Two new guides this week, both about Nether blocks you walk on or build with every day. We also checked ten of our older guides. All ten had real mistakes, and some of those mistakes were about staying safe. They are all fixed now, and this post lists the biggest changes.
New guides
Magma Blocks: The Nether Floor That Hurts covers the glowing blocks in Basalt Deltas and along lava shores. Standing on one costs about one heart a second, but it does not set you on fire. Sneaking, Frost Walker boots and Fire Resistance each stop the damage completely. The guide also explains the whirlpool a magma block makes under water in the Overworld, and why you should swim around it rather than down it.
Crimson and Warped Wood is about the Nether's own wood, which comes from huge fungi, not trees. Its planks, doors and signs do not burn away, which makes it a good choice for a base near lava. It also cannot fuel a furnace, and a fungus only grows into a huge one if you use bone meal and plant it on the right nylium. A wall that does not burn protects your base, not you, and the guide says so.
Corrections
We read those ten guides line by line and checked every fact against the game's reference pages. Here is what we got wrong, with the safety fixes first.
Nether Safety for Younger Kids is our guide for parents, so its mistakes mattered most. It said a bed gives a warning message before it explodes. It does not: the bed explodes straight away. It told parents to teach kids to "freeze" when they hear a Ghast. The Ghast's cry is not a warning, so the better habit is to get behind or under something solid, built from cobblestone or blackstone, because a fireball can break netherrack. It also said there are no Piglins on Peaceful. Piglins are still there, but on Peaceful they stay calm and cannot harm you. And it called a Peaceful Nether "genuinely safe". Lava is still everywhere, so it is not.
Our TNT mining guide is now Mining Ancient Debris Without TNT. The old version had the TNT recipe wrong (it takes four sand, not one), sent kids in with an iron pickaxe to collect ancient debris (it needs diamond or netherite), gave no safe distance at all, and called blasting one of the better teaching moments the game offers. The new guide teaches the calmer way: tunnel at about Y=16 with a diamond pickaxe and keep Fire Resistance as a backup. It explains what TNT does and why it is a grown-up job, without teaching it step by step.
Why Beds Explode in the Nether said a bed blast does about 25 damage up close. On Normal, a player with no armor standing within a few blocks takes roughly 40 to 70, and a whole health bar is only 20. It also called mining with bed blasts a player tradition, with no warning. We do not recommend it. It also said three cobblestone blocks around a respawn anchor were enough. You need a free space two blocks tall beside the anchor, or you respawn at the world spawn instead.
The Ghast Problem said an alcove open at the front is safe cover. It is not: a Ghast at your height can fire straight in. Build a cobblestone shelter with a roof, solid walls and one small window. It also said Ghasts do not hit hard. With no armor, one direct hit can take up to about half your hearts on Easy and most of them on Normal.
Deflect the Fireball told you to stand still and did not plan for a miss. Wear armor, start with full hearts, and stay near a solid block you can duck behind. You hit a fireball the way you hit a mob, not with a right-click, and a sword only reaches about 3 blocks, so wait until it is close.
What to Do When Your Kid Loses Their Diamond Stuff in Lava said diamond items sink in lava and burn within 10 seconds. Any dropped item except netherite is gone the moment it lands in lava, so there is no time to grab it. It also gave Fire Resistance with no time limit. It lasts 3 minutes, or 8 with Redstone.
No Water in the Nether said Fire Resistance stops fire damage "entirely". It does not stop the blast from a Ghast fireball or a Blaze hitting you up close. It also missed a real trick: a cauldron can hold water in the Nether.
Magma Cube Combat said Fire Resistance lets you swim in lava, and told you to fight from a corner. Watch the potion's timer, and fight on flat, solid ground with room to step back. Small Magma Cubes never drop Magma Cream.
Nether Wart Farming called Wither Skeletons "ambiance". Their hit gives you the Wither effect, which drains your hearts. It also said bone meal speeds up Nether wart. It does not work on Nether wart at all.
The History of the Nether had several dates wrong. Fortresses, Blazes and Nether wart came in 2011, not 2010, and Wither Skeletons came in 2012.
If you followed any of the old guides, sorry. We would rather tell you than leave a mistake in place.
See you in the Nether
The world is still there for a quiet walk between the campfires, and the Complete Nether Guide links to most of the guides above.
There is no comments section here and no forum. This weekly post is where the site talks back. If something changes, gets fixed, or gets built, this is where it will be announced first.
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