Minecraft Guide

You don’t have to use tools in Minecraft. You could just punch trees and dirt and stop there. But you’d be missing out on a lot. Some blocks require an iron or diamond pickaxe to mine. You need a shovel to make paths and a hoe to till ground to grow crops. In other words, tools are required to succeed in Minecraft.

But you don’t need every tool all the time–leave the tilling tools and the enchantment table back at your base when you’re out exploring, but make sure you don’t leave home without a map. We’ve broken the most important tools of Minecraft down into a few discrete categories so that you know which tools you’ll need and when.

Tool Crafting Materials Ranked From Worst to Best

The first part of getting the right tools is knowing what to make them out of. The same way that a squeaky clown mallet isn’t great for construction work in real life, a soft golden sword isn’t going to last you long when the hordes come out a night.

• Minecraft Tools Guide – Tool Crafting Materials Ranked From Worst To Best

The Basics for Mining and Building

These are the classics–the tools you’ll almost always want to have on you, from the classic pickaxe on down. These are the first tools you’ll build, and they’ll probably stay in your hotbar from hour 1 to hour 1000.

• Minecraft Tools Guide – Basics Tools For Mining And Building

Navigating Your Way Through Minecraft

It’s hard to build a good base if you can’t find that base. Making sure you know how to get home is at least as important as building that home in the first place.

• Minecraft Navigational Tools Guide – Navigating Your Way Through Minecraft

Tools for Long-Term Settlements

After hunting and foraging comes farming, both in the history of humankind and in the progression of Minecraft. Why hunt down forest beef when you could have sprawling fields of wheat ready to turn into bread and cake?

• Minecraft Tools Guide – Tools For Long-Term Settlements

Tools For Item Maintenance

This is when the grind of Minecraft starts to slow down. Enchanting and repairing tools mean that you can make a piece of hardware last a long time. With the right enchantments, you can even make them last indefinitely.

• Minecraft Tools Guide – Tools For Item Maintenance