Combat School - The Ultimate Player's Guide to Minecraft - page 100

Tip: Superfast Flint Mining
The quickest way I've found to recycle gravel for flint is to create a room with a
set of four eight-block long trenches that are two blocks deep with an additional
step in the end so you can climb out. This creates a total of 64 gravel
spaces—conveniently equal to a full stack of gravel in a Quick Access slot. Keep
another full stack of gravel in a regular inventory slot. This is the replenishment
stack. With the Quick Access gravel selected, jump into each trench, running up
and down while holding down the right mouse button to place the gravel in a con-
tinuous stream. Switch to the shovel and do the same in reverse while holding
down the left button to harvest the gravel and flint. Iron shovels provide the best
durability without chewing up the much rarer diamond gems.
You'll get six to seven pieces of flint each time you clear the room, which is suffi-
cient to make between 24 and 28 arrows. Now replenish and repeat: open your in-
ventorywindowandholddownShiftwhileyouleft-clickthesparestackofgravel.
Just enough will be transferred from there to the Quick Access stack to bring that
back up to 64 units.
Ready for some archery practice? Follow these steps to fling arrows of misfortune:
1. Make the bow the active item in your inventory. Arrows can stay hidden in a regu-
lar inventory slot and are depleted automatically.
2. Use the crosshairs to aim at your target. You'll need to learn to account for the ar-
row's arc through the sky and to lead your target's movement. Aim directly at
nearby targets and increasingly above their head as they get further away. If they
are heading clearly in one direction across your line of sight, just target slightly
ahead of that movement to make up for the time it takes the arrow to reach them.
There's no hard-and-fast rule here: practice does make perfect.
3. Right-click and hold to pull back on the bow. Hold longer for a stronger shot.
When it's fully charged, the bow shakes slightly, showing that it's primed for a
critical hit with a damage bonus.
4. Fire the arrow by releasing the right mouse button. Fully charged shots leave a trail
of stars behind the arrow as it flies.
Arrows deliver substantial damage and are the safest way to deal with skeletons, creepers,
and other mobs that also deliver ranged attacks or are just plan dangerous in close proxim-
ity.