Minecraft Monster Slaying: How to Slice Your Enemies with Deadly Lava Blades

Minecraft's monsters are so annoyingly tenacious and effective that anyone who plays in survival mode can't help but hate them. That's why we're here to tell you how to kill them!

In this tutorial, we'll teach you how to harness a unique property of lava to create blades that can be both deadly and controllable. Lava flow can often be stubborn and unpredictable, which is why lava blades are the best way to use lava to your advantage.

Here's how to do it!

Step 1 Built a work platform

You can make it as long as you want, but it needs to be exactly 4 blocks long. This particular platform is 5 by 4, but you could just as easily make it 10 by 4. It should only be 1 block high, though.

It can be made of any non-flammable material, not just stone.

Step 2 Add some containing walls

Add walls around the sides you don't want lava spilling out of. The area inside my walls is now 3 by 3. This is important, because you need a distance of 3 from the back wall to the front.

Step 3 It's a sign!

Add signs along the front where you would like your lava to go. Make sure that the signs are attached to the blocks, and not sitting on the floor. This is important, because it's necessary for the blades. You could also use ladders, but signs are just generally better because they're smaller and inert.

The signs don't have to say anything, but you can add things like 'BURN, FIENDS' if you'd like.

Step 4 Add lava and stir

At this point, you could add lava and just be done. Put lava along the back wall and nowhere else. Make sure that there's lava at each block against that wall, and that it's flowing outward, rather than sideways.

If you've done it properly, the lava will create a thin 'blade' that hovers in the air. It will easily toast any monster that happens into it.

But what if you don't want a big blade of lava just hanging out all the time? What if you would occasionally like to welcome guests into your house?

Then proceed to Step 5, my friend!

Step 5 Put your lava away

Wall your lava in. Use non-flammable blocks only 1 block high.

Step 6 Build a temporary scaffold

Make sure there are 2 empty spaces between your scaffold and your lava-containing wall. This is only temporary, so it doesn't matter what blocks you use.

Step 7 Add pistons!

Everybody loves pistons. Add sticky pistons facing down, and then optionally get rid of your scaffold.

You can keep it, if you like how it looks, but I'm going to get rid of it like so:

Step 8 Redstone time!

It's like adventure time, but with redstone.

Add blocks behind each piston and put redstone on them.

Then make one more, and put a switch on it. Or, alternately, run the redstone to a switch inside your house. Your call.

Step 9 Time to cut someone

You're done! You now have a functioning lava blade. Here it is, clamped off:

And then turned on!

Tips

• While you can use only one lava blade, they work best in pairs. Simply repeat these instructions so that both lava blades face each other, and you'll have something that looks like this:

Simple-looking corridor, right? But with the flip of a switch...

Blades of lava spring out from the walls and annihilate your foes!

I don't know about you, but that's a corridor I sure don't want to walk down!