The Nether: Exploring Minecraft's Challenging Dimension and Its Mobs
Minecraft’s Nether is a challenging, rewarding dimension filled with lava-filled landscapes and dangerous mobs. The Nether houses all manner of foes for players to contend with, including Piglins. Yes, you read that correctly. Piglins. We’re going to have a chat about these adorable but deadly creatures.
You might be surprised to learn that the Nether’s most fearsome foe is a zombie version of the Minecraft Pig. The Nether is an eerie parallel dimension where familiar Minecraft mobs are redesigned in terrifying ways. We’re going to take a look at some of the Nether’s strangest mobs and why they’re there.
Zoglin: The Zombified Hoglin
At the bottom of the Nether mob list is the Zoglin, or zombified Hoglin. As adorable as Hoglins are, they wield a shovel and will attack you on sight, inflicting damage and poisoning you with their breath. The Zoglin’s only purpose is to inflict damage, and with high health and damaging attacks, they’re at the bottom of the Nether mob list.
Zombified Piglins are more common in the Nether, and drop rotten flesh and golden weapons, but their spawn rate is much lower. Piglin Brutes, exclusive to Piglin Bastions, are dangerous and drop only golden axes.
Magma Cubes inhabit the Basalt Delta biome and are difficult to kill, but drop Magma Cream, an ingredient for fire resistance potions.
Striders are passive mobs that can be ridden across lava lakes, providing a means of transportation in the Nether.
Striders aren’t the only Nether mob that can be ridden, as Ghasts – flying squid-like creatures – add a dash of suspense to the game. Ghasts are relatively passive, but blow Netherrack and inflict damage if you get too close to them. They drop more useful loot than Zoglins and Piglins, with gunpowder and ghast tears being especially useful.
Hoglins are powerful hostile mobs found in the Crimson Forest biome, but they can be bred for leather and pork. They’re essentially Nether wolves.
Piglins are adorable pig-like creatures with a civilized society, bartering and trading gold for various materials. It’s difficult to think of them as a threat, but they are very aggressive, with a damaging melee attack and the ability to run away from you and hide in Nether fortresses.
The Nether houses a lot of useful mobs, with blaze rods and powder dropping from Blazes and essential items like coal and bones dropping from Wither Skeletons. Nether fortresses house Wither skeletons, formidable foes that inflict the Wither effect and drop Nether Star, Nether Quartz, and useful items like wither skeleton skulls.
These are just some of the many weird, wonderful, and sometimes terrifying mobs that populate the Nether. Navigating the Nether and facing these mobs is essential to succeeding in Minecraft, but the lava-filled dimension also provides unique resources to craft new items and potions, making it a vital Minecraft biome in the sandbox game.
