THE BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO SURVIVAL IN MINECRAFT

First of all if you're reading this and only playing creative then you should probably go back. Creative mode doesn't need a guide. Survival and hardcore modes are what you're here for aren't you? Well first of all you wanna mine wood and blocks like dirt. Well wood is the essential beginner's item and can be used to make most of the tools you need. It allows you to hoe, mine blocks faster than using an item or your hands and other necessary stuff. It also allows the crafting of one of the most important items in the game, yes ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the crafting table. By building a pickaxe you can also mine coal, stone granite and diorite. You also want to slaughter sheep and get wool so that you can make beds. This is quite important as sleeping in a bed skips the night phase of the game and changes it to day. It also regenerates your health.

Now onto the next step, why do you need blocks. This is because it will be stored in your inventory if you pick it up. Once that's done you can place it anywhere and effectively make a house. Why do you need a house you say? At night all sorts of foul demons and enemies spawn like the creeper. By making a house you're walling the off keeping you safe. Now onto the next bit, food and animals. Food is essential as it replenishes your hunger bar and health. The hunger bar is a variable that determines the rate at which your health regenerates. The bar is also important as if it drops too low your health drops along with it. Food can be found almost anywhere on the surface and can be dropped from killing animals like the cow, chicken or pig. It can also be found as part of the greenery. You can also craft food using ingredients or cook meat which usually replenishes health and hunger more.

Now onto the last bit of this article, mining which in my opinion represents half the game. Once you have your wooden pickaxe you wanna mine some stone and make a stone pickaxe. You also want to mine all the coal you can find in the surface and craft 50 or so torches. REMEMBER, most axes , pickaxes and essential items require wood so it's essential to keep some in hand at all times. It's also important that you keep enough wood to make 60 or so ladders at any given time. Once you have your stone pickaxe you wanna start mining down. For every block that you mine you wanna place a ladder- which can be crafted using wood- so that your route to your mining area can be established. You wanna go all the way or halfway down. Once this is done look for iron ores, lots and lots of iron. Another tip that I use would be to make a small square house with all the essentials that you need in it within your mine. While mining periodically place your torches around the area you're frequenting as you wanna see where you're going. Once your mining is complete make a smelter and smelt your ores to make iron ingots. Now take some of that wood you should have stored and make a crafting table next to your smelter. You should now be able to craft an iron pickaxe. Once this is done you'll now be able to mine anything in the game so go make your diamond sword or whatever.