Minecraft Legends is the first Minecraft spinoff of its kind. “Minecraft Vanilla” presents a broad sandbox adventure and Minecraft Dungeons delivers something closer to a dungeon crawler. Legends, however, is a new experiment that incorporates real-time strategy game packaged in the child-friendly coating of Minecraft’s blocky polygons. As such, it’s a remarkably different experience compared to anything that the franchise has offered so far. Newcomers to the RTS genre might feel particularly confused with all the systems to keep track of like mobs, structures, and upgrades.
Here are six tips and tricks to help you get started in Minecraft Legends.
6. Fight With Your Mobs, Not Your Sword
Your character is meant to act as a mob manager rather than a fighter. This isn’t an RPG where you power up your unit to do most of the fighting. That’s what your mobs — gaming shorthand for a “mobile object” or non-playable character — are for.
Sic your mobs against enemies and structures and support them where you can. Your unit’s sword doesn’t do much against a gushing onslaught of Piglins, but it can easily fend off stragglers while your mob mows through the bulk of the army behind you. Keep in mind that golems have strengths that you should capitalize on. For example, stone golems excel at smashing structures.
5. Recall Your Units If You Lose Them
You can leap over rivers and climb mountains, but your mobs can’t. More often than not, I find that only a fraction of them are left following me when I arrive at my destination. If you ever lose your units during a trek, build a Spawner for each type of unit and recall them. It’s one of the options that pops up when you interact with a Spawner. This will be especially helpful in the beginning, when you accidentally lose units and only have a set number of them you can spawn.
You can also teleport with your units, which might be helpful for keeping your armies with you if you’re gearing up for an invasion and don’t care about exploring.
4. Build Lots of Walls, Carpenter Huts, and Arrow Towers
Piglins will often attack villages at night, so you’ll need to be ready for midnight defense maneuvers.
You need three key structures to keep your villages protected: walls, carpenter huts, and arrow towers. Build a continuous wall around the entire village, leaving no space for Piglins to creep in. Then, build multiple arrow towers next to the perimeter so that they can attack any Piglins closing in on the village. Carpenter huts repair any damage within their area of effect. Build enough of them that every wall and tower has one to back it up against Piglin attacks.
If you plan on defending the village in person, also be sure to leave some space for Gates so that your character can easily enter and exit the village. This might be less of a problem if you have a more mobile mount like the Brilliant Beetle.
3. Rally the Skeletons, Zombies, and Creepers
Homesteads for Skeletons, Zombies, and Creepers appear on the Minecraft Legends map after you complete the prologue. These guys might be your enemies in Minecraft, but they are your friends in Minecraft Legends. Each of their homesteads should be marked with an icon of the respective character’s face. Mobs should be waiting there for when you need to call them for an invasion.
2. Conquer Piglin Outposts for Prismarine
Prismarine is a crucial material for upgrading your character’s forces. Upgrades include the ability to collect materials like Netherrack, which allows you to create buildable spaces in areas where you usually can’t build (typically in the “badlands” near Piglin bases). Others expand your armies or increase the rate at which the carpenter huts repair buildings, so it’s even more difficult for Piglins to invade villages.
Minecraft Legends marks the main Piglin bases on your map. However, even defeating smaller outposts will net you some Prismarine. Take any opportunity you can to fight Piglins so that you can collect Prismarine for upgrades.
If you ever find yourself cornered, don’t be afraid to retreat! There’s always next time.
1. Don’t Forget to Explore the Map!
Many points of interest will appear on the Minecraft Legends map after you complete the prologue, including the Brilliant Beetle mount and locations for Piglin bases. However, those aren’t the only places you should explore. You should constantly restock on materials like wood, stone, and iron whenever you can. Might as well keep an eye out for chests and use your Banner of Courage to rally random critters you find in the wild.
Minecraft Legends is now available on Xbox Game Pass or for purchase on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.
