Tutorial:Combat

Combat is a very important aspect of Minecraft, whether it's defeating the ender dragon, killing creepers for gunpowder, or trying to win a PvP match. This page lists the best ways to kill each hostile or neutral mob in the game, as well as many combat strategies.

Hostile mobs

There are many hostile mobs, including two bosses (the ender dragon and the wither) in the game. This list is sorted primarily by chance of encounter, with a few exceptions when appropriate, such as the listing of the illusioner, which does not spawn naturally, with its fellow illagers. It should be noted, however, that if caught in a difficult place without a weapon, the player can usually run away with little difficulty if they are outdoors, or even tunnel downward and wait for the mob to despawn before resurfacing to avoid combat. And, finally, should they so wish, the player can set the difficulty to Peaceful, which removes all hostile mobs, except for the ender dragon, shulkers, hoglins and piglins. Only the dragon keeps attacking the player on Peaceful.

Overworld mobs

Zombies

Zombies are one of the easiest hostile mobs to kill, as they use only melee attacks and burn in sunlight (unless they are wearing helmets, carved pumpkins‌, or are in water), and it is easy to land a hit on them in melee combat without taking damage due to their slow speed and predictable movement. Zombies are not very fast (except for baby zombies, which sprint, are small, and, as a result, are hard to hit), and by themselves are merely a nuisance, although they can prove to be rather annoying in large numbers, or in dark, small spaces, like mines.

Zombies have 20HP × 10 points of health and they deal 2.5HP × 1.25 damage on Easy, 3HP on Normal, and 4HP on Hard. They also have 2 natural armor points (not counting any additional armor they might spawn with).

As zombies are helpless when unable to reach the player, simply getting out of reach can nullify their threat. You can also use a bow to shoot zombies, but may wish to save their arrows for more difficult targets (unless the Infinity enchantment is applied).

One of the best ways to deal with a zombie horde or a baby zombie is to pillar up 2 blocks, so they can't reach you, but you can still reach them. This is not recommended if more dangerous mobs are around, as they may knock you off the pillar.

If possible, luring them out into sunlight causes them to burn.

Using a sword or axe is a very effective option, and using the Smite enchantment deals more damage to zombies, since they are undead. Stone axe (or better) with Smite V kills unarmored zombies in one hit, without the need of criticals or Strength effect. Such axe kills in one hit even zombies with full iron armor (unenchanted) if a critical hit is performed.

Zombies transform into drowned when underwater for a long enough time. On Hard difficulty, they can spawn reinforcement zombies when players hit them, and can break down wooden doors. If playing on this difficulty, protecting ones house with something like an iron door or fence gate is advisable, as zombies can't break through those, although another option is having the base of the door one block higher than the block directly in front of it.

Unlike most other hostile mobs, zombies have a detection range of 40 blocks, which means they'll see, and take action, against a player at a further distance than other mobs. This can be exploited to lure them out and dispatch them before dealing with more dangerous threats.

Husks

Spawning exclusively in deserts, husks have the same behavior as zombies but don't burn under sunlight and inflict the player the Hunger effect. While marginally more dangerous than normal zombies, husks still don't pose much of a threat and can usually be dealt with like any other zombie.

Due to husks only spawning in deserts, you can avoid them entirely by not going into a desert biome.

Skeletons

Skeletons might be difficult to slay in melee combat unless you have the correct tactics. Sprinting toward one and timing your hits correctly can work, but you will take a few shots in the process, however if you have a shield and use it correctly, skeletons are not a problem. Like zombies, they burn in sunlight; if you are low on health and arrows, wait until day breaks so that the sunlight deals with all skeletons.

Skeletons have 20HP × 10 points of health and they deal 1HP – 5HP damage, depending on difficulty and proximity‌.

Additionally, skeletons are more accurate the higher the difficulty is. On Hard, dodging their hits is quite challenging, and running away almost always results in a hit, as does trying to wait around the corner and attack the edge of the skeleton. By blocking with a shield, you take no damage when an arrow hits it, and the arrow bounces off the shield.

One of the best ways to kill a skeleton is by running towards it, and when you see it have a charged bow (meaning it's about to shoot), you block with your shield. When you reach the skeleton, perform a critical hit. Then keep blocking with your shield and continue attacking the skeleton, until it dies.

As with all undead mobs, using weapons enchanted with Smite can be very useful against skeletons. Stone axe (or better) with Smite V kills unarmored skeletons in one hit, without the need of criticals or Strength effect. Such axe kills in one hit even skeletons with full iron armor (unenchanted) if a critical hit is performed.

Using sprint hits on skeletons might backfire, as knocking them back gives them a free shot at you before they can approach.

One can make short work of a skeleton by shooting it while outside its search range. If detected, charge the bow shortly after dodging a skeleton's arrow to prevent being shot while under the slowing effects of a charging bow.

Another easy way to subdue skeletons is by pushing them into the water, since they sink. When underwater in Bedrock Edition, skeletons stop using ranged attacks and switch to melee attacks, which makes them much less threatening.

Wolves naturally hunt skeletons. Thanks to that, biomes with wolves are a bit safer. Also, since you usually encounter skeletons with other mobs (including other skeleton), you can try getting the skeleton to shoot another mob so that it can aid you in killing the skeleton.

Strays

Strays behave near identically to skeletons, but are more dangerous than their normal counterpart. Strays shoot arrows of Slowness which slow players down and prevent sprinting. Strays use a melee attack that also inflicts Slowness underwater, so fighting them with a ranged weapon is recommended as the stray can be hard to reach and kill, especially when armored and equipped with an enchanted bow.

Strays only spawn in snowy biomes, so living in a non-snowy biome avoids encounters with this mob.

Wolves naturally hunt strays, so a snowy taiga biome is a safer place to live or explore on.

Bogged

Bogged also behave near identically to skeletons, but are even more dangerous than strays. Bogged shoot arrows of Poison, which deal 3HP to 5HP damage, in addition to inflicting the Poison effect, which lasts for 4 seconds. However, they have only 16HP × 8 points of health and can be killed slightly easier than normal skeletons. Stone axe (or better) with Smite III kills bogged in one hit, without the need of criticals or Strength effect. The same effect can be achieved with any sword enchanted with Smite V.

Encounter with bogged can also be avoided completely by staying out of a swamp biome.

Poison effect can be cured by drinking milk or honey bottles. Note that Poison on its own can't kill you.

Creepers

Creepers are very powerful and often catch players of all experience levels off guard, despite their small line of sight. On Hard difficulty, the player can't even survive a point-blank creeper explosion with unenchanted netherite armor. Creepers don’t usually get that close though, and begin to explode up to 3 blocks away because of their detection radius. Using an axe for combat is recommended, as they deal more damage per hit, and the player is highly advised against trying to hit one multiple times consecutively anyways.‌

Creepers have 20HP × 10 points of health. One way to kill them is to hit with a sprint attack and immediately run back after, having the Knockback enchantment can help with this greatly. Alternatively, you can find sufficiently high ground to strike a creeper from above with a melee weapon without the detonation sequence being activated. By making a 3–4 block pillar by pillar-jumping, and waiting until the creeper comes next to the pillar, you can attack it without exploding.

If you have an iron or diamond sword, charge and spam-click‌. You need to be extremely fast as they explode relatively quickly.

In Java Edition, killing creepers in one melee hit is possible only with Strength effect and critical hits. Some ways to achieve the one-hit kill include:

• Strength I + netherite axe + Sharpness I + critical hit;
• Strength I + stone axe + Sharpness III + critical hit;
• Strength II + stone axe + critical hit;
• Strength II + netherite sword + critical hit;
• Strength II + iron sword + Sharpness V + critical hit.

Another risky way to kill a creeper is to charge it and perform two consecutive critical hits with a diamond or netherite sword. If this is done correctly, the creeper is killed before it has time to finish its explosion countdown. However, this requires quick reflexes and a bit of practice, so players should train themselves in a Creative test world before they try this in Survival.

Creeper explosions can be completely blocked by shields—useful for surviving ambushes in cramped spaces, such as caves. Be aware that creeper explosions degrade a lot of shield durability.

The safest way to engage a creeper is from a distance by shooting arrows at it with a bow so it cannot explode near the player. Unenchanted bow kills creepers in three shots, while a bow with Power V might kill them in one shot. The player can finish off the creeper with a melee weapon after shooting it to save arrows.

Swimming creepers can be easily dealt with using melee attacks while the player is on land.

Creepers also run away if close to a cat or ocelot; having a pet cat keeps creepers at a distance.

During thunderstorms, if lightning strikes close enough to a creeper, it becomes charged. Charged creepers are one of the most dangerous mobs in the game, with it's close range explosion dealing so much damage that a player with full diamond armor enchanted with Blast Protection IV is left on just 2 hearts (on Normal difficulty). However, the lightning also damages the creeper, making it a faster kill if you decide to attack it. Just make sure it doesn't explode and you should be able to kill it just like normal creepers.

If you don't plan to harvest the gunpowder or experience from a creeper, one way to deal with one is to just let it blow up. The safest way to blow up a creeper is with a flint and steel. Just simply use the flint and steel on the creeper, and run away before it explodes. Although the creeper drops nothing this way, it's still effectively dead, and can no longer harm the player. If the creeper is next to multiple other monsters, you can kill all of them by simply lighting the creeper up.

If you don't have a shield, another way to block off a creeper's explosion is to place a block in front of the exploding creeper at its feet level. It can be any solid block, even one with low blast resistance like dirt or sand. Since explosion damage is calculated from the feet of the creeper, by placing this block, the "exposure" of the player to the explosion is substantially reduced, and you would typically only take 1HP damage. The terrain around would still be damaged though, so you should make sure not to stand in dangerous places while doing this (like floating batch of sand or a lava lake).

Explosion mechanics

If there are 3 blocks or less between the player and the creeper, and it has a line-of-sight to the player (i.e. the player and the creeper can see each other's faces), a creeper starts its 1.5 second countdown before it explodes. Hitting it and moving back or sprint-hitting moves it far enough away that the countdown stops. Creepers running away from cats that have started their countdown can still explode if the player is close enough.

Image below shows the likelihood of a creeper exploding. The white square in the center with an 'X' is the creeper's location. This grid uses the block system for distance and it is used by 'placing' the player on the relative colored square. Please note that the player may think that they are two blocks away in the game, but actually, they may be closer, depending on the graphics or perspective (e.g. looking up vs. looking straight ahead).

A grid showing the likeliness of a creeper exploding.

Color	Chance of explosion	Predicted damage
Red	Definite	Extreme
Yellow	High	Moderate
Green	Minimal/none	None
Blue	None	None

Advanced techniques

One of the scariest things about the creeper is its silence while approaching. However, if you listen carefully, you might notice that the creeper has footstep sounds. Since the player also makes footstep sounds, it is hard to tell if a creeper is coming, or it is just the player's own footsteps. Luckily, player footstep sounds and creeper footstep sounds are not in the same category: the player's sounds are under the "Players" category, and the creeper's sounds are under the "Hostile Creatures" category. Therefore, by turning down the "Players" volume slider and increasing the "Hostile Creatures" volume, the footsteps of an approaching creeper can be much more recognizable. If you are wearing headphones, you can even identify the direction of the footsteps; this is also possible with subtitles. You can also sneak to prevent your character from making footsteps at all, so that when you hear footsteps, you can be certain that another mob is nearby.

Like with other mobs, you can place a boat in front of the creeper's path, so that it enters the boat and IS unable to escape. You can then place a 2-block-high pillar next to the boat with the creeper inside, stand behind it, come out and hit the creeper, and retreat back behind the pillar when the creeper hisses. Repeat until the creeper dies.

If a creeper is encountered in a cave, you can run back and build a horizontal barrier with cheap blocks like dirt or cobblestone, at the second block space above the ground (i.e. at the player and creeper's eye height). When the creeper approaches, it won't explode because it does not have a direct line-of-sight with the player. You can then strike at the creeper's feet without worries, until it dies.

Witches

Witches are hostile mobs with an appearance similar to villagers. They throw negative splash potions at the player and drink Water Breathing, Fire Resistance and Instant Health potions to protect themselves. Witches often start their attacks by throwing splash potions of Poison or Slowness, following up with Harming or Weakness. Their health is 26HP × 13.

If you find one, shooting it with a bow is the safest bet. If you are holding a strong weapon, another strategy would be charging toward it and hitting it multiple times before the witch is finished drinking their potion of Instant Health.

In Java Edition, killing witches in one melee hit is barely possible: only a critical hit with a netherite axe and Strength II works. Axe must have at least Sharpness III.

Don't use splash potions on witches, as they are almost completely immune. Fire attacks and lava are also negated through potions of Fire Resistance, although the time that it takes for them to drink the potion can give you some advantage. During raids, prioritize killing witches before other raiders to prevent raiders from being healed by witches.

Slimes

Slimes usually occur in large numbers, especially at full moon, and are often a major pest in mines. One solution to that problem is to mine a hole only one block wide so that only the harmless tiny slimes can fit in it, but in natural caves and larger mines slimes can become a nuisance as they spawn in any light level.

Small slimes have 1HP point of health and can't deal any damage. Medium slimes have 4HP points of health and they deal 2HP damage on Easy and Normal, and 3HP on Hard. Large slimes have 16HP × 8 points of health and they deal 3HP damage on Easy, 4HP damage on Normal, and 6HP damage on Hard.

Since medium slimes are slightly over 1 block wide, and large slimes are over 2 blocks wide, you can easily trap them behind walls and hit them. They are also easily killed by attacking from above. Attacking from above or backpedaling prevents too many from attacking at once. Water is also effective at slowing them down.

Lava can kill large numbers of slimes, so it is good as a last resort or if you don't care about drops. Note that a tiny slime can be killed with just a fist punch, saving weapon durability. You could also use a sword's sweep attack (which deals 1HP by default) in order to eliminate a number of tiny slimes at once‌.

Spider jockeys

Skeletons riding spiders have a ¹⁄₁₀₀ chance to spawn in place of a regular spider. Such combination is more dangerous than both mobs separately, as the spider pounces and climb to the player, while the skeleton shoots them with arrows. On Hard difficulty, a spider jockey deals a total of 5.5 hearts of damage if attacked head-on.

However, if the spider climbs onto ceiling, skeleton will suffocate. Mount from this point behaves like a normal spider. Similarly, if a jockey spots you from a high place, the skeleton may command the spider to jump, hurting or killing it in the process. Rider behaves then like a normal skeleton.

You can attack spider jockeys with a bow outside of the mobs' search range. Targeting the skeleton first is recommended. All strategies for skeletons and spiders apply here as well.

The spider jockey has other variants, such as one where the spider is being ridden by a stray. These variants can only spawn in snowy biomes and are more dangerous than their normal counterparts, due to stray arrows giving players slowness, while the spider tries to approach you.

In Bedrock Edition, the spider jockey has two more variants, which are the cave spider jockey and the stray cave spider jockey. These can only be found in a mineshaft. However, due to mineshaft being an enclosed space, even if such jockey spawns, it's almost guaranteed that the rider suffocates shortly after, as cave spiders tend to climb onto mineshaft's ceiling quite often.

Spiders can't spawn naturally in the Nether, but if spawned with commands/spawn eggs, they can rarely spawn as wither skeleton spider jockey‌. Dealing with such dangerous hybrids from afar is strongly recommended.

Guardians

The guardian has two methods of damaging the player: engaging a laser-like beam and a thorn-like defense. The beam takes several seconds to charge, doing no damage while charging, and changes from purple initially to bright yellow when fully charged. Then the beam abruptly disappears and deals damage. The guardian swims around for a few seconds before firing again. If the target comes near the guardian while it is firing its beam, it stops firing and swim away until it is at a comfortable range, at which point it continues attacking.

Guardian, unlike most other hostile mobs, doesn't follow the player if they move out of sight. Instead, it simply continues swimming until the player becomes visible again, and then starts to charge its attack. The beam cannot be dodged, as it follows the player, but can be obstructed by solid blocks, and has a range of approximately 15 blocks. When beam fully charges up, it deals 4HP damage on Easy, 6HP on Normal and 9HP on Hard.

Guardians also have spikes on their bodies. Although these spikes don't do any direct damage upon contact or as a melee attack, they act similar to the Thorns enchantment. The guardian deals 2HP (on Easy and Normal) or 3HP damage (on Hard) every time it is hit when its spikes are extended. If cornered, the guardian usually extends its spikes and fire its laser at you, even at point-blank range. If you must melee a guardian, you should try to corner it.

If brought to land, they may take fall damage from their swift and erratic movement.

The guardian cannot shoot as fast as a player with a bow can, so a skilled player is able to shoot the guardian, and then hide to break the beam's lock, repeating until the guardian is dead. Arrows slow down and eventually fall when in water, so you may be forced to shoot at a very close range. If you want to use a ranged attack, a trident is a viable choice as it doesn't slow down underwater. Enchanting it with Impaling V greatly helps with guardians, but killing them in one hit is impossible in Survival mode, even with Strength II, as they have 30HP × 15 health.

Fighting guardians is incredibly dangerous without armor, especially inside of an ocean monument. Entering their territory without armor often leads to a swift death, even if armed with a sword or trident.

Using the combined effects of Depth Strider III, Speed II and sprinting, you can actually swim faster than the guardians, which allows you to sneak up on them or to escape their beams. Players can also use trident with Riptide III, and when the guardian uses its laser attack, quickly use the trident and aim into it, so guardian takes damage from the trident and stops using its laser due to the player being too close.

Elder guardians

The elder guardian has 80HP × 40 points of health, making melee kills even harder. Elder guardians do more damage than regular guardians, but general tactics for fighting them are similar. Armor worn should include diamond or netherite equipment enchanted with Respiration (or turtle shells due to their longer breath), Protection and Depth Strider. They also give players Mining Fatigue III, making it almost impossible to tunnel out in case of emergency or to mine the gold treasure inside the ocean monument. It also slows the player's attacks.

Milk buckets are a good way to get rid of the Mining Fatigue, but keep in mind that there are three elder guardians in each monument, which continue to curse you once per minute until you kill all of them.

You can use a trident with Impaling V and Riptide III enchantments to ram into the elder guardian. If under the effect of Strength II, you can cause massive damage to the mob; this attack kills an elder guardian in just three hits.

Silverfish

Silverfish spawn from spawners or from breaking an infested block. These can be disguised as cobblestone, stone, stone bricks and variants of stone bricks. The breaking speed of infested blocks is the same with any type of tool or bare hand, making it easy to find which blocks are infested blocks. When using the player's hand to break blocks, infested blocks break a lot faster than cobblestone, stone, or stone bricks, but when using a better quality pickaxe, such as iron or diamond, infested blocks break a lot slower than cobblestone, stone, or stone bricks. Infested blocks spawn one silverfish when mined.

One silverfish only deals very little damage (1HP, or even 0HP with better quality armor on), and has only 8HP health. However, when you attack a silverfish, it can summon other silverfish hiding in other nearby infested blocks. This problem can be solved by killing a silverfish in one hit. In Java Edition, you can do this with a stone axe (or better), or a maxed diamond sword. In Bedrock Edition, the weapon of choice should be enchanted with Bane of Arthropods or be used with critical hits. With the Sharpness enchantment, you can also do this with a stone axe, iron axe, diamond axe or diamond sword.

If you are going to the End and the silverfish spawner in the end portal room is bugging you, just destroy it. Silverfish don't drop anything upon death, so it won't be useful to make a silverfish farm unless you want an XP only farm.

Phantoms

Phantoms are difficult to kill as they have a small hitbox and only briefly swoop down from the skies to attack before retreating. They only spawn at night if a player hasn't slept in a bed for at least 3 in-game days (and if gamerule doInsomnia is set to true). Players can check how much time has passed since their last rest in their statistics‌: if the "Time since last rest" statistic is greater than 1.0 h, phantoms can spawn. The longer the player has not slept in a bed, the more frequently phantoms spawn.

After spawning, they fly around you and swoop down to attack. Outrunning phantoms is a rather futile effort, although with fireworks and elytra you can escape them. Instead, the best way to avoid being attacked by them is by going inside a house, cave, making a small hole in the ground, or sleeping. Phantoms are undead mobs, so sleeping or waiting them out until daytime causes them to burn in the sun. They are also affected by Smite. Stone axe (or better) with Smite V kills phantoms in one hit, without the need of criticals or Strength effect.

Phantoms are afraid of cats, so it's best to have one around you to prevent phantoms from swooping down.

If you want to kill them for drops or XP, stand under a tree or build a roof above you. When the phantom swoops down to attack, hit it when it is under the roof. The phantom tries to retreat, but is blocked by the roof.

If you are stuck out in the open with no method of cover, damage can be avoided by precisely hitting one as they swoop toward you, preferably earlier in the dice and/or moving backward to increase the window of time the phantom can be hit without touching you. A bow might be helpful in this, although phantoms are very hard to shoot, due to their small hitbox and fast movement.

Phantoms’ slow turn speed can also allow you to avoid damage by quickly running to the side around the phantom and even counterattack, but this is much less effective against large groups.

Vindicators

First type of an illager. These mobs have 24HP × 12 (4HP more than the player) points of health, deal very high melee damage (7.5HP × 3.75 on Easy, 13HP × 6.5 on Normal, 19.5HP × 9.75 on Hard), and almost always spawn in groups with other vindicators.

Since the woodland mansion has many areas where another hostile mob can hide, it is easy to be ambushed and swiftly killed, especially when entering bedrooms, their primary spawn location. As the mansion is dimly lit, it is best to explore using Night Vision or bring a lot of torches. Having another player with you also helps, if possible. Keep hostile mob sounds up, since vindicators make grunting noises while idle.

Having armor enchanted with Protection reduces the damage taken, but beware of vindicators holding an enchanted axe, as it can deal even more damage, sometimes killing unarmored players in a single hit. This is not a mob to be taken lightly, even late game. Even more so, when it is coupled with its allies, evokers, pillagers and ravagers. Alternatively, if you happen to have a name tag and an anvil and the vindicator is near other mobs, you can apply the ‘Johnny’ name to it, causing it to turn hostile towards nearby non-illager mobs and distracting the vindicator, allowing you to kill it more easily.

In Java Edition, killing vindicators in one hit is possible only with Strength effect and critical hits. Some ways to achieve the one-hit kill include:

• Strength I + netherite axe + Sharpness V + critical hit;
• Strength II + netherite sword + Sharpness V + critical hit;
• Strength II + stone axe + Sharpness II + critical hit;
• Strength II + netherite axe + critical hit.

Blocking with a shield doesn't work, as vindicators have the ability to disable shields using the axe's stun function‌.

During raids, prioritize to kill vindicators over pillagers. These mobs become regular enemies at later waves.

Evokers

Second type of an illager, the shamanic counterpart to the vindicator. They have the same amount of health as vindicators (24HP × 12), but behave very differently. They use magic fang attacks and summon vexes, small spirit-like creatures.

In mansions, evokers are typically accompanied by 2 or more vindicators. During raids, evokers spawn on their own or riding ravagers, in both cases surrounded by a large amount of other illagers, including vindicators. Vindicators charge you, giving the evoker time to use one of two its summoning attacks:

• Vex summoning. Summons 3 small mobs, which can pass through blocks. They die within 2 minutes and are limited by a binding radius. When fighting in a room with evokers, keep an eye out for vexes, especially their red glow when charging. They have low health, but deal large damage and can be very dangerous due to the fact that multiple summons can happen.
• Fang attack. It does 6HP of magic damage: this cannot be mitigated by unenchanted armor, but can be mitigated by Protection enchantment. It can hit multiple targets and it cannot damage other illagers. Evokers use their fangs both offensively and defensively. When used offensively, they spring up in a line toward the player. When used defensively, the fangs form a circle around the evoker. Fangs can be avoided if you are constantly moving or jumping.

The best strategy is to simply kill the evoker as soon as possible, especially if it attempts a spell. Evokers can be killed in one melee hit in the same ways as vindicators. Another good strategy is attacking at a distance with a bow, if possible. However, keep in mind that evokers also attack when damaged, even if the evoker has no line-of sight toward you. Because of this, if you attack the evoker far away with a bow, it summons vexes and they charge at you.

Vexes

Vexes are very small creatures about the size of a baby zombie. They can only be summoned by evokers. Vexes float around, passing through all blocks and deal melee damage with iron swords: 5.5HP × 2.75 on Easy, 9HP on Normal and 13.5HP × 6.75 on Hard. They have 14HP × 7 points of health.

Killing vexes in one hit should be relatively easy due to their low health, however their unpredictable movement and phasing through block makes this much more difficult. Using a sword is recommended, as you need to be fast. In Java Edition, some ways to achieve the one-hit kill include:

• Netherite sword + Sharpness IV + critical hit;
• Strength I + netherite sword + Sharpness V;
• Strength II + diamond sword + Sharpness I.

Proritize killing evokers over vexes: evokers constantly spawn new vexes if you don't deal with them.

After some time after they are summoned, vexes slowly lose health and die‌.

Pillagers

Third type of an illager. They hold a crossbow which is sometimes enchanted. Pillagers shoot their crossbow at the player up to 6 blocks away every 2 seconds, and can sometimes be dangerous, especially in groups. The player needs to be careful when encountering a pillager armed with an enchanted crossbow with Multishot as it fires 3 arrows at once‌.

To avoid fighting pillagers it is best to stay away if you don't have any armor to protect yourself. If you're forced to fight, strong weapons are recommended. A shield can stop the pillager's arrows if successfully timed, unless the pillager has Piercing on its crossbow. Blocking an attack and counter-attacking while the pillager is reloading is an effective strategy. Pillagers can be killed in one hit in the same ways as vindicators. A bow or crossbow can help kill pillagers from a safe distance.

During raids, killing pillagers has the lowest priority, as they are the weakest mob spawning in all waves.

Upon killing a pillager, they drop arrows‌, sometimes a crossbow. They also drop an ominous banner and an ominous bottle if the pillager is the raid captain.

Illusioners

Fourth type of an illager. They can't spawn in Survival mode, and must be summoned by the player using commands.

Illusioners have 32HP × 16 of health and can't be killed in one melee hit (using weapons and buffs obtainable in Survival). They use a bow and two magic attacks: casting Blindness on you for 20 seconds and spawning duplicates to fool you. These duplicates move in the same way as the regular mob, but real illusioner becomes temporarily invisible.

Due to it dealing poor damage, illusioners are more of a nuisance than danger. It's recommended to use a bow for this mob, search where real arrow comes and hit in that direction until you find the real illusioner. When you are blinded, it's best to back away, waiting for the Blindness to disperse, then attack again. You could also drink a milk bucket to remove the Blindness. Splash potions of Harming are another good strategy: they deal area damage and kill the illusioner in a few hits without having to search the real illusioner.

Yet another very good strategy to kill illusioners is to hook them with a fishing rod, and then put the rod in your offhand. Bobber indicates the position of the illusioner, even when it becomes invisible.

Ravagers

A bull-like mob. They are sometimes being ridden by vindicators‌, pillagers or evokers. They have the same amount of health as an iron golem (100HP × 50) and are very dangerous to face in combat as they have a powerful attack if the player gets too close. Their attack on Hard difficulty can almost instantly kill the player, as it deals 18HP × 9 if they don't have armor. Ravagers can also destroy crops and leaves in their path as they chase their prey. Ravagers are quite fast, which means the player may have a hard time escaping them. Beacon effects such as Resistance, Strength and Regeneration may help defeat ravagers.

If possible, stay far away from ravagers while the wave of a raid is in effect. Killing them with a ranged weapon is recommended: a bow with Power V takes 5-6 arrow shots to defeat a ravager. If a ravager is unaccompanied by other mobs, you can dig down two blocks and then hit it with a sword. You can also hide in a village house and open the door. Then, when ravager charges in front of the building, you can hit it then hide inside, since ravagers are about two blocks wide. These methods are better resource-wise, and if you don't want your shield or arrows to be consumed fighting a ravager. However, keep in mind that ravagers have a long range, and in past versions they could even hit through walls.

In melee combat, you should equip strong diamond or netherite armor. A shield can help if you can time the blocking right; however, after being stunned by a shield, there is a 50% chance for the ravager to stop for a moment to growl and roar. This deals 6HP damage and knocks you back. After that, they continue to chase again. If the ravager is stunned and about to roar, you have enough time to hit it twice with a sword before it roars.

Since you will likely be encountering a ravager in a village during a raid, you may want to employ the iron golems. With your help, a single iron golem can survive against a couple ravagers.

It's recommended killing the illager rider first before killing the ravager, as a combination of those two mobs is very dangerous.

Skeleton horsemen

The skeleton horsemen rarely spawn during thunderstorms in groups of four. The skeleton riders, always equipped with an enchanted bow and enchanted iron helmet, move as fast as a horse but despawn after several minutes.

It is highly recommended that you use a ranged weapon to kill these horsemen, since multiple skeletons riding horses with enchanted bows are hard to reach. The horse itself is actually passive, so you just need to kill the rider and you get the skeleton horse as a result, a very valuable mount.

Breezes

Breezes are not dangerous enemies on their own, as their projectile attack deals only 1HP damage on Easy and Normal, and 1.5HP × 0.75 on Hard. What makes a battle with breeze much more challenging is the environment of trial chambers: other mobs (zombies, skeletons, spiders, slimes etc.) and countless traps that the breeze can activate from a distance.

Breezes have 30HP × 15 points of health and they can't be killed in one melee hit in Survival mode. Breezes bounce back all projectiles shot at them: arrows, tridents, fireworks or wind charges shot by players. The only exception are their own wind charges, which can be bounced back at the attacking breeze and damage it; however, this method is extremely difficult and ineffective. A good sword or axe with Sharpness is a better choice, but note that this mob is very agile, can jump high and far, making it difficult to land a hit.

Lava kills breezes relatively easily, but doesn't slow them down as much as most other mobs.

Wardens

Unlike any other hostile mob in the game, the warden is designed to be almost unkillable and not meant to be fought. There are no gains for players in fighting wardens, and warden encounter is systematically not a situation where combat is relevant. Players should not try to attack a warden in any circumstances, unless they want a very difficult challenge. If the player happens to kill a warden, they only drop a sculk catalyst and 5 experience.

If, for any reason, you decide to kill a warden, be warned that they are near impossible to slay. Wardens have 500HP × 250 HP, which is the most health any mob has in Java Edition and second only to the wither in Bedrock Edition on Hard difficulty. Wardens are immune to fire and lava, take no knockback and deal enormous melee damage (16HP × 8 on Easy, 30HP × 15 on Normal, 45HP × 22.5 on Hard). They also have a powerful ranged sonic boom attack, which deals 6HP damage on Easy, 10HP on Normal and 15HP × 7.5 on Hard. Additionally, wardens inflict Darkness effect on all nearby players, which greatly reduces their vision.

It might seem like keeping a medium distance to the warden is a good idea, because ranged attack deals much less damage than melee hits. However, armor and Protection enchantment reduce the damage taken from warden's melee attack, while sonic boom completely bypasses both.

If you are fast and in a good spot, you can pillar up 25 blocks and shoot the warden from above, as this is too far for its ranged attack. Note that even a bow with Power V takes 20+ arrow shots to kill it.

Trying to defeat the warden in melee combat is strongly discouraged, but, if you dare to challenge yourself with it, you should be prepared with best gear possible:

• Full netherite armor with Protection IV and Unbreaking III (warden's melee hits lower the durability of armor very quickly);
• A netherite sword with Sharpness V;
• Potions of Strength, Speed, Night Vision (to somewhat counteract the Darkness effect) and Turtle Master;
• A beacon, if you have it and can prepare the fighting area, set to Resistance II;
• Golden apples and preferably enchanted golden apples—the latter are quite rare, but luckily, ancient cities are the best place to find them;
• Totems of undying—as many as you can fit in your inventory;
• End crystals if you are skilled in crystal PvP.

What will probably not help:

• Distracting the warden with snowballs, eggs etc.;
• A shield, warden disables it very quickly;
• Thorns enchantment on armor, this deals very small damage compared to your weapon, and causes armor to break faster.

Fighting the warden in hand-to-hand combat is actually slightly easier (though still incredibly difficult) than fighting it in medium range (5-20 blocks) because the sonic boom attack ignores armor and Protection enchantments. You will die very quickly to these blasts, while you might survive the warden’s melee hits for a bit longer. One of the best strategies is to allow the warden to deal one melee hit every 4 seconds, so it never attempts the sonic boom. Consider setting your spawnpoint close by in case the warden kills you, which is likely.

It takes 22 critical hits with a maxed sword and Strength II to kill the warden, and 19 critical hits with a maxed axe, although the latter takes quite a bit longer due to slower attack speed of the axe.

Wardens despawn if unprovoked for 60 seconds.

Nether mobs

There are 9 mobs that can spawn exclusively and naturally in the Nether. This list is sorted by chance of an encounter, with the exception of zoglins, as they do not spawn naturally but have similarities with the Nether mobs. As zombified piglins and piglins are neutral, combat strategies for them are listed under their own category.

Currently, most of the Nether mobs are hostile, with the exception of the piglin and zombified piglin, which are neutral, and the strider. All can be very dangerous without sufficient weapons, but all can be outrun fairly easily while sprinting, and most despawn on Peaceful, while other become passive. Most nether mobs are immune to fire damage, making lava buckets, Fire Aspect and Flame enchantments useless. Only piglins and hoglins aren't immune to fire damage.

Ghasts

Players in any exposed area have to deal with ghasts and their fireballs sooner or later, and possibly from the moment they step out of a portal. These mobs fly and move in a very unpredictable way, but have low health, only 10HP. Ghasts deal a lot of damage when a direct hit from a fireball is taken: on Hard difficulty, this alone can kill an unarmored player in one hit. On lower difficulties, players survive the direct hit, but knockback and fire damage can cause additional troubles. Because of this, players should try to kill any ghast in sight as soon as possible.

Having a ranged weapon is recommended: two shots with an unenchanted bow are enough to kill the ghast, and a bow even with just Power II is guaranteed to kill it in one shot, if fully charged. Another great weapon is the crossbow with the Multishot enchantment, as it fires 3 arrows at once in different directions, giving a high chance that one of them hits the ghast. Arrows fired from crossbows are faster and have further range than from bows.

You can deflect fireballs by hitting them with anything before they impact, even bare hands. Because of their low speed, spamming mouse clicks is often enough to deflect any given attack. It is possible to kill ghasts by reflecting their attacks back at them, but it can be difficult since they are agile. If you do manage to kill a ghast by reflecting their fireball, you get the "Return to Sender" advancement‌/achievement‌. You can easily make a fireball reflect in the direction you want by shooting any projectile at the fireball: snowballs are the best, as they are easy to get and don't have a cooldown, so you can just bombard snowballs and they will hit the fireball at some point. If reflected back to the ghast that shot it, the fireball deals 1000HP × 500 damage, instantly killing it.

A ghast can be also killed with melee weapons if you can get close enough before it flies away, but this rarely happens. Alternatively, you can get closer to the mob using an elytra and then attack it with a sword.

Ghast fireballs can damage nether terrain and anything you build in there. Thus, using only materials resistant to their explosions, like cobblestone or nether bricks, is recommended. You should cover up your portal with a bunker-like building, so that ghasts don't blow it up.

Ghasts spawn anywhere in three nether biomes (nether wastes, basalt deltas, and soul sand valley), if only they have enough room: light level is irrelevant. Building large closed structures in those biomes can result in an indoor ghast spawn, which can then cause a lot of damage to your structure if you don't kill the ghast quick.

Magma cubes

Magma cubes behave similarly to slimes. Two smaller kinds of magma cubes are both easily killed with a stone sword (or better), even in large numbers, as they have low health and a slow attack rate, but big magma cubes can be deadly. Due to their jumping attack, they are very hard to hit and dodge, and while they have less health than the player at 16HP × 8, their natural armor negates some of the received damage, making their practical health much higher.

In Java Edition, killing a large magma cube in one melee hit is possible only with Strength effect and critical hits. Some ways to achieve the one-hit kill include:

• Strength I + netherite axe + Sharpness V + critical hit;
• Strength II + diamond sword + Sharpness V + critical hit;
• Strength II + stone axe + critical hit.

When fighting one magma cube in a flat area, time your attack: wait until the cube jumps and just after it lands, hit it. Time between cube's jumps is long enough to land a hit, and it won't jump again while taking damage, so you can continue attacking. Once the big cube is defeated, fighting its smaller counterparts should be much easier. A sword with Sweeping Edge enchantment‌ helps in slaying resulting smaller magma cubes.

An easier way to deal with a group of magma cubes is to shoot an arrow at one of them from a safe place out of the magma cubes range, so they can't see you. Once you have shot the magma cube it either comes after you or just ignores you, depending on how far away you are. Repeat this process until there is no more giant magma cubes, then you can rush in and kill the smaller ones, or, if you don't want the drops, you can shoot them as well. In Java Edition, a crossbow with firework rockets can be used to clear a group of small and/or medium magma cubes from a safe range, as long as gunpowder is in plentiful supply.

Blazes

Blazes use a ranged projectile, which deals fire damage, and a melee attack. Additionally, blazes can fly: they move up or down to gain a height advantage or hide behind cover between fireball volleys. Their horizontal movement is extremely slow, and they are unable to pursue a player or maneuver effectively in close combat. In open areas they can rise out of reach of melee attacks if the player gives them enough time, but at melee range a blaze on the ground can often be hit two or three times with a sword before they are out of reach. Blazes can be killed in one melee hit in the same ways as creepers.

Potions of Fire Resistance are very helpful in fighting blazes, as this effect completely nullifies their projectile attack, but not the melee attack, which is not considered fire damage. Getting some of these potions from bartering with piglins before coming to a fortress is recommended. A shield is useful as well, as it can block upcoming projectiles.

Blazes fire a volley of three fireballs that lasts 0.9 seconds, followed by a very long recharge delay of 5 seconds, while it only takes 1 second to fully charge a bow, making a player's skill at timing their attacks and shield blocking/taking cover the key to blaze combat. Their range of 48 blocks is comparable to bow's 52 blocks, but the fireball's flat trajectory can create an effective range advantage in the nether where overhanging terrain is common, and even more so in enclosed fortress corridors. Silent, surprise fireball attacks by distant blazes are a risk while walking on open-air fortress bridges and the general vicinity of a fortress. If you can see a blaze, it can probably see you (and hit you) as well. Unlike with the ghast or breeze, a blaze's fireballs cannot be deflected.

As with any mob, a group of blazes can be especially challenging. They each attack at the first opportunity, resulting in a devastating mass volley of fireballs. Fortunately, they do not use coordinated volley fire that could pin you down, but rather leave their entire group helpless for up to 5 seconds while they recharge after firing en masse, giving you the opportunity to advance, retreat, place or mine blocks, or repeatedly attack, before having to take cover or shield block again.

Blazes can only spawn in light level 11 or lower (at the lower half of their body). Much like ghasts, the blaze's ability to fly can make it difficult to recover their loot after killing them, though usually the greater concern is the many fires a group of blazes can ignite around themselves, potentially destroying drops before the player can pick them up.

Blaze spawners generate in fortresses and start spawning blazes once you get within 16 blocks of it. The spawner has a chance of spawning 1–4 blazes at once. 'Camping' at a blaze spawner is an effective way to gather blaze rods, as they almost always appear close enough to attack with a sword. This is best done in combination with the Fire Resistance potion. There is a delay in blaze's attack after it spawns, because it has to charge first. You can also build a doorway, 2 blocks tall and 1 block wide, where you can camp and kill the blazes as they come down. This strategy is extremely effective if you cover up the roof of the spawner room, but remember about blaze's melee attack that damages you if they get too close.

A blaze suffers damage from snowballs, and would be damaged by water if there was any in the Nether. Alas, snow golems do not survive in the Nether unless immediately provided with a potion of Fire Resistance. However, player-thrown snowballs are still a viable tactic. Due to their ease of acquisition and infinite supply, snowballs can be considered superior to archery for battling blazes. Though they can't be used to damage other kinds of mobs, carrying a few stacks of snowballs while exploring nether fortresses is an good way of repelling unexpected waves of spawned blazes. In addition, other mobs like wither skeletons and magma cubes can often be knocked off the high fortress bridges with snowballs, adding further usefulness.

Wither skeletons

Wither skeletons are the Nether equivalent of skeletons. Unlike normal skeletons, they use melee attacks. Wither skeletons attack with a stone sword and give players the Wither effect for 10 seconds upon damaging them. Wither skeletons spawn only in nether fortresses, just like blazes. They can spawn with pumpkins on Halloween‌, and can sometimes pick up armor and weapons, but they cannot pick up blocks or items.

Wither skeletons deal medium damage (Easy: 5HP, Normal: 8HP, Hard: 12HP × 6), but the added Wither effect makes them a much bigger threat. This effect can kill you, unlike Poison, and unenchanted armor does not protect against it (although armor enchanted with Protection does), so even if you escape the enemy, you might still die from withering.

Wither skeletons are exactly 2.4 blocks tall, but their pathfinding works as if they were just 2 blocks tall. This provides some safe tactics for combating them: you can build a 2 block high space, where it is safe to hide upon engaging a wither skeleton. They rarely (2.5% chance) drop wither skeleton skulls used to summon the wither. A sword enchanted with Looting increases the chance to drop a skull up to 5.5%.

The Smite enchantment can deal high damage to them, due to wither skeletons being undead. Stone axe (or better) with Smite V kills wither skeletons in one hit, without the need of criticals or Strength effect. A shield can also be useful, as it completely blocks their hits, including the Wither effect. If you don't have a strong melee weapon, you can also shoot wither skeletons with a ranged weapon, like a bow, but note that this doesn't apply Looting, so shooting them is not recommended if you are trying to gather skulls.

Hoglins

Hoglins are hostile toward players when encountered, but enter a "scared" state when being in proximity of a warped fungus, a nether portal or a respawn anchor. In this state, hoglins don't attack players and try to run away from the block that is scaring them. Piglins sometimes hunt and kill hoglins, so they might be an ally when fighting these mobs.

Hoglins have 40HP × 20 of health and can't be killed in one melee hit (using weapons and buffs obtainable in Survival), but can be killed in two, if a strong weapon and Strength effect is used. They deal medium damage, but very high knockback, which might be more dangerous than the attack itself. Knockback can throw you high in the air and not always away from the hoglin. Being kicked off a cliff to a sea of lava is not unlikely if you encounter a pack of hoglins. It's recommended to bring a potion of Fire Resistance to the Nether anyway, but even more so when you're dealing with hoglins; boots enchanted with Feather Falling may also help, reducing received fall damage.

Carrying a warped fungus protects you in most circumstances, but keep in mind that you can place it only on nylium. Carrying a respawn anchor seems to be a better solution, as you can place it anywhere, but breaking it requires a diamond pickaxe or better, takes a lot of time, and the biome that hoglins spawn in is covered in nylium anyway. Therefore having a warped fungus as a method to scare hoglins away is usually a good strategy.

Hoglins have another weakness: large hitbox. They can't fit in 1-block-wide gaps, which makes trapping them relatively easy. Also, hoglins are not immune to lava, so a lava bucket can be used as a weapon against them. Otherwise, you can use melee and ranged weaponry as on most mobs.

Zoglins

Zoglins are hostile to all mobs (and players), with the exception of creepers and other zoglins. If they appear in your base, where you gathered lots of other mobs, zoglins start a killing spree, so you want to slay them ASAP.

Zoglins can't be scared with warped fungi, nether portals or respawn anchors. Like hoglins, they can attack and fling you in the air. They deal the same damage and have the same health as hoglins, but zoglins are classified as undead mobs, which can make the Smite enchantment very useful. Unfortunately, killing them in one melee hit is still impossible, even though Smite deals more damage to them than Sharpness. Even if you drink a potions of Strength II and strike a critical hit on the zoglin with a netherite axe enchanted with Smite V, the mob survives with 3.5HP × 1.75.

Zoglins are immune to lava and fire, but are still easy to trap, because their hitbox is the same as hoglins.

Piglin brutes

Piglin brutes are much stronger variants of piglins that spawn with no armor and a golden axe. They ignore gold armor on players and gold ingots dropped on the ground, and are not scared of soul fire-related blocks or zombified piglins. Piglin brutes have 50HP × 25 HP and only spawn in generated bastion remnant structures. Piglin brute's melee attack is one of the strongest in the game, matching vindicator's attack: they deal 7.5HP × 3.75 damage on Easy, 13HP × 6.5 on Normal and 19.5HP × 9.75 on Hard, almost enough to kill unarmored players in one hit.

Bastions are a much more dangerous place since version Java Edition 1.16.2/Bedrock Edition 1.16.20, which added piglin brutes. If you get cornered in a tight corridor with few brutes attacking, you are very likely to die even with strong gear. If you are not a skilled player, enchanted diamond or netherite armor with Protection IV enchantment is recommended, along with a strong diamond or netherite sword with Sharpness V, and a few totems of undying. Due to their high health it's impossible to slay piglin brutes in one melee hit, and even doing so in two hits requires a maxed axe and Strength II effect. You should also carry some blocks in your hotbar to block off corridors.

If you approach a bastion and see piglin brutes already angered at you, it might be a good idea to kill them with a ranged weapon before going inside.

A lava bucket is very effective against brutes, as they are not immune to fire damage, but it still takes a while to kill them. Lava is a good weapon of choice for another reason, too: killing piglin brutes with lava does not anger normal piglins, which are wandering around the bastion as well.

End mobs

Besides the dragon (see below), only two mobs spawn naturally in the End. One of them is hostile and the other one is neutral. Endermites don't spawn naturally but they share similarities with the End mobs.

Endermites

If the player uses ender pearls often, they are bound to come across an endermite at some point. Endermites are not very difficult to fight as they have only 8HP, just like silverfish, and are more of a nuisance than a hazard.

If you don't want to bother with killing an endermite, move at least 16 blocks away from it so that it won't attack you, and it despawns after 2 minutes. If you wish to kill an endermite for its experience, it's not too difficult: just get a sword or axe of any type, and keep hitting it until it's dead. If you use a stone or better axe ‌, or a diamond sword enchanted with Sharpness, you are able to kill the endermite in one hit. Endermen are also hostile toward endermites, which can spark some rather comedic battles.

Shulkers

Shulkers shoot shulker bullets that follow their target. If a player gets hit by a shulker bullet, they get the Levitation effect for 10 seconds. This can make travelling to the top rooms in the end city and end ship easier, but also creates a risk of taking fall damage. Bullets also deal 4HP damage and can be a real threat by themselves, even ignoring damage from falling.

To counteract the Levitation, you can use Slow Falling potions, boots enchanted with Feather Falling and water buckets, as being in water completely negates the effect. Additionally, eating chorus fruits always brings you to a solid surface without taking fall damage. To counteract bullet damage, you can use a shield or punch/shoot the bullet, which disappears immediately. Armor enchanted with Protection or Projectile Protection helps in reducing the damage as well.

Shulkers have 30HP × 15 health and are impossible to kill in one melee hit using weapons and buffs obtainable in Survival. Additionally, they often hide in their shells, which give them 20 armor points and make arrows shot at them bounce off. Do not shoot a shulker which hides in its shell, especially if you are right next to it, as the arrow bounces off the shell and can damage you instead! To kill shulkers effectively, you can time the shots with the shulker opening its shell, or take advantage of the Levitation and hit them with a sword while floating up toward them.

Shulkers are not immune to their own projectile and can even kill each other if too many shulkers in one area start shooting bullets. However, when low on health, they have a chance to teleport to another location.

An effective way to kill shulkers in tight, tall spaces is using explosions from firework rockets, either placed on the ground or shot from crossbows.

Bosses

Currently there are two bosses in Minecraft: the ender dragon and the wither. Both bosses have their own tutorials, covering combat strategies in much greater detail. Here they are described briefly.

Ender dragons

Ender dragons spawn naturally (when the player enters the End for the first time) or can be respawned by placing 4 end crystals on the exit portal. They have 200HP × 100 health, one of the highest in Minecraft, use both a melee and a ranged attack, and can destroy most blocks in the game.

Throughout the years, many strategies on defeating the main boss of Minecraft were created. A skilled player can kill it with only a handful of explosives, which often include beds, as those explode in the End just like in the Nether. If however you are a beginner, it is recommended to prepare at least some diamond armor and a diamond sword, as well as a good bow. Standard enchantments like Protection, Sharpness and Power can help.

First, you need to destroy all end crystals located on top of obsidian towers, as those heal the dragon. You can either shoot them with a bow/crossbow/snowballs, or punch them directly, but be aware that an end crystal explodes violently when destroyed. Once all crystals are gone, you can start shooting the boss itself, or attacking it with a sword. The ender dragon approaches the exit portal from time to time, allowing successful melee attacks, however it knocks back any entities that are near its head or wings.

Other helpful strategies:

• set your spawn point close to the end portal in stronghold;
• bring a carved pumpkin instead of a helmet, as there are lots of endermen and the pumpkin stops them from becoming hostile when looked at;
• brew Slow Falling potions to counteract fall damage, as the dragon can throw you very high up in the air. Alternatively bring a hay bale or a water bucket if you have good reflexes;
• enchant your bow with Infinity if you don't have a good source of arrows;
• get some ender pearls for emergency, e.g. when the dragon kicks you off the island;
• if you need to go on top of an obsidian tower, build a spiral staircase around it with end stone, as ender dragon can't destroy that block.

When the ender dragon is killed, it plays a unique death animation, drops experience points and opens the exit portal.

Withers

Withers can be summoned by making a "T" shape with soul sand and placing 3 wither skeleton skulls on top. After the last skull was placed, wither is summoned, but is invulnerable for 11 seconds. After this time, it creates a very powerful explosion around itself and then it can be damaged.

Withers have from 300HP × 150 to 600HP × 300 health, depending on edition of the game and difficulty, and shoot black or blue skulls that can inflict the Wither effect. Blue skulls are also able to destroy any block obtainable in Survival mode: only indestructible blocks, like bedrock, can withstand them. Withers can fly and are immune to fire/lava damage, drowning, freezing and all status effects except for Instant Health (which damages them) and Instant Damage (which heals them). Withers are hostile not only to players, but also to all other mobs except undead and ghasts.

Wither's behavior and traits vary greatly between Java Edition and Bedrock Edition, and depending on difficulty:

• In Java Edition, withers always have 300HP × 150. Upon noticing a target, wither flies above it and starts shooting black and blue skulls. It tries to keep vertical distance between itself and its target, thus it is very difficult to strike it with a sword or axe.
  • On Easy, wither skulls deal 5HP on impact and don't inflict the Wither effect.
  • On Normal, they deal 8HP and inflict Wither II for 10 seconds.
  • On Hard, they deal 12HP × 6 and inflict Wither II for 40 seconds.
  • If wither's health is depleted below 150HP × 75, it creates an armor around itself, which is impenetrable to projectiles. From this point, wither can be damaged only by melee attacks and explosions. At this point, wither also stops flying high up in the air, and instead hovers low enough to be striked with a melee weapon.
  • A simple strategy to defeat the wither in Java Edition is to dig a long tunnel in Overworld in stone or deepslate, and summon the wither at the end of the tunnel. It's easy to shoot the boss through the hole due to it's predictable behavior, and once it gains armor, finishing it with a sword shouldn't take long.
  • A bow enchanted with Power + a stack of arrows, a sword with Smite, diamond armor with Protection and some good food, like golden carrots, should be enough to defeat the wither.

• In Bedrock Edition, wither's health varies with difficulty. Upon noticing a target, wither flies to a random nearby location and shoots skulls from there. Skulls deal the same damage as in Java Edition and they inflict the same length of Wither effect, but due to slower health regeneration of players, surviving the damage from withering is much more challenging.
  • On Easy, withers have 300HP × 150.
  • On Normal, withers have 450HP × 225. At half health, in addition to the wither armor, it explodes again and summons three wither skeletons.
  • On Hard, withers have 600HP × 300 (more than a warden). At half health, in addition to the wither armor, it explodes again and summons three wither skeletons.
  • Below half health, wither changes the battle strategy and dashes towards its target, shooting bursts of skulls. Dash attack usually destroys large amounts of blocks, which drop as items: this can cause performance issues if the fight is long enough.
  • The "tunnel" strategy described above doesn't work as good with Bedrock Edition wither, due to it's unpredictable behavior and dash attacks.
  • Powerful equipment is recommended: a bow with Power V and Infinity, a netherite sword with Smite V, netherite armor with Protection IV, golden apples, potions of Strength, Speed and Regeneration, some milk buckets to cure the Wither effect, and totems of undying.
  • After being defeated, the wither explodes for a final time.

Neutral mobs

Neutral mobs do not attack the player unless provoked. For different mobs, this "provokation" can mean different things: usually, if you hit a neutral mob, it fights back. Some neutral mobs also exhibit "pack behavior": if you hit one mob, all nearby mobs of this type attack you at once.

Overworld mobs

Wolves

If player hits a stray wolf, this and any other stray wolves nearby become hostile (pack behavior). They remain hostile until the player escapes or they die, similar to zombified piglins. Killing a single wolf isn't difficult, as they have only 8HP health (a single hit from a stone axe), but a large enough pack can be dangerous if player is unarmored.

Trying to hide in tight spaces is not a good idea, as a wolf can easily fit in a 1x1 hole. An effective combat method against a pack of wolves is building a two-block pillar and slowly dispatching the wolves with a sword. A lava bucket can also be useful.

Spiders

Spiders are 1 block high, and as such, they are able to sneak under some obstacles. However, spiders are also 2 blocks wide, so a 1×1 hole doesn't let them pass. Spiders can also climb any solid blocks, and simple walls of any height don't stop them.

In the daytime (or in presence of artificial light sources, like torches), spiders become neutral. They only attack you if you attack them, but if they were hostile toward you during the night, they stay hostile. Spiders don't pose much danger: they don't exhibit pack behavior and deal low damage, only 2HP to 3HP. A spider has 16HP × 8 health and can be killed in one melee hit in the same ways as a piglin, but is also considered an arthropod, thus the enchantment Bane of Arthropods deals higher damage to spiders; although the enchantment is rarely useful, as it is easy enough to fight them with a weapon with Sharpness.

Besides melee combat, shooting spiders with a bow or attacking them with a lava bucket are also effective battle strategies.

Cave spiders

Cave spiders are smaller than a regular spider, meaning they can fit through 1×1 holes, and their bite poisons the player (except on Easy difficulty). On Normal difficulty, the Poison effect lasts for 6 seconds and on Hard it lasts for 15 seconds, if not countered by drinking a milk bucket or a honey bottle.

Poison can't kill on its own, but it can lower your health to 1HP, which makes you very vulnerable to attacks of any other mob, including melee attack of cave spiders, which deal only 2HP to 3HP, same as regular spiders.

Cave spider spawners are often difficult to take out, due to their location being surrounded by cobwebs. If you run across a cave spider spawner, make sure you have shears or a sword to cut the cobwebs quickly (a sword is used up very fast by this). Another great option to get rid of the webs is to wash them off with a water bucket. You can also tunnel under the floor to reach them, then mine upward and break the spawner. Neither type of spider is affected by the cobweb slowing effect, so be aware that they cannot get stuck as other mobs and entities can.

Cave spiders have only 12HP × 6 points of health, but hitting them with a melee weapon might be tricky due to very small hitbox and fast movements. Thus it is recommended to use a sword rather than an axe, similar to vexes. In Java Edition, some ways to achieve the one-hit kill include:

• Netherite sword + critical hit;
• Iron sword + Sharpness V + critical hit;
• Strength I + diamond sword + Sharpness III.

Cave spiders are also considered arthropods and the enchantment Bane of Arthropods deals higher damage to them, although the enchantment is rarely useful, as it is easy enough to fight them with a weapon with Sharpness.

Drowned

Another variants of zombies. Most drowned are easy to kill, like normal zombies (remember about Smite enchantment), but some spawn holding a trident, which can be dangerous if you are not protected with good armor, as they deal 8HP damage when thrown and 16HP × 8 in melee. Attempting to kill a trident-holding drowned with no armor results in a high chance of dying. They only attack you during the daytime if you are in water, but at night, drowned attack you on land as well.

In Bedrock Edition, drowned stop using ranged attacks when you are 3 blocks or less away from the drowned, so you can easily prevent drowned from throwing the trident by moving in as close as possible and defeating it.

Besides Smite, other useful tactics against drowned with tridents include:

• shooting them from far away with a bow/crossbow;
• using a shield to deflect the trident;
• hiding behind walls or even other mobs;
• enchanting armor with Protection.

If you want maximum defense against tridents, enchant one armor piece with Projectile Protection IV and other three with Protection IV. Be aware that this lowers your defense against other types of damage, like explosions.

Iron golems

Iron golems have high health (100HP × 50) and do massive damage, but the exact amount is randomized: on Normal difficulty, they deal betweem 7.5HP × 3.75 and 21.5HP × 10.75. Iron golems throw players into the air, which causes even more damage from falling. They take no knockback and receive no fall damage or drowning damage.

A rather easy way to kill iron golems is to pillar up 3 blocks tall on a flat surface (away from any nearby blocks the golem could stand on to reach you), and attack while it's out of reach. Minimum height of the pillar is exactly 2.75 blocks (2 blocks + an enchanting table). Punching the golem and then building the pillar is faster, but not recommended, especially if you aren't skilled in combat.

Ranged weaponry (bows, crossbows and tridents) is a safer alternative against iron golems, as they are extremely deadly at hand-to-hand combat. One can also use lava, fire, or a pack of wolves to slay the golem.

Finally, you can aggro a golem, then run into a nearby house, stand just beyond the door frame and hit the golem. You should be careful, as it may still hit you if you move too close.

However, note that killing a village's iron golem lowers the player's reputation there, causing future iron golems to become hostile automatically.

Polar bears

When alone, polar bears are neutral in that they attack the player if they are attacked, but they can also be immediately hostile when approached if a polar bear cub is nearby. If the cub is attacked, any adults in a 41 block cuboid area come to its defense. Attacking the adult first when a cub is nearby causes all adults in a 21 block cuboid to attack the player. Cubs are passive in any situation.

Polar bears have 30HP × 15 health, and thus can't be killed in one melee hit in Survival mode, although two critical hits with a netherite sword with Sharpness V are enough to slay them. Bears deal 4HP damage on Easy, 6HP on Normal, and 9HP on Hard. They attack by rearing up on their back legs and smashing down with their front legs. This attack can sometimes miss or be dodged if the players is moving in circles or irregularly. Iron gear or better makes battling them in low numbers trivial, but when in large groups (which is fairly uncommon) they can quickly overwhelm the player. The player can create a 3 block tall pillar to easily dispatch of any hostile adults.

Polar bears have a much faster swimming speed than the player, so it is recommended to not engage polar bears in water if possible.

Llamas

Llamas attack if provoked by spitting at the target once for 1HP damage, after which they become neutral again. Llamas have between 15HP × 7.5 and 30HP × 15 health points. Their extremely low damage and lack of pack mentality basically nullifies them as a threat to any player with weapons or armor of any level. However, if the player happens to find themselves completely unarmed and unprotected against a llama with half a heart of health left, its spit can be dodged by sprinting sideways to the llama.

Trader llamas

If player hits a wandering trader, the trader's llamas become angry and spit at the player. The player can dodge attack or make 2 trader llamas attack each other by hide behind one of the llamas. However, if the wandering trader isn't present, hitting trader llamas causes them to act like a passive mob and run away.

Dolphins

If player hits a dolphin, this and any other dolphins nearby become hostile (pack behavior). Players can avoid them by getting out of water.

Dolphins have 10HP health: one critical hit with any axe is enough to kill them, but hitting them might be tricky due to fast movements, so a sword is recommended instead. Dolphins deal 2.5HP × 1.25 damage on Easy difficulty, 3HP on Normal and 4.5HP × 2.25 on Hard. Since dolphins are aquatic mobs, they are affected by Impaling enchantment.‌

Another weakness of dolphins is their need of both air and water to survive. If kept out of water or underwater for long enough, dolphins die of dehydration or drowning, respectively.

Pandas

Pandas come in 7 different types, with each having different traits.

Most pandas behave like llamas: they attack if provoked by biting once, after which they become neutral again. Aggresive pandas are different: once provoked, they attack their target until death. Aggressive pandas also become angry if any nearby panda is attacked. All pandas deal 4HP damage on Easy, 6HP on Normal and 9HP on Hard.

Most pandas have 20HP × 10 health and can be killed in one hit in the same ways as creepers. Weak pandas are different, as they have only 10HP. All pandas are rather slow, but lazy pandas are even slower than other types. Worried panda flee from players and most hostile mobs (but still attack back if provoked). Playful pandas often roll over and jump. This can sometimes cause harm or kill the panda as it can accidentally roll off a cliff or into other environmental hazards. Brown panda doesn't have any special AI, it just looks different than normal panda.

A pack of aggresive pandas can be a real threat, especially on Hard difficulty; engaging in melee combat with them is dangerous, so using a lava bucket or a bow is recommended in such circumstances.

Bees

Bees are provoked in three different ways:

1. If player hits a bee;
2. If player breaks a bee nest or beehive without Silk Touch;
3. If player collects honey from the nest/hive and there is no campfire beneath it.

All bees nearby become hostile when a bee is provoked (pack behavior). When provoked, bee's eyes turn red. An angry bee stings its target once, after which it becomes neutral again. If provoked again, it's eyes also turn red, but it performs no further stinging attempts, since it had only one stinger. Bees become neutral if they fail to land a hit on their target within 25 seconds.

One minute after stinging, bee dies on its own.

Effects of the sting depend on difficulty:

• On Easy, sting deals 2HP damage and doesn't inflict Poison effect.
• On Normal, sting deals 2HP damage and inflicts Poison for 10 seconds.
• On Hard, sting deals 3HP damage and inflicts Poison for 18 seconds.

Bees have 10HP health and can be killed with a single critical hit from any axe, or a non-critical hit from a maxed diamond sword.

Nether mobs

Piglins

Piglins are hostile toward players if they are not wearing any gold armor. Even if you are wearing a piece of golden armor, piglins still become hostile if you break nether gold ore, gilded blackstone or gold blocks, or open/break containers, like chests, nearby them. All piglins in the proximity also become hostile when you attack one of them. Piglins use golden swords like zombified piglins or a crossbow like pillagers. They can spawn wearing gold armor. Their weapon and armor is sometimes enchanted.

You must be aware of piglins while either exploring bastion remnants and crimson forest biomes, but as long as you wear at least one piece of gold armor on any armor slot, and don't break any gold-related blocks or open containers, piglins remain neutral. Piglins stay further away from zombified piglins and are always hostile to wither skeletons and withers. Piglins also flee from soul fire and blocks related to soul fire (soul lantern, soul torch and lit soul campfire).

Best strategy is to avoid angering piglins in the first place, as fighting a large group of them might be challenging, especially in bastions, where they are aided by piglin brutes. Killing one piglin is not difficult though, as they have only 16HP × 8 health. Some methods to achieve the one-hit kill on unarmored piglins in Java Edition include:

• Netherite axe + Sharpness I + critical hit;
• Stone axe + Sharpness IV + critical hit;
• Strength I + netherite sword + critical hit;
• Strength I + netherite axe + Sharpness V;
• Strength II + stone sword + critical hit.

A lava bucket is also useful on piglins, as they are not immune to fire damage, unlike most other nether mobs.

Zombified piglins

If player hits a zombified piglin, this and any other zombified piglins within a 32 block radius become hostile (pack behavior) and charge the player if they are in sight range (16 blocks). These mobs attack in medium-large groups and unprepared players should be cautious of their strength in numbers.

Their hostile status lasts between 20–55 seconds in Java Edition and always 25 seconds in Bedrock Edition, but timer is ticking down only if they don't see the player. Additionally, an angry zombified piglin continues to alert all other zombified piglins in its range. Taking cover and waiting is advised if player is not prepared for fighting the horde. The hostility radius is centered around each zombified piglin that is attacked, not the player. This means that the player can attack a far-away zombified piglin with a bow without nearby zombie piglins becoming hostile (although this is not recommended). Note also any zombified piglins between 17 and 32 blocks continue to wander as normal unless the player comes within 16 blocks of them (or vice versa), upon which zombified piglins rush the player (assuming they haven't calmed down by then).

An attacked zombified piglin has a chance to call "reinforcements", which spawns additional zombified piglins (or rarely normal zombies), angry by default. This mechanic, in addition to alerting naturally spawned zombified piglins, means that it is usually very difficult to get rid of all zombified piglins in an attacking horse, because new ones keep coming continously, even if player has a strong weapon and kills them in few hits. Building a 3-block-high pillar is enough to guarantee safety from their swords, but attacking them from the top becomes harder, and baby zombified piglins are impossible to reach, so you would have to kill those with a ranged weapon.

Zombified piglins have 20HP × 10 points of health and carry a golden sword, which may be enchanted, but they never spawn with armor. They deal 5HP damage on Easy, 8HP on Normal and 12HP × 6 on Hard. Compared to the zombies that deal 4HP damage on Hard difficulty, there is a considerable difference. Zombified piglins do, however, share zombies' natural armor (8% damage negation). Some zombified piglins can pick up items; if they can, any armor and better swords than their own are automatically equipped.

The best way to kill a zombified piglin is doing it in one hit, as that does not anger other zombified piglins. In Java Edition, this can be achieved with:

• Strength I + stone axe + Sharpness IV + critical hit;
• Strength II + netherite sword + critical hit;
• Strength II + diamond sword + Sharpness I + critical hit.

However, as zombified piglins are undead, the Smite enchantment is useful against them. Stone axe (or better) with Smite V kills zombified piglins in one hit, without the need of criticals or Strength effect.

End mobs

Endermen

Endermen can be provoked in two ways. Like other neutral mobs, they retaliate if players attacks them; they also become angry if player looks in their eyes, which often happens by accident. When provoked, an enderman opens its mouth and makes a loud sound. They can be dangerous is player is unprepared for a fight, but using right strategies, combat with endermen becomes much easier.

Endermen have 40HP × 20 and deal 4.5HP × 2.25 damage on Easy, 7HP on Normal and 10.5HP × 5.25 on Hard. Their biggest strength is the ability to teleport; endermen can also run fast. You can't outrun an enderman, but you can hide in a 2-block-tall hideout, as they are 3 blocks tall and can't fit in such hideouts. Note, however, than enderman have another unique ability, as they can pick up blocks around them, potentially damaging your hideout. A full list of blocks that endermen can pick up can be found here. Jumping on top of a 3-block-tall pillar in theory also makes you safe from endermen, but this is not recommended, as the pillar can be destroyed by them quite quickly.

Endermen are damaged by both fire and water (this includes rain, but not snow), but are immune to projectiles. When damaged, whether by environment or by player, an enderman usually teleports away. This can be avoided (in Java Edition) by trapping the enderman in a boat or minecart, as they can't teleport out of these vehicles. It is recommended to trap the enderman while it is still neutral, since its movement can become unpredictable when aggravated. Enderman trapped in a boat is a much easier opponent, but it still might damage you if you get too close. Endermen cannot be trapped this way in Bedrock Edition. You can also park the boat under a low ceiling to deal extra suffocation damage.

Emptying a bucket of water on the ground hurts the enderman without it becoming hostile to the player, although mob immediately teleports away. Similarly, lighting enderman on fire causes it to immediately teleport away, thus using a sword with Fire Aspect is not recommended.

Hostile endermen teleport away when the player closes in. When this happens in a small underground space, the enderman may teleport into inaccessible caves or to the surface. They do not teleport back to the player unless they move to an area that has enough space for the enderman to teleport back. On the surface, an enderman's tendency to teleport away when the player is close enough to attack can be used to keep an attacking enderman at bay. The player can also change to third-person view by pressing F5 (Fn + F5 on Macs) to make sure the player can't be attacked from behind because of endermen having a tendency of teleporting behind them.

One easy strategy to kill endermen is to hit one, then jump into a pond or lake. Stay in hitting range so you can kill it. The enderman cannot jump into the water to attack the player. This is a good way for an unprepared player to kill an enderman.

A less exciting but effective way of killing an enderman is by staring below their torso, preferably attacking the 'feet' of its legs constantly with a sword or an axe. However, due to their tendency to teleport when the player closes in on them, the player should either stand still while attacking their legs or move backward keeping their distance (should multiple endermen be in pursuit of the player). This can also be done by simply punching them (providing this strategy is done correctly) without taking a single point of damage, but could be considered tedious to some.

The player can wear a carved pumpkin as the head armor piece in order to stop endermen from turning hostile when the player looks at them. If you hit an enderman while doing this, the enderman doesn't teleport away (although it does become angry), allowing you to kill it faster.

One way to prevent an enderman from attacking from behind is to have your back against an inside corner. An aggravated enderman is then forced to attack you from the front, in your full view, and you can simply hit it with your sword each time it approaches, until it dies.

Other players

The hardest enemy to defeat from a practical standpoint, all players have 20HP × 10 health. If you are engaged in a duel, you should equip yourself with at least the same gear as your opponent. It will be great if you could get some help, either from allied players, tamed wolves, iron golems etc.

Engaging other players may possibly be the most challenging fights in Minecraft, depending on the player and the other's skill. Observe battle tactics and use them to your advantage. Combine weapons and defenses to deal high melee to defeat your opponent most effectively.

Allies

Iron golems

If built by a player, an iron golem is passive towards players and can be useful as an ally. Being one of the most powerful mobs in the game, with 100HP × 50 HP, it can kill most mobs in one or two hits. However, it is also a bit expensive to build, requiring 36 iron ingots, and apart from creating it, the player has no control over it. It also takes longer to build than a snow golem, making it less useful as a last resort. In general, it's a better idea to use wolves instead, as they are easier to acquire. However, an iron golem has the advantage that it can attack where the player is far away or inattentive, making them useful in mob traps and base defending. It may also be useful when the player is in the Nether and fighting blazes and wither skeletons. Remember that iron golems do not take fall damage and cannot be knocked back.

Snow golems

Despite dealing no damage (except to blazes), the snow golem's use in combat is not to be underestimated. Defensively, they can either knock enemies away from the player's base, or lure them into a trap. They are very cheap to make, and offensively, they can distract mobs, making them much easier for players to kill, as after being hit by a snowball, they ignore the player to attack the golem. This allows players to make easy kills on most mobs. They also alert them if a mob approaches from behind, as well as slowing it. If players need to retreat, place a snow golem or two to occupy incoming mobs, buying them plenty of time to escape or let their health regenerate. Unfortunately, they do not attack creepers, so players may want to take a cat with them if possible.

Wolves

Tamed wolves can be very useful in a battle. They have 40HP × 20, five times more than a stray wolf, but deal the same damage as a stray wolf. They attack mobs that their owner attacks, or mobs that are attacking their owner, with few exceptions:

• They never attack creepers, ghasts, or other animals tamed by their owner.
• They attack skeletons and their variants without provocation, unless sitting.

Skeletons and their variants also avoid wolves.

If equipped with a wolf armor, wolf becomes much more resistant to damage. Armor completely absorbs most forms of incoming damage, including melee attacks, projectiles, explosions and lava. With each point of damage absorbed, wolf armor loses one point of durability, and it has a total of 64 points of durability. Additionally, wolf armor can absorb an incoming attack even if the damage surpasses remaining durability of the armor - this means it's simply not possible to kill an armored wolf in one melee hit (or by a single explosion), no matter how powerful. A pack of armored wolves on your side is a massive advantage in a battle, unless your opponent can fly - they are not very useful against the wither or ender dragon.

A fully healed tamed wolf with maximum durability armor can survive:

• nine melee hits from a netherite sword enchanted with Sharpness V,
• around five shots from a bow enchanted with Power V,
• four melee hits of a warden,
• a point-blank explosion of an end crystal,
• around 13 seconds of swimming in lava.

Furthermore, wolf's owner can repair its armor, by simply using armadillo scutes on the wolf. This is however impossible to do while wolf is attacking (as it would command it to sit down) or while it's taking damage (as wolf automatically stands up while taking damage).

Foxes

Foxes can't be tamed like wolves, but if you breed two stray foxes, their baby is "trusting" you and attacks other players (and some mobs, depending on edition of the game) that attack you. This isn't very useful on its own, as fox is relatively weak, dealing only 2HP damage on Easy and Normal, and 3HP on Hard. However, they can hold an item in their mouth and use it. This includes totems of undying (totem gets used up if fox receives fatal damage), chorus fruits (fox eats it and teleports randomly, potentially causing much confusion to your opponent), but most importantly, swords. A fox holding a maxed netherite sword becomes quite a powerful ally if your opponent doesn't have any ranged weapons.

Cats

Tamed cats don't deal any damage toward mobs or players, but they do scare away creepers and phantoms, which might be useful in a battle.

Mounts

Mounts like horses, donkeys, mules and camels don't deal any damage toward mobs or players, but provide a set of advantages over your enemies:

• you move faster riding a mount and you can jump higher (horse-like) or further (camels),
• you aren't slowed down while charging a bow or a crossbow,
• some enemies can't reach you if you are riding a tall mount - especially in the case of a camel.

Riding a strider provides a unique advantage of being able to cross lava seas without the need of Fire Resistance. If your enemies can't fly or swim in lava, jumping on a strider is a good way to escape them, and then safely shoot them from a distance.

Other allies

Many mobs attack other mobs without provocation; they can be allies in the battle too. For example, piglins attack wither skeletons and sometimes hunt hoglins. Vindicators named "Johnny" attack most mobs, except fellow illagers and ghasts. Zoglins attack most mobs, except creepers and ghasts.

Furthermore, withers attack most mobs, except undead and ghasts. Wardens attack every mob that angers them. Thus, one might come up with a strategy for defeating wardens and withers by making them battle each other. A 1v1 match between those two is usually very close (exact result depends on terrain, difficulty and edition of the game), and the winner comes up severely weakened, making it much easier to kill.

However, despite the fact that both wardens and withers are naturally hostile toward the ender dragon, neither is useful in such a fight. Wardens are incapable of dealing any damage to the dragon; withers may occasionally land a hit and damage it, but dragon's regeneration from end crystals is far too fast for this method to be effective. Note that the dragon is not hostile to any mob and only ever attacks the player (but it might damage other mobs unintentionally).

Even if two mob types are not enemies by default, they can still attack each other in certain circumstances. For example, if a zombie and a skeleton are both pursuing the player, skeleton's arrow can sometimes hit the zombie. If player didn't hit either of those mobs yet, they start fighting each other. This is especially useful with mobs that exhibit pack behavior (e.g. zombies, zombified piglins, stray wolves), because multiple mobs attack your enemy at once.

All of these behaviors can be found on the Monster_infighting page.

The equipment

Sword

• Style: Offensive, direct
• Range: Melee
• Damage: Varies with material

The primary weapon is the most versatile to use. A sword's damage varies on material and a rule of thumb is the rarer the material, the stronger the sword (with the exception of gold). A sword deals far more damage than by hand, and greatly increases player's chances of survival upon being faced with hostile mobs. Even the wooden sword, the lowest tier, deals four times as much damage as the fist (and each further increase in material increases the damage of the sword by half a heart). Swords may also deal sweeping attacks capable of splash damage when the attack bar is full, making short work of grouped mobs. A sword, like many of the weapons mentioned here, has a limited amount of uses, and disappears when its uses reach zero. Again, the higher tier the sword is, the more uses it has. Enchanting the sword can also greatly increase its power.

Axe

• Style: Offensive, direct
• Range: Melee
• Damage: Varies with material

The axe’s and usefulness varies between the two editions of Minecraft.

In Java Edition, axes deal much higher damage (a wooden axe deals the same damage as a diamond sword) compared to swords and have the ability to disable shields for 5 seconds. However, they attack 1x a second, while a sword can attack faster at 1.6x a second. Also, axes are unable to deal sweeping attacks, making them less effective than swords against multiple mobs.

In Bedrock Edition, axes deal half a heart less damage than their sword counterpart and can still disable shields.

In both versions, axes cannot be enchanted with Fire Aspect and cost 1 more of the material to make than the sword.

Axes use 2 durability every time it is used as a weapon, so they have much lower lifetime damage compared to swords.

Overall, the usefulness of an axe depends on your version. In Java Edition, even though the damage is higher, the sword of the same material does more damage per second (DPS). However, axes can be used to deal more damage in a single blow, and are useful in certain cases, like starting out in a Survival world, or in player-versus-player (PvP) combat due to their ability to disable shields. In Bedrock Edition, axes are completely inferior to the sword, because they do 1 less damage than a sword of the same material and have no benefits.

Trident

• Style: Offensive, direct
• Range: Ranged/melee
• Damage: 8-9 (unenchanted)

The trident is hard to obtain, but can be used both as a ranged weapon and melee weapon.

Trident can be thrown as a ranged attack, but unless it has been enchanted with Loyalty, the player has to retrieve it in order to use it again. A thrown trident deals 8HP damage. Thrown tridents, unlike shot arrows, don't slow down in water, thus they are especially useful on aquatic mobs. When used as a melee weapon, trident deals 9HP damage.

Mace

• Style: Offensive, direct
• Range: Melee
• Damage: Unlimited (depends on fall distance)

Being one of the most difficult items to obtain in the game, the mace is also one of the most powerful weapons. Even an unenchanted mace can be used to kill the strongest mobs in one hit. Damage dealt by the mace increases with each block the player falls before hitting the target. Upon a succesful hit, any fall damage that the player would get is cancelled.

However, if player doesn't have any height advantage over the enemies, mace turns out to be a very slow and very expensive equivalent of an iron sword - it deals only 6 damage and needs almost 2 seconds to recover the attack cooldown. Thus, if you are planning to use the mace in combat, you need to gain height before attacking. This can be done by stacking upward with blocks or jumping on top of trees, cliffs etc. - but the first method is time consuming, and second depends strongly on the terrain around you. A better alternative is to use wind charges (see below).

By having a mace in main hand and wind charges in offhand, you can easily gain up to 11 blocks of height and deal enormous damage when falling back down. The exact amount of damage depends on how early you hit the enemy before hitting the ground: an unenchanted mace deals around 41-43 damage when falling from 11 blocks, enough to kill almost any mob in the game, and a player with full diamond armor enchanted with Protection I.

Boots enchanted with Feather Falling IV are recommended when using the mace: if you don't land a succesful hit, fall damage can easily kill you, especially if you can't offhand a totem of undying because you are using wind charges.

Wind Charge

• Style: Offensive, assisting
• Range: Unlimited (travels in a straight line)
• Damage: 1 on direct contact with an entity

Wind charge can be used as a ranged weapon. It deals miniscule damage, but it also creates a burst of wind upon hitting an entity or a block, which can knock other entities back, potentially causing fall damage. The fact that it's not affected by gravity allows you to hit enemies from enormous distances, limited only by your render distance and precision of the shot.

A wind charge can be also used to make the mace combat much easier. A single wind charge can launch the player up to 11 blocks into the air, if timed correctly (note: getting 12 blocks is possible, but just barely, with a lucky jump. 11 is a more sensible estimate on the maximum height). To maximize the height, jump at the exact same moment as you throw the wind charge at your feet.

Tools

• Style: Offensive, direct
• Examples: Shovels, pickaxes
• Range: Melee
• Damage: Varies with type and material

When a player is out performing tasks in the world, they might not have a sword/axe or set a sword/axe in their hotbar. Shovels and pickaxes can also be used to deal damage when a sword or axe cannot be drawn. Different tools have different attack strength and attack speed, however pickaxes and shovels are highly inefficient when combating mobs and should be used only as a last resort.

Bow

• Style: Offensive, direct
• Range: Ranged
• Damage: 6-11 (fully charged, unenchanted)

The bow is the easiest to use, and most widely employed ranged weapon in the game. However, it requires arrows as ammunition. Enchanting a bow with Infinity can sidestep the ammunition problem, as wielding one arrow is enough for infinite shots, limited only by the weapon's durability. Infinity can also prevent one's opponents from picking up the missed arrows to use as ammunition of their own. Other bow enchantments greatly enhances the bow's attacking power, allowing it to deal more than ten hearts per shot.

Although bows are very useful weapons in most land combat situations, they do not work well in water or lava. When shot through fluids, arrows drop downward after traveling 4 blocks from the player, making underwater archery useless and sometimes dangerous (players can be hit by their own arrows). Additionally, they do not work against other players very well because shields can be used to block arrows easily.

This makes bows useful for ranged fights, if you are fighting a mob that's not near you.

Crossbow

• Style: Offensive, direct
• Range: Ranged
• Damage: 7-11 from arrows, up to 18 with fireworks

The crossbow is similar to the bow, but it shoots arrows with more velocity, though it has a longer charge time. It requires arrows or firework rockets as ammunition. Enchanting a crossbow with Quick Charge can sidestep the reload time problem, as charging crossbows with Quick Charge III is faster than fully charging a bow. Other enchantments which greatly enhance the crossbow are Multishot and Piercing, which are useful for attacking multiple enemies. Even though the crossbow cannot be enchanted with Infinity, Multishot fires 3 arrows, but only one can be picked up, so as long as only two arrows hit enemies, the player can still retrieve the third arrow (it also works for tipped arrows as well). The same goes for the Piercing enchantment: as long as an arrow or tipped arrow passes through mobs, the player may retrieve it from where it lands.

The crossbow can also use firework rockets as ammunition. Firework stars with an explosion effect deal 5-6 damage with 1-2 additional damage per an extra firework star, and up to 7 firework stars can be used. The mean firework rocket damage ranges between 11-18, which deals splash area and can damage endermen and the wither during its projectile armor phase. Additionally, each firework star can be dyed (with a large ball effect), which may obscure another player's vision (due to the particles color). However, firework rockets are much harder to use in Bedrock Edition as they don't explode immediately upon impact with mobs or blocks, severely reducing their effectiveness in combat. They can also be expensive, requiring from ²⁄₃ to 2 ²⁄₃ pieces of gunpowder per rocket.

Due to the crossbow's ability to keep an arrow loaded whether it's held in hand or kept in the inventory, the player can have 9 hotbar slots full of loaded crossbows and can do rapid shooting. With each crossbow having the Multishot enchantment, it shoots even more arrows, which is very useful when shooting multiple crowded mobs, or a boss mob. This also works with firework rockets.

Although crossbows are very useful weapons in most land combat situations, they do not work well in water or lava. When shot through fluids, arrows drop downward after traveling 4 blocks from the player, making underwater archery useless.

Water Bucket

• Style: Defensive, hindering
• Range: 7 from source
• Damage: None (except for endermen, blazes, snow golems and striders)

A water bucket can be used to reduce the speed of approaching mobs, leaving them highly vulnerable to arrow fire and sword damage. Combining this with height, a player can hold off hordes of mobs with little effort. A water bucket provides advantages over the lava bucket in the fact that it is safe to use, is easily removable, and also doubles as a fire extinguisher should the player be set alight. However, it cannot be used in the Nether. Also, by using traps it is possible to drown an opponent. For drowning players it is best to encase the trap in obsidian. It also helps that blocks are harder to break underwater. Water buckets can also be used to break cobwebs that enemy players might place.

A water bucket also has the added benefit of being guaranteed protection from endermen, provided the player is standing in the water.

Lava Bucket

• Style: Contact, flame, lasting
• Range: 3 from source (7 from source in the Nether)
• Damage: 8 per second on contact (many mobs are immune to fire, including most Nether mobs)

A lava bucket is capable of causing an immense amount of damage to multiple mobs in addition to providing light and greatly hindering mob movement, even more so than water. Any enemy, that is not fire resistant mobs and comes into contact with lava, suffers 2 whole hearts of constant burn damage every half-second for a total of 4 hearts of damage per second. In addition to that, they are also set on fire, suffering additional burn damage over time even after leaving the lava. Lava bucket is especially dangerous in confined spaces where it can be used to block off a pathway, preventing most mobs from reaching the player. One should be very careful, however, about where they place lava as that extreme damage figure mentioned above also applies to players.

Lava buckets are almost completely worthless against all nether mobs — their only use is to slow down land-based mobs such as the zombified piglin or the magma cube in the same way that a water bucket is used. Also, the player should note that lava destroys any drops that the mobs would otherwise give, so lava should only be used for an outright kill.

Furthermore, with the bow enchantment update which gives flaming arrows the ability to do burn damage, the lava bucket can be used to place a block of lava and fire arrows through it. The best method is to create a two-block high stack of cheap blocks (dirt or cobblestone is recommended, do not use flammable blocks), which player place the block of lava upon at the top, thereafter the player remove the two blocks under the lava source block creating a lava wall/pile of sorts. The player can now shoot arrows through the wall against enemies which sets them alight. This method is slow, and suited for long-range combat, but is useful for players who do not have access to an enchantment table. This method is also able to ignite enemy TNT at a distance when not equipped with a flame bow.

Pros

• Deals extremely high damage, leading to very fast kill.
• Infinite uses, no durability.
• Large area of effect, depending on terrain.
• Slows down the mobs.
• Also acts as lighting.
• Can be used as a trap.
• Can help players keep a distance from hostile mobs.
• Doesn't count as player kill, so safe to use against piglins.
• Use in accordance with a bow for a devastating long-range attack.
• Can be mixed with water for obsidian/cobble, suffocating your enemies.

Cons

• Just as dangerous to the player, usually deadly if water is not near. To avoid this downside, drink a potion of Fire Resistance.
• Causes anything flammable nearby to catch fire.
• Takes long time to flow (unless in the Nether).
• Destroys all items that come into contact with it, including drops from killed mobs.
• Can take a long time to disappear, potentially blocking the escape route.
• Does not yield experience.
• Useless against many mobs: ender dragons, withers, blazes, wither skeletons, magma cubes, zombified piglins, ghasts, zoglins, wardens, and vexes.

TNT

• Style: Offensive, explosive
• Range: ~5 block radius
• Damage: Around 56 when exploding point-blank, weakens with distance

As an explosive, TNT is an incredibly powerful weapon, dealing enough damage to instantly kill most enemies caught in the blast radius and creating a sizable crater, making the area difficult to navigate for future enemies. Because TNT has a rather lengthy fuse and can be activated with redstone, either directly or through a dispenser, it is most effective as a trap, allowing players to dispatch an enemy indirectly. But because TNT does just as much damage to the player, it is rather dangerous to use in direct combat unless they can get away from the primed TNT faster than their foes can. In addition, TNT is expensive to make, so using an alternative explosive method in this situation, such as a creeper or a bed while in the Nether or the End, is preferred.

Bed / Respawn Anchor

• Style: Offensive, explosive
• Range: ~6 block radius
• Damage: Around 70 when exploding point-blank, weakens with distance

If the player happens to be fighting in the Nether or the End and is about to die, one of the most cruel and ironic ways to kill the enemies is to take them down with the player as they die by using a bed. Simply equip the bed, place it, use it and it will instantly explode, killing just about anything within 5 to 7 block radius. In terms of blast force, the bed is more powerful than TNT. One major downside is that the player has to click on the bed to detonate it, which means they have to be very close, and since the detonation is instant, players are very likely going to kill themselves when using a bed as a weapon in the Nether. As a result, aside from tricking the opponents into accidentally detonating the bed for the player, they're better off using the bed as a last-ditch final attack to take an opponent with the player into death.

Bed's explosion is centered on the head part. To minimize damage taken by yourself, your eyes should be at the same height as the bed, and you should be as far from it as possible. Place a solid block between you and the bed, and lean out just enough to be able to click it - this way you take no more than a heart of damage. Performing this strategy in a battle might be inpractical though, due to high precision required.

The bed can also deal a significant amount of damage to the ender dragon, especially if it explodes close to the dragon's head.

Respawn anchor works the same way in the Overworld (and in the End), if it has at least one charge.

End Crystal

• Style: Offensive, explosive
• Range: ~7 block radius
• Damage: Around 85 when exploding point-blank, weakens with distance

This is an even more powerful weapon, that can kill a player in Protection IV armor quickly. Simply place down a block of obsidian, place the end crystal on top, and shoot or hit it. Be aware that in order to deal the maximum damage from the end crystal, your opponent must be in the same Y level as the crystal or higher. Crystal PVP (or CPVP for shorts) is a very advanced and chaotic way to fight, but if performed by a skilled player, their opponent will not be saved even by the strongest armor or buffs. End crystals can also be used to kill withers and wardens much faster than most other weapons.

Unfortunately end crystals are quite expensive to craft, and can only be placed on obsidian or bedrock.

Flint and Steel / Fire Charge

• Style: Contact, flame, lasting
• Range: Damage on contact
• Damage: 1 per second, while lit

Flint and steel is a unique weapon, as players can set a block of fire, and while it burns, any enemy that comes into contact with it catches fire, suffering burn damage over time. However, there are several downsides to this method. First of all, enemies may elude the fire by pure luck, requiring another light. Second of all, if player is in a confined space, circling to avoid mobs, they can potentially set themselves on fire by accident. Third, burning zombie-like mobs can also set players on fire through melee attacks. Lastly, it can take a long time for the mob to die, enough for more mobs to join the party. One could make a short 1-block netherrack wall and light the top. Mobs would have to jump on it and take damage. Particularly effective with a sword with the Knockback enchantment.

Solid blocks

• Style: Defensive, assisting
• Range: Within reach
• Damage: None

Blocks—the central element of the game—can become powerful tools of defense when used in the hands of skilled players. They can be used to elevate the player quickly from the ground by pillar jumping, block pathways to stop approaching hostile mobs, cut line-of-sight to prevent hostile mobs from noticing or attacking, or shield the player from explosions.

Good candidates include dirt, cobblestone and netherrack. All of which are cheap, available in large quantities, can be quickly broken with basic tools, and are not affected by fire or gravity. Of those three, cobblestone is the best in shielding from explosions.

When in areas without fire hazards, planks and leaves can also be considered.

Sand / Gravel

• Style: Ambush, lasting
• Range: Horizontally within reach, vertically limited by terrain
• Damage: 2 per second, from suffocating

Sand or gravel also can be used to kill mobs. Best used in caves — when player is higher than a mob, they can place that block on a wall near where they are standing; the block falls, and with right aim, it falls on the mob, and thus suffocates it. However, killing with this "weapon" doesn't yield any experience, but block makes the mob stuck, and player can finish them with the sword.

Crafting table

• Style: Defensive, trap
• Range: Within reach
• Damage: None

A crafting table opens a menu upon being opened. The interaction button is the same as placing a block, so it can be used to counter strategies such as: water and lava bucket, cobwebs, beds, TNT, end crystals and placing solid blocks. After opening the menu, the player will take a few seconds to be able to quit the menu and continue fighting, giving you a chance to deal extra damage. Another blocks can be used, but a crafting table is cheap, making it good to use. If a chest is used, the other player may even accidentaly put his weapon in the chest, although it is very unlikely to happen.

Anvil

• Style: Ambush
• Range: Horizontally within reach, vertically limited by terrain
• Damage: 2-40

Anvils damage any entity they fall on. Anvil deals 2HP damage per block fallen, not counting the first block (e.g. anvil falling from 10 blocks deals 18HP × 9 damage). This is capped at 40HP × 20 damage, however, and has a chance to crack the anvil as well (longer the fall, bigger the chance). Helmets worn by the target reduces the damage they receive by ¹⁄₄. Damage can be avoided entirely if the entity stands on a non-full, non-replaceable block (slabs, torches, string, buttons, etc), as this causes the anvil to drop as an item instead of landing as a block.

Cactus

• Style: Defensive, trap
• Range: Damage on contact
• Damage: 2 per second

Cacti can be used to make traps. When in contact with the block, any entity loses half a heart every half second. Mobs don't avoid cactuses when pathfinding, but they also don't walk purposefully into them: to create an effective trap, a decoy must be used. This can be the player itself, or something that is targeted by other mobs, like turtle eggs.

Cobweb

• Style: Defensive, trap
• Range: Within reach
• Damage: None

Cobwebs can be used to greatly impair enemy movement and makes any mobs stuck in it easier to hit. Players can acquire cobwebs from mineshafts, stronghold libraries, igloo basements, abandoned villages, and woodland mansion spider rooms. If players are running away or an enemy is approaching, they can place cobwebs in their path. Even if they don't run into it, they still have to waste precious time going around. Furthermore, intentionally placing and jumping into cobwebs may be a viable strategy, as players can repeatedly perform critical hits with melee weapons so long as all other criteria is met.

Snowball

• Style: Assistive, hindering
• Range: Ranged, up to approx. 50 blocks depending on the aim
• Damage: None (except for blazes)

Snowballs may seem a useless weapon at first, as they deal no damage against mobs other than blazes. However, they push a mob backward just as any hit does even despite the lack of damage. Additionally, unlike arrows, snowballs can be fired as quickly as the player can right-click. This allows them to be used to keep even large amounts of approaching mobs at bay with relative ease or to quickly interrupt a mob's attack when necessary. This speed, combined with the fact that snow can be easily gathered, makes it a cheap and useful long or short-range option, even after a bow has been acquired.

Splash Potion, Lingering Potion

• Style: Offensive, hindering, lasting
• Range: 5-7 blocks
• Damage: Varies

Splash and lingering potions can be a lot of help to hinder your foes, to deal damage, or buff yourself.

Use potions of Harming and Poison to lower health of your enemies; use Slowness and Slow Falling to make then unable to move. Slow Falling is especially useful if you can throw your opponent into the air, with an explosion or Knockback/Punch enchantments. Potion of Weakness is usually not that useful, unless the enemy deals very strong melee attacks, like a warden. Also note that there is a big difference between throwing a splash potion at one mob, affecting just this mob, than at a group of mobs and affecting all of them at once. With lingering potions, be careful not to walk into the area effect cloud you created.

Use Strength, Swiftness, Jump Boost, Fire Resistance, and Healing potions to help yourself before or during a battle. Potion of Regeneration is not very useful in Java Edition, as natural regeneration from a good food source is faster than that provided by the potion; it is a much bigger help in Bedrock Edition. Another potion with limited usage is the Turtle Master potion; while it does provide a high level of Resistance, it also applies high level of Slowness, making you almost unable to walk (you can still use elytra and ender pearls though).

Remember that potions of Harming and Healing have the opposite effects on undead mobs: Harming heals them, and Healing harms them.

Dispenser

• Style: Offensive, defensive, trap
• Range: 10–30 blocks
• Damage: Varies

Dispensers can be loaded with a wide variety of ammunition, such as arrows, fire charges, snowballs, eggs and potions. They fire said items when activated by redstone. Loading a dispenser with arrows or fire charges and linking it to a (fast-cycling) redstone clock can turn it into a full-auto machine gun turret with enough firepower to level just about any mob that happens to be in front of it, provided that the mob is not immune to projectiles (endermen, withers in second stage, closed shulkers). To lead it, use the block and fill its inventory with desired ammunition.

Arrows: Fired is a similar fashion to a skeleton's arrows with a slight inaccuracy, dealing 1.5 hearts of damage per shot. Dispensers can also be loaded with tipped arrows which apply status effects to whatever mob they hit in addition to the contact damage.

Fire charge: Shot as small fireballs, exactly the same as that of a blaze. They deal both contact damage as well as set mobs on fire. One should be careful not to use fire charges near anything flammable as the fireballs start random fires upon hitting surfaces.

Fireworks: Launched in the direction the dispenser is facing. This allows the player to launch firework rockets sideways and presents them with a high customization type of ammunition. A firework rocket upon exploding deals 5–6 hearts of damage for first firework star loaded into it and 1–2 for each extra fireworks star. All firework stars go off simultaneously when the rocket detonates and up to 7 firework stars can be used per rocket, making a max-payload rocket deal a whopping 11-18 hearts of damage upon exploding. Alongside firework stars, the player can also add more gunpowder to the rocket to extend its range and fuse length, allowing the player to time it to detonate after traveling a certain distance. Up to three gunpowder can be used, but note that adding more gunpowder reduces the amount of fireworks stars that can be added, and vice versa.

Snowballs/eggs: Don't deal damage (exception: snowballs damage blazes), but can be used to knock back mobs, for defense or offense (where the mobs are knocked into danger).

Tridents‌: Especially useful underwater, can be thrown regardless of enchantments.

Splash/lingering potions: If loaded with harmful potions (Poison, Harming, Slowness, etc…), dispenser can be used as a weapon against enemies. Alternatively it can be loaded with beneficial potions (Healing, Swiftness, Strength, etc…) and used to apply positive status effects on oneself in the middle of a fight. Just be careful of what the dispenser is loaded with when using it, so as to not accidentally hit the player with bad status effect or accidentally give the enemies a good status effect. One also should remember that Healing and Harming have the opposite effects of undead mobs.

Water bucket: Can be used to push enemies off ledges or into other hazards, but is otherwise not very efficient.

Lava bucket: Acts as a powerful area denial tool, as it creates an extremely harmful hazard that makes short work of any mob that runs into it. Dispensing lava to attack the foes is less hazardous than placing it, as the dispenser allows the player to maintain a safe distance, and avoid burning themselves. Dispenser can also suck up the lava, making it a much safer alternative to placing lava by hand.

Fishing Rod

• Style: Assistive
• Range: Ranged, up to 12 blocks depending on the aim
• Damage: Fall damage

Fishing rods are not a weapon in the traditional sense, but useful nonetheless. Their ability to grab and draw in mobs is useful to keep passive mobs from running away when hit, or to draw hostile mobs into traps or hazards. Players even use them on other players, to bring the enemy closer, or freeze them and have a chance to get a combo. Additionally, reeling in a mob while standing high above it can launch it quite far into the air, causing it to take fall damage on the way back down. To maximize effectiveness for combat, keep a sword in the item slot next to the fishing rod, so that drawing in an enemy, then striking them with a sword becomes faster. Less effective against players with Feather Falling enchantment.

Fighting styles

Here are some fighting styles that players use to fight mobs and other players. Note that some of these styles are only helpful when fighting other players. Also, not all items that should be brought in combat are listed under "Required items", so make sure to bring all the required items, but also bring standard and basic defensive items, such as tools and armor.

Melee combat

Required items:

• Diamond or netherite sword with Sharpness enchantment;
• Iron, diamond or netherite axe with Sharpness enchantment (only in 1.9+);
• Shield (preferably with Unbreaking enchantment and in 1.11+);
• Armor (preferably diamond or netherite) with Protection enchantment, you do not need a high-tier armor if you are an experienced Minecraft fighter;
• A few splash potions of Swiftness II;
• A few splash potions of Strength II;
• Great saturation and hunger-filling foods, such as steak, cooked porkchops, cooked mutton, cooked salmon, or at best, golden carrots;
• Golden apples or enchanted golden apples.

Pre-combat

Be sure not to consume any food items, other than mentioned above, before battle. Most foods have a low effective quality and make the hunger go down very quickly. In combat, you will be sprinting, jumping, attacking, and taking damage. These all affect your hunger saturation, or the amount of time each hunger point lasts, so you need as much saturation as possible.

Always be sure to keep the sword as the most easily accessible item in hotbar, depending on how your controls are set up. If you are using the default controls, it is recommended that you place your sword as the leftmost item on the hotbar. Also, be sure to keep other important items close to the sword, such as food or potions.

Elytra sniping

This strategy allows players to take down heavily armored foes using ranged attacks. This style is recommended for players with good aim. It is very effective, but it requires an elytra, which is very rare.

Required items:

• Elytra. Mending and Unbreaking on it are recommended but not necessary.
• Many firework rockets to boost elytra.
• A bow.
• Plenty of arrows, unless the bow has Infinity, in which case the player only has to bring one arrow.
• Plenty of food that satisfies both hunger and saturation.

Other items that help greatly for strategy:

• Armor with Protection or Projectile Protection. Consider boots enchanted with Feather Falling to minimize elytra landing damage.
• A pickaxe to dig out covers in mountains.
• A water or lava bucket for eventual creative uses.
• A sword. If all goes well, a sword won't be necessary, but it is recommended to bring one just in case.
• Arrows of Harming, as the Harming effect ignores armor and usually deals more damage than conventional arrows against heavily armored targets.

Steps:

1. Equip the elytra and armor for the remaining armor slots.
2. Jump and use fireworks to speed up the elytra. Fly to a place where the player can safely fire at the target.
3. Fire repeatedly, until target is defeated or until the target gets too close.
4. If the target gets too close, repeat step 2 and 3.

This strategy is best used in environments that have high vantage points available such as mountains, jungles with high trees, amplified worlds, etc., with a lot of places where the player can safely use the bow.

Cons:

• You need an elytra, which is a late-game item. A risk of dying and losing the elytra is always present.

Pros:

• Allows you to mostly avoid melee combat and dangerous melee mobs, and grants you force and engagement at longer ranges on your premises.
• If the player needs time to regenerate, drink potions and rearrange the inventory or even place an anvil to repair the elytra, and the player can easily fly to a place far away where you can do just that.
• If you are about to lose the battle, it is relatively easy to escape, and the target will likely have a hard time following you.
• If you have an elytra, it means you probably have shulker boxes too. You can use those for extra storage since you have time to place and use them behind your cover. Or use an ender chest if you want to keep the items in there in case you die.

Alternatively, you can also go airforce-style and shoot from your elytra while flying. However, you aren't able to hide behind cover this way, and it's harder to hit the target while you are moving.

Trapping

This strategy is useful to deal with large numbers of mobs or mobs that are too strong for you to deal with in melee combat. It is recommended early game as it is very cheap and doesn't require a lot of skill, although it requires some creativity.

Required items:

• Pickaxe and shovel.
• Blocks and water bucket.
• A flint and steel and a lava bucket, or more than 1 if possible.
• A bow or crossbow to hit any trapped mobs.
• A sword to finish off opponents.

Other items that help greatly for strategy:

• Cobwebs as an alternative, very easy way to slow or trap mobs.
• Turtle eggs to draw mobs towards them and into one space.
• Soul sand to slow mobs walking over it.

Instructions:

1. Use the blocks, pickaxe, and water to create or dig out a ditch in front of you for mobs to fall into, or to be trapped in. Use cobwebs or arrows to slow mobs if needed and corral the mobs into an area where you can perch above or below them and swing at them with your sword safely. If necessary it should be easy for you to back up and heal.
2. Use the cobwebs, flint and steel, and lava between you and mobs as they advance towards you, staying out of their reach as they are killed by your utility items. Continually back up and make sure you aren't being backed into a corner, pelting them with arrows to deal extra damage and push them further back.

Cons:

• Can be slow and requires you to have a lot of space available.
• You must be careful not to fall into your own traps and hazards, as you will then be trapped in a pit of mobs without the propper weapons to deal with them.
• Not as effective against ranged mobs like Skeletons as they can shoot you while you are placing down traps.

Pros:

• Only uses some early game materials such as cobblestone and flint/steel.
• Doesn't require very expensive or strong materials in terms of armor or weapons.
• Often very safe, as the player loses very little health and armor durability in the process, only engaging mobs once they have been properly trapped.
• Scales very well against large numbers of mobs.

Enchantments

Sword enchantments

• Knockback is effective when near environmental hazards like very steep ledges or cacti, and it is very useful for fighting multiple creepers. However, as much as possible, avoid using it on foes that have ranged attacks, like blazes or skeletons. Knockback I is a good enchantment to use if your opponent has netherite armor, as netherite decreases knockback taken.
• Fire Aspect is one of the most valuable enchantments in-game, as considered by most players. However, if you spend a lot of time in the Nether then this enchantment is virtually useless, since most nether mobs are fire-resistant.
• Bane of Arthropods is very resourceful for clearing mineshafts and strongholds. The sword itself can cut through cobwebs quickly, while the enchantment (at least Bane of Arthropods II) can instantly kill cave spiders and spiders if the sword is diamond. A Bane of Arthropods IV diamond sword can make you sure you kill a regular spider in one hit. Bane of Arthropods is also useful against silverfish as if it kills them in one hit, and it prevents them from alerting other silverfish inside monster eggs, averting a possible swarm.
• Sharpness is the most versatile enchantment for the sword, it does not have any disadvantages against certain mobs, but does neither have any good advantages against certain mobs.
• Smite is a good enchantment for surviving the night without a shelter. As it increases damage dealt to skeletons, zombies and phantoms which spawn in hordes. It is also useful for killing the wither.
• Sweeping Edge‌ is the best enchantment for clearing a horde of monsters which usually spawn from monster spawners in monster rooms, nether fortresses or abandoned mineshafts.

Axe enchantments

• Sharpness, Smite and Bane of Arthropods all have the same effect as they would have on a sword, but axes have higher base damage and therefore deal more damage per hit.‌
• Unbreaking can help counteract the problem that axes lose durability twice as fast if used as a weapon.

Trident enchantments

• Loyalty is the best enchantment for a trident as it makes thrown tridents come back to their user, which is useful when using it as a ranged weapon.
• Impaling is a good enchantment for hunting guardians or elder guardians, as it deals high damage to aquatic mobs in Java Edition, while in Bedrock Edition it deals extra damage to any mobs which are in contact with water or rain, including players.
• Channeling is a good enchantment for fighting during thunderstorms. As this enchantment summons a lightning bolt if it hits a mob during a thunderstorm, causing both contact damage as well as additional damage from the lightning bolt and from setting the target on fire. One should be careful, however, as lightning can potentially cause a variety of bad things to happen such as causing villagers to turn into witches, pigs into zombified piglins, creepers to become charged, destroying dropped items either by lightning or spawned fire, and if on high difficulty, sometimes spawn a group of skeleton horsemen if a skeleton trap is triggered.
• Riptide is a good enchantment if you want to travel long distances. It shoots you up out the water, and if it's raining, then you can shoot around in the rain like a propeller. It also deals splash damage.‌

Mace enchantments

• Density greatly increases damage the mace deals. With each level of Density, more damage is added per every block of fall distance. When falling from 11 blocks (maximum height from a wind charge), a mace with Density V can deal around 75-80 damage, enough to kill a player with full netherite armor enchanted with Protection IV, and almost enough to kill iron golems in one hit.
• Breach decreases the effectiveness of armor the enemy has. This includes both armor items (helmets, chestplates, leggings and boots), as well as natural defense points (e.g. shulker's shell). However, in general it is less useful than Density, because a mace with Breach IV deals less damage to targets with enchanted armor than a mace with Density V. Also, Breach and Density are mutually exclusive, which renders the Breach enchantment useless in most cases.
• Wind Burst creates a burst of wind upon hitting the enemy, similar to that caused by wind charges. This can be used to chain attacks on many different targets, killing an entire army in minutes, if the player is skilled.

Bow enchantments

• Punch is more effective for battle archers than for snipers. The increased Knockback on mobs lets the user push enemies back, granting them time to use fully charged shots more before retaliating with sword strikes.
• Power is more effective for snipers than for battle archers, as the enchantment requires fully charged shots and allows the user to kill enemies in fewer shots.
• Flame sets targets on fire, allowing the user to focus on more than one target at once. It also increases the overall damage dealt per shot, as any enemies hit by a Flame arrow suffer both arrow impact damage and additional burn damage overtime after that. Flame is ineffective against nether mobs or any other fire-resistant enemies.
• Infinity is very good for snipers and battle archers alike. A sniper is usually in an isolated spot, where the slightest bit of movement may alert enemies, preventing them from easily resupplying more arrows. Infinity helps remedy this problem as the player only needs one arrow to keep firing the bow until it breaks. Battle archers do not need to worry about wasting any arrows, so they can be as trigger happy as they want (as long as the bow doesn't break), allowing them to lay down an impressive amount of fire. Just be aware of the fact that Infinity does not work with tipped arrows, they are still consumed just like they would be without the enchantment.

Crossbow enchantments

• Quick Charge reduces the reload time.
• Piercing can be useful for killing enemies in a single row, since a single arrow can penetrate through up to 5 mobs. This enchantment can be used for infinite use of tipped arrows, due to arrows being able to pass through mobs and still possible to be picked up. When fighting other players, it can be used to make arrows penetrate shields.
• Multishot, useful when targeting 3 enemies at once. Also, one should use this enchantment if firework rockets are used as ammunition as it fires 3 rockets that explode, causing more affected area damage. Multishot fires 3 arrows, but only 1 arrow can be picked up, which can also be used for infinite use of tipped arrows.
• Unbreaking can help counteract the problem where crossbows lose durability three times as fast if using the Multishot enchantment.

Armor enchantments

• Fire Protection is very effective in the Nether, since you have many fire-related things to worry about; blaze fireballs, ghast explosions, fire everywhere, and lava pouring from the walls and ceilings. It can also be considered as an anti-Fire Aspect (Flame) enchantment, since if the foe relies on fire to deal damage, Fire Protection can give you a great advantage.
• Protection in its raw form gives you moderate protection from most kinds of damage. It is recommended to use this enchantment with diamond or netherite armor, since diamond armor combined with a high Protection level gives you an overall great defense, plus damage taken from Protection-enchanted armor instantly goes to your armor durability. Diamond armor has relatively high durability, making it the best choice for this, upgrading it to netherite armor gives you Knockback resistance.
• Projectile Protection is useful when fighting skeletons or pillagers as they rely on arrows to deal damage and this enchantment can block most of that damage. Projectile Protection is also recommended if your bow is low on durability. This means that you need to go into close combat to strike, and foes often take advantage of this by striking you from afar. This enchantment, especially Projectile Protection IV, is also useful against drowned holding a trident. It decreases heavy amounts of damage from thrown trident impact.
• Blast Protection is very good against creepers and ghasts, as their only form of attack is an explosion, which Blast Protection is effective against. It is useful when fighting with, near or around TNT (such like minefields) as it reduces damage taken from those sources. It is also efficient for the non-combat related topic of TNT mining. The most relevant form of Blast Protection is to protect against crystal and respawn anchor damage, putting Blast Protection on one piece of armor and protection on all the rest.
• Feather Falling is good if you are in a high place, as this enchantment protects against damage from falling. It can successfully protect against the form of combat known as "Knockback striking" if the only environmental damage is fall damage. It is also very valuable if you frequently use ender pearls or when you fall while using elytra.
• Respiration is useful when fighting underwater, against drowned or guardians, as it increases breathing time.
• Depth Strider is good if you are raiding an ocean monument, because it allows you to move faster underwater and avoid guardians more easily.