This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Avoiding Monsters
There’s a key difference between the Minecraft world on the first and second days. In a word, mobs: hostile ones to be specific. Mobs spawn only in dark areas, and some only during the night, so if you are outside during your first day and stay in well-lit areas, you’ll be reasonably—although not entirely—safe. By the second day, however, mobs have had a chance to build their numbers and wander about. It’s not that likely you’ll encounter them on day 2, but it’s best to be prepared.
There are 14 types of hostile mobs. These are the ones you might meet on your second day outside:
- Zombies—Zombies burn up in sunlight but can still survive in shadows or rain, when wearing a helmet, and of course in caves all hours of the day or night. They are relatively easy to defeat, and if too many come after you from out of the shadows, just head to a well-lit area and keep your distance while they burn up in the sun.
- Skeletons—Skeletons also burn up in sunlight unless they are wearing a helmet, and they can survive at any time in lower light conditions. They’re quite deadly with a bow and arrow and best avoided for now.
- Spiders—Spiders come in two variants: large or blue. You’ll probably only see the larger spiders at this stage. They are passive during the day but become hostile in shadow and can attack at any time if provoked. They’ll climb, they’ll jump, and they are pretty darn fast. Fortunately, they’re also easy to kill with some swift sword attacks. The blue spiders are a smaller, poisonous variant called cave spiders. They live only in abandoned mine shafts underground, but in substantial numbers. If you suffer from arachnophobia, I don’t have much good news for you, except that with a little time you’ll get used to them and they won’t seem quite so nasty.
- Creepers—Creepers have a well-earned reputation as the Minecraft bad guys. They are packed to their green gills with gunpowder, and they’ll start their very short 1.5-second fuse as soon as they are within three blocks of you. Their explosions can cause a lot of real damage to you, nearby structures, and the environment in general. If you hear a creeper’s fuse—a soft hissing noise—but can’t see it, run like heck in the direction you’re facing. Remember to sprint by pushing your
forward twice in quick succession. With a little luck, you’ll get three blocks away and the creeper’s fuse will reset. Creepers are usually best dealt with using a ranged attack from a bow and arrow, but if you sprint at them with an iron or diamond sword and take a swipe at just the right moment, mid-leap, when you’re past the apex of the arc and descending in a wild fury, you can send them flying back out of their suicidal detonation range, causing the fuse to reset. Most creepers despawn (that is, disappear) around noon, leaving the afternoon generally free of their particular brand of terror. - Slimes—Slimes spawn in the swamp biome and in some places underground. Their initial appearance is that of a quite large Jello-like green block, but they won’t sit there gently shaking: they are more than capable of causing real damage. Attacking eventually breaks them up into 2–4 new medium-sized slimes. These can still attack but are relatively easily killed, only to spawn a further 2–4 tiny slimes each! These last kind don’t cause any attack damage, but they can still push you into peril if you’re unlucky.
If you come across a lone spider, a zombie, or even a slime, now is as good a time as any to get in some sword practice. Just point your crosshairs at the creature and strike repeatedly with 
. Timed well, you can also block their attacks with 
. Keep clicking as fast as you can, and you have a very good chance of killing the mob and picking up any items it drops before it lands too many blows. Try to avoid the other mobs for now.
So how do you avoid mobs? Use these tips to survive:
- Stay in the open as much as you can, avoiding heavily wooded areas if possible.
- Most mobs have a 16-block detection radar. If they can also draw a line of sight to your position, they will enter pursuit mode. (Spiders can always detect you, even through other blocks.) At that point they’ll relentlessly plot and follow a path to your position, tracking you through other blocks without requiring a line of sight. Pursuit mode stays engaged much farther than 16 blocks.
- Keep your sound turned up because you’ll also hear mobs within 16 blocks, although creepers, befitting their name, are creepily quiet.
- Avoid skirting along the edges of hilly terrain. Creepers can drop on you from above with their fuses already ticking. Try to head directly up and down hills so you have a good view of the terrain ahead.
- Mobs are quite slow, so you can easily put some distance between them and yourself by keeping up a steady pace and circling around to get back to your shelter. Sprint mode will leave them far behind.