Best things to build in any new Minecraft survival world

Looking for a checklist of things to build in Minecraft survival? Our list will get you started.

There’s a lot of bases to cover when starting a new Minecraft world. Once you’ve established a base of operations, you need to find solutions to hunger, travel, and decor. Starving to death is lame, no one likes an eyesore, and exploring is fun until you need to travel thousands of blocks back. Our quick list of things to build in Minecraft survival will solve all three problems and more.

Infinite food farms

Farming in Minecraft is a total pain. Manually planting and harvesting fields of wheat takes ages, yet all it takes is one determined creeper to ruin your irrigation. An infinite food farm should be high on the list of the things to build in any new Minecraft survival world. Infinite stacks of bread let you explore the world at your own pace while keeping your health bar filled. 

There are multiple ways to create infinite food farms in survival Minecraft. Some involve complex piston setups while others use villager manpower to harvest all sorts of crops. If you want a compact, but relatively simple piston food farm, check out our guide here. If you have no moral problems with involuntary villager help, check out our other guide to building an infinite food farm in Minecraft survival.

Fast travel network in the Nether

A big part of survival Minecraft is leaving your home base to explore the surrounding areas. The only problem is that traversing thousands of blocks to get anywhere takes ages. Clever Minecraft players have already found a solution, but it requires guts and a whole lot of Minecraft tracks. One block traveled in the Nether is equivalent to eight blocks in the overworld. This means that you can build a Nether fast travel network in Minecraft survival. 

Minecraft How To Link Nether Portals! (Connect Portal!)

First, find the coordinates of your two destinations. Then divide the distance by eight to see how far your minecart trail needs to go. Establish a Nether portal at one end and start mining your way to the second travel point. Plant down powered tracks with redstone torches to power them. An advanced version of this system uses boats on blue ice. Make sure to build walls and a ceiling so that ghasts can’t blow up your high-speed railway. They can’t see through glass, so make a super-long window so you have something to stare at while fast traveling in Minecraft survival.

Things to build to decorate your base in Minecraft survival

Once you’re done establishing your home base, it’s time to spruce it up a little bit. No one wants to come home from a long journey just to see a boring old four-by-four wooden hovel. An easy way to start is to build staircases and use them in interesting ways. Rotated stairs provide a ton of texture to a building, especially at a distance. Build them around the borders of your Minecraft survival house to make it stand out.

Never underestimate the aesthetic value of a nice pond. The easiest way to build a decorative body of water in Minecraft is to carve out a small square two blocks deep and fill in the bottom with slabs. Stack up some smooth cobblestone in the center and drop a water source block on top to create a simple but elegant fountain. Use the stairs trick mentioned above to further improve how it looks.