Minecraft

Tips

• Start here

  Stone before iron, bed before mining

  Craft a bed from sheep and sleep to set spawn before you go looking for a cave. Never dig straight down; a two-block shaft you can still see the floor of is the whole rule.

• Start here

  Charcoal is coal

  Smelt logs into charcoal if you haven't found a coal vein. A stone pickaxe is the first tool that can mine iron; a wooden pick will not.

• Advanced

  Villager trading is the XP loop

  Three librarians can sell Mending, Unbreaking III, and Efficiency V. Curing a zombie villager with a golden apple and weakness potion discounts the trades into the actual late game.

• Advanced

  Ancient debris around Y -54

  Strip-mine the Nether around Y=15 for ancient debris, and wear gold armor so piglins ignore you. Beds explode in the Nether; speedrunners use that on purpose, you should not next to your portal.

• Secrets

  Eyes of Ender find the stronghold

  Throw an Eye of Ender and follow it; don't throw the whole stack. Buried treasure maps from shipwrecks and woodland mansions (Totems of Undying) are the overworld prizes people sail past.

• Secrets

  Sneak the Deep Dark

  Wool muffles vibrations. Don't trigger a shrieker three times or the Warden is your problem. Swift Sneak from ancient-city chests is the enchantment that makes the next city farmable.

• Builds

  Base near a village and a cave

  A starter base in walking range of a village (for beds and trades) and a cave (for iron) beats a scenic mountain you will abandon. Over-ocean mob farms need 24–32 blocks of spawnable space and a killing floor, not a hole in the backyard.

• Multiplayer

  Coordinate the nether roof

  On a server, ice-boat highways on the Nether roof (Y 128 in Overworld-scale) are the real map. Agree on a nether-hub before everyone punches a private portal into a lava ocean.