Stand Your Ground

Sooner or later something comes at you — a Brigand in the dark, a Bear in the woods. Running works, but sometimes you have to turn and fight. Here's how to win.

Make a weapon

Anything beats your bare fists (which barely scratch). At your crafting table:

A sword is your best fighter — two of a material stacked above a single stick. A stone sword is a fine start; an iron sword (once you've smelted some iron) is better still.
No sword to hand? Your axe actually hits harder than a sword of the same material — it feels a touch slower, but it's a brilliant backup.

Keep your weapon selected in your hotbar.

How to fight

Point at the mob and left-click to swing. You reach about three blocks.
Let each swing land before clicking again — there's a short cooldown, so frantic clicking doesn't help.
Every hit knocks the mob back a little. Sprint into your swing for a bigger shove — handy for keeping a charging Brigand at arm's length.

The big trick: jump-hits

Swing while you're falling — jump, then hit on the way down — and it's a critical hit, about one-and-a-half times the damage. Jump in, crit, step back. It's the difference-maker in a tough scrap.

Stay alive

You have ten hearts. Keep half an eye on them.
Keep your hunger up. When your hunger bar is nearly full, your hearts slowly heal on their own. Let it run empty and the healing stops (and then the hurting starts). Carry cooked food and eat between fights.
Pick your ground. Put your back to a wall so a pack of Hyenas can't get all the way around you, and thin them out one at a time.
Bears hit hard and take a while to drop — keep your distance and lean on knockback, or pepper them with a bow and arrows from range if you've made some.

A word on armour

Proper armour — helmet, chestplate, leggings, boots — soaks up a chunk of every hit, and you can craft and wear it right now. Shape leather, iron, diamond, or Satori at your crafting table (the recipe book shows you each piece's pattern), then open your inventory, click a piece to pick it up, and click its armour slot to put it on. The more you've got equipped, the less damage gets through.

(The full rundown — materials, exact damage-reduction numbers, and special perks like Rubber Boots' sprint boost — is in docs/player-guide/armour.md and the Wiki.)

🎉 You did it

You can handle yourself now. Most things out there would honestly rather not tangle with someone who's mastered the jump-hit.

→ Next: Tame a Wolf — get yourself a friend who fights on your side.

Every mob — how tough it is and what it drops — is in the Wiki.