- Dec value: Wood: 268 Stone: 272 Gold: 283 Iron: 267 Diamond: 276
- Hex value: Wood: 10C Stone: 110 Gold: 11B Iron: 10B Diamond: 114
- Durability: Wood: 60 Stone: 132 Gold: 33 Iron: 251 Diamond: 1562 Maximum stack: 1
Swords are melee weapons used to deal damage to mobs and players from a close range. They deal the most damage out of all tools. Despite their length, swords do not give the player any range advantages of tools or fists. The only advantage is its high damage power.
Swords are created using a stick and either 2 wooden planks, cobblestone, iron ingots, gold ingots or diamonds. The material used will determine its strength and durability.
Diamond swords are by far the strongest swords in-game. Unlike most other tools, swords made out of gold do not offer any advantage in speed over that a diamond sword. Swords can also be found in chests or as drops from monsters. Zombies have a chance of dropping iron swords and zombie pigmen have a chance of dropping gold swords. Iron swords can also be found in chests in strongholds and villages.
Sword enchantment
Swords can be enchanted with various power-enhancing abilities, like increased knockbacks or the ability to set your opponent on fire.
Durability
Swords have limited durability, which is the highest for diamond swords. Like other tools, swords can be partially repaired by placing 2 swords in a crafting interface. This will create a new sword with the durability of the old ones added together, plus 10%.
Note that any enchantment on the old swords will not be transferred to the new sword.
Using a sword
Swords are mainly used to deal damage to mobs and players, but swords can also be used to break certain blocks faster than by hand or other tools, like cobwebs. However, a sword will take double durability damage when used on other blocks.
Attacking
Swords can be used in 2 ways, to attack and to block.
Attacking is done by left-clicking. When you left-click you’ll swing your sword just like you’d swing anything else you’re holding. Mobs or players up to 3 blocks in front of you can be hit by this swing. The range at which a mob or player is hit does not affect the damage you deal, so it’s best to keep your enemies as far as possible. It’s possible to keep swinging by repeatedly left-clicking your mouse, it doesn’t slow you down or have any other negative effects.
Blocking
Blocking is done by right-clicking. While holding the right mouse button your sword will be held in front of you, slightly covering your chest and face.
Attacks can be blocked this way, though you have to time it right. Simply holding the right mouse button while walking toward a skeleton will not prevent you from taking damage. Blocking lowers your speed to that of sneaking, this leaves you open to attacks from all other sides, so it’s advised to use blocking only in the right circumstances.
Most players don’t block at all, as it’s easier to just run in and slice your opponents to death. Though blocking can be very useful to deflect fully charged arrows, especially if you know your opponent has an enchanted bow.
Critical attacks
It’s possible to deal with critical attacks with your sword. Critical attacks deal 50% more damage and are performed by jumping while you swing your sword, basically hitting the top of your opponent’s head. Because jumping makes you harder to hit and because critical hits do extra damage without causing extra durability damage, performing critical hits is almost always advised. A case in which it’s not advised is when you’re around lava pits or high cliffs. Your opponent could knock you back with his attack, especially if your opponent has the knockback enchantment, which could lead to your swift death.
Crafting recipes
