Which difficulty is best in Minecraft?

Hardcore difficulty art on the Minecraft Marketplace (Image via Minecraft)

Minecraft worlds can be dangerous places, and the degree of danger is dictated by the world's difficulty setting. Players can change this setting at various times, but which is ideal?

The short answer is that it depends on users, although Normal or Easy difficulty settings are the most used, so they may be the best. Whether individuals prefer a more substantial challenge or a more relaxed experience, there should be a difficult setting to suit them.

However, since the difficulty settings don't describe themselves particularly well, it doesn't hurt to see what each setting entails.

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Minecraft: Examining each in-game difficulty setting

Gamers changing their world difficulty in Minecraft (Image via Mojang)

While most players are likely comfortable playing on Minecraft's Normal or Easy difficulty settings, everyone is different. Some may be more interested in an intense survival experience, which will gravitate them toward the Hard and Hardcore modes.

Meanwhile, 1.19 users who are more concerned with building and crafting as opposed to surviving will likely feel more at home in the Peaceful mode. It all depends, but Normal and Easy tend to strike the best middle ground for the vast majority of gamers.

However, to be sure, it's worth looking at each difficulty setting independently.

Peaceful

• No hostile mobs spawn naturally except for shulkers, hoglins, zoglins, and the Ender Dragon. In Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, piglin brutes can also spawn. Spiders, endermen, and zombie piglins spawn but remain neutral to players.
• It is still possible to die from injury, but players receive massive and quick health regeneration over time.
• The hunger bar never lowers.
• TNT does not deal direct damage, though it still knocks players back.
• Eyes of Ender cannot be received, so users cannot activate the End portal unless they generate into a world where the portal already has all 12 eyes inserted.
• Not all advancements and achievements can be obtained in Peaceful.

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Easy

• Hostile mobs spawn but deal less damage to gamers.
• The hunger bar can decrease but can only damage players until they have ten health points remaining.
• Cave spiders and bees cannot poison users, and the Wither does not inflict the Wither status effect, though wither skeletons still do so.
• Lightning only sets fire to the block it strikes, not the general area of blocks.
• Zombies and skeletons cannot wear full armor sets, and zombies cannot turn villagers into zombie villagers.

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Normal

• Hostile mobs spawn normally and deal their usual damage.
• The hunger bar can deplete, damaging gamers until they have one health point remaining.
• Zombies and skeletons occasionally wear enchanted armor, and zombies have a 50% chance of turning villagers into zombie villagers.
• Vindicators can break down door blocks.

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Hard

• Hostile mobs spawn normally and deal increased damage but can sometimes drop rare items more often.
• The hunger bar depletes, and players can die from starvation.
• Zombies can break down door blocks and spawn in fellow zombies when attacked.
• Spiders can spawn with randomized beneficial status effects such as Speed, Regeneration, and Invisibility, among others.
• Villagers killed by zombies will always become zombie villagers.
• Pillagers will spawn near users.

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Hardcore

• The game is set to Hard mode and cannot be changed.
• A gamer is given one life. If they die, they cannot respawn in the world. They must enter Spectator Mode or create a new Minecraft world.

These are the only difficulty settings available for vanilla Minecraft, though players are constantly tweaking the game to create their own settings.

Regardless, they can use the above information to better inform their decision-making if Normal difficulty doesn't quite suit them.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the author’s opinion.