Here’s all you need to know about traversing caves in the vast world of Minecraft
Developed by Mojang in 2009, Minecraft is a 3D sandbox game that still draws new players to it up to this day. Explore and discover tens of different biomes, each with its own unique charm. The basic premise of the game is pretty simple, you gather resources from the nature to survive. However, the game does make you determined to go out and gather all there is to gather and find all there is to find!
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You actually go about playing Minecraft in two ways; in Survival Mode, you start off with nothing and begin your adventure to gather everything the game has to offer and ultimately kill the Ender Dragon.
And in Creative Mode, you’re given an unlimited amount of each and every resource in the game. Therefore it’s up to you and your imagination to decide where you go from there.
One of the integral parts of Minecraft is mining in caves, as many of the valuable resources you’ll need throughout your journey can only be found deep within caves. So, if you’re here to know what exactly you need to do when traversing caves, then don’t worry, we’ve got your back!
Traversing Caves in Minecraft
With the amount of things in the game, you can pretty easily get confused as to what you need to carry and what you need to do when traversing caves. So, let’s break it down to a few essential points.
Take Plenty of Food Items
It goes without saying that you don’t want to run out of food when you’re 70 blocks below the surface. Not only do you want food to stave off your hunger, you also need food because of the hostile mobs that you’ll definitely be facing in the caves.
And trust us, whether it’s damage from skeleton arrows or from creeper blasts, you want to ensure that you get that health regeneration as quickly as possible by eating something. A stack or two of any cooked food will usually be plenty for one adventure down the caves.
Have Plenty of Free Inventory Space
We know while it might be tempting to carry everything you think you might need down in the mines, it is not a wise thing to do. Soon enough, you’ll find yourself thinking about which items to throw away because of something valuable you found. Inventory spaces fill up pretty quickly due to all kinds of things you’ll be collecting down there.
This includes loots from several different mobs, different kinds of ores, blocks of various sorts, etc. So make sure you have sufficient inventory space when venturing down in caves.
Take Some Kind of Building Blocks
Whether it’s dirt or cobblestone, you want to make sure you have at least a stack of building blocks to get you out of sticky situations. Maybe you want to build a bridge in the caves, or climb up somewhere, or just stay out of the reach of hostile mobs, and building blocks will come in clutch.
Take Your Essential Tools and Items
You need to make sure you have at least your sword and pickaxe when going down in a cave. Also, you might want to craft a spare pickaxe as well, just in case the one you’re using breaks.
Aside from tools, you also want to have plenty of torches to light down the pitch-black caves. One other thing you must carry is a bed. Setting a spawn point every so often ensures that if you die, you’ll be able to retrieve your items quickly.
In addition to your tools and items, ensure that you properly equip yourself with the best armor you can currently make. Because trust me, when you’re surrounded by zombies, skeletons, creepers, and spiders, your 10 unprotected hearts will not last too long.
Take a Water Bucket
Water buckets are absolute lifesavers. We all, at some point, jumped or fell from a high place and died in Minecraft. Water buckets can break your fall if you use them on the ground right when you’re about to hit it. This means you can also use it to quickly scale down a large distance just by using a water bucket to break the fall in the last second.
However, it does take a little bit of skill to pull this off, so make sure you practice somewhere safe before attempting this in a situation where you might die from the fall.
Carry a Milk Bucket
This might seem like an odd one because many don’t really know what a milk bucket is for in Minecraft. Drinking milk in Minecraft removes any and all effects currently active on you. This can be a lifesaver if you encounter any cave spiders, which are indeed poisonous.
Take a Stack of Logs
I feel like this does not get mentioned enough. But logs are a must-have when you’re going anywhere in Minecraft, actually. That’s because you can make planks from logs, which can be used to make all kinds of essential wooden items like ladders, torches, signs, slabs, crafting tables, and whatnot. All of which are absolutely vital to your survival down in the caves.
Do Not Dig Straight Down
This is one of the most fundamental rules in Minecraft. Do not dig straight down, no matter what. Despite being the fastest way to actually go down, it presents itself with life-threatening problems. Because there’s actually a good chance that you’ll fall straight into a lava pool at some point, and you won’t have any way to climb back your straight hole.
Light Up The Cave With Torches
You should light up every cave you go in for primarily three reasons. One, it will prevent more mobs from spawning. Two, you need to be able to see your path and know what path you already took so that you don’t end up running in circles. Three, it’s actually a very good strategy to use torches as breadcrumbs for when you want to come back.
One common trick is to place torches on the right side of the walls when going deeper into the cave so that when coming back, you’ll know which way you came from, as the torches will be on your left.
Proper Enchantments
While enchantments are not a must, having them can be hugely beneficial, especially when you’re going mining. Useful enchantments like Fortune and Mending on your pickaxe, Sharpness on your sword, Protection on your armor, and Power on your bow can make your ventures down in the caves much much safer.
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