Minecraft has been drawing in a lot of new players recently. With the announcement of the Caves and Cliffs update and the player character Steve joining Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it's safe to say that Minecraft is as relevant as ever. With how much content there is, it can be hard for new players to know everything that they can do in this voxel sandbox survival game.

In Minecraft, players spawn into an infinite world where the only real goals are the ones the players set for themselves. For both new and returning players, the game may seem incredibly massive, with a huge arrangement of items to craft, mobs to fight, biomes to explore and blocks to mine. Whether you're returning to the game or loading up your first world, here are some tips, tricks and strategies to help you get the most out of Minecraft.

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World Settings and Difficulty

One of the first things most players are going to be faced with are the wide number of options available for their world settings. For a first-time player, it may be a good idea to stick to the default settings, with the exception of difficulty. By default, the game creates new worlds with the Normal difficulty setting. This can be changed at any point in game, so if the game is a bit too much of a challenge on Normal, players can easily swap it down to Easy or even Peaceful (which will prevent hostile mobs from spawning) to have an easier experience while learning the game.

The differences between difficulty settings are mainly noticeable in regards to mob damage. For example, a player could survive a creeper's explosion on Easy, but on Normal and Hard, that same explosion would kill a player at full health. Another difference to keep in mind is that on Easy and Normal, an empty hunger bar will only bring the player down to half a heart. On Hard, however, an empty hunger bar can lead to the player's death.

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What to Do on Day One

On a new, fresh world, a player will find themselves at their spawn point. This is different world from world, so a player should take a few minutes to explore the surrounding area. Keep in mind that until a player builds a bed, they will always respawn at their original spawn point. A few essentials of survival to keep an eye out for are coal, trees for tools, and friendly animal mobs such as cows and pigs for food.

Coal is extremely useful early on, and you'll need a pickaxe to mine it. Without one, the block will simply break without yielding any resources. Coal can be used to create torches and to fuel furnaces that smelt ore and cook food.

When it gets close to night time, the sky will darken, and hostile mobs will spawn. It's usually a good idea to have some kind of house or base built by this point with torches to provide light and prevent mob spawning. If there isn't enough time to get a house built, players can also find natural caves or a village to set up in for the night. There's also the option of simply digging into the ground or the side of a mountain for shelter.

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Use the Recipe Book

One of Minecraft's newer features is the Recipe Book, which is the green book icon in the crafting menu located to the left of the crafting grid. Clicking on the book will open a list of every discovered crafting recipes in the game and show the player what they can currently craft. Craftable items and blocks will be surrounded by a white border, while uncraftable recipes will be highlighted by red.

The recipe book is a great tool for new players, since it organizes Minecraft's different blocks and items by function. It also shows players items that they'll need to craft things, which can help give the player a sense of direction and goals. New players shouldn't be afraid to check the recipe book from time to time if they're stuck on what to do next.

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How to Fight Mobs

Learning how to fight different mobs is important, as some of them drop key resources needed for essential items. The hostile mobs that spawn on the surface include zombies, skeleton archers, Endermen, Creepers and spiders. Zombies are fairly easy to fight, though it is important to keep in mind that they have a larger detection range than most mobs, and they will spawn in increased numbers if a zombie is hurt. Spiders are fast, but still manageable as long as the player remembers that they can climb up walls.

Skeletons, Endermen and Creepers often give new players the most trouble. It's usually a good idea to avoid looking at Endermen, as they will only attack if the player puts their crossair over them. However, Endermen can be easily dealt with by attacking them quickly. This will stun-lock them, preventing them from teleporting away and getting the jump on the player. Endermen drop Ender Pearls, an important end-game item used to access a dimension known as The End, so learning how to kill them is important.

Creepers should be fought by sprinting at them, hitting them with a sword and immediately backing up. The knockback from a player's attack should keep them from detonating, and even if they do, the player should be outside of their explosion range. Bows are a good weapon to use against Creepers, since hitting them from a distance will keep them from detonating.

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Skeletons are tricky, as they can easily stun-lock an approaching player with their arrows. The way to tackle skeletons is to run around them while approaching them, taking advantage of the pause between their attacks to get in a few hits. Another easy way to deal with skeletons is by crafting a shield once you've found iron.

Strip Mining

Strip mining is a classic Minecraft strategy that even people who haven't played since Alpha may know about. Strip mining is a great way to maximize the amount of resources found underground while avoiding the dangers of spelunking. To strip mine, simply dig down a few layers and then dig a 2x2 or 3x3 mineshaft in a single direction. When looking for diamonds, the player should mine down to layer 12 before strip mining. To check the current layer, simply hit F3 on PC or Fn+ F3 on Macs. There's a lot of information on this screen, but players should pay attention to the second number after the "XYZ" on the left side of the screen,

This method should yield a higher amount of ores like iron and diamonds due to layer 12 having a greater chance of spawning ore. Remember that ores rarely every spawn as one single block, so always check the surrounding area for more. Additionally, always keep in mind the golden rule of Minecraft: never dig straight down, and never dig straight up.

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