One of the well-known features of Minecraft are the mobs. Mobs are living entities in the game which add to your gameplay. Some mobs you will commonly encounter such as pigs, sheep, chicken, and cows. These mobs are friendly, and killing some will cause them to drop items like food or leather or wool, and you will need them to survive.
However, Minecraft is commonly known for its unfriendlier mobs, or monsters. Now, these creatures can alter your gameplay in another way. Monsters spawn where there is no light and generally appear at night. The list of monsters includes zombies, skeletons who shoot arrows, giant spiders, tall and frightening endermen, and exploding green creatures known as creepers. These mobs have the ability to kill you if you don’t kill them first. Killing these mobs will make them drop items like rotten flesh, bows and arrows, teleportation orbs, string and eyes, gunpowder, carrots, or even the occasional head.
Basic Passive Mobs
Chicken: Once killed, chickens do not give as much XP as other animals due to their small amount of health and size (possess only 2 hearts of health, 4 health points). They will drop raw chicken which you will need to cook to raise your food bar, and feathers which you can use to craft arrows and book+quill. When not killed, they will drop eggs which can be used for cake and spawning other chicken on command. They follow you when you hold seeds and mate when two nearby have eaten them.
Pigs: These creatures, like chicken, are harmless and do not drop as much XP as a monster would, but drops more than the little mob. They possess only 5 hearts of health (10 health points) and drop pork which may be eaten raw or cooked, which the latter would add more to your health bar. To get them to follow you, you need only hold carrots, and when you feed two in the vicinity of each other these carrots, they will mate and make an offspring. Unlike chickens, you can put a saddle on pigs and ride them. To control where they go, you must be holding a crafted carrot on a stick.
Cows: When you kill a cow, a cow may drop raw beef and/or leather (5 hearts of health, 10 health points). The rule for beef is like chicken and pork-you can eat it raw, but to get more regeneration on your food bar, you should cook it. Leather can be used to craft leather armor (the least effective armor, but better than nothing) or books which can be used for crafting bookshelves and enchantment tables, or used to store enchantments for items. Right clicking a cow when holding a bucket is the equivalent of milking it, and the bucket will fill up with milk. Milk can be drunk or used to make cake and cannot be placed on the ground like lava or water. To make a cow follow you, you must hold wheat and to make two mate, you must feed them both wheat as well, which will make them produce a baby cow. A special variation of cows is the Mooshroom, which is found in a mushroom biome and produces beef, mushrooms, and milk.
Sheep: These friendly creatures possess only 4 hearts of health (8 health points). Killing them will make them drop one wool block, whereas shearing them with shears will give you 1-3 blocks. Some sheep are different colors like white, gray, and black, or many other colors which can manually be altered with dyes. You may also dye white wool blocks to be any of 16 different colors . Wool is used to craft beds, which can be slept on to pass through the night quickly. To make a sheep follow you, you must hold wheat and, like cows, feed two wheat to have them mate and produce a lamb.
Basic Hostile Mobs (Monsters)
Spiders: One of the first monsters you’re sure to see is a spider, which is a little larger in size than a real life one (unless you live in Australia). There are two kids of spiders: the generic spider and the cave spider. Both kinds of spiders will drop spider eyes and string, but cave spiders can poison you, causing your health to deteriorate. Spider eyes can be eaten (which you really shouldn’t do) or used for potions, and string can be used to craft wool, bows, fishing rods, or can be placed on the ground to make a tripwire. Spiders have 8 hearts of health (16 health points) and have varying attack strengths depending on what difficulty level you’re playing on. During the day, an un-angered spider will become neutral and will not attack you unless you attack it. Skeletons can be seen riding spiders on occasions, which is referred to as a “Spider Jockey”.
Creeper: The staple of Minecraft is the face of a creeper, which is one of the most annoying things about the game in my opinion. This monster is practically soundless, which makes it easy for it to sneak up on you. Creepers blow up and are completely hostile. They will not attack you, per say, but they will blow up anything that isn’t bedrock or obsidian. They are not easy to kill, due to their combustive tendencies, but when they are, they can drop gunpowder. Gunpowder can be used to craft TNT, fire charges, firework stars, firework rockets, and can be brewed into potions to make them splash (throw-able).
Skeletons: These pesky monsters are another well-known part of the Minecraft experience. Skeletons are hostile mobs who shoot arrows at equally hostile entities (usually you, the player). Upon killing them, Skeletons may drop bones, arrows, and bows. Bones can be used to tame wolves (a neutral entity that is found usually in packs in forests, and once tamed will follow you around) or can be crafted into bonemeal which can speed up the growth of crops. Arrows can be fired using bows and can be crafted using feathers, sticks, and flint. Skeletons can, on occasion, be seen riding spiders, which is referred to as a “Spider Jockey”. A special kind of Skeleton is a Wither Skeleton, which is found within the Nether in a fortress. A Wither Skeleton can deteriorate your health with a hit of their sword.
Slimes: Slimes are like a hydra-when you kill a large form of it, it will split into three more. However, the smaller they get, the less damage they can do. When you kill the smallest form of slimes, they will drop slimeballs which can be used to craft sticky pistons.
Zombies: The last of the common monsters is a Zombie. This mob makes a disgusting moaning and gurgling sound and can knock down a door with time. Killing them will make them drop rotten flesh and, on occasion, a carrot. If they kill you, they can take your armor and sword if you possess them when you die.
Those are the most common mobs in the game that you will encounter, though there are many more out there and a few more to come in future updates (i.e. horses, which I know practically nothing about except that there will be zombie horses and skeleton horses and they will drop leather when killed and can be saddled). I hope this helped you in your gameplay, especially if you are a newer player!
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