The Ultimate Minecraft Beginner’s Guide: Your First 10 Steps to Survival
So, you’ve spawned into the blocky world of Minecraft for the first time. Overwhelmed? Don’t be! This guide will break down the absolute essential first 10 things you need to do to not only survive but thrive in your new Minecraft adventure. We’ll go from zero to setting yourself up for long-term success. Let’s dive in!
What are the first 10 things to do in Minecraft?
- Punch some trees: Sounds silly, but acquiring wood is the very foundation of everything you’ll do in Minecraft.
- Craft a crafting table: This is your gateway to more complex tools and structures. Place it down immediately!
- Craft wooden tools: A pickaxe, axe, and maybe a sword are critical for resource gathering and defense.
- Mine cobblestone: Upgrade your tools to stone! Stone tools are significantly more durable than wood.
- Build a stone pickaxe and axe: These will dramatically increase your mining speed and woodcutting efficiency.
- Construct a basic shelter: A small dirt or cobblestone hut will protect you from nighttime monsters.
- Craft a furnace: Smelting ores and cooking food are essential for progression.
- Gather coal (or make charcoal): You need fuel for your furnace, and coal is the most readily available early on.
- Make torches: Light up your shelter and surrounding area to prevent mobs from spawning.
- Craft a bed: Sleeping through the night skips the dangers and resets your spawn point.
Expanding on Your Initial Actions
Let’s explore these first steps in a little more detail. Knowing why you’re doing something is just as important as how.
Step 1: Gathering Wood
Your bare hands are your first tools. Approach any tree and start punching! You’ll break the wood blocks and collect them as items. Aim for at least 20 wood logs. Different types of wood exist (oak, birch, spruce, etc.), but they all function the same initially.
Step 2: Crafting a Crafting Table
Open your inventory (usually by pressing ‘E’). You’ll see a small 2×2 crafting grid. Place any of your wood logs into the grid. This will create wood planks. Drag these planks into your inventory. Now, place four wood planks into the 2×2 grid. This creates a crafting table. Drag the crafting table into your inventory and place it on the ground in your world.
Step 3: Crafting Wooden Tools
Interact (usually right-click) with your crafting table to open its 3×3 crafting grid. Craft sticks by placing two wood planks vertically on top of each other. Now, use the following recipes (which can be found by searching in the crafting table) to create your tools:
- Wooden Pickaxe: 3 planks across the top row, with a stick in the center and bottom center slots.
- Wooden Axe: 3 planks across the top row, with a stick in the left-center and bottom-center slots.
- Wooden Sword: 1 plank in the top center slot, with a stick in the center slot.
These tools are essential for gathering more advanced resources efficiently.
Step 4: Mining Cobblestone
Find a hill or a rocky area. Equip your wooden pickaxe and start mining the grey, rocky blocks. These are cobblestone. Aim for at least 20 blocks.
Step 5: Upgrading to Stone Tools
Using your crafting table, replace the wood planks in the previous recipes with cobblestone to create a stone pickaxe and stone axe. These tools are much more durable and mine faster than their wooden counterparts.
Step 6: Building a Basic Shelter
As soon as dusk approaches, it’s time to build a shelter. A simple 4x4x3 box made of dirt or cobblestone will suffice. Make sure to completely enclose yourself to prevent monsters from entering. You can punch out a single block to see outside for now.
Step 7: Crafting a Furnace
Use eight cobblestone blocks to craft a furnace. Arrange the cobblestone in a square shape, leaving the center slot empty. Place the furnace inside your shelter.
Step 8: Gathering Coal (or Making Charcoal)
Coal ore looks like stone with black spots. It’s usually found inside caves or on the sides of hills. If you can’t find coal, you can make charcoal by smelting wood logs in your furnace. Place wood logs in both the top and bottom slots of the furnace. The logs in the bottom slot will be burned to create charcoal from the logs in the top slot.
Step 9: Making Torches
Combine one stick with one piece of coal (or charcoal) vertically in the crafting table to create torches. Place these torches inside and around your shelter to prevent monsters from spawning in the dark.
Step 10: Crafting a Bed
Kill three sheep and collect their wool. Combine three wool blocks in the middle row of the crafting table with three wood planks in the bottom row to create a bed. Place the bed inside your shelter. When night falls, interact with the bed to sleep through the night and reset your spawn point. This is a critical step to avoid losing progress if you die.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Why is wood so important in Minecraft?
Wood is the most basic building block in Minecraft. It’s used to craft essential tools, crafting tables, and as a building material for early shelters. You literally cannot progress without it.
2. What’s the difference between wood planks and wood logs?
Wood logs are the raw form of wood that you get directly from trees. Wood planks are created by processing wood logs in your inventory crafting grid or a crafting table. Planks are used to craft a wider variety of items.
3. Should I build a wooden house?
While you can build a wooden house, it’s not recommended early on. Wood is flammable, making it vulnerable to lightning strikes or lava. Cobblestone is a much safer and more durable option for your initial shelter.
4. How do I find animals in Minecraft?
Animals typically spawn in grassy biomes during the daytime. Explore your surroundings, and you’ll likely encounter sheep, cows, pigs, and chickens.
5. What’s the best way to find coal?
Coal is commonly found on the surface of hills or inside caves. Explore caves cautiously, as they can be dangerous. Bring torches!
6. Why do I need torches?
Torches provide light, which prevents monsters from spawning in dark areas. They also help you navigate caves and keep you safe at night.
7. What happens if I die in Minecraft?
If you die, you’ll respawn at your spawn point (initially where you first entered the world). You’ll lose all the items you were carrying. That’s why it’s crucial to craft a bed and sleep in it to reset your spawn point to your shelter.
8. What’s the best way to get food in Minecraft?
The easiest way to get food early on is to kill animals and cook their meat in a furnace. Raw meat can give you food poisoning, so cooking it is important. You can also create a basic wheat farm for a sustainable food source. Wheat especially is the ideal choice since it feeds cows and sheep.
9. What should I do after my first night?
After your first night, focus on expanding your base, improving your tools and armor, and exploring the world. Start mining deeper to find valuable resources like iron, gold, and diamonds.
10. How do I find diamonds?
Diamonds are rare minerals found deep underground, typically below Y-level 12. They are now most commonly found around -50, -64, -59, and -58. You’ll need an iron pickaxe or better to mine them.
11. What should I use my diamonds for?
A diamond pickaxe is the highest priority. It allows you to mine obsidian, which is needed to access the Nether. Diamond armor is also highly desirable for increased protection. Diamonds are also a key ingredient of beacons and enchantment tables.
12. What is the Nether?
The Nether is a dangerous, fiery dimension accessed through a portal made of obsidian. It’s a source of unique resources and challenges.
13. What is the End?
The End is the final dimension in Minecraft, home to the Ender Dragon. Defeating the Ender Dragon is considered the “end” goal of the game, although there’s still plenty to do afterward.
14. Does Minecraft teach you anything valuable?
Absolutely! Minecraft combines exploration and survival skills as players learn to create anything they want. The Games Learning Society explores how games like Minecraft can be powerful learning tools. You can find more information about the GamesLearningSociety.org.
15. What can I do if I get bored in Minecraft?
Minecraft offers endless possibilities. Consider building elaborate structures, mastering Redstone mechanics, experimenting with mods, or creating custom maps. Many players get bored playing Minecraft because they no longer feel challenged. There are many online courses that can increase the difficulty to keep you playing.
With these initial steps and tips, you’re well on your way to becoming a seasoned Minecraft player. Remember to explore, experiment, and have fun! The blocky world is yours to conquer.
Minecraft is a game about placing blocks and having adventures. It’s a survival experience about staying alive in your own fantastic world that’s also a creative space to build almost anything you can imagine!