The most useful Things in Minecraft

When playing Minecraft everyone will have their own opinion of what items they deem most useful. Here are just some of the things I have found to be the most useful along my Minecraft Journey.

Crafting table

Starting off with something essential! A crafting table is needed to craft most items in the game. It is without a doubt that you cannot progress in Minecraft without a crafting table so, therefore deemed MOST USEFUL block in Minecraft. That 3 by 3 grid is your saviour! Tools? Weapons? Armour? No problem! The crafting table has you covered in all endeavours.

Bed

The bed is needed to sleep through the night to avoid dangerous mobs such as zombies, skeletons, and phantoms. It is also your re-spawn point if you die. If you do not set a re-spawn point on a bed you will re-spawn where you first started when you loaded the world. Most people like to have a home base where they go to sleep and, will end up there if things happen to lead to an early demise (not including hardcore mode). Others like to walk around with a bed and sleep on the move or change their re-spawn point when they know that they need to be close to something in case they die. An example would be when fighting the Ender Dragon, the player might put their bed close to the end portal so if they die, they can get back quickly. Remember not to break your bed as it will destroy your re-spawn point.

Torches

It gets very get dark at night or when mining so, of course torches work very well to light up the area. That way you are not walking around unable to spot the zombie walking behind you. Torches also stop mobs spawning in the area for up to 7 blocks, this means you can spread torches out 15 blocks away from each other and the area will be fully lit. If you are still in early game and have yet to come across any coal to make your torches, there is a way to make charcoal that will work in the same way. Simply use a furnace; put wood planks in as your fuel and burn a wood log to make charcoal.

Cobblestone

Ghasts cannot blow up cobblestone which is why it is such a good building block when travelling through the Nether. It is one of the most obtainable blast resistant blocks making it useful for protecting your nether portal, so it does not get destroyed, leaving you unable to return to the over world.  It is also just a great building block and gives you the ability to make stone tools that will allow you to collect iron.

Diamonds!

The most desirable and second most durable ore in the game, Netherite being the most durable. Diamonds are perfect for tools, and armour. They're rare and we are always searching for them. Diamonds spawn at level 12 or lower, try and use an enchanted fortune pickaxe to get the most out of them. A fortune 3 pickaxe could get you up to 4 diamonds from one ore! Diamonds also give you the ability to craft rare and fun items within the game, such as an enchantment table and a jukebox.

Enchantment table

Used for enchanting books, tools and armour to give you buffs. In order to get the most out of your enchantment table you will need 15 bookshelves surrounding it; this will make the enchantment table level 30 meaning you can get higher level enchantments such as Unbreaking III (3), which is the maximum level for this enchantment. You can put enchantments onto books to use later on tools, weapons, and armour by using an anvil, or you can place the enchantment directly onto the item through the enchantment table. Enchantments are not free; experience points and Lapis Lazuli are needed for the exchange.

Packed ice and a boat

Placing down packed ice and travelling across it by boat is one of the fastest ways to travel in Minecraft. It will take time to build the track that you use but, it will make getting from point A to point B and back so much faster. This is all very helpful when you do not have access to an elytra and fireworks. If mobs spawn on your ice track it can completely halt your speedy boat ride. A good way to avoid mobs spawning on your ice walk is to place torches down around it, slabs also stop mobs from spawning. The torch rule does not apply to Pigmen so if you build ice travel in the nether then they may still spawn in your way.

Shulker Box

This is a craftable item. Made from the shells of the hostile mob Shulkers, located within The End amongst The End cities. You can recognise them easily by their purple shells and loud ‘spitting’ like noises. These mobs can be tricky to deal with as they can hit you with their guided projectiles. You can block with a shield or hit them with a sword, but if one does hit you, you will start levitating upwards. When the effect runs out and you are too high, you could fall to your death. Make sure you have some slow falling potions on you to avoid any risk. If you manage to kill the Shulker, they can drop Shulker shells, with this you can craft a Shulker box. Simply place 1 Shulker shell on the top and bottom of the crafting table grid, with a chest in the middle. Shulker boxes are useful as they store items like ordinary chests except when you break them the items wont spill out. Instead you will be able to pick up the Shulker box and the next time you place it down to use it, all the items you put in there before will still be there. It is a great tool for transporting items around. A Shulker box has 27 item slots, your pockets also hold 27 slots, meaning you can have up to 729 stacks of items on you, not including what is in your hot bar or off hand. Just for style points, and maybe some form of organisation, Shulker boxes can also be dyed different colours.

Villagers

As annoying as villagers are, since the 1.14 update they were given professions, making them more useful as their trades are valuable. Especially Librarians who can trade enchanted books. To get a librarian villager you need a lectern. From there you can change the enchanted book  that they trade by simply breaking the lectern so that the villager forgets their job and then placing it down again so that the trade item changes, you can do this as many times as you like. Only thing to note is that as it gets later in the day the villager will not want to switch their profession, but you can continue doing the same thing the next day when they forget their job. It is very useful since if you are looking for a specific enchantment book like Mending. You can keep changing the villagers trade till you find it, this may take some time. Once you trade with them the trade will lock meaning you can come back at any time to trade for the same item. Protect your villagers! They are easily killed by hostile mobs so try to stay away from the village at night or make sure you are always asleep when it's dark.