5 Minecraft Enemies and How to Defeat Them - For Dummies

Unless you set the difficulty level in Minecraft to Peaceful, you will face danger during the night. The following list describes the five types of enemies that appear during the night and describes how to defeat them.

• Creepers are the most well-known enemies — these cute green shrub-monsters walk toward you, hiss, and explode, harming you and destroying nearby blocks. Attack while sprinting (double-tap the W key) to knock back creepers before they explode. When you play in a higher difficulty mode, creepers can kill your avatar in one shot.

  

• Endermen might not appear on the first night, but sooner or later you’ll see one. Don’t antagonize these monsters — they can be challenging even for experienced players. Endermen normally don’t attack you, but if you place the crosshair over one, it turns and glares at you, ready to attack you the moment you remove the crosshair. If you’re unfortunate enough to anger these creatures, watch out for their powerful attacks and teleportation. Their weaknesses are water and sunlight.

  

• Skeletons are downright tricky — they approach you tactically and fire arrows at you. Skeletons are impeccable archers, so hide behind blocks to avoid them. They shoot faster as you get closer, so sneaking up on them is your best bet.

  

• Spiders have a relatively small amount of health, but they’re fast, small, and jumpy, making them difficult to hit. They can also climb walls, so be prepared to defend your shelter.

  

• Zombies are fairly easy to vanquish if you see them coming. They have more health than other enemies, but they move slowly. Don’t let them stall you long enough for other monsters to notice you.

Attacks inflict more damage when you’re jumping. You can tell when you score a jump attack (jumping and hitting the enemy on your way down) by the sparks that appear on the enemy. Watch out, though: Jumping makes you hungry.