How to survive longer in Minecraft 1.18 Hardcore mode

Hardcore Minecraft is one of the hardest modes the game has to offer (Image via Minecraft)
Hardcore Minecraft is one of the hardest modes the game has to offer (Image via Minecraft)

Minecraft Hardcore mode is extremely challenging, as the name would suggest. Hardcore only exists on Java Edition, though Bedrock players can mirror the game mode. In Hardcore, the world only exists as long as the player stays alive. Once they die, it's all gone. Everything they worked on gets deleted.

Since that's the case, it's beneficial to stay alive as long as possible. Here are a few tips on how to do that.


Minecraft 1.18 Hardcore: Tips on surviving longer in one of the toughest game mode

1) Avoid mountains

Mountains in 1.18 are taller than ever. That also makes them more dangerous than ever. Climbing them is fun, but being knocked off by a goat or freezing in the powdered snow is not something hardcore players want to experience. Mountains should be generally avoided.


2) Crouch when mining

Hardcore mode deletes the world when players die (Image via Minecraft)
Hardcore mode deletes the world when players die (Image via Minecraft)

Unless 'Keep Inventory' is turned on, players should always crouch when strip mining. Mining a random block could give way to a lava pool, and an uncrouched player will fall right in. That would be a terrible way to lose a world.


3) Sleep every night

Death means game over (Image via Minecraft)
Death means game over (Image via Minecraft)

Some hostile mobs drop loot that is necessary to make progress. However, that should be the minimum for fighting hostile mobs. If it's not 100% necessary, Minecraft players should go to sleep immediately and skip the hostile mobs altogether.


4) Don't run and jump too much

Minecraft players usually run and jump to get places faster, but that opens them up to possibly landing in a hole. This is especially true for the 1.18 update, since now, at any moment, a hole to Y level -64 could appear.


5) Going out adventuring is fun but dangerous

Lost items don't matter when it's hardcore (Image via Minecraft)
Lost items don't matter when it's hardcore (Image via Minecraft)

Some adventuring is necessary and makes the game more fun, but unfamiliar territory can lead to some of the circumstances above, so it's just not in Minecraft players' best interest to do that in a Hardcore world.