19 Minecraft Tricks You May Not Know

With Minecraft constantly Updating, it can be easy to miss out on discovering all the tips and tricks to make your gameplay better and easier.

Here at Pop Up Arcade, we love Minecraft. Whether you’re playing it alone or with friends, there’s always something to do and somewhere to explore, with regular updates ensuring the game stays exciting. Along with regular game updates, there are numerous tricks that can make things a lot quicker and easier, however they’re not all well known.

We’ve put together a list of 19 of the most useful tricks to know in Minecraft – see how many you know about and how many new tricks you can try out the next time you play.

Create temporary air pockets underwater with torches

We’ve all experienced the panic when you’re stuck and need a source of air, fast. Whether you’ve swum too deeply or caused a flood with a mining accident, by placing a torch you can quickly displace a block of water to breathe. In order to make the most of this temporary but vital air, make sure you’re as close to the torch as possible.

Break stacks of sand and gravel with torches

This trick is quite well known, but incredibly useful. If you want to quickly clear a stack of gravel or sand, you can quickly replace the bottom block with a torch and watch as the rest of the stack collapses on top of the torch before breaking apart.

Hold up gravel and sand with torches

As well as destroying sand and gravel, you can also use torches to build it by placing a block on top of a wall-mounted torch, and the sand or gravel will not fall apart. This trick is handy if you for some reason want to build floating blocks of gravel.

Build off the side of torches

Torches are one of the most useful tools you can have in Minecraft – did you know that rather than having to place a new block, you can build off the side of torches instead? Not only does this make a great scaffolding tool for big structures, it helps you to conserve your blocks in you’re running low.

Stop water and lava with ladders and signs

Lava burns and water can be extremely annoying, especially if you’re trying to build something, but there is a way to quickly and simply stop the flow of both so you can focus on other things. Simply put up a ladder or a sign! This trick is particularly good to know if you want to build underwater as it’s a good way to prevent leaks and flooding.

Defeat blazes with snowballs

If you’ve recently spent time in a snow biome, the chances are you have a good number of snowballs in your inventory. Rather than spending your time and resources on a bow and arrows, taking snowballs with you into The Nether is a cheap and effective way of defeating Blazes and helping them to chill out!

Make people sink with Soul Sand

Soul Sand is often used to make people slow down, but if you stand on it, you’ll actually sink a fair bit into the ground. This is good to know if you want to make some cool traps by placing a block three blocks above the ground and Soul Sand in front of it – whoever runs into it won’t be able to move.

Middle click gives you what you’re looking at in Creative Mode

If you like spending time in Minecraft’s Creative Mode, this is a trick you need to know. To collect whatever you’re looking at and put it in your inventory, simply click on the scroll wheel of your mouse. This trick works on everything from grass and leaves to mobs.

Create an infinite water source with just two buckets of water

With just two buckets of water and a trench just three blocks wide, you can create a desirable infinite water source. Pour the water into the trench and collect it as you need it specifically from the middle block. Remember that if you collect it from the side you’ll accidentally destroy it.

Get rid of grass using water

By pouring a bucket of water on grass, it will spread out and take out any grass in its path. This is perfect if you want to tidy things up outside your home or you want a large flat area for a new building project.

Torches are perfect for navigating

If you’ve decided to go and explore a cave, it’s essential that you have a way to navigate your way back out to safety afterwards. One of the easiest ways to do this is to consistently place torches on the right hand side of the cave as you explore. When you decide to leave the cave, all you have to do is ensure that the torches are now on your left so you can easily navigate your way back into the open air.

Make sure you have an air supply underwater

If you want a longer lasting alternative to the temporary source of air we outlined earlier, be sure to keep a bucket in your inventory. Wearing a bucket on your head whilst underwater will give you an air supply whilst you get back to land, so you don’t need to worry about dying.

Fall without fear from large heights

If you need to drop quickly from a large height but you want to avoid injury, keep a bucket of water on you at all times. When the time comes to jump, hold the bucket of water in your hand, look straight below you and rapidly press Left Trigger, L2 / right click as you fall. If you do this correctly, you should find that you’ve landed safely in the bucket of water and avoided injury.

A cheap and easy way to defeat the Ender Dragon

Once again, snowballs are the cheap and easy answer to defeating an enemy, even one as powerful as the Ender Dragon. Not only are snowballs cheap and easy to find, they’re also incredibly easy to use as a long range weapon and shouldn’t be underestimated by any player.

Look at Endermen without making them mad

Wear a pumpkin over your head so you can look at Endermen all you want without them getting aggressive. Additionally, if you wear a pumpkin on your head whilst attacking them, they can’t teleport when they’re hostile, making it easier to fight them.

Easily climb over fences with a ladder

By putting a ladder on the wall, you’ll be able to easily climb over a fence without going through the hassle of making and using a fence gate. You can easily hop back and forth whilst keeping mobs in or out of your fence as they can’t use ladders.

Enjoy quick and easy cooked pork chops

If you kill pigs with fire, you’ll quickly and easily be able to add pork chops to your inventory, saving you considerable amounts of time and effort. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use a flint and steel to light a fire under a pig.

Easily yank mobs towards you

A fishing rod is the perfect way to bring either friendly or hostile mobs towards you to eat or defeat. Simply use Left Trigger, L2 / right click to cast and then again immediately after to pull the mob in.

Catch fish the easy way

If you’ve decided that your minecrafter is in the mood for some fishing, wait until it’s raining. In Minecraft, just like real life, it’s a lot easier to catch fish in wet weather.

Pop Up Arcade’s gaming parties are perfect for the Minecraft fan in your life

Hopefully you’ve learnt a few new tricks to try out and improve your Minecraft experience the next time you log on. Here at Pop Up Arcade, our kids’ gaming parties are the perfect way for you and your friends to celebrate whilst playing an exciting game of Minecraft together, showing each other all the secret tricks and tips you’ve learnt over the years.

For more information about Pop Up Arcade and how our gaming parties ensure a day like no other, call us on 0800 321 3941 or get in touch online today.