze rod + 3 cobblestone) and Nether Wart (found in Nether Fortresses).

Essential Potions

• Fire Resistance — survive lava (magma cream)
• Healing II — instant full heal (glistering melon)
• Strength II — double melee damage (blaze powder)
• Night Vision — see in the dark (golden carrot)
• Slow Falling — essential for End fights (phantom membrane)

🔥 The Nether — Preparation & Navigation

The Nether is a dangerous but essential dimension. You need Blaze Rods and Ender Pearls to access the End.

Before You Go

• Full iron armor minimum (diamond preferred)
• Fire Resistance potions or golden apples
• Plenty of cobblestone for bridging (ghast-proof)
• A bow with arrows for Ghasts
• Food and a spare pickaxe

What to Do in the Nether

1. Find a Nether Fortress — needed for Blaze Rods & Nether Wart
2. Kill Blazes — need at least 7 Blaze Rods (12+ recommended)
3. Trade with Piglins — throw gold ingots for various loot
4. Find Ancient Debris (optional) — for Netherite gear

🐉 Beating the Ender Dragon

The Ender Dragon is the final boss of Minecraft. Here's the complete strategy:

What You Need

• 12 Eyes of Ender (Blaze Powder + Ender Pearl each)
• Diamond or Netherite armor (fully enchanted)
• Bow with Infinity or lots of arrows
• Slow Falling potions (critical for End towers)
• Pumpkin (optional — prevents Endermen aggro)
• Water bucket (escape Endermen, clutch save from falls)
• Beds (7-8 for bed trick — optional speedrun strategy)

Battle Strategy

1. Destroy the End Crystals first — shoot with bow or pillar up to cage
2. Avoid looking at Endermen — wear pumpkin or look at sky
3. Attack the Dragon when it perches on the fountain
4. Use beds as bombs when dragon perches (beds explode in the End)
5. Slow Falling potions if the dragon knocks you off a tower

💡 Pro Tips for Survival

• Always carry a water bucket — clutch saves from falls, lava, and Endermen
• Sleep every night — prevents Phantom spawns
• F3 debug screen shows your exact coordinates and Y-level (Java only)
• Crouch (Shift) near edges — prevents falling
• Cook food in bulk — smokers cook food 2x faster than furnaces
• Use shields — blocks 100% of melee and projectile damage
• Mark your base coordinates — write them down or screenshot F3
• Never dig straight down — you might fall into lava or a cave