Many mobs in Minecraft come in all sorts of different forms and each exhibit unique temperaments. Hostile mobs—as their name suggests—are naturally hostile to players and thus tend to inflict damage upon the player, but that doesn’t mean that they do not have other purposes besides being aggressive. Hostile mobs may tend to actively hunt down players on sight but they also occasionally drop useful loot and experience points when they are killed which makes them worth defeating. The experience points that these mobs will drop may vary but some are great for creating EXP farms while others are great for their loot alone. Having a self-sustaining EXP farm near your base is a great way to gain experience points fast in order to use them for repairing equipment and enchanting weapon and tools. When comparing mobs to each other, a lot of hostile mobs simply outperform their passive counterparts with regard to utility. This is one of the reasons why it doesn’t hurt you to always keep in mind as to which hostile mobs are the most useful to you in the long run and which ones provide the most benefit.
1. Blazes
Blazes are often considered to be crucial to completing the game’s survival mode and thus have various applications to the player that is worth considering. When killed, blazes will drop blaze rods which can then be formed into blaze powder and is extremely useful as a fuel source to brewing stands when concocting potions. Blazes additionally offer ten experience points when killed, making these hostile mobs somewhat decent to farm experience on even when you don’t necessarily need blaze rods yet. Although these hostile mobs are considered helpful, blazes are still one of the most dangerous mobs in the Nether and players should remain alert at all times, especially when facing one in a nether fortress. Players have to be wary of the blaze’s melee attacks and ranged abilities that allow them to set players on fire using their fireball projectiles. Keeping a few snowballs on hand can help deal a substantial amount of damage to these dangerous mobs.
2. Elder Guardians
Elder guardians are arguably the toughest mobs that Minecraft gamers will find guarding ocean monuments. These large hostile mobs can be tough to take down as they deal a ton of damage while also inflicting the player with the mining fatigue status effect. However, taking one down will reward the player handsomely with experience points and loot. In addition to dropping prismarine crystals and shards when killed, elder guardians will also drop wet sponges which players can use to drain water inside the ocean monument itself. And considering the scarcity and rarity of sponge blocks in the game, farming them through killing elder guardians can be a huge help in obtaining a massive amount of sponge blocks in the long run.
3. Shulkers
Shulkers are hostile yet defensive mobs that only spawn within the End city’s walls in Minecraft. These mobs tend to remain passive only until an intruder decides to breach the city. When threatened, shulkers will emerge from their chest-like casing and fire a homing projectile that will inflict the player with the levitation status effect for a short amount of time. The levitation status effect, as its name implies, will make the player levitate off the ground. Although this doesn’t sound too terrifying, floating high up the ground and falling down from a great distance once the effect wears off might make you change your mind. However, the reward to defeating these hostile mobs is great as they drop shulker shells which you can craft into shulker boxes. Shulker boxes are one of the best ways to lighten your inventory load as they act like regular chests save for the fact that you can carry them around with you at all times while keeping the contents of the box intact.
4. Slimes
Slimes are one of the least threatening mobs to deal with in the game, yet their usage for players is just as important. More specifically, they drop slime balls when killed which can then be crafted into incredibly useful items such as slime blocks, sticky pistons, leads, and magma cream. Not only that but slimes, more specifically large slimes, also drop 28 experience points when killed which makes farming them that much more worth it. Compared to most hostile mobs that deal a ton of damage to players, slimes are relatively easy and can be a great method to farm experience points and items. A lot of veteran players often create slime farms by locating slime chunks in the overworld. This is a great method to farm both experience points and loot for players looking to farm both.
5. Witches
Witches can often be found roaming in and around their witch huts in swamp biomes. A witch may also transform from a villager should it be unlucky enough to get struck by lightning. They are quite frail physically but are very formidable foes due to their quick use of destructive potions and debuffs. But despite the meager 3 experience points that they drop when killed, the real treasure is the loot with which you can take advantage of. Witches have various times which they drop upon death and even better, they have a chance of dropping a potion of Healing, Fire Resistance, Swiftness, or Water Breathing if they are killed whilst drinking a potion.
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