Top 8 Minecraft Mistakes Beginners Make (And How to Avoid Them)

If you are just starting out, it's always best to get your hands on the game and make your own way in the process. However, it is not a bad idea to get some advice and do things the right way to make the journey a little bit easier.

You might have read hundreds of tutorials telling you about everything you can do in Minecraft, but it's also important to know what things you should not do. Anyone who’s played the game for a while knows it’s full of hidden mechanics and traps that new players just aren’t ready for. It’s not just about creativity, it’s about learning how not to die in dumb ways.

Do you want to play Minecraft on your own Minecraft server? Get your own Minecraft server via the following link: Minecraft server hosting

After having played this game for decades now, not only have we made multiple mistakes along the way, but we have also learnt not to repeat them moving forward. So we have created this guide to help you avoid all the screw-ups and save time as well as resources along the way.

Mistake 1: Not Building a Shelter Before Nightfall

This might be the most basic one out there, but it needs to be said. One of the most classic beginner’s mistakes you will see around is when you decide not to build a shelter before the night sets in.

If you had started the game without watching any tutorial, then you may not even survive your first night. Everything looks peaceful in the beginning. You start by killing mobs, collecting wood, and exploring. Then, it's the nighttime, and bam, you are dead just like that.

Nightfall isn’t simply a visual change in Minecraft, it is about survival from the deadliest mobs that spawn in the dark, such as Zombies, skeletons, spiders, and creepers. And if you haven’t built even the most basic shelter, you’re a free meal.

We have seen players trying to fight it off with these mobs, but it does not work. Instead, start punching a tree, make a crafting table, and build anything, a dirt box, a hole in the side of a hill, even a trapdoor over a 1-block pit. It doesn’t need to be pretty. It just needs to keep you alive.

Well, if you have no resources at all, simply dig a hole, cover yourself entirely, and wait it out. That is all you need to do to survive before you can build a proper base.

Mistake 2: Mining Straight Down

We all have been there. One of the biggest mistakes you can make in the game is mining straight down. You might start off with mining for gold, diamonds, or maybe just bored and digging, and before you know, you have a sudden encounter with lava, water, caves, and even gravel.

For example, in my first few weeks, I did the same, and after mining a few blocks down, there was lava everywhere. Not only did I lose my entire set of armor, but I nearly died. Mining straight down feels faster and more efficient, but it is not worth it at all.

The best method here is to build a staircase and dig your way through it. Make sure to place as many torches to keep the mob away. Or you can even dig a two-block shaft where you stand between them and dig one at a time.

That way, if one side opens into danger, you’re still standing on solid ground. Same goes for mining upward, throw down some torches first so you don’t get crushed by gravel or flooded by water.

Mistake 3: Burning Through Rare Resources Too Soon

You might have heard the hype around Diamond armor and weapons, and it is real. They are without a doubt extremely powerful. But where people go wrong is when they rush too quickly in crafting diamond weapons as soon as they get a few in their inventory.

For example, suppose you find a few diamonds while mining, and you immediately think of “I need a diamond sword right now.” So you craft one. Maybe even a shovel, because hey, it looks cool. Then, it breaks. Or worse, you fall into lava five minutes later, and it’s gone forever. This is where you make a huge mistake.

If you know how mining is done and where to look for these resources, it is not that difficult to find. However, as a beginner, they’re limited, and blowing through them before you understand their value can seriously stall your progress.

Instead, you should go for a diamond pickaxe first because it unlocks obsidian, which gets you to the Nether, which opens up a ton of progression. Likewise, don’t sleep on iron tools. They are incredibly resourceful and might do the job just as efficiently in the early stages of the game.

Similarly, if we speak about enchanted books, people use them too early, combining low-level gear with great enchantments. Instead, you need to wait until you have an anvil, good base gear, and know what enchantments pair well together. Don’t waste a Mending book on an iron axe.

Mistake 4: Forgetting To Set A Spawn Point

This has happened with so many of us and continues to do so. But you can avoid it. What we mean is, instead of simply relying on your base as the spawn point, you need to set it up close to your exploration point.

For example, you are navigating the Ancient City and suddenly wake up the Warden. There is no way to run, and you are now dead. And because you didn’t sleep in a bed recently, the game sends you all the way back to where you started the game.

In such situations, you must set up your bed near the Ancient City so that you can come back and complete your journey. This is why a bed is not just a nighttime convenience, it’s a survival tool.

Here are a few things you can consider:

1. Try Sleeping Often: Whenever you establish a new base, temporary camp, or outpost, sleep in a bed to lock your spawn. The game sets your spawn point to wherever you last slept, unless you break the bed or forget to use one.

2. Always carry a bed: Beds are dirt cheap. So, make sure you carry it with you whenever you are out there exploring or going on a dangerous mission. Then, sleep as soon as night hits or before dangerous missions like caving, pillager raids, or Nether runs.

3. What about Nether and End? So we already know that beds explode in the Nether and End dimensions. So, you probably cannot set up a spawn in there. However, the next best thing you can do is set up a bed just outside the portal, which is very helpful.

Mistake 5: Skipping Food and Farming

Many players make the mistake of not paying enough attention to food resources. Early on in the game, if you are running on low fuel and relying entirely on killing a sheep or two for food every time, it is not the right approach.

And if you think farming is something for “later”, you might need to rethink your strategies. A steady food supply is what you need to aim for, something that will keep you in the game for longer. Not only will this help you survive during combats and in the caves, but also once you start exploring caves or the Nether, you’ll be burning through hunger fast.

Here are the things you can do:

1. Don’t entirely rely on hunting every day. Well, for the first few days, when you do not know how things work, you can go about hunting and gathering food. But it is time-consuming in the mid game, hence, you should set up a farm asap.

2. Start a basic crop farm. Other than animals, you can start with a basic wheat crop farm that will give you ample crop for making bread and other food sources.

3. Golden foods like Carrots and Apples are the need of the hour. They serve a special purpose, like grant regeneration and absorption, as well as offering high saturation. You can set up a farm specifically to grow these crops to add to your inventory.

Mistake 6: Poor Inventory Management

Think of a fact when you simply have no space left in your inventory. Or worse, it's filled with things that we don’t necessarily need at any given time. Take an example, you are in a cave mining for Diamonds and your inventory is completely full.

Having such habits only slows you down, wastes your time, and leads to stupid decisions. Some of the common mistakes you might be making are:

• Carrying valuables into dangerous areas with no backup
• Not labeling or organizing chests
• Hoarding issues (if you have a gazillion blocks of dirt that you may need “someday”)

All of the above can be fixed if you take care of a few things mentioned below:

1. Only carry what you need. You must carry a sword, food, building blocks, a pickaxe, torches, and a water bucket with you anywhere you go. Although it depends on where you are heading, the items mentioned above are pretty basic. For example, you will need a lot of cobblestone blocks in the Nether to tackle lava.

2. Set up a sorting system early. Even just a few labeled chests, "Building Blocks," "Ores," "Mob Drops," "Food", etc., can make a huge difference

3. Use Junk Chests. If you haven’t already been doing this, designate two or more chests as Junk chests where you can simply add items that you are not ready to sort yet. It will make organizing easier.

4. Use Ender Chests. They are like your personal vault; anything you stash in one is accessible from any other Ender Chest in the world, just for you. Ender Chests keep your valuables safe even if you fall into lava. It is perfect if you have multiple bases or those who love to explore.

The smarter you play in Minecraft and take care of your inventory, the smoother your gameplay will be in the mid and late game.

Mistake 7: Misjudging Fall Damage

If you're new here, at first glance, it might seem like jumping from any distance would be the coolest thing ever. But this could turn out pretty brutal since Minecraft’s fall damage scales quickly.

Here are a few things people are mistaken about in their early game.

• Many players think “10 blocks won’t hurt”, but anything over 3 blocks starts hurting.
• Late-game gear like Elytras or Feather Falling boots gives false confidence.
• Sprinting off ledges or falling diagonally adds momentum and worsens the fall.

The best way to avoid these and save yourself is:

• Start counting blocks; anything above 23 blocks is fatal.
• A water bucket is your lifesaver; always carry it in your inventory.
• Be careful in the Nether and End dimension; if you fall off in the lava, you are done.
• Don’t forget to equip the Father Falling boots, they are pretty handy.
• Make the best use of Slow Falling Potion. It allows you to fall at a much slower rate and reduces or even negates the Fall Damage

Mistake 8: Ignoring the Coordinates

We all have made this mistake as beginners, where we are completely lost in the Minecraft world. This happens when you are not aware of the coordinates, where you are, and where your base is, and how to even look for it.

This usually happens because of the UI, which feels overwhelming at first. Then, you might often rely on the landmarks around you and your base to help you explore the world, or it could be simply because new players are not aware of how vast the Minecraft world is.

Coordinates are exceptionally important in your entire journey, whether you are in your first week or in the late game. These can help you mark your base’s location, and you can always make your way to it to rest and manage everything. These maps help you find different biomes, mobs, and other structures.

Above all, coordinates are the backbone of mining. Through this, you will know the right location to mine for diamonds and other such resources. To fix this, you need to press F3 to show the coordinates on the screen. Once you get familiar with the XYZ coordinates, you can make better use of how everything works.

Conclusion

Well, Minecraft is no doubt the best game there is, but one wrong move and everything you have built is gone. Although these are mostly beginner mistakes, something we all have done when we first started playing and then learnt our way through.

So, don’t worry, even if you have no idea what you are doing. Keep making mistakes and learning in the process.

Got a funny or painful beginner mistake of your own? Drop it in the comments, or send this to a friend who just installed Minecraft and thinks they’ll “figure it out.” Trust us, they’ll thank you later.

Do you want to play Minecraft on your own Minecraft server? Get your own Minecraft server via the following link: Minecraft server hosting