Hold a Looting III Golden Sword (cheap and lightweight) in your off-hand while attacking mobs with your main-hand weapon. You get the full Looting bonus on drops without using your primary slot—perfect for mob grinders or XP farms.
Instead of the minimal 30-block prismarine frame (63-block range), use 42 blocks in a full cross pattern for a massive 96-block range. This covers huge underwater areas for breathing, mining fatigue, and drowning damage—ideal for ocean monuments or bases.
Plant different crops in alternating rows (e.g., wheat next to potatoes/carrots). This removes the growth penalty from adjacent same-type crops, doubling the speed—no extra light or bone meal needed.
Build a piston contraption to shove yourself into a composter (or similar 1-block space). It compresses your hitbox for peeking into caves below floors or walls without breaking blocks—great for spotting ores or lava safely.
Sweet berry bushes prevent mobs (and players) from jumping while touching them and deal constant damage. Drop enemies in for inescapable traps—farms, PvP arenas, or zombie-proof fences on a budget.
Break full or empty shulker boxes with your fist—they always drop as items intact. (Ender chests require Silk Touch; this trips up many players.) Portable storage without wasting enchantments.
The best level for finding diamonds and redstone ore is Y=-59, just above bedrock. Dig down using a staircase, then create long 2-block-high, 1-block-wide tunnels branching off every 2-3 blocks to maximize ore exposure while minimizing unnecessary digging.
Space your branch tunnels so their centers are 3 blocks apart (leaving 2 blocks of stone between them). This reveals about 80-90% of blocks in the area efficiently, balancing speed and thoroughness—closer spacing (every 2 blocks) is more thorough but slower.
Lava lakes are common around Y=-54, so always have a bucket of water ready. Pour it on lava to turn it into obsidian, creating safe barriers and preventing deaths from falls into lava pools.
Place torches every 5-8 blocks, ideally on the same side (e.g., right wall) of your tunnels. This prevents hostile mob spawns, improves visibility, and helps you navigate back by following the torch pattern.
A Fortune III enchantment can yield up to 4 diamonds from a single ore block, while Efficiency V (boosted by a Haste II beacon if possible) speeds up mining dramatically. Silk Touch is great for moving ore blocks to explode later with TNT.
Stock up on food, blocks (for emergency pillars), iron/diamond armor, a sword, and a bed to set your spawn nearby. Always staircase or pillar down to avoid void falls, caves, or lava—use F3 (Java) to monitor your Y-level precisely.