Minecraft Legends tips and tricks to help you conquer the overworld

Minecraft Legends takes the iconic block game to a whole new genre, so we've got some tips help you along

Whether you’re a strategy-game veteran or new to the genre, Minecraft Legends has a lot to get to grips with. With a variety of enemies to fight, structures to build, and units to summon, it can be hard to know what to bring to each battle. We’ve put together this guide of tips and tricks to help you get through the campaign and take the fight to your friends in the multiplayer mode.

If you're looking for more Minecraft Legends guides, then check out our roundup of how to get Lapis and the upgrade build order.

Minecraft Legends review: an introduction to strategy

Safe inside walls

Every morning the Piglins will target a village that they plan to attack come nightfall. If you haven’t already, then you should go to the targeted village and construct a wall surrounding the entire thing. Costing only wood and a bit of stone, they are extremely easy to construct and do half of your job for you when the Piglins begin their invasion. In fact, if you construct multiple layers of walls around the important buildings of a village, then it may be able to survive the attack without you needing to be there.

As far as multiplayer games go, the longer you can stall an opponent the better. A complex series of walls to break through will let you decimate an opponent’s army while you hold your units back to prepare a counterattack.

Death is meaningless

As far as the campaign goes, there are virtually no consequences for dying in battle, aside from wasting a bit of your time. When you die, you’ll have to wait for ten seconds, then you’ll be respawned at your nearest well – be it at a village or one you’ve constructed – there are no other consequences.

If you’ve partially damaged a portal, it will remain damaged (as long as there are no repair buildings nearby) and structures in the base you’ve already destroyed will remain that way. You can just run straight back into the battle.

When fighting other players then it’s more of a big deal, as the time you’re away could turn the tide of battle, but against the AI, it’s no problem.

Spoils of war

Once you’ve destroyed a portal, any buildings in the base that you haven’t already taken down will collapse. Make sure you go around to all of them and gather up the rewards, as they despawn quite quickly. Doing this will get you a healthy chunk of prismarine and gold, which you need for every upgrade.

Gather every resource

When you first start the game you’ll only be able to harvest wood and stone, until the tutorial allows you to build the iron upgrade. Once you’re given the freedom to upgrade whatever you like, you should prioritize the upgrades that allow you to gather coal, redstone, and diamonds too.

Not only are they needed for some of the most powerful structures, but several of the game’s most powerful units need them for spawning.

Liberate the overworld mobs

Shortly after you’ve taken down your first portal you’ll get a cutscene showing the Piglins invading the homes of the Zombies, Skeletons, and Creepers. If you got there you’ll need to fight off a few waves of enemies before launching an assault on the nearby portal to fully liberate the settlement.

You should go and do these as soon as they appear. Liberating each settlement will add that mob to your army, and let you construct spawn points from which you can freely summon them. These mobs are stronger than the default golems you get, with specialized skills that make the rest of the game much easier.

Approach each horde differently

There are three different hordes you’ll face off against in Minecraft Legends: Horde of the Hunt, Horde of the Spore, and Horde of the Bastion. Each of them set up their own bases, use different units, and have different battle tactics.

We’ve put together full guides on how to fight each one, but in short: The Hunt try to overwhelm you with fast-moving and powerful units; the Spore use favorable positions and poison damage to chip away at your army; and the Bastion hide behind strong defenses and try to trap you in enclosed spaces.

Find the First

The First are four powerful units that are resting at hidden locations in the overworld. You’ll need to explore the entire map to find them, so approach any question marks you uncover on the map, as that may be one of them. We’ve put together a full guide on where to find the First if you want to know what each of them does, but trust us, you’re going to want them on your side.

Creepers are overpowered

As you might expect from a creature that is essentially a bomb on legs, Creepers are extremely powerful in just about every scenario. If you spawn a massive group of Creepers and charge them into the fray, they’ll accomplish their goal pretty quickly. Large groups of units will be scattered in an instant, and large structures will crumble to dust – just make sure you’ve stocked up on coal so you can spawn them.