Minecraft Beginner Guide: Your First 10 Days in Survival

Short answer: survive the first night, then spend each day on one goal: food, then iron, then a real base. Players who try to do everything at once usually die in a cave with a full inventory.

#Day 1: Wood, tools and a shelter

Break logs from the nearest trees until you have about 20. Turn some into planks, craft a crafting table and then a wooden pickaxe. Use it to mine a few cobblestone blocks and upgrade straight to stone tools: pickaxe, axe and sword.

Before the sun sets, dig into a hillside and close the entrance behind you. A 2x3 room is enough. Place a torch if you found coal; if not, make charcoal later by smelting logs.

#Days 2 and 3: Food and a bed

Food stops you from starving and lets you heal. The fastest safe sources are:

• Animals: cows, pigs, sheep and chickens. Cook the meat in a furnace.
• Wheat: break tall grass for seeds, then plant them next to water.

Find three sheep for wool and craft a bed. Sleeping skips the night and sets your respawn point, which is the single biggest safety upgrade in the early game.

#Days 4 to 6: Iron

Iron ore shows up as stone with beige spots. Look in cave walls and exposed cliffs. You want about 24 ingots for a full set of tools and armour, plus a few spare for a bucket and shield.

#Safe mining rules

1. Never dig straight down.
2. Carry a water bucket once you have one: it saves you from lava and falls.
3. Light up caves behind you so you can find the way out.

#Days 7 to 10: Base and the Nether

Build a base near your farm with a chest room, a few furnaces and a crafting area. Then look for obsidian or make it by pouring water on still lava. Ten obsidian blocks and a flint and steel open a Nether portal, which unlocks blaze rods, quartz and the rest of the game.

#Common beginner mistakes

• Leaving the shelter at night without armour.
• Mining diamonds with a stone pickaxe, which drops nothing.
• Forgetting where your base is. Write down your coordinates.