Everyone has heard of Minecraft, and millions of people have played it. A lesser-known modpack of the game is Skyblock, where the player spawns on a small island with everything they need to create their own world. OneBlock Skyblock goes one step further than that by leaving the player on a single block, floating in the void.
But from this one block emerges every other block in the game, as well as mobs and monsters, leading up to a trip to the Nether, and eventually the Ender Dragon herself. How does so much fun fit into such a small thing, and how do we not die to it along the way? Here are some things to know before starting your adventure on One Block.
Updated September 24, 2022, by Rosa Baumgartl: With the experience we've been having in Minecraft One Block, we've updated this list to include a few more tips and tricks to get the most out of OneBlock Skylblock.
12 What To Expect
The title says it all; one Magical Block in the sky. As you break this block it immediately replenishes itself, often as a different block. This will range from dirt to diamonds, coral to honeycomb, and everything in between. That's not to say you'll be slowly chipping away at random obsidian for the rest of the game if you're unlucky.
The game is set up into 12 stages, beginning with some things to get you started, like dirt and wood, and gravel. It then moves onto Plains, Underground, Winter, Ocean, Jungle, Swamp, Dungeon, Desert, Nether, Plenty, Desolation, and eventually, the End Portal will spawn under the Magical Block. Once the player has freed the End, the Magical Block will continue regenerating indefinitely, but now with totally random blocks popping out. The fun never has to end.
11 Space Is A Luxury
Unlike vanilla Minecraft there is nowhere in this dimension to explore. There are no trees to clear or mountains to terraform, and the player must physically place everything that they want to exist. That means having a lot of suitable building blocks to make your floors out of, and at the beginning those are pretty scarce. Grand and unnecessary builds will have to wait until late game.
Your best bet is wooden planks and lots of them. You'll realize just how painfully slowly trees grow when you're literally watching them, waiting for them to pop up to immediately get chopped down. Make sure to give each tree the room it needs to mature and catch any saplings that may fall. A fancy storage area will have to wait, as you should prioritize keeping up with food production in the first few phases.
10 The End Is Just The Beginning
Upon collecting the materials for a Nether Portal, you might worry that once you get to the other side, you'll be trapped on a tiny island of lava. Or that if you jump into the End Portal that it'll be you and the Ender Dragon, alone on an End island. However, both of these dimensions are unaltered and are as limitless as in vanilla Minecraft. All of your favorite biomes can still be found in the Nether, as well as Fortresses.
End Cities will spawn endlessly; you'll just need a lot of blocks to bridge over the gaps until an Elytra is retrieved. If you need extra space or don't fancy farming the block for a while, then feel free to set up in one of the limitless dimensions instead.
9 Don't Kill The Pig
Blocks aren't the only thing to pop up on your little island. Animals of all sorts will spring to life and be yours to deal with. In the tutorial section of the game, the player is always blessed with a pig. It may be tempting to slaughter it as so far, there's been no food. Resist the urge, and instead, build it a little platform and include a fence. A lot more farm animals will turn up in the Plains phase, but that won't be all.
Later on, it won't be so hard to keep the populations afloat, but until you've got two of each animal on your flying Ark, they need constant supervision as they tend to get themselves killed. And if you get eight phases in and realize there hasn't been another sheep for some time, you might regret not crafting a pair of shears back then.
8 Foxes And Wolves, Oh My
You're not the only thing looking to end your food supply. Wolves will spawn in packs during the Plains stage and are natural predators of sheep. Players can fence off the animals far away from the Magical Block, with nothing touching the fence to allow the wolves to climb over. It's not a bad idea to build an arena around the Magical Block itself to protect the rest of your island from what turns up.
Later in the phases, your chickens will be in trouble, as thieving foxes spawn in the Winter stage and can jump over fences to ravage your feather supply. Unless you have boats and leads on hand, the best thing to do is kill them as soon as they spawn, unfortunately. Or you can wait for some polar bears to spawn and hunt them down slowly.
7 Uninvited Party Guests
You aren't safe from the Magical Block either, as Monster Parties will begin a few times per stage, spawning a group of monsters relative to the theme you're currently in. The Ocean stage drops a pile of Drowned on your doorstep and Guardians later on. If you're very organized, a pit of water can be set up prior to this invasion, and the mobs can be kept as creepy pets. Beware of the flying tridents, though.
Similar to raids on villages, Evokers and Vex can appear too. Prepare for this by crafting a shield as soon as possible. Having a bow can mean you can pick off Vex from a distance while out of their aggro range. These parties are always announced with a sinister voice and message, so get ready.
6 Wood Is Flammable
Speaking of Monster Parties, the Nether stage is a particular problem when it comes to this. When everything you've worked so hard to produce is flammable, and some Blaze spawns, it's a game-ending combination.
The best advice is to build a flameproof arena around the Magical Block when the Nether stage approaches. A building with enough space for a Ghast to show up, but made from stone or something similar. Make sure there's an easy way to get out in an emergency, and shut it off behind you. Have flame-resistant gaps between areas of your island to stop fire from spreading if there's an accident, and keep a bucket of water on hand to dump across the floor.
5 The Edge Is Your Friend...
A great way to rid yourself of malicious guests is to simply knock them into the void. Enemies much bigger than yourself (and better equipped) can be quickly dealt with this way. Having a hole into the nothingness below is a good strategy for when something arrives, and you're grossly underprepared. Be sure to stand facing the hole of doom to knock back enemies into it and not fall yourself.
Eventually, Elytra will be obtainable, so start farming plenty of Sugarcane early on for rockets, meaning the edge will no longer be a danger to you.
4 ...But So Is Emergency Water
So, you've walked off of the edge of your floating space island, or maybe an unexpected Creeper blew up behind you, and you're free-falling into the chasm. A great way to save yourself next time is to make an infinite water source using three buckets of water and then waterlog the blocks on the edges of your island. By pouring water onto a slab, a waterfall will form under it for hundreds of blocks down.
Do this at random points throughout your floor plan, and regardless of how you end up in the void you should always be able to skydive towards a waterfall and swim back up to safety. Later in the game, having lots of these streams may be unnecessary as you'll likely have multiple floors.
3 Monsters Are Necessary
You may be tempted to light up every inch of the world with torches to keep you and your animals safe at night. However, you're going to miss out on some serious loot and experience if you don't build a mob farm. It should be far enough away (up to 120 blocks) from the Magical Block that monsters will still spawn, but without the sound of their moaning getting annoying in your everyday life.
Mob farms usually require a lot of Cobblestone and wood, so stock up. The items that can drop include armor, full iron ingots, carrots, potatoes, enchanted weaponry, and precious gunpowder. You'll need stacks of this for firework rockets later on.
2 Everything Is Renewable
In the beginning, materials are precious and limited. One mistake and you will make the game a lot more difficult. But, as long as you can make it past the Enderdragon stage, the game is technically indefinite. The Magical Block no longer has stages, and the order of blocks isn't preset. Benevolent Chests will pop up randomly and could offer anything from a bucket of lava to a turtle egg.
If you accidentally lose something rare and are ready to delete the game, remember it's possible to pop back up again in the late game. The Magical Block always provides.
1 Try One Block Skyblock Reborn 1.19
There have been a lot of changes to Minecraft since the version original One Block Skyblock was released. You might feel the Nether is lacking back in 1.16, or you may be missing your new Axolotl and Frog friends. Worry not, an updated version has been created, providing the new blocks and Tadpoles in Chests, Azaelea Bushes, Mangrove Trees, and a chance to fight the Warden.
You can find the link to download this version, which can be installed the same way as the original map. New trials and tribulations will surely arise with all these new blocks, but as long as you remember to flood your edges and fireproof your home, you can always respawn and try again.