If you have ever spent enough time painstakingly building a base you are proud of in Minecraft Hardcore Mode, then you have probably felt the cold sting of loss that accompanies your final moments as the world is viciously ripped apart around you. The monstrosities of Minecraft all have their individual quirks, making defending against all of them a tall task. Building a defensible base is the most vital step you can take towards surviving in such a harsh world.
Have you ever had your door torn down by a group of vicious Zombies? They let all the other baddies in with them! By following these incredible base building tips for Minecraft, you’ll never have to worry about finding another Creeper in your home again.
You can build a base that defends itself with nothing more than these nine clever building tricks.
Find the Perfect Spot to Build Your Minecraft Base
Before you begin building your base, it is important to consider where to make it. Digging into the side of a mountain may sound like a good idea and all, but the shadow of that mountain could harbor untold dangers that catch you unaware. Building on top of a mountain would be nice and safe, but you would have to climb up and down every time you wanted to accomplish something away from home.
When looking for a place to settle down, it is a good idea to search for wide-open areas, like:
On top of a Hill (Plateaus are particularly nice)- Near the Ocean
- The bottom of a Valley
- The Plains
- Completely Underground
- An Entire Island
It is also not a bad idea to settle down near the edge of a few biomes if you can help it, though it is not as important as finding a defensible position. There are a few places that are important to avoid when building your base:
- Dense Forests
- Under a Mountain
- Under Huge Natural Structures
- Anywhere with excessive amounts of shade
If there are trees near where you want to build, cut them all down. Living under the shade of anything only increases your chances of being blindsided when leaving your house. Bring out the sun and let it burn away the remnants of that night-time partying!
Build Your Base With Resistant Materials
As tempting as wood is for building in Minecraft, it should never be used as the main material for your home. This may seem like a no-brainer if you are playing on an SMP server with other people, but there are plenty of natural dangers in the world that won’t hesitate to destroy all of your efforts if they can find a point of weakness.
Home base with a Cobblestone protective shell.
Cobblestone is an excellent base material to use early on, despite being rather ugly. It will not catch on fire when lightning decides to strike your home, and Creepers will have a hard time trying to blast it away. Double the walls up for extra blast protection!
The hole you are hiding in to safely build your base is easy enough to quarry stone from as needed. You could even elect to connect your hidey-hole to your base for use as a custom mineshaft later on.
Line Your Minecraft Base With Glass Panes
Put windows around the entire perimeter of your base. Being aware of the environment you’re about to step out into is crucial. You could save yourself entirely from the next Creeper hug if you are aware of it.
Spiders attempting to climb the heights of your house are utterly thwarted simply by Glass Panes
It is even better if you make your windows out of Glass Panes, which are thin and do not take up the full space of the block. Spiders attempting to climb the heights of your house are utterly thwarted simply by Glass Panes, effectively eliminating the need for a lip on your roof.
Putting a lip on your roof only encourages monsters to hide under it. Make those beasties search for their own shade, don’t make their lives easier!
Place Plenty of Torches
You may think your base has enough light, but what will you do when you round a corner to come face to face with a Skeleton who managed to take over your house while you were away? Nobody wants to come home to a monster in their bed.
A monster can spawn as near as 7 blocks away from a single torch. If you think about it, that really isn’t that far away. To keep the baddies on the outside, just make sure you place your torches within about 7 – 14 blocks of each other in any given direction.
It might also be wise to surround the outside of your base with well-spaced torches to keep the monsters from spawning too close to your home!
Keep Out Zombies!
If you are playing Minecraft in Hardcore or on Hard Difficulty, you’ll have noticed that Zombies can bust down your door in a moment’s notice. There are a few things you can do to get around this.
- Craft an Iron Door and put Buttons on either side.
- Use extendable Pistons as a doorway.
- Build a patio and close it off with a Fence Gate
- Put a Wooden Door in sideways so that ‘opening’ it really closes it.
A few fence gates protecting a Minecraft Hardcore home from Zombies.
So it really seems like Zombies are only capable of breaking down ‘closed’ wooden doors. For some unknown reason, Zombies refuse to attack Fence Gates either, so staying behind a few of those seems to keep you well away from harm. Of course, if neither of those methods suit your fancy and you’re still too cheap for an Iron Door, Pistons are always a nice substitute.
Dig Out a Secret Escape Tunnel
There are times when the monsters surround your base and you absolutely need to get away. In these cases, the only way out is a secret escape tunnel. These invaluable corridors lead you well away from the baddies around your base and pop you out far enough away to avoid earning their attention again.
This tunnel could also be used as an alternative entrance to your base, but you should hide it well and cover it up with the likes of a trapdoor. You could even expand your singular escape tunnel into an entire network of tunnels, for getting around under the monsters’ radar. If you want it to feel more personal, hide the secret entrance to your escape network with Sticky Pistons.
There is no reason for your base not to have an escape tunnel — its miles better than charging out screaming “Leeroy Jenkins”!
Build a Bunker Anyplace You Frequent
No matter where you go, the Minecraft world is extremely hostile. If you plan on revisiting an area in the world again and again, it’s probably a good idea to build a secondary base there, complete with all the essentials.
Every bunker should come with at least a bed and a small farm. Anything else is purely up to personal preference. You could even choose to connect them directly to your base using the tunnel network, though I suggest using signs as well to make sure you know where you’re going.
Defend Your Minecraft Base – Build Golems!
Iron Golems are usually seen protecting Villagers, but building one near your own home could keep the land clear of the regular baddies of the night. They aren’t fond of hugs though and won’t approach a Creeper if their life depended on it. They can’t regenerate health on their own and are easily overwhelmed if a lot of beasties are out that night. It’s probably a good idea to keep a few near the house just in case.
On the other hand, Snow Golems are vastly superior at protecting your base from baddies, so long as your biome doesnt melt them. On their own, Snow Golems don’t do any damage to enemies — but they push them around with Snowballs on rapid-fire. If you leave a couple of Snow Golems to guard a long bridge with a moat of lava at the bottom, you can just watch and laugh as the monsters get pushed to their fiery death below.
Be careful about putting the two types of Golems too close together, though — they will attack each other!
Cats are Better Than Wolves
Not that Wolves aren’t useful, they are — but Cats are better. While the tamed Ocelot may not actually attack anything, it has one special trait that makes it stand out above all the rest: Creepers are allergic to them!
Those green, hug-loving, arm-less Creepers will do anything it takes to keep away from a Cat — even sacrificing the chance at a hug from the Player. There is no better way of explosion-proofing your house than to surround your base with Cats. Be the secret cat lover you are and make your own cat videos of those silly kitties chasing away Minecraft‘s most infamous green beastie.
Whatever you do, don’t die!
So long as you don’t make any unmindful mistakes like digging straight down or trying to jump over uninspiring gaps in the floor, you will be just fine. What is there not to love about a cozy home base that defends itself? It’s a lovely respite from the rest of that empty world. Make a Village while you’re at it.
With these new base building tips for Minecraft under your belt, you will never have to worry about any surprise attacks inside or nearby your house again.
Do you have any base building tips that we may have missed? Share in the comments below!
Published: Apr 17, 2015 06:00 pm