With all the new updates and Minecraft’s long history, it’s no surprise that some features get overlooked. Whether due to age or simple obscurity, there are plenty of reasons why players never encounter certain mechanics. Not every item or block is equally useful either, so some things just get forgotten. Today we’re taking a closer look at exactly those points to make your gameplay more varied. Especially if you’re playing Minecraft with little prior knowledge or returning after a long break, you’ll likely discover a few surprises.
1. Minecraft farming: Make crops grow faster without bone meal
To make wheat, carrots or potatoes grow faster, most players think of bone meal first. But there’s a mechanic that speeds things up without any input: plant different crops in alternating rows or a checkerboard pattern. Identical crops placed side by side slow each other’s growth; varied neighbours reduce this penalty and improve the random-tick growth chances.
Pro tips:
- Keep farmland hydrated (water up to 4 blocks away) and ensure a light level ≥ 9 at night so growth doesn’t stall.
- Classic layout: a 9×9 field with water in the centre.
- Use a composter to turn excess plant matter into bone meal.
2. Minecraft moon phases: Swamp spawn rates and black cats (Java)
Minecraft has 8 moon phases, which among other things affect slime spawns in swamp biomes (Java Edition): during a full moon, significantly more slimes appear, and fewer during a new moon. Perfect for stocking up on slimeballs. Note on cats: Witch huts always spawn a black cat; as stray cats in villages, black is more common at full moon, but not exclusive.
Note: Slimes in slime chunks spawn independently of moon phases; only depth and light level matter there.
3. Farming diamonds: More diamond ore beneath lava and water (1.18+)
Since the Caves update, diamond ore is most common around Y≈−59. Due to reduced air exposure, it generates less frequently next to air, but relatively more often beneath lava or water. It’s therefore worth checking lava lakes at deepslate depths and exploring underwater caves.
Safety tips:
- Drink a Fire Resistance potion and use bucket tricks (water/powder snow) against lava.
- Lay cobble bridges over lava and mine the edges methodically.
4. Biomes and flowers: Predefined flower patterns in Flower Forest and Plains
Using bone meal on grass in certain biomes like Flower Forest, Meadow, and Plains produces flowers in fixed patterns. Each of these biomes has a defined distribution and set of flower types — ideal for creating planned patterns or colour schemes.
Tip: Double-tall flowers (e.g., rose bushes) can be duplicated directly with bone meal.
5. Instant cooked meat: Make clever use of Fire Aspect
With the Fire Aspect enchantment on your sword, killing animals yields cooked meat immediately. This also works if animals die to fire or lava (note: not with explosions/fireworks). Alternatively, a bow with Flame also cooks meat, provided the final hit caused burning.
6. Curing zombie villagers: Faster with iron bars and beds
The basic cure is well-known: Splash Potion of Weakness + Golden Apple on a zombie villager, then wait 2–5 minutes. Less known: you can speed up the process if, within a 9×9×9 area, there are up to 14 blocks of iron bars or beds. Each of these blocks reduces the remaining time by a percentage, up to the cap.
Tip: Protect the patient from sunlight and mobs; name tags prevent despawning.
7. Gold tools: Fastest mining speed vs durability
Gold provides the fastest tool speed — a golden pickaxe mines many blocks faster than netherite. The downside: extremely low durability and limited mining tiers (for example, a gold pickaxe cannot mine iron, redstone or diamond ore). With Efficiency V and Unbreaking, gold can be situationally useful for soft blocks or short speed-farming sessions.
8. Blast Furnace and Smoker: Smelt and cook the right way
Alongside the regular furnace, there’s the Blast Furnace (for ores/metals) and the Smoker (for food). Both work at double speed, consuming fuel proportionally faster per unit of time but the same per item. XP per item stays the same — perfect for quickly processing large amounts of copper, iron, or steaks.
9. Chickens from eggs: 1-in-256 for four chicks
Throwing an egg has a 12.5% chance to hatch a baby chicken. Very rarely, four chicks spawn at once — a 1 in 256 chance per egg. Ideal for early chicken farms: collect eggs with hoppers and auto-throw them.
10. Crafting andesite, diorite, granite: Recipes and tips
The decorative stones andesite, diorite, and granite spawn underground — but you can also craft them:
- Diorite: 2× cobblestone + 2× nether quartz
- Granite: 1× diorite + 1× nether quartz
- Andesite: 1× diorite + 1× cobblestone
With quartz from the Nether and plenty of cobblestone you can produce large quantities quickly. Use the stonecutter for precise variants (e.g., stairs/slabs efficiently).
Conclusion: Make use of Minecraft’s hidden features
Minecraft has many features that may have been overlooked over the years but are still very practical. From moon phases and furnaces to unconventional farming tips, there’s plenty to try in your next session. If you rent your own Minecraft server from us, you can surprise your friends with these facts and maybe introduce them to a feature or two.
