When you thought you’ve accomplished everything there is in Minecraft’s overworld, little did you know there’s another place to conquer. Yes, there is a dimension called the Nether; it’s a place distinctly separate from the overworld and is full of fire, lava, fungi-based vegetation, and home to many hostile creatures. But in the midst of your adventure to the Nether, there is one place every Minecraft player should conquer—the Nether Fortress. This is crucial to progressing in the game and it’s the only place you can farm blaze rods. Reaching the Nether Fortress isn’t just a walk in the park, either. Looking for the fortress can definitely become quite a challenge considering you need the right tools and gear just to get there. We will talk about ways to prepare for your adventure into the nether, equip you with the right gear, and how to find the coveted Nether Fortress.

What to bring when exploring the Nether?

The nether is filled with lava lakes and hostile mobs so you’re going to need to gear up and protect yourself by equipping the right set of weapons and armor. Walking into this antagonistic environment where one wrong move could potentially get you killed is definitely not for the faint of heart. Even skilled and fully equipped players have a hard time venturing the Nether. It is always good to prepare yourself with the right gear when going on this dangerous adventure; here’s what you’ll need:

• Sword: You should bring a strong weapon in order to defeat hostile mobs in the nether. Enchanting your sword is not necessary but you should at least have an iron or diamond sword before venturing into the nether. If you want to enchant your weapon, you should go for either smite or sharpness.

• Bow: Bringing a bow is necessary – especially when trying to kill a ghast, a large white floating hostile creature that shoots fireballs. Be sure to bring a generous amount of arrows if you don’t have the infinity enchantment equipped on your bow. You can also enchant your bow with power to increase arrow damage, which is highly recommended.

• Pickaxe: An iron or diamond pickaxe is necessary when trekking through the Nether. The Nether is filled with nether rack, nether quartz, and more. Take this time to gather up resources with your pickaxe as you journey to find the Nether Fortress. You may also use the pickaxe to build tunnels to cross high, mountainous paths.

• Armor: Equip a full set of iron or diamond tier armor. A full set of armor includes the helmet, chestplate, leggings, and boots. For armor enchantment, we suggest equipping at least protection III or IV. For boots, you can also choose feather falling to decrease fall damage from great heights.

• Cobblestones: Bring at least 64 cobblestones (or one stack) for you to work with while in the nether. You can use the cobblestones to craft different items such as stairs and tools, or use it in building tunnels, creating walls, paths, and more. You should also bring more cobblestones in the chance you decide to build a temporary base in the nether.

• Logs: Bring a few logs to help you craft items that require wood such as sticks and planks that are necessary for weapons, tools, and more. Carrying logs will also help save space in your inventory instead of carrying planks.

• Torches: Bring a good amount of torches before you go on your Nether adventure. The Nether has a dark atmosphere and un-lit, restricted field of view could become a major problem especially when trekking through dangerous areas with lava pools below. You can use torches to light your way as well as use them to mark areas you’ve previously explored, similar to leaving a trail of bread crumbs. To make torches, simply place one coal on top of a stick in the crafting table. remember to bring extra coals and sticks in case you need to craft more torches.

• Water Bucket: Bringing at least 1 water bucket allows you to clear areas filled with lava and it can also be used to put yourself out if you’re on fire. Crafting a bucket requires you to place 3 iron ingots in the 3×3 crafting grid. You should place the iron ingots in the correct pattern as shown below to craft a bucket.

• Crafting Table and Furnace: A crafting table and furnace is required when crafting most of items in the game. Bring one in case you need to craft something along the way or you run out of tools to work with and end up needing to craft something on-the-go.

• Food: Food can be a source of healing and to satiate hunger levels. Since this will be your main source of health, bring as much food as possible. You should bring food items that heals back the most health such as cooked porkchop, steak, or mutton.

• Chests: You might want to bring a chest or two if you plan on creating a temporary base in the nether. Considering it would be a long journey home, you would definitely want to make pit stops to replenish your inventory and craft items safely. Placing chests in your temporary base would help free up enough inventory space to continue your journey or leave some items for your next trip to the Nether.

How To Get to the Nether

Although it sounds easy, there are steps required in order to get to the Nether Realm. It is a dimension that exists beneath the idyllic scenery of Minecraft’s overworld. Getting there isn’t as simple as riding a horse and galloping through the mountains. To get there, you need to build a portal. Fortunately, you only need 2 things to build it: 14 obsidian and 1 flint and steel.

The easiest way to farm obsidian is to find a lava pool and simply pour water in it. This will harden lava to create obsidian which you can only farm by using a diamond pickaxe. You need 14 obsidian blocks to create the nether portal. To make flint and steel, you need 1 iron ingot and 1 flint and place them in the crafting grid. Remember to place them in the exact pattern shown below, otherwise, it won’t work.

To make a nether portal, all you have to do is to create a rectangular shape using the obsidian blocks and place them in a 4×5 pattern. Once you created the outer frame, use the flint and steel to light the inner frame on fire. This will generate the portal to the Nether.

How To Find the Nether Fortress

This is where it gets tricky. Finding the Nether Fortress is not that simple. You could literally walk thousands of miles, explore almost all areas, and still won’t find one. The bad news is unless you use cheats, game commands, or use creative mode, you probably won’t find the fortress easily. And to make matters worse, Minecraft’s 1.16 Nether update makes the apparent distance between fortresses even farther.

So how do you find the Nether Fortress? Well, there are a few ways you can try to make searching for fortresses easier. Here are some tips listed below:

• You can start by changing your render settings to see further in the distance. Adjusting render allows the game to generate more scenery in your field of view at the cost of FPS and graphic performance.

• Search for giant structures such as buildings and pillars. The nether fortress is made up of nether bricks—dark purple bricks—that are designed similar to that of a castle.

• Cross the lava ocean using striders. They are passive mobs that you can find walking in the middle of lava lakes and oceans. To ride striders, you must use a saddle and control their movement using warped fungus on a stick similar to how pigs are ridden and controlled. Crossing the lava ocean allows you to gain access to new areas in the nether making your search for the nether fortress easier.

• Try heading in the direction of positive X axis. Check your coordinates by pressing F3 on your keyboard for PC users and FN + F3 for Mac. Coordinates should pop up on your screen that will tell you which direction you are currently on. Look for the XYZ mark on the map. Head towards positive X axis (north) as nether fortresses have a higher chance to generate more in that direction.

• If you’ve looked everywhere and decided to give in to cheats, try using the command /locate fortress to get the coordinates to the nearest fortress. This should give you an exact location of where the nearest nether fortress from you would be. Then check your current coordinates with F3 to navigate your way to the fortress.

Once you reach the Nether Fortress, make sure you have all your gear and weapons ready as you will have to battle your way through it. Explore the fortress thoroughly to gather resources effectively.

Minecraft is a game where survivability and creativity are essential to the player’s progression. Building your very own base at the start of the game is crucial to your survival. Starter bases are one of the most important structures you should build the moment you set foot in Minecraft’s overworld. It will serve as your main defense to protect yourself from various hostile creatures that roam at night. But, building starter bases isn’t that easy – especially when you aren’t equipped with the right tools to farm for resources at the start of the game. Here, we will talk about what tools you need and how to build the best starter base in Minecraft.

What to do at the start of the game

Before you start building your base, you need to gather resources. In order to do that, you will need to equip yourself with the basic tools to make farming these resources easier and faster. Start by gathering logs by hand. Once you’ve gathered enough logs, place them in the crafting grid to create planks. 1 log will produce 4 planks. Planks will be used to produce different sets of materials such as sticks, tools, weapons, and more. Use 4 planks to build yourself a crafting table. The crafting table will be your basic utility block to create all kinds of material and items in the game. This is the most important step to create your first set of tools and weapons.

What tools will you need?

When starting off, you can use basic tools such as a wooden ax and pickaxe. But if you get the chance to gather cobblestone using your pickaxe, start gathering them right away. This will allow you to create a better set of tools such as stone ax and stone pickaxe to make gathering resources quicker and more efficient. Here is a list of all the basic tools as well as each crafting table recipe. Take note: You can only craft tools using a crafting table.

• Axe: Axes are used to efficiently chop down trees for wood. You can also use axes to chop down other wooden-based blocks such as planks. (Refer to the correct recipe below)

• Pickaxe: PIckaxes lets you gather cobblestones and coal more easily. Higher types of pickaxes can efficiently gather higher level resources such as iron, gold, and diamond. (Refer to the correct recipe below). Later into the game you’ll need higher level tools to mine certain materials like obsidian.

• Shovel: Shovels are used to efficiently dig out sand and dirt as well as other blocks like gravel. (Refer to the correct recipe below)

• Sword: The sword is a weapon that you can use to defend yourself from hostile mobs as well as use to effectively farm for food from passive mobs such as chicken, cows, and pigs. (Refer to the correct recipe below)

Steps To Build a Basic Starter Base

Once you have your set of tools, you are ready to gather resources. Start by chopping down lots of logs. These logs can be used to build walls as well as other things. If you can find a source of cobblestone to mine, gather as much as you can. These are the two things you should farm the most: Logs and cobblestone. Once you’ve gathered enough materials, we can start building our base.

Step 1

Find your ideal spot to build a base. Preferably in a large open area such as the plains biome. Building your base in an open area allows better navigation, base expansion, and more.

Step 2

Make an outline of your base. This is one of the most crucial steps in order to start building the foundations of your starter base. Remember to give a 1 block space for the door. The width and length of the outline will depend on how big you want your starter base to be – It’s all up to you!

Step 3

Start building the walls and foundation of your base. The height will depend on how high you want your base to be. 3 blocks high is about the average height. Make sure to leave some space for windows!

Step 4

Dig out the ground using a shovel and replace them with planks, eventually, you’ll be able to craft colorful flooring blocks to really spruce up the place. For now, keep it simple.

Step 5

Start building your roof. You’re going to need a lot of planks for this one. You don’t necessarily have to follow our design – you can simply build a flat roof to cover your base if you wish. Make sure the planks are sticking out from the walls to give it a homey feel. Using your crafting table, create a couple of stairs for the roof, and cover it using stairs. You may also create slabs using the crafting table; they can also be used to make a flat roof.

Step 6

Next, we need doors and windows. To craft a door, you will need 6 planks and place them in a 2×3 pattern on the crafting grid. For the windows, you can use a fence. You will need 2 sticks and 4 planks to create a fence. You may also use glass later as you progress in the game but for now, we will use fences.

Step 7

Now that your base structure is complete, we will need to start working on the interior of the base. There are a few basic things you will need in your starter base. Here is a list below along with its corresponding recipe:

• CRAFTING TABLE: Crafting tables are used to make different kinds of items and materials.

• FURNACE: Furnaces are used to smelt different items. You can also cook food using a furnace. You will need at least 2 furnaces to smelt items faster. You can use logs or planks for fuel. But an effective fuel for the furnace would be coal or charcoal. You can make charcoal by smelting 1 log in a furnace.

• CHEST: Chests are very important early game. They can be used to store items and you can store a lot of your gathered resources with chests. Be sure to make a couple chests to store more items. you can place 2 chests together to make an even bigger chest.

• BED: The bed is one of the most important items you should craft early. It is used for sleeping at night and to reset the spawn point directly to the bed. This will allow you to respawn next to your bed when you die, instead of spawning randomly.

• TORCH: Torches are used to light your base. Make sure to place a decent amount of light inside and outside of your base to prevent hostile mobs from spawning near you at night. To make a torch, you will need 1 coal and 1 stick. This will produce 4 torches.

With this, your starter base should be ready. You can add additional items to make your starter base even better and more cozy. Ultimately, these are all you need to survive the first stage of Minecraft. Be sure to gather lots of resources, materials, stock up on food, and upgrade your gear to make farming for resources and killing mobs easier.

From cute axolotls to the monstrous wither, Minecraft has managed to capture the hearts of the players since day one. As various mobs roam the overworld – both passive and hostile – players have conquered most of what the game has to offer. Gamers have created hundreds of structures, tamed most of the animals, and fought epic battles; but it’s isn’t just about finishing the game.

Minecraft is a game where freedom and creativity can coexist. From building your home to defending a large village from raids, players just about had it all—except for one: the Minecraft fox. You may have encountered them during one of your travels and although they are pretty cute and adorable, they’re also rather sneaky. But did you know foxes can be tamed? You can even have one as a pet!

This quick and elusive creature can be tamed but not in the way that you’d think. To tame one, you’ll need skillful planning, patience, and determination as these quick creatures are pretty skittish and won’t go down that easily. Getting near one is nothing short of a miracle, let alone getting near two of them. But with this Minecraft guide, we’ll teach you exactly how you will be able to tame a Minecraft fox and get yourself a brand new companion.

What are foxes in Minecraft?

So, what is a Minecraft fox anyway? Foxes are passive mobs in Minecraft that are nocturnal, naturally evasive, and quick on their feet when they sense danger. They often live in areas like the taiga biome and giant tree taiga biome. Some can even spawn in cold areas such as the snowy taiga biome but will instead have white fur. They tend to spawn in pairs and either fear the presence of creatures or become hostile to anyone within range. Of course, that includes the player, which is what makes foxes so elusive. Once you earn their trust, they will stay loyal to you and might even protect you in some cases as tamed wolves do. So how exactly do you tame a fox in Minecraft? Well, read on to find out.

What items will you need?

Typically, foxes that are found in the wild cannot be “tamed” per se. But there is a special way to get them to follow you! To do that you are going to need a few things before “taming” a fox. You might want to take note that this will require you to progress at least mid-game before doing this little pet hunt as some of the items such as the lead might not be accessible in an early game scenario. If you’re all set, then here is a list of what you will need in order to earn yourself a cute pet fox:

Fences/Blocks

Fences will be used to cage in a fox. As foxes tend to run away the moment you approach it, you must put fences around the area of the fox to prevent escape. You can also use regular blocks such as dirt, cobblestone, and planks as long as it provides a “fenced” area.

Sweet Berries

Sweet berries are a fox’s favorite snack; these will be used to breed and grow baby foxes into adults. They can be collected from sweet berry bushes, a thorny plant found in the wild.

Lead

A lead is an item that lets you leash and guide passive mobs. This will become helpful later on to bring the fox back to your base. To craft a lead, you will need 4 strings (either dropped by spiders or farmed from cobwebs) and 1 slimeball (dropped by slimes) then placed in the right order on the crafting grid (below). You can also acquire leads by looting chests from buried treasures and from the Woodland Mansion.

How To Tame a Fox in Minecraft

Now you are ready to get yourself an adorable fox companion. Remember, foxes are naturally evasive creatures, and although they are nocturnal (which means they sleep during the day), you typically cannot get close to one unless you use crouch/sneak.

Step 1

Search for foxes in the taiga biome. The taiga biome is a largely forested area in Minecraft with mainly spruce trees growing in all directions. The foxes will regularly sleep under the trees during the day so be sure to take note of that.

Step 2

Find two foxes that are close to each other. Foxes often spawn in groups of two or four so there should be another one close by if you find a fox alone.

Step 3

Once you find 2 foxes (preferably sleeping), press and hold the SHIFT button to crouch/sneak. This will allow you to sneak up on the foxes without alerting them. Then fence the area around the fox to prevent him from running away. Be sure to fence both foxes either separately or together. If you fence them separately, you will need to build a connecting fence to make sure both foxes meet for breeding. Take note: Foxes are incredibly skittish so be careful not to scare them when you approach them from behind.

Step 4

Now that you have both foxes caged together, it’s time to breed them. Feed each fox 1 sweet berry and wait until they mate. The baby fox will be your “tamed” fox. As opposed to adult foxes, the newborn baby fox is not afraid of you and thus, will follow you around once they reach adulthood.

Step 5

Feed the baby fox with a lot of sweet berries to hasten its growth rate. Bringing at least 64 sweet berries will be essential in this stage. You will need the baby fox to become an adult first before you can take it back to your base. Otherwise, it will follow its parents instead of following you.

Step 6

Once the baby fox becomes an adult and agreed to abandon its parents, you can freely approach the fox as it won’t be afraid of you. Use the lead to put a leash on the fox and bring him to your base.

Now you’ve got yourself a brand new companion. When you return to your base, be sure to fence the area around it as tamed foxes tend to roam around and they might wander too far. You can also keep it leashed by securing the lead to a fence.

We all know how Minecraft survival mode works. You farm, gather resources, get better weapons, and progress the game. But there’s also the unfortunate fact that we die most of the time trying to survive in Minecraft. Dying in the overworld is pretty bad, considering you drop all your items and either respawn near your bed or back to your original respawn point.

Now imagine all that, but in a worst-case scenario: dying in the nether. Not only do you drop your items, but they might also have already been burned to a crisp by lava by the time you come back. Not to mention you will go trekking back to the nether without any equipment and armor. Imagine the horrors that await you there. You probably won’t even reach your items in time. This is where the Respawn Anchor comes in. It’s one of the best things added in Minecraft’s 1.16 Nether Update!

What is a respawn anchor?

For as long as we can remember, “sleeping” in a bed in the nether will blow you to pieces, making nether respawns impossible until the update. So what is a Respawn Anchor, and what does it do? The Respawn Anchor is a block in Minecraft that allows you to, temporarily, set your respawn point in the nether—something we never dreamed we could ever do.

Once crafted, the respawn anchor stays inactive as it remains without any charges to power it up. So this is where Glowstone comes in handy. The Glowstone will act as the “battery power,” giving Respawn Anchors 1 charge per block, holding up to 4 charges. Once charged, you can then set your spawn point, and each death will decrease the Respawn Anchor’s charge by 1.

How to Make a Respawn Anchor

Now that you know how vital Respawn Anchors are, it’s time to get one! Unfortunately, Respawn Anchors can’t be looted from chests or dropped by mobs—they’re crafted.

1. Bring a diamond or netherite pickaxe. You will need either of the two pickaxe types to farm crying obsidian.
   
2. Find a Ruined Portal. Ruined Portals are naturally generated structures found in the overworld that look similar to a damaged nether portal.
   
3. Gather 6 Crying Obsidian blocks using your pickaxe.
   
4. Bring a pickaxe with the Silk Touch enchantment and go to the nether.
   
5. Gather 3 Glowstone blocks using your Silk Touch pickaxe. Using a pickaxe without Silk Touch will only drop Glowstone Dust, and you can use 4 of these to craft a Glowstone block.
   
6. Craft a Respawn Anchor using a Crafting Table. You need 6 Crying Obsidian blocks and 3 Glowstone blocks. Follow the correct pattern below as shown on the crafting grid.
   

How To Use a Respawn Anchor

To utilize your new Respawn Anchor, you will need to power it up first. To do that, you will need Glowstone. Each Glowstone will increase the respawn charges by 1. Your Respawn Anchor can hold up to 4 charges. That means this will become your spawnpoint in the nether up to 4 times with each death subtracting 1 charge. Once all charges are consumed, the Respawn Anchor loses power. TAKE NOTE: 1 glowstone = 1 respawn charge

1. Gather 4 Glowstone blocks and place them in the Respawn Anchor.

• Click on the Respawn Anchor to set your spawnpoint as you would a bed. Remember not to do this in the overworld. The same way beds explode when interacted with in the nether, so do Respawn Anchors in the overworld.

The world of Minecraft is filled with hostile creatures and danger always lurks nearby. A player’s goal is to survive these life-threatening hazards to achieve the ultimate goal—beating the ender dragon.

In order to survive, there are various techniques that players can use to their advantage. From upgrading weapons and armor to brewing all kinds of potions, the list just keeps going on and on. With a little bit of luck, strong determination, and focus, players can easily conquer the game – but one thing that a player cannot control is dying. Once their health bar reaches zero, then everything resets. What if there was a way to control death? Would you tempt fate? Read on to find out how.

What is a Totem of Undying?

During the 1.11 Minecraft exploration update, the Totem of Undying was introduced into the game. The totem of undying is a rare item that saves the holder from death once – similar to auto revive. Although it sounds too good to be true, this powerful item can definitely become a game-changer for the player, especially when fighting boss monsters such as the wither and the ender dragon. The big catch is – you can only acquire this item from one specific hostile mob in the overworld: an evoker. As much as it is useful to the player, you can only use this item once. This means that upon death, the totem of undying will take in effect thus reviving you but will get destroyed in the process.

How to Obtain a Totem of Undying

In order to obtain a Totem of Undying, you will need to defeat an evoker. Evokers are spell-casting villagers that are usually found in raids or inside a woodland mansion. They can cast vicious spells and summon vexes to attack the player. They are the only known source to drop the totem upon death (don’t ask us why they don’t use it themselves). So to obtain a Totem of Undying, you can either trigger a villager raid or raid the woodland mansion yourself.

How to Use a Totem of Undying?

To use the totem of undying, you need to equip it by placing it in your main hand or off-hand. First, you need to open your inventory to where the totem of undying is located. Depending on each Minecraft version, opening the inventory will have different controls in-game (refer to which Minecraft version below).

• Java/Education/Windows 10 Edition: Press the E key to open the player inventory.
• Nintendo Switch/Wii: Press the X button to open the player inventory.
• PS3/PS4: Press the ▲ triangle button to open the player inventory.
• Xbox 360/Xbox One: Press the Y button to open the player inventory.
• Pocket Edition: Tap the button with 3 dots to open the player inventory.

Once you open the inventory, you will see different slots for armor, weapon, items, and crafting. There is another slot that has a shape similar to a shield on it. Drag and drop the totem of undying to this slot to equip it in your off-hand. This means that instead of equipping a shield, you will hold the totem of undying on your other hand allowing it to trigger automatically in case of death.

You may also place it on your main hand by placing it in one of your 9 main slots in the inventory and selecting the inventory slot number. Remember that the totem of undying will only work if you are holding the item in your main hand upon death. If it is in your inventory but not equipped in any hand, the totem of undying will not trigger.

When you exit your inventory, you will see your character holding the Totem of Undying. This will signal that the totem is ready to use. So when you are in combat and you receive a fatal blow, the effects of the totem will trigger and you’ll hear a loud thundering sound along with the totem appearing in front of you.

Upon activation, it will immediately restore 1 health point and you’ll be given a few buffs including Fire Resistance, Absorption II, and Regeneration II. Absorption II gives you 4 temporary yellow hearts thereby absorbing any damage taken for the next 5 seconds while Regeneration II allows you to regenerate health at a rapid pace for the next 40 seconds.

The moment you use the Totem of Undying, the item will break and it will disappear from your inventory for good – so use the totem wisely!

Have you ever stumbled upon an abandoned village in Minecraft and encountered its nasty inhabitants? If you have, then no surprise there. But if you haven’t, you’re about to find out what kind of danger lurks hidden in plain sight.

BRAIIIIINNNNSSSSSS

The zombie villager—or as I’d like to call it ‘zombies dressed as villagers‘—is one of Minecraft’s hostile mobs that roam the overworld. Other than the fact that they don’t transform into drowned when submerged in water, they’re basically regular zombies – (or vampires?): They burn in sunlight and attack villagers at night. You can either encounter a naturally spawned zombie villager or an infected zombie-turned villager. Either way, they’ll still chase and attack you when they see you which makes them equally annoying to fight against.

To make things worse, you can even build your own little village only to have them all get infected from zombies. And in turn, transforming all of them into a crazed monster hungry for some meat. So now you’ve got a village full of zombie villagers that probably won’t see the light of day ever again. Now, what will you do? Will you kill all of them and start anew or leave them to burn in the sun the very next day? The good news is that we have a solution for you! In this guide, we’ll show you a step-by-step process on how you’ll be able to cure zombie villagers and return to a business-as-usual lifestyle with them.

What will you need?

Before you start, you will need a few special items first in order to successfully cure a zombie villager. All of the items listed below can be crafted using these specific ingredients. The pictures below will indicate the correct crafting recipe along with the corresponding crafting material.

• Fences: To cage the zombie villager in.
  
• Splash Potion of Weakness: Potion that decreases attack power of an affected mob or player.
  
• Golden Apple: Special food item for curing zombie villagers.
  

How to cure a zombie villager?

1. To start the curing process, you’ll need to trap the zombie villager with some fences. Safely secure the zombie villager in a shaded spot during day time. Make sure to keep it under a shade or else it will burn under the heat of the sun.
   
2. Next, use the splash potion of weakness on the zombie villager. Gray circular particles will appear once the potion breaks. Be careful because doing this action will also spread the potion effects on you!
   
3. Now that the zombie villager is under the effects of the potion, use a golden apple on him to start the curing process. The zombie villager will then begin to shake uncontrollably and red circular particles will start to appear on his head.
   
4. After 2 minutes, the zombie villager will turn into a normal villager and the transformation is complete. You will then get the achievement “Zombie Doctor” and you can now give the villager a new profession.
   

Now that you’ve learned how to cure zombie villagers, it’s time to put it to good use. The next time you see another zombie villager roaming at night, instead of killing it, you’ll know what to do.

Have you ever encountered a few bees hovering around some flowers? Have you ever thought about building your own bee farm? In this guide, we will run you through all the steps and teach you how to make a sustainable bee farm for all your crafting needs.

It’s undoubtedly a pain to farm for materials that you often use in crafting. Even more so for rarer resources such as diamonds. This familiar predicament has led players to take matters into their own hands and build sustainable farms such as breeding cows for leather and wool from sheep. As bees are great sources of honey, it is best to build your own bee farm to easily get access to honey whenever you want.

Although bee farming isn’t just your typical run-of-the-mill passive mob farm, the sweet resource you get by the end of this will be all worth it. There are a lot of ways to optimize and build your own automatic bee farm using Redstone contraptions, but this guide will show you the simple way to relocate bees and build a basic bee farm.

Where Can You Find Bees?

In the overworld, 3 bees will naturally spawn along with a bee nest, which is a block that houses bees and is commonly attached to an oak or birch tree.

Getting Started

The first step in building a bee farm near your base is to look for bees. Unless you’re in creative mode, your initial source of bees will always be from a naturally spawned bee nest in the overworld. During world generation, there is a small percentage of how many bee nests can spawn per tree. So looking for bee nests in specific biomes will make your search a little bit easier. But before going on your adventure in search of the bees, you must bring some items in order to successfully create your own bee farm once you get back.

• Shears: Using shears on a honey-filled bee nest will harvest 3 honeycombs. Honeycombs are crafting ingredients used to create beehives.
• Lead: Using a lead on a bee will leash that particular bee to you so you may bring it back to your base.
• Silk Touch Tool: A tool (axe or pickaxe) equipped with a silk touch enchantment will allow you to break the bee nest without destroying it. You can use the tool to bring the naturally spawned bee nest back to your base.
• Campfire: Placing a campfire 2 blocks below a bee nest will allow you to harvest the honey without angering the bees residing inside it.
• Flowers: Bees are attracted to flowers. You can use flowers to lure the bees to follow you back or have them breed more bees.

Relocating Bees

There are a few options in order to bring back some bees to your base. You may freely choose which option would best suit you and what available equipment you brought along with you.

Flowers

Flowers attract bees. With this knowledge, you can hold flowers in your hand to trick them into following you back to your base. Remember not to run too fast or the bees may lose focus and head in another direction.

Lead

Leads are used to leash passive or neutral mobs. You can use leads to attach a leash as many bees as you can to bring home.

Silk Touch Tool

Once the sun sets and the bees enter the bee nest, you can use a silk touch tool to chop down the bee nest. This will allow you to bring back the bee nest to your base along with the bees inside it.

Housing Bees

One thing you need to make sure of before bringing them back is to secure them a place to live. Like villagers, bees function typically the same way. They work during the day and come home to rest once the sun goes down. Likewise, they will need a place to call home, or else they might wander off in search of one.

Bee Nests

As naturally spawned bee nests are rare, it would be worth your while bringing one home using a silk touch-equipped tool. Silk touch is an enchantment that allows a player to retrieve an entire item/block intact without breaking or destroying it in the process. Without the silk touch enchantment, you will destroy the bee nest – angering the bees in the process.

Beehives

A beehive is a crafted version of a bee nest. This means that you can create as many beehives and house as many bees as you want. Before you can craft a beehive, you will need to harvest some honeycombs. Honeycomb can be harvested from honey-filled bee nests and beehives using shears. Use a shear on a bee nest that’s dripping with honey to collect 3 honeycombs. Be careful as this action may possibly anger the bees!

To craft a beehive, you will need 3 honeycombs and 6 planks. Using a crafting table, place 3 planks in a horizontal position on the top row, followed by 3 honeycombs in the same pattern, and place the remaining 3 planks at the bottom row.

Building Your Bee Farm

Beehives function the same way bee nests as well as the bees that live in them do. As such, it is important to know how to correctly place a beehive on your new farm and how you’ll be able to harvest honey from them. Bees are neutral mobs which means that although they are naturally passive, they may possibly attack the player if they perform an action that angers them such as harvesting honey.

This is where the campfire comes in. In order to collect honey without angering the bees, you will need to place the beehives in the right position above a campfire. When you place a campfire 2 blocks below the beehive, the smoke from the campfire will calm the bees allowing you to freely take honey from them. Keep in mind that placing a beehive 1 block above a campfire might set it on fire, so be careful!

Harvesting that sweet, sweet honey

Now that you have a campfire set up below your beehives, you can harvest from them safely. There are two products that you can harvest from a beehive: honeycomb and honey bottle.

• Using shears on a beehive will produce 3 honeycombs. Honeycomb is a crafting ingredient to make more beehives, honeycomb blocks, candles, and more.

• Using a glass bottle on a beehive will produce a honey bottle. Honey bottles are used to remove the effects of poison without removing any of your current buffs. They can also be used to craft honey blocks which are sticky blocks made of honey that slows movement and prevent fall damage.

Expanding Your Bee Farm

Now that you have your basic farm setup, it’s time to expand your bee farm. In order to expand your farm, you will need more bees. And more bees means more beehives. Keep in mind that beehives can only house 3 bees at a time. So it’s best to craft a lot of beehives if you plan to create a large bee farm.

The next step is to breed bees. Like other passive mobs in Minecraft, bees will also breed when fed with their favorite object: flowers. You will need to give 2 adult bees any kind of flower for them to produce a baby bee.

To optimize bee farming, you can help the bees out by placing flowers near their beehive. This will allow them to pollinate more efficiently making honey production faster.

Now that you know the basics of honey farming, it’s time to put those skills to use and build your own sustainable bee farm for all your crafting needs!

Stride your way across the deep lava ocean with your very own Strider mount! In this guide, we will show you how to ride and control a strider in Minecraft.

Ever since the Minecraft 1.16 Nether update, the world inside the Nether became more vibrant, and it turned the Nether into an important location for players to continue the game’s progression. The game developers added new biomes to explore, resources to farm, and mobs to discover. But along with it came a massive predicament—how will players discover new places in the Nether without crossing the vast lava seas? We certainly can’t ride boats on lava, and the Nether is not an ideal location to bring your pet horse. So what do we do now?

Luckily for us, Mojang decided to bring to life one of the coolest mobs a player could mount: the strider. Striders are two-legged mobs that walk—or rather stride—on lava in Minecraft. They only spawn on lava oceans in the Nether, and when you bring one out of the Nether, they’ll get hurt by rain. They’re so cool that zombified piglins might even hitch a ride on one! Pretty unique, right? If you want to find out how to ride striders in Minecraft, then read on to find out.

What Is A Strider?

Minecraft striders are passive mobs that are native to the Nether. These two-legged creatures love warped fungus and will follow the player when they hold one in front of them. They often spawn in groups of two to four, and there is a 1 out of 10 chance for a baby strider to spawn riding an adult strider. Striders walk on lava considerably faster than on land, and their appearance becomes darker outside of lava. They can also breed baby striders when you feed both parents with one warped fungus. To ride one, you place a saddle on it, and then you can mount them anytime. The tricky part is in controlling where you want them to go.

Things You Will Need

You will only need a few items to mount and ride a strider. Some of these items must be acquired via loot from chests, dropped by certain mobs when killed, or crafted using mid-game resources such as the saddle and lead. Here is a list of all the things you will need to ride one:

• Saddle: The saddle is an item that is used to ride mobs such as horses, donkey, mules, and pigs. Unfortunately, saddles cannot be crafted. You will need to find one in order to obtain a saddle. Saddles can be obtained from chests, fishing, trading with a master-level leatherworker villager, or dropped by mobs such as the ravager when killed.
• Warped Fungus on a Stick: This item is a fishing rod with a warped fungus attached as bait. It will be used to lead and control the direction of a strider’s movements similar to how mounted pigs can be controlled using a carrot on a stick.
• Warped Fungus: Warped fungus is a type of fungus that grows on warped nylium blocks. This item will be used to bait the strider the follow you. Warped fungus is fairly common in the warped forest biome but you may find some of these in the crimson forest biome as well.
• Lead: The lead is used to leash mobs to make them follow you. You will need a lead to leash the strider once you dismount it, otherwise the strider will wander away.
• Nether Brick Fence (Optional): You may want to bring one nether brick fence with you when riding a Strider in the Nether. This fence will be used to attach the lead to it—allowing you to explore the nether without the strider wandering off on its own. Specifically, you will need a nether brick fence due to its wooden counterpart being fairly flammable in the nether.

How To Craft Warped Fungus On A Stick

1. Use a crafting table and craft a fishing rod first. You will need three sticks and two strings to craft one fishing rod. The sticks and strings must be placed in the right pattern in order to successfully craft a fishing rod.
   
2. Next, you will need to combine the fishing rod and one warped fungus on the crafting table to make a warped fungus on a stick.
   

How To Ride A Strider

If you have all the items you need to mount a strider, it’s time to look for the perfect strider companion. It is definitely worth your while to get yourself a new mount while in the Nether as it makes things easier for you to cross the vast lava seas and explore more places in Minecraft.

1. First, you will need to look for a strider. Striders spawn on the lava seas so you must get to the bottom floor. Be careful not to accidentally fall into the lava, otherwise you will not only die but risk your items burning in lava as well.
   
2. When you get to the bottom part of the nether, try going near an edge where there are striders around. Then hold the warped fungus in your hand to bait them to follow you.
   
3. Once the strider is close enough, use the saddle and place it on the strider using the “Use Item/Place Block” or right-click mouse button.
   
4. Now that you have the saddle equipped on the strider, you can mount it by facing the strider and pressing your right-click mouse button.
   
5. To control the strider’s movement, equip the warped fungus on a stick in your hand and simply rotate your mouse in the direction you want the strider to move.
   
6. To dismount, simply press the left shift button on your keyboard. Make sure that you are on land when you dismount from the strider, otherwise you will fall in lava.
   
7. To leash the strider, use the lead by right-clicking on the strider while holding the lead. Then place the brick fence on the ground and right-click the fence again to attach the lead to the fence.
   
8. Now that you have your strider mount secured, you can freely explore the Nether.
   

In Minecraft, there are various ways to increase your chances of survival. From upgrading your gear and equipment to brewing all kinds of potions—the possibilities are endless! And one of the best ways to do that is through enchanting.

Enchanting is an in-game mechanic in Minecraft that allows players to enhance specific tools, armors, and weapons by imbuing them with a special ability. This mechanic costing only experience points provides a considerable boost to a player’s equipment, thus increasing their chances of survival. To begin the enchantment process, you, as the player, must first obtain an enchanting table. And although the process of acquiring one might seem too taxing, the reward by the end of it is always worth it.

How To Craft an Enchanting Table

There is only one way a player may obtain an enchanting table without the use of cheats: crafting. Crafting an enchanting table requires you first to collect three specific crafting materials, all of which are not accessible to the player in an early-game scenario.

To craft the enchanting table, you must gather four obsidian blocks, two diamonds, and one book. Obsidian blocks can be created by pouring water over lava which can only be mined using a diamond pickaxe. Using a pickaxe of a lower type will destroy the obsidian, which will drop nothing in the process.

Next, you will need to collect diamonds through mining. Diamonds are commonly found between layers 5 and 12 and are typically best found on layer 11. You can check which layer you are on by pressing F3 on your keyboard for PC users and FN + F3 for Mac, then navigating using the coordinates on the Y-axis.

Lastly, you need one book to complete the recipe. There are three ways to obtain a book in Minecraft. You can break down a bookshelf using an ax, loot from chests, or craft a book yourself. To craft a book, you will need three papers and one leather arranged in a specific pattern as indicated below:

Now that you have all materials, you are ready to craft an enchanting table. Using a crafting table, arrange the four obsidian blocks in a triangle pattern, then place two diamonds on each side before placing the book on top (refer to the image below). This will produce one enchanting table for you to use.

How To Use an Enchanting Table?

Once you’ve crafted the enchanting table, it’s time to put it to good use. To use an enchanting table, you need one essential item first: Lapis Lazuli. Lapis lazuli is a rare blue ore that allows you to enchant and can only be acquired through mining. You can find Lapis Lazuli below layer 32, with its highest concentrations between layers 17 and 19.

Now that you’ve gathered lapis lazuli, you can start enchanting. To enchant an item, place lapis lazuli inside the enchanting table along with the item you wish to enchant. You will then be given three enchantment options to choose from. Each option is entirely random, so you have to choose wisely!

You can also enchant a book to save that specific enchantment for later use. To use an enchanted book, you need to place the book in an anvil along with the item you want to enchant.

To optimize enchanting, craft 15 bookshelves and place them around the enchanting table in a square-like pattern. Doing this will increase your chances of getting better enchantment options and increase the level of enchantment.

Take Note: Each enchantment will cost you between 1 and 3 lapis lazuli and an equivalent experience level depending on the level of enchantment. The higher the player’s experience level is, the higher chances of getting better enchantments.

Minecraft is one of the most successful sandbox games in the industry today. As each new update became a game-changing experience for players; Minecraft continuously grew and improved throughout the years. It is no surprise that the game has garnered immense popularity and success. Game mechanics rely on a player’s creativity and survival skills as they delve deep into a vast open world where wonder and mystery await them.

When you first spawn into the game, what you thought was just exploration and fun is much more than that. It is a race against time—time that will determine your chances of survival in the world of Minecraft. The moment you spawn, your first thought should be to gather enough resources to survive your first night in Minecraft. As nighttime comes, darkness approaches alongside various hostile mobs looking for you.

Each Minecraft adventure is different for every player. Some veterans may even have a different approach on how to survive their first night in the Overworld. For others, survivability is only second to exploration and discovery. And some may even go looking for trouble intentionally. Whatever the case may be, it is always good to know what to do the moment you start. In this guide, we will teach you the basics of how to get started and what you need to do to survive your first day in Minecraft.

STEP 1: INITIAL SPAWN

When you generate a new world, you will spawn in a random location in the Overworld, and you will need to take stock of your surroundings.

Take note of all the resources that you can see in your area. If there are little to no resources, you might want to move to another spot. Before you leave your initial spawn area, make sure to create an indicator to mark your spawn point. Any indicator will do such as digging a hole in the ground or digging dirt to build a short pillar. Doing this will help you navigate back in case you have to respawn.

This is also a great time to determine which biome you spawned in. There are about 67 Overworld biomes in Minecraft’s Java edition and only 66 Overworld biomes in the Bedrock edition—all of which differ in geography, plants, and more. Depending on the type of biome, some mobs and resources will vary. Two of the most common biomes players usually spawn in are the plains biome and forest biome. The birch and oak forest biomes are common forest biomes filled with trees as far as the eye can see. However, the plains biome is characterized by large, flat areas of land commonly home to sheep, pigs, cows, and horses.

STEP 2: CHOP DOWN WOOD

The moment you start the game, your first task should be to chop down wood. You need to gather logs to create your first set of tools and equipment. To chop wood, break the trees with your hands. Although this process will take a while, it becomes quicker once you craft your first set of tools. It is important to gather at least 6 logs at the start of the game. You will use those logs to create planks that will make sticks and tools. Gather as many logs as you can before the day ends. You can do this with or without tools. It will save you a lot of time if you have enough resources before you start crafting.

If some trees are too high to chop down, you can either move to a different tree or create a nerd pole to chop it down. A nerd pole is a Minecraft technique that players use to reach high places. To do the nerd pole technique, you have to jump and quickly place a block underneath you. Doing this will help elevate the ground beneath you so you can reach taller trees and efficiently chop down wood.

STEP 3: CRAFTING WOODEN TOOLS

Once you have finished gathering six logs, you can now create planks and sticks. Place one log on the crafting grid to make four planks. Then place two planks vertically on the crafting grid to make four sticks. Now that you have planks, it’s time to make a crafting table. You will need four planks arranged in a 2×2 pattern on the crafting grid to build it. The crafting table is a utility block that allows you to craft all the materials you need to survive, such as tools, weapons, base equipment, and more.

You can craft many items with the crafting table, including the tools and weapons needed to survive. Some of the essential tools you need are a wooden ax, a wooden pickaxe, and a wooden sword. You can upgrade your tools later on, but these wooden tools will do for now. You can chop wood quicker by building an ax first, ensuring you have enough wood for your first night.

STEP 4: BUILD A SHELTER

Now that you have some tools, it is time to build a shelter. One of the easiest shelters during this stage is a dirt shelter. Dirt shelters are temporary makeshift shelters made of dirt. You will need to find a small dirt hill and dig a hole into it to make this. You can use a shovel to make digging faster. Ensure the hole is big enough to fit you and some items you may craft later, such as chests or furnaces.

Another shelter you may want to build is a temporary base. This can be expanded and upgraded as needed and often becomes a permanent base. Temporary bases are most commonly made of planks. Since planks come from logs, you will need to invest a little more time into chopping wood, especially if you wish to make this your first night.

After building your shelter, you should craft a door to cover the entrance of your temporary base. Doors are made from six planks arranged vertically in the crafting grid.

STEP 5: MINING

Mining isn’t essential on your first day, but if you have enough time and enough logs collected, then why not go mining? Mining gives you a lot of resources you can use to craft different materials later on. You can start by mining stone using a wooden pickaxe if you see some on your way. Mining stone will drop cobblestone for you. The cobblestone will be used to make a furnace and craft better tools such as stone axes and stone pickaxes.

If you come across some coal as well, make sure you collect it. Coal can be used as fuel in a furnace or for crafting torches, your primary source of light in Minecraft. Coal ore looks like stone blocks with black spots in them.

STEP 6: CRAFTING STONE TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT

Now that you have logs, cobblestones, and a shelter, you need to craft better tools. Stone tools have the same recipe and crafting grid pattern as wooden tools, except you have to replace the planks with cobblestone to make them. Stone tools such as a stone ax and a stone pickaxe are more efficient than wooden ones as they mine and chop faster than their wooden counterparts.

You can craft a furnace by placing eight cobblestone in a 3×3 pattern, leaving the middle spot empty in the crafting grid. Furnaces are used for smelting ores and cooking food. To use the furnace, you will need a fuel source and an item to smelt/cook. You may use logs, planks, saplings, lava buckets, coal, or charcoal as fuel for the furnace. Charcoal can be acquired by burning logs in the furnace.

If you’ve gathered coal or charcoal, you can make torches now. Torches are vital as they light your way at night and prevent hostile mobs from spawning in dark places. You can either use one coal or charcoal and one stick arranged vertically in the crafting grid to make a torch. This will produce four torches which you can place inside your base and the area around it. Remember that coal is only acquired through mining, while charcoal can be obtained from burning logs in the furnace.

You can make chests and place them inside your base to store materials and resources that you have gathered. Making a lot of chests can be a big help later on as your inventory starts filling up with unnecessary items. Place eight planks in a 3×3 pattern in the crafting grid, similar to making a furnace to craft a chest. Placing one chest on the ground will create a small chest. Placing two chests side by side will create one large chest. A small chest will have 27 free slots, while a large chest will have 54 free slots.

STEP 7: GATHERING FOOD

Let’s not forget that running around and doing a lot of work can make you hungry. It is crucial to gather a lot of food items as early as possible. Food is your primary source of energy and health. Monitoring your hunger level and keeping it high will help with your health recovery rate. There are various ways to obtain food. One way to obtain food is to kill passive mobs for meat. Pigs drop raw pork chop, chickens drop raw chicken, cows drop raw beef, sheep drop raw mutton, and rabbits drop raw rabbit.

Note that raw food items give lower health and hunger levels than cooked ones, so it is best to cook all raw food before consuming it. Another method is farming. You may not be able to do this on your first day, but you can do this later on as you progress through the game. Farming involves tilling the ground and planting seeds to yield crops for food.

STEP 8: SURVIVING THE FIRST NIGHT

As the sun sets, your first day is finally over. Time to head back to your base, barricade yourself inside, and wait until morning comes. Nighttime in Minecraft lasts approximately 7 minutes. Take this time to craft more tools and equipment, so you are ready for the next day. You could craft a bed if you happened to come across some sheep along the way. You will need three blocks of wool and three planks arranged horizontally on the crafting grid to craft a bed. The bed will become your respawn point once you click on it, and you may also use it to sleep through the night or during thunderstorms. Sleeping on a bed will skip the night and fast-forward to the following morning. Important: You can not sleep if hostile mobs are within ten blocks of your sleeping point.

If you have nothing else to do, you can either wait the night out or try to kill some hostile mobs outside to increase your experience level. Experience or EXP can be used on the anvil or enchanting table to upgrade your tools, weapons, and armor.

Be very careful when you fight hostile mobs. Without any decent armor and weapons, you may not survive being surrounded by a horde of zombies or skeletons. Avoid creepers at all costs on your first night. One explosion can kill you. Upon death, you will immediately drop all your items and respawn at your spawn point. This would be your original spawn point or your bed if you managed to craft one and use it.

STEP 9: THE NEXT DAY

Once the sun rises, undead mobs will start to burn and eventually disappear. You are now safe to leave your base. Be wary of hostile mobs such as creepers and spiders, as they tend to stay in place even during daylight. Creepers could potentially destroy your makeshift base and all the items you stored inside it. Always keep weapons in hand for any danger that might lurk in the corners. Now it is time to continue gathering resources. Any materials that you might require going forward should be farmed now. Collect food, start planting crops, expand your base, craft more materials, and wisely use your 10 minutes of daylight. Gather as many resources as you can and upgrade your gear to survive another day in Minecraft.