How to Fight Mobs in Minecraft

Last Updated: March 13, 2023

You're exploring this really cool cave system, and you find loads of coal, iron, and gold. You mine another block and jump as lava starts pouring through. Backing up, you barely notice as you approach the edge of a ravine and fall. When you land, you quickly drink some potions to recover. That's when you notice odd shapes creeping towards you in the dark. A low growl here, a bone-chilling rattle there. You begin to realize that you're not alone. Does that sound like you? Having trouble killing those nasty mobs? If so, this article will teach you various combat techniques used by very experienced players everywhere to wipe them off the face of the game.

Steps

Preparation

1
Grab a sword of at least iron (preferably diamond). Get some iron or higher armor, too. A bow with arrows is optional (recommended), and maybe a couple of dogs as a backup. Also, grab some torches.
- Of course, if you can't get to those tiers yet, your best bet is to start with a wooden sword and try to get to a stone sword soon. Stone swords prove to be adequate weapons early in the game.
- If possible, get your equipment enchanted. Don't forget to bring a shield. Be careful not to take all of your good items, because if you die, it will be hard to retrieve them unless you have keep inventory on, which is often considered cheating. Also in the 1.9 update, you can dual wield a bow and sword, so you can shoot and use melee attacks almost at the same time.
2
Set the difficulty to Easy or above. Aggressive mobs can't spawn in Peaceful mode (if you want a challenge, set to Hard). Put your weapons, food, and potions in your hotbar, and place some torches around you to add light.

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3
When mobs begin to spawn, ready your weapons and prepare for battle!
- It is recommended to sort items. For instance, weapons on one side and potions, food, etc. on the other.
4
Learn to critical hit. Jump and swing or sprint and hit. Critical damage comes as you fall. Try to time your swing to hit the mob as you fall after the jump.

Method 1

Method 1 of 18:

The Zombie

The zombie is the easiest hostile mob. It will walk towards you slowly and burn up in the day.

1
Walk close to the zombie and let it come to you. Once it is within two blocks, critical hit it (jump and strike). You do not have to retreat after hitting it as it is very slow.
2
Repeat this process until the zombie is dead. Look around and make sure there are no more mobs around. Be careful because every time you hit a zombie there is a chance another one will spawn nearby. Proceed to collect the experience and any drops, like rotten flesh. It is advised for you to not eat the rotten flesh (unless you can't get other food) because it may give you poison or hunger depending on what you're playing. If you do get poison or hunger, stay in one place until it goes away to prevent your hunger bar from dropping or drop even more.
3
If fighting several zombies at once, run towards them and left click. This knocks them back several blocks. Also, when focused on you, a zombie will not attack a tamed wolf that is attacking it.

Method 2

Method 2 of 18:

The Chicken Jockey

The chicken jockey is a Baby Zombie, Baby Zombie Villager or Baby Zombified Piglin riding a chicken. Baby zombies do not burn in sunlight, and the chicken cannot be leashed to a fence.

1
Do not try to lead it off a cliff; the mob that is being riding takes all the fall damage and chickens just fly down and take no damage.
2
If you are playing 1.7.10 or earlier you can use the chicken's eggs to knock back the "mob."

Method 3

Method 3 of 18:

The Creeper

The creeper is a dangerous mob at night. Their navigation is very good, and they will explode when you get too close. They are unaffected by daylight. They also make no noise when they walk, and add that to their camouflage it makes for a very dangerous mob.

1
If you have a bow, use it to kill the creeper. If you don't have a bow, then hit them with a sword and then quickly move backwards.
2
Repeat. If the creeper starts flashing and getting bigger, get away from it until it either stops or explodes. If you kill it, collect the experience and the item(s) it may drop, like gunpowder.
3
Note that there is also a charged creeper. When a creeper is hit by lightning, it has a bluish aura surrounding it. When it explodes, it is double the explosion potential compared to normal Creepers. You kill a charged creeper in the same way as a normal creeper.

Method 4

Method 4 of 18:

The Spider

The spider is much more dangerous than the zombie, despite it's slightly lower health in comparison to the Zombie. They can scale walls and will jump while attacking. They become passive in the day, unless attacked. It does not fit in 1X1 squares.

1
Let the spider come to you. Be warned, as the spider jumps and scales walls (But they cannot climb upside-down, so make sure to put overhangs on your walls). Instead of the regular approach, start with a running hit to knock it back.
2
Proceed to charge forward and continue left-clicking in the general direction of the spider. You may take some damage from this. However, you also have the choice of another running hit followed by a critical.
3
Look around to make sure there are no other mobs around. Collect the experience and whatever item(s) it may drop, like string or spider eyes. You will be able to ferment the spider eye and use it in potion making, or eat it in an emergency. It will poison you for 4 seconds, but it won't make your health go lower than half a heart, and your health will regenerate if your hunger bar is full.

Method 5

Method 5 of 18:

Cave Spiders

Cave spiders are poisonous spiders that spawn only from monster spawners in abandoned mineshafts. Cave spiders are smaller than normal spiders and blue in color. Normal spiders are black or dark brown, bigger, and are not poisonous. Note that skeletons do not ride on cave spiders.

1
Beware of gaps. Cave spiders are much smaller than regular spiders, and can fit through any gap that is one block high, however, its height is a half block. This makes them much harder to contain and fight on your own terms. Cave spiders can also track you through solid walls, so they are difficult to ambush.
2
Heal poison attacks. Unlike regular spiders, Cave spiders have a poisonous bite. If you are poisoned, your health will deplete until you only have half of a heart left. You can heal poison by drinking milk, but this can take a while. Try to use your milk between battles.
3
Suffocate the spiders. Cave spiders can hold their breath for 16 seconds, and then die after another 6 seconds. If you can flood or bury the spiders, you should be able to kill them with relative ease.
4
Destroy the monster spawner. Cave spiders are only spawned by monster spawners, so destroying the spawner will prevent more spiders from appearing.
5
Beware of cobwebs. Monster generators are often surrounded by lots of cobwebs. These will slow you down but do not affect the cave spiders' movement. Use your sword to break the cobwebs.

Method 6

Method 6 of 18:

The Skeleton

Skeletons have bows that they shoot you with. It is fairly easy to dodge arrows when further away, but more difficult when closer up. As with zombies, they will burn when in contact with direct sunlight.

1
If possible, snipe the skeleton with your bow. Otherwise, run towards it and do a critical hit. Walking in a straight line towards the skeleton will get you killed, and jumping doesn't make a difference. A zig-zag pattern is recommended. Its accuracy will improve with higher difficulty levels.
2
Catch up to it and spam. Try to block (right mouse) the arrows when you're close, as the chances of dodging now are minuscule (Tiny). If you have a shield, you may also charge at them, letting the shield take damage.Try to determine what time the skeleton will fire based on how fast it was firing before.
3
Collect the experience and whatever item(s) it may drop, like bones and arrows.
4
Try running in a zigzag motion. The skeleton can't handle it.

Method 7

Method 7 of 18:

The Spider Jockey

The spider jockey is very, very dangerous "mob". When a spider spawns, there is a 1% chance of it being a spider jockey. It is created when a skeleton rides a spider. Spider jockeys should be avoided, as they have no special drops other than for the spider and skeleton.

1
Go for the skeleton first. Right click in the general direction and try to use running hits, and block right after. Once the skeleton is dead, go for the spider.
2
Kill the spider using regular methods. Collect the experience and item(s).
3
If the spider jockey is climbing your wall, kill the spider first, and then the skeleton should fall and take fall damage. If it hasn't died yet, kill it like a normal skeleton.

Method 8

Method 8 of 18:

The Slime

The slime will spawn only in large areas or the swamp biome. Encountering a slime is very rare for new players.

1
Approach the slime and perform several criticals. Be careful when killing the large ones, as they will split. Once the slime is dead, back up a bit. Note that each one splits into smaller slimes. Consider it as multiplying.
- When encountering a small slime, one hit from a sword will kill it, however a fist is advised because they are very weak and are a waste of sword durability. The little ones smaller than one block will attempt to kill you, but do no damage. Note that these will drop slime balls.
- For a medium slime, it will will split into small slimes. Kill the smaller ones. Medium slimes cause mild damage.
- For the large one, it will split into a medium slime, then kill as for medium slime. Large slimes cause moderate damage.
2
Collect the drops, which are usually slime balls, and experience.
- If you get 9 slime balls, put them all in a crafting table to make a slime block, which is really bouncy!
- Another use for slime balls are that you can combine it with pistons to make sticky pistons, which allow you to move blocks forwards and backwards.

Method 9

Method 9 of 18:

The Wither Skeleton

1
Make beams two blocks above the ground in a nether fortress. Wither Skeletons are three blocks tall, so you can walk under the beams but they can't.
2
When a wither skeleton comes, it will see you and walk towards you. When it stops at a beam, walk up to the wither skeleton and hit it until it dies. Make sure to be on the opposite side of the beam to the Wither Skeleton.
3
Pick up the drops. These are usually bones or coal, and sometimes a stone sword. Very rarely you will get a wither skeleton skull and it is used to spawn a wither boss.

Method 10

Method 10 of 18:

The Blaze

Blazes are another nether mob. They are commonly found in nether fortresses beside their spawners. Blazes are very difficult to fight. They can fly and shoot fireballs in sets of three. Unlike ghasts' fireballs, these fireballs cannot be deflected. Blazes are usually killed for blaze rods, used to make eyes of ender, blaze powder, brewing stands, and magma cream.

1
Enchant your bow. If you want a quick fight, this step is almost mandatory. A bow is one of the easier ways to kill a blaze, seeing that they can fly. Also, obtain some snowballs. It is a good choice to store the snowballs as snow blocks, and will save time. If you throw snowballs at them they will weaken and you can easily finish them off with a sword. Finally you can collect their experience points.
2
If you have a brewing stand, you can make fire resistance potions which will make you invulnerable to the blazes' fire attacks. (and lava) Brewing directions can be found here.
3
Set the difficulty to peaceful once you reach the spawner. Also build a small 3 block high wall out of cobblestone. It doesn't have to be too long, and should have a small roof.
4
Get behind the wall and set the difficulty to easy or higher. Start charging your bow. Do not try to shoot the blaze until your bow is fully charged.
5
Quickly move from the wall with your fully charged bow and fire at the blaze. Be sure that you are close to the end of the wall so you can hide faster. If a blaze is waiting for you on the "safe" side, kill it with snowballs.
6
Shoot at the blaze. Get behind the wall and start charging your bow again. Repeat until the blazes are dead.
7
Collect the experience and drops. You may have to build your way to the drop, as blazes fly. Set the difficulty to Peaceful.

Method 11

Method 11 of 18:

The Magma Cube

A Magma Cube is basically the Nether version of the slime. They also bounce and split into smaller cubes. The only main differences are how they look and the drops. Note that they can spawn in any open space in the Nether.

1
Try staying at least 5 blocks away from it.
2
Hit with a sword.
3
Kill the smaller ones that the large ones turn into when killed. Also, the small cubes attack you unlike the small slime.
4
Collect the drops. Get all of the experience after killing the small ones.
- Like the slime, the small ones also drop something special, which is Magma Cream. This will be useful in brewing potions.

Method 12

Method 12 of 18:

The Ghasts

Ghasts are mobs that fly around in the nether. They look like large, white squids that have a very sad/depressed facial expression and make baby/crying sounds. They will shoot exploding fireballs at the player. They used to do very limited damage, but now they can kill in a few hits. They have a massive ve attack range and can see you from 100 blocks away.

1
Aim for the tentacles. For some reason, arrows shot at the face will simply pass through the body. It has 10 HP, but may be hard to kill as it can attack from 16 blocks away, making it very hard to hit.
2
Either dodge the fireball or hit it to deflect it. Fireballs are easy to deflect,(be sure to note that you can send backfire charges with your bow too) and can kill a ghast if you hit the ghast with it. Don't count on it though, and still use your bow as your primary weapon.
3
Seeing that ghasts can fly, you will need to build bridges to get to the drop (gunpowder and ghast tears) and experience. Collect them. Also, it is a good choice to build it out of cobblestone, as ghasts' explosions are incapable of destroying it.

Method 13

Method 13 of 18:

The Zombified Piglin

The zombified piglin is also a mob found in the Nether. They travel in groups, carrying menacing golden swords, and are neutral meaning the are friendly until attacked. If you attack one, every zombified piglin around you in a 16 block area will become aggressive and attack you. Zombified piglin can also appear in the overworld, when lightning strikes a pig or around Nether portals. However, this almost never happens. Zombified piglins run faster than you, so get ready to sprint! (For brand new players, sprinting is caused by double tapping w)

1
Look around and note the position of the pigman around you. Attack one with a critical hit.Try fighting in third person view.
2
Get to one side of the pigman. Try not to run around, as this will attract more pigmen. Watch your step, as one miss step can send you plummeting into lava. Zombified piglins are not affected by lava. Do not let them surround you.
3
Run and hit any zombified piglins who are too close. A knockback II enchanted sword is usually better for this, as if you run too far, you will be surrounded. Lead the zombified piglins around in circles, hitting them. Do not wander too far, as you will likely attract other swarms.
4
Kill the zombified piglins one by one. Collect the experience and whatever drops they may leave, like rotten flesh or a gold nugget.

Method 14

Method 14 of 18:

The Enderman

Endermen are tall and black. They can teleport and deal many hearts of damage. Their teleportation allows them to escape any projectile attack. However, they are damaged by any liquid and will usually die in the rain.

1
Spot the enderman. Do not make eye contact with it (hovering the cross in any area above the torso). There are three ways to kill the enderman.
- If you look at an Enderman with a pumpkin on your head, it will not attack. You can put one on your head like any other helmet.
2
Run towards it. Jump and critical hit it, and keep critical hitting it. If it teleports, look for the trail of particles and it will lead you to the enderman, who is most likely behind you. Repeat and kill.
- If you don't have good armor, get some tamed wolves (at least five). Do the first hit as a critical and let the wolves finish it. Feed your wolves after, as they will probably be injured from the enderman's attack.
- Attacking the enderman's feet will not make the enderman teleport. If it does teleport, get to a 2 block high space, as the enderman will not be able to attack you. It is also a good idea to get your back against a wall, so it cannot surprise you from behind. Don't use a bow, or any sort of projectile, as the enderman will just teleport away.
3
Step in water and make eye contact. The enderman will try to teleport to you, but will be damaged by the water and teleport away. Repeat until the enderman is dead.
- You can also make them go away by pressing T and typing in /weather rain to make it rain. They will most likely teleport to another area where it is not raining. This may not work on Endermen that are already hostile.
4
Build a 1x1x2 building, and then attack it. The enderman cannot reach you, therefore, you will not get damaged. Or you can build a pole 4 blocks high and you will be in the range to attack the enderman but the enderman can't attack you as you are not in the range of the enderman's attacks. Watch out for spiders and skeletons, as they may knock you off the pole.
5
Collect the experience and if you are lucky, the ender pearl will drop. To increase that chance, use a sword with the looting enchantment.

Method 15

Method 15 of 18:

The Wither Boss

1
Spawning. Unlike most mobs, the Wither has to be spawned in. The spawning of The Wither is similar to that of an Iron Golem. You will first need 4 pieces of soul sand (found in the Nether) and 3 Wither Skeleton Skulls (obtained by killing multiple Wither Skeletons). Place the 4 Blocks of soul sand in the ground, like you would do for placing Iron blocks while spawning in an Iron Golem. Then put the 3 skulls on top of the "T" like shape. The skulls need to be put on last for The Wither to spawn.
- If you have trouble with the way you spawn, pretend you are crafting something in the air with a 3x3 plate behind it. Put the Soul Sand in the 4, 5, 6, and 8 positions. And after that put the Skulls in the 1, 2, and 3 positions.
2
When the wither is spawned, it will recharge strength and explode. After that, it will fly high in the air and kill any mob (besides other withers) in its path.
3
Shoot arrows or splash potion of healing at the wither's head or body.
4
After the wither's health bar has disappeared halfway, it will have a white, shining cover around it. This means it can no longer be damaged with arrows. The wither will not fly as high as it did before, all you have to do is finish it off with your sword or splash potion of healing.
5
After you have killed it, it will drop a nether star, which you can use to craft a beacon with.

Method 16

Method 16 of 18:

The Silverfish

The silverfish is a small mob that can be found in the portal room of the three strongholds that spawn in your world, or in the extreme hills and extreme hills+ biomes. They spawn from blocks that look like stone, cobblestone, or mossy cobblestone, but are actually spawners in disguise. After you break the spawn block, it will pop out and attack. So will every other silverfish around it as you continue to fight.

1
Prevent attacks. Use your fists to hit the block. If it seems to break too quickly, stop, because there is a silverfish in the block. Another way to tell if there is a silverfish in the block is using the F3 menu. Spawner blocks break a little bit faster than regular blocks. If the block seems to be breaking at a normal rate, you are safe.
2
Place some TNT next to the block and blow it up. This guarantees that the silverfish will not come out.
3
In the event that you are confronted by a swarm, you have four options. Of course, you can try taking them with your iron/diamond sword, but as they are small and fast, this is not recommended to inexperienced players.
- Turn and run. Do not stop until you are a reasonable distance. Block up the way you came with dirt. Return later.
- Or, you could pillar stack 2 dirt blocks up, camp there, and fight them off with a bow or sword.
- Get on high ground (at least 2 blocks high) and place lava below you. This should take care of the silverfish that are chasing you.
- Get on one of the many stairs in the stronghold and pour a water bucket to wash them away. They'll be kept away by the current.
- Do not use splash potions. This will cause you to be swarmed.
- Note that if you decide to attack it with a sword or an other melee weapon, and you take more than one hit to kill it, you will get swarmed. But if it only takes you one hit for you to kill it, you will not get swarmed.
4
Go on through the stronghold. Collect the experience, if there is any.

Method 17

Method 17 of 18:

Multiple Mobs

Sometimes when you are out at night there will be a cluster of mobs around at once.

1
Run from them. Do be afraid or you might die.
2
Do a hit or a critical hit if encountered.
3
Collect the drops. It's best to look around for more mobs while running.

Method 18

Method 18 of 18:

The Ender Dragon

The Ender Dragon is the last of the two boss mobs in the game. It is found in The End Dimension.

1
Get prepared. Get diamond armor and enchant it as best you can with an enchantment table. Get a diamond sword and enchant. Do this with a bow; you will only need one stack of arrows. Get a diamond pickaxe and two stacks of solid blocks. Take a piston and redstone torch. Also take some enchanted golden apples, and some potions.
- It is also worth mentioning that once you enter The End Dimension, you can not go back to the overworld dimension (regular minecraft) back alive without killing it.
- Be prepared to face a lot of Endermen in The End. If you accidental look at one, lets just say it will make matters a lot worse. Wear a pumpkin on your head if you are scared of Endermen, as they will not attack if looked at; but keep in mind it will reduce your field of vision.
2
Go to the End. Use your bow to strike the crystals on top of the obsidian poles. You will need to climb the other poles with iron bar cages with a pole of the solid blocks.
3
Once all the crystals are destroyed, go to the empty bedrock fountain (the portal and egg pedestal.) The dragon will swoop down to the pedestal/portal and spit out ender acid. It may fire ender acid balls at you.
4
Aim for the eyes and kill with your sword. Repeat until it is dead. It will explode and drop a lot of XP. Collect the XP.
5
Take the solid blocks and make a 4x4 block platform around the egg. Make a rail around the whole thing.
6
Stand in front of the egg and place piston facing the egg. Behind the piston or beside it, place the redstone torch.
7
Collect the egg. Jump in the portal and read the story. If you don't want to, press Esc. If on Xbox, press B.
- Also, congratulations! At this point you have technically beat Minecraft, as the whole point of the game is to kill the Ender Dragon.
8
Display the egg and have a party for your victory and invite friends. Have a cake. You must have a cake.

Community Q&A

Question

What weakness does a creeper have?

Community Answer

Creeper weakness is CAT. If a creeper chases you, quickly go near a cat and the creeper will run away.
Question

How can I keep mobs away from my house?

Banana Head

Top Answerer

A question commonly asked from survival Minecrafters! For enderman, put water around your house. You can build a pond or garden with some water in it. Also, make sure all spots in your house are only 2 feet tall; this will prevent enderman from teleporting in. For zombies and creepers, build a wall of dirt or cobblestone, whichever is more accessible, around your house/property. Make the wall about 3 blocks thick to prevent creeper explosions from destroying it. For skeletons, build the wall, but maybe put up some slabs so you are protected from arrows while walking on the wall. For spiders, build a one-block overhang on the outside of your wall. This will prevent the spiders from climbing it.
Question

How do I defeat the Enderman?

Community Answer

The Enderman is tough, but its major weakness is water. The easiest way to kill an Enderman is to stand in shallow water and make eye contact with it. The Enderman will teleport to you, get hurt by the water, and then teleport away. Repeat this to kill the Enderman.

Warnings

When you give an attack make sure you are completely secure from other hidden mobs! Attacking then being jumped on and killed is a seriously bad way to go.

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Do not bring wolves or fight creepers while in third person view, as this usually leads to something bad happening.

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Snow golems can damage only other snow golems or blazes.

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Things You'll Need

An iron sword or better (highly recommended)
If you can't get a sword, use an axe (recommended if sword will do less damage)
A set of iron or higher armor (recommended)
Water bucket (recommended to wash away mobs, solidify lava, or make it over cliffs)
Bow and arrows (recommended)
Tamed wolves (optional)
Food and potions (recommended)
Lava bucket (optional)
Enchanted Items (optional)