Tutorial:Defeating a bastion remnant

Defeating a bastion remnant allows the player to obtain lots of loot, including valuable gold items, the pigstep music disc, and the snout banner pattern. Exploring them is also required to unlock the netherite tier, as they are the only place where netherite upgrade smithing templates can be found. Due to having magma cube spawners (treasure room bastion variant only), bastion remnants also provide a good source of magma cream. Bastion remnants are one of the toughest and most dangerous structures to beat, so extra care has to be taken to survive. Piglins and piglin brutes spawn in the bastion, which can prove deadly if aggravated.

What to bring

• Diamond armor is highly recommended, but is optional.
• At least one piece of golden armor if to avoid making piglins hostile on sight. Golden helmets have the least durability of all pieces of golden armor, but is the only piece that has the same strength as its iron counterpart.
• A sword and tools of at least iron or diamond tier, enchantments may be desired.
• A bow is very useful in dispatching piglins and piglin brutes with ease from a safe distance.
  • Punch II is useful as it can knock back enemies for safety or off ledges.
• At least one shield, as they can prevent taking damage. Piglin brutes can use their axes to disable shields. However blocking even a single hit can be the difference between life and death due to their high attack damage.
• Food with high-enough saturation and hunger restoration such as steak, golden carrot, and cooked porkchops. Golden apples can heal the player quickly if need be.
• Bring some logs and/or planks to craft boats, which will be very useful for trapping non-hoglin mobs.
• Expendable blocks such as cobblestone or netherrack.
• A pickaxe of at least iron tier to mine gold blocks.
• A lava bucket to easily kill piglins and piglin brutes.
• Potions can improve combat. Fire Resistance is incredibly useful, and can be obtained by simply bartering with piglins (optional).
• A few bundles to help organize loot and save inventory slots.
• Soul torches or other soul-fire items can be used to scare piglins (optional). Does not work on piglin brutes.
• Gold to distract piglins and barter. Does not work on piglin brutes.
• TNT (optional), and a button or a pressure plate (not flint and steel) to light the TNT. Activating TNT using redstone prevents the piglins from attributing a player to the TNT's ignition, whereas a flint and steel will aggravate all nearby piglins towards whoever lit the TNT as soon as it explodes.
• Hoppers for looting chests without aggravating any piglins (optional).
• Pistons and levers, buttons or redstone torches to move gilded blackstone from under chests so you can put hoppers there to get the items (optional).
• A respawn anchor and glowstone to respawn in the Nether (optional).
• Totems of Undying can be a life saver in risky situations, especially since they give Fire Resistance when used.
• Ender pearls can be a multipurposed tool, used for either escaping or repositioning.

Your main goals

• Loot the gold and gilded blackstone.
  • Also, since some netherite items reside in loot chests, also aim for getting ancient debris, netherite scrap, and netherite ingots from chests.
• Get the Pigstep music disc, snout banner pattern, snout armor trim, and netherite smithing template.
• Convert the bastion to a bartering hall or magma cube/froglight farm.
• Obtain nether wart if it's a housing variation, as it can otherwise only be obtained from a nether fortress.

Mobs

General

Unlike most Nether mobs, piglins, hoglins, and piglin brutes are not immune to fire damage. This makes bastion remnants one of the few places in the nether where the Flame and Fire Aspect enchantments prove useful.

Piglin brutes

Piglin brutes are variants of piglins that are unique to bastion remnants and are capable of dealing massive amounts of damage in a single hit thanks to their golden axe, which also disables shields. The higher the difficulty, the more damage they deal, up to 19 attack damage in hard difficulty, which makes them a serious threat due to their speed. Their heavy hits also mean that armor offers much less protection; A full set of unenchanted iron armor only reduces the attack damage by 22%. However, there are only a finite amount per bastion and lack ranged attacks.

Ranged weapons

Due to their incredibly high attack damage and speed, ranged attacks are the safest way to dispatch them. Environmental hazards such as falling or lava should be used as their drops aren't noteworthy. Piglins will also target players within 16 blocks of the hurt brute, which may prove dangerous if within that radius.

3-block tall pillar

Towering up is a surefire method to eliminate piglin brutes as long as ranged attackers aren't nearby, as their lack of ranged attacks leaves them defenseless to such an attack. Lava is an efficient way to kill them quickly. Take note of any nearby paths or ledges that can be used, as that may provide a risk of counterattack.

Boats

Piglin brutes can be trapped within boats, completely immobilizing them and leaving them available for attack while acting as a barrier against other attackers. Sweeping attacks‌ may free them; make sure to not accidentally destroy the boat while attacking.

Lava bucket

Lava buckets are an effective way to eliminate piglins and hoglins due to not being immune to fire and being readily available. Lava also doesn't count as a player attack, removing the risk of alerting other piglins while using it. However, this also removes the experience drops unless hit within five seconds of death. Even then, the drops will likely be burnt anyways.

Blocking yourself off

If a piglin brute is closely chasing you in a corridor with a ceiling too low to build a pillar, your best bet is to rapidly place any solid block to block yourself off. Once the piglin brute is blocked off, you can then mine one of the blocks away, making sure the piglin brute doesn't have a gap to get through and reach you. Once you can see the piglin brute through the gap in the wall you built, shoot the piglin brute until it dies. Or more riskily, kill it with a melee weapon. The latter is incredibly risky as there is a chance they will still be able to hit you and deal massive damage.

Potions

Bringing a drinkable Fire Resistance potion is also a good idea for any nether trip in general should you lose your footing and fall in lava. Strength potions also allow for stronger attacks, allowing the elimination of piglins at much faster speeds. Poison can deal damage without player kill credit, making it a good way to weaken crowds if necessary.

Piglins

• Wearing at least 1 piece of golden armor will prevent aggression on sight, reducing the amount of combat needed to traverse the bastion.
  • However, mining gold or opening storage containers (besides hoppers) will still cause them to target the player who did so.
• A 3 block pillar makes melee piglins and piglin brutes helpless.
• Boats immobilize mobs caught in them while acting as a barrier against arrows and other mobs.
• Distracting them by dropping golden items works if the cause of aggression was not by attacking.
• Taking advantage of their fears by placing soul torches or using other soul fire.
• To prevent angering the piglins:
  • Redstone activated TNT works as a way to thin crowds and loot chests at the same time. Lighting it manually will cause aggression.
  • Placing hoppers under chests allows siphoning the loot without causing aggression. The gilded blackstone under chests can be circumvented by making it into a double chest and placing the hopper under the other side.
• Pouring lava on them is incredibly effective due to their low health.
• If aggravated, breaking line of sight and waiting will leave them passive again after a while.

Hoglins

Hoglins don't appear in bastion remnants too often, but they do sometimes. Keep these in mind when fighting them:

• Hoglins can attack from a 3 block tall pillar, but not a 4 block tall pillar. Although you cannot hit them from 4 blocks, you can still shoot them. If you make a 3 block tall pillar, it is possible to kill Hoglins with melee weapon as long as you don't lean too far over the edge.
• Piglins will never hunt any hoglins generated in bastion remnants.
• Warped fungus can ward off hoglins if need be, but it's often better to eliminate them instead due to the recurring risk of them coming back.

Magma cubes

Magma cubes can come from spawners hanging from chains over lava. They are very hard to reach and the cubes can knock you into lava. Although breaking these spawners works and protects you, the problem is that you can no longer use them for magma cream farms. Here is a list of some strategies:

• Towering won't work against them.
• Targeting the largest ones first is often best due to their high attack damage. However, ignoring medium ones can also pose an issue.
• Making bridges and platforms across the lava can heavily reduce the threat due to their slow movement on land.

Magma cube spawner disabling

Using 9 solid blocks, the magma cube spawner can be completely disabled.

What a disabled spawner looks like from below. Take note that the blocks are one block higher than the level of the spawner.

There is always a magma cube spawner in each bastion remnant of the treasure room type at the bottom of the main room. However, light will not work against the spawner, which makes it hard to manage due to its precarious position. However, magma cubes require the space of a large magma cube regardless of size. Using a grid can block spawning very easily as a large magma cube is slightly wider than 2 blocks and 3 blocks tall, which means only 9 blocks are needed to disable mob spawning

Defeating the bastion remnant

General tips

Raiding from top to bottom works best as piglins will attempt to ambush by falling to lower areas. Towering or digging up can easily get to the top, making the structure significantly easier. Setting a respawn anchor and a backup set of tools may be preferable as well, along with a piece of golden armor to get items back easier. Setting up storage and furnaces, potentially even a grindstone for removing enchantments from undesirable gear may prove useful. Placing torches or other non-native blocks in explored areas can signify what areas are completed, assisting in navigation greatly.

Since piglin brutes ignore gold armor and other piglins will attack if piglin brutes are attacked, indirect methods of damage such as falling and lava are the best way to remove them. Hoglins are major threats and are harder to escape from due to their large size, knockback and ability to cross small gaps, making them priority targets in the hoglin stables variation, along with a lone one in the bridge variation.

Gravel and sand can help you fill in the lava from above, as the lava pool is usually only two blocks deep. Fire Resistance potions are also very useful due to the lava pit at the bottom containing the magma cube spawner being especially dangerous. The side tower's chest rooms are directly next to each other, making it easy to raid them in succession by digging into the wall. The top of the tower facing away from the main building also has undefended gold blocks for the taking.

Specific Bastion Types

When you spot a bastion, the first thing you need to do is to recognize which type it is, as it can be one of four types:

• 

  Bridge

• 

  Housing

• 

  Stables

• 

  Treasure

Each of those types has different routes and strategies associated with it.

Bridge

The Bridge type bastion is easy to recognize. From the front, it also looks like a piglin head and shoulders. It has a long bridge with a quartz-gold chalice on one side. This bridge cuts through the bastion, and there is a small end on the other side. The big end has a long pillar underneath it. In its entirety it has 2 ramparts and a center part, which contain the bridge. The gold chalice has 16 gold blocks, which you can either take and run or barter it with piglins for ender pearls and other useful necessities. Although it has a lot of gold, speedrunners don't like the bastion because it is inefficient.

If you just want the gold then this is the best bastion for you. You can simply find it and see if there is a small end, a pillar or a visible white chalice. If you see a small end, just run across to the other side, perhaps burning some hoglins and piglin brutes if they are in your path, and mine the gold. It's recommended to build up 3 blocks (2 blocks if you are playing 1.16.1 or below) before mining the gold to prevent bastion mobs from killing you.

The Bridge Bastion has a bit of luck involved in looting it. There are 2 ramparts in the bastion. Each rampart has a 1/2 chance of being a "Single Chest" and a 1/2 chance of being a "Triple Chest". The Single Chest isn't as good as the Triple Chest (Contains only 1 chest instead of 3 to the triple chest, however there are virtually no piglin/piglin brutes there, making it a safer option). The triple chest consists of a double chest that is 3 blocks apart from the single chest. If you want to stop the piglins from attacking you, you can either throw gold on the ground to distract them, or (remember this!) go between the single chest and the double chest, and mine down 2 blocks. Then you cover yourself up and mine to the direction of both chests and loot it. Because piglins get mad only if they have a line of sight, they don't become aggressive. As for the lodestone chest, since there aren't many piglins there, it is usually fine to loot the chest normally. Check here for the loot tables.

It is recommended to be in MC version 1.16.1 if you want to get ender pearls, string, obsidian(speedrunner recommended) and other useful materials. However, this can still be done in later versions (just that it isn't as consistent and more dangerous).

1. Locate the chalice - this shouldn't be hard. It is easily visible. Mine the gold and craft a gold helmet if you don't have one already. If you see hoglins or piglin brutes (if you are playing 1.16.1 or below you shouldn't see them), burn them when you see them. This can also be a source of food.

2. Go to the ramparts. A normal strategy is to go to the right side. On both sides is A LOT of lava. Go to to the right and where you find a basalt block. It is recommended to build up 2 blocks from there as there are hoglins and possibly piglin brutes there. Burn them if you see them. Then go to a small corridor above the lava. There, you find either netherrack, a triple chest, or a single chest. If you see netherrack, mine it. If nothing appears when you mine a netherrack block, it is a single chest. Break 3 blocks in an L shape and go to the other side. If you have a triple chest, you can trade the gold with them. While they are trading, you can check the chests for obsidian, crying obsidian, crossbow, arrows, gold and string. Advanced bastion routes can be found here.

3. After you get the items you need, just leave as normal.

Housing

Housing (or Housing Units) contains Housing Units and 2 ramparts. The right rampart always has a triple chest while the left rampart has a 1/2 chance of it being a triple chest. There are 12 gold blocks in this bastion excluding the ones in the housing units that are too random to be used most of the time (3 in the middle gold chamber and 9 in the main gold chamber). On the bottom of the ramparts there is always a double chest and a single chest in the center of the housing units. Speedrunners tend to like this bastion because there is enough gold blocks and close to no luck involved. Note that despite this, it isn't the fastest bastion.

Unlike Bridge, the gold isn't fully visible and requires a bit of memorization. Both gold locations are close to each other. The middle gold area is above the bottom gold area.

There is a triple chest at the top, 3 blocks apart, another triple chest that has a 1/2 chance of spawning, and a double chest at the bottom of the ramparts. There is also a center chest in the housing units.

If you are looting the bastions from the top, break the triple chest to anger the piglins. Run down and when you see straight stairs going downward, turn left toward a big drop. Block the area off so you don't get killed by piglin brutes and piglins. On the left side, there is a flat wall. Bridge out until you can't (only 2 blocks). Break the block that is blocking you and the block beside it. Mine the gold block you find there, aggravating more piglins. Then still facing the same side, mine blackstone until you see the other 2 gold blocks. Mine it. Beware of crossbow-wielding piglins and don't mine the block above the gold block - there are piglins up there. While this is optional, it is recommended to toss some gold down to distract piglins. Then run toward the other side, crossing 2 blocks diagonally and go to the corner. Then place a block above you so piglins can't get to you. Dig 3 blocks and, facing the direction of all of the piglins, mine until you see a gold block. Go there and break a block to your right and the block above that block. Change difficulty to hard so more piglins fall in and get trapped. Throw the gold toward the piglin. Then continue mining straight and also mine left until you made a 2x2x3 hole. Then go left to mine 1 block and go right 2 blocks to mine the last 3 gold blocks. Trade the gold with the piglins. While that is happening go back up and turn left until you see a small hole. In front of the hole dig 2 blocks to reveal the bottom double chest. Loot it. When the piglins are done trading drop gravel on them to push the items back up. Some items might fall under so it is recommended to block it off before you go back up.

If you are starting from the bottom, it is recommended that there is no lava. While it is possible to do it with lava via some bridging, it is a lot less consistent. Mine the chest, aggravating all the piglins. Run to the direction of the ramparts. When you see the double chest go left of it and go up 2 blocks. Mine 3 blocks above you in an L shape to access the gold area. Go to the diagonal area and place a block above you. Dig 3 blocks and, facing the direction of all of the piglins, mine until you see a gold block. Go there and break a block to your right and the block above that block. Change difficulty to hard so more piglins fall in and get trapped. Throw the gold toward the piglin. Then continue mining straight and also mine left until you made a 2x2x3 hole. Then go left to mine 1 block and go right 2 blocks to mine the last 3 gold blocks. Trade the gold with the piglins. While that is happening go back to the double chest and loot it. When the piglins are done trading drop gravel on them to push the items back up. Some items might fall under so it is recommended to block it off before you go back up.

Stables

Stables (or Hoglin Stables). The main difference from the other types of bastions is that it has 3 ramparts, instead of 2. It is the largest bastion of all 4 and contains another part, called the stables, which is what gives it its name. The stables is scattered with food chests that provide, as mentioned in the name, food. It also provides some useful gold. The stables, however, is relatively dangerous. It contains a large amount of hoglins, and also more piglins than the other bastions. If you use E-ray (which is turning FOV down to 30 and scanning with the entity counter), you can see a spike of around 50 entities. It is also the most luck-based bastion, as regular routes don't apply 7.4% of the time.

As mentioned, Stables is so random that there isn't an exact route for it. However, the gold can appear on both the top side and the bottom of the ramparts. Gold does exist in the stables, but it is so rare that most wouldn't consider it. Therefore, the stables is more or less useless in pretty much every scenario.

The top is distinguishable from the bottom. It contains blackstone bricks and is more or less neat. All 3 ramparts have a chance to be a Triple Chest, a Lantern Chest or a Single Chest. Only the triple chest can have gold. The gold is located directly underneath the triple chest. However, there are only 4 gold blocks. There is, however, a 22.2% chance that there is no triple chests. If that is the case and all 3 ramparts are triples (having a 3.7% chance of happening), it contains 12 gold blocks. While it is fine to just dig straight down from the chests to get to the gold, it is inefficient. The following video shows how you can get the gold safely and faster.

Note: For the modern route, gold armor is needed. If the hole is blocked up by netherrack, just dig down

In the bottom, there are more elements of luck involved in routing. Firstly, there is a "Good Gap" and a "Bad Gap". A "Good Gap" contains up to 10 gold blocks, whereas a "Bad Gap" looks like it contains gold, but doesn't contain any gold. The following video teaches you how to recognize Good Gaps and Bad Gaps.

For Traditional Methods, if the gap on the outside is 1-wide, it is a Good Gap. If it is 2-wide, it is a Bad Gap. For Modern Methods, if those 2 specific blocks are mined, if there is air, it is a Good Gap. If there isn't air, it is a Bad Gap. For the right rampart, polished blackstone bricks is also an indication of a Bad Gap. This also means that 25% of the time, it would be a double bad gap, which means that you have to check the top. Regular routes don't apply if there is no triple chest and no good gap. Once you get to the gap, however, you need to go down safely and not get lost. Since it is easy to get lost in Stables, the following video should help you out.

Treasure

Treasure is by far the most advanced bastion and the hardest route to do of all. It has large amount of piglin brutes (1.16.2+) and is extremely risky. The following video shows how you can do the route on 1.16.1 (or 1.16), which is a piglin brute less route.

Note: There are 2 main routes that should be done if you watched the video. The easy and consistent one is called Safe No Armor and is the route that should be done if not practiced. The hard and fastest route is called Boomer, and is the route that you should do with a lot of practice.

Practice Map

Here is the up to date practice map for 1.16.1 Minecraft Bastions. Note that this map doesn't work in 1.16.2+.