Bastion remnants are large, castle-like generated structures found in the Nether in all of the biomes except basalt deltas. They generate in four distinct variants, each with a unique structure and set of loot. Piglins and piglin brutes spawn in these structures on generation, and hoglins may also spawn on generation in the bridge and hoglin stables variants. Bastion remnants are the only place to find gilded blackstone, the Pigstep music disc, the snout banner pattern and armor trim, the magma cube monster spawner, and the netherite upgrade smithing template. Defeating a bastion remnant allows the player to obtain lots of loot, including valuable gold items, the Pigstep music disc, and the Snout banner pattern. Exploring them is also required to unlock the netherite tier, as they are the only place where netherite upgrade smithing templates can be found. Due to having magma cube spawners (treasure room bastion variant only), bastion remnants also provide a good source of magma cream. Bastion remnants are one of the toughest and most dangerous structures to beat, so extra care has to be taken to survive. You will see piglins and piglin brutes in the bastion, so be careful.
What to bring[]
- Strong, durable armor of at least diamond tier, enchanted with Protection IV. A set of enchanted iron armor may also work, but is considerably more dangerous.
- At least one piece of golden armor if you don't want to aggravate regular piglins. This will not prevent piglin brutes from attacking. Golden helmets have the least durability of all pieces of golden armor, but is the only piece that has the same strength as its iron counterpart.
- A sword and tools of at least iron or diamond tier, preferably enchanted with Sharpness and Unbreaking. Fire Aspect can also be useful for dealing extra damage, but is not required.
- A bow, especially with the Power and/or Infinity enchantments, is very useful in dispatching piglins and piglin brutes with ease from a safe distance.
- Punch II is recommended, as they can knock back enemies and can also be used to knock off piglins and brutes off the ledges.
- At least one shield, as they can prevent taking damage. Piglin brutes can use their axes to disable shields, but due to their high damage per hit, especially at Hard difficulty, blocking even a single hit can be the difference between life and death.
- Food with high-enough saturation and hunger restoration. (such as steak, golden carrot, and cooked porkchops). Golden apples (optional) can heal the player quickly.
- Bring some logs and/or planks to craft boats, which will be very useful against piglin brutes and melee piglins (see the Mobs section below on how to use them). However, boats cannot be crafted from crimson/warped planks.
- Expendable blocks you can easily obtain, place, and break. Good examples include dirt, cobblestone, and netherrack.
- A pickaxe of at least iron tier to mine gold blocks. It may also be helpful to enchant it with Efficiency or Unbreaking.
- A lava bucket to easily kill piglins and piglin brutes (optional, but highly recommended).
- Potions can improve combat. Fire Resistance is incredibly useful, and can be obtained by simply bartering with piglins (optional).
- Soul torches or other soul-fire items can be used to scare piglins (optional). Does not work on piglin brutes.
- Gold to distract piglins and gather precious resources (ex. ender pearls). Does not work on piglin brutes.
- TNT (optional), and a button or a pressure plate(not flint and steel) to light the TNT. Activating TNT using redstone prevents the piglins from attributing a player to the TNT's ignition, whereas a flint and steel will aggravate all nearby piglins towards whoever lit the TNT as soon as it explodes.
- Hoppers for looting chests without aggravating any piglins (optional).
- Blocks of Iron and carved pumpkins for Iron Golems (optional).
- Pistons and levers, buttons or redstone torches to move gilded blackstone from under chests so you can put hoppers there to get the items (optional).
- A respawn anchor and glowstone, to respawn in the Nether (optional).
- A bunch of totems. Not only can totems save your life but when you fall in lava it now gives Fire Resistance so you can hide in lava for a little while. It's still better to bring some additional potions as they last longer.
- Enchanted golden apples are optional, they're rare but can be a lifesaver.
- Ender pearls can be a multipurposed tool, used for either escaping or repositioning.
Your main goals[]
- Get as many gold blocks and gilded blackstone as you can.
- Also, since some netherite items reside in loot chests, also aim for getting lodestone, ancient debris, netherite scrap, and netherite ingots from the chests.
- Defeat as many piglin brutes as possible.
- Get the Pigstep music disc, snout banner pattern, snout armor trim, and netherite smithing template.
- Convert the bastion to a bartering hall or magma cube/froglight farm.
- Obtain Nether Wart (if not obtained already) (only applies to Housing)
Finding bastion remnant[]
Nether structure generation in Java Edition. The black lines represent each region and the dots represent coordinates. Green is where they can generate and red is where they cannot.
Nether structure generation in Bedrock Edition. The black lines represent each region and the dots represent coordinates. Green is where they can generate and red is where they cannot.
Bastion remnants generate in all Nether biomes except basalt deltas, although a bastion may extend into one. If a bastion tries to generate in a basalt delta, the bastion does not generate, leaving the region empty. To generate the structure, the game splits the Nether into regions, in which either a nether fortress or a bastion remnant can generate. The regions are 432×432 blocks in Java Edition and 480×480 blocks in Bedrock Edition. Each region has a 4-chunk separation located on the south and east borders of the region in which neither a fortress nor a bastion can generate. This leaves only a 368×368 block section in Java Edition or 416×416 block section in Bedrock Edition where a structure can generate. Two structures never generate in the same region, although they might overlap if they generate close to the separation border. In Java Edition, the chance of a bastion generating instead of a fortress is 3⁄5 (60%), while in Bedrock Edition the chance of a bastion generating instead of a fortress is 2⁄3 (66.6%).
Piglins, piglin brutes, and hoglins that spawn upon generation in bastion remnants neither despawn naturally nor do they hunt each other. Piglin brutes also spawn exclusively here upon structure generation, and do not despawn unless killed, or if difficulty is set to Peaceful in Java Edition (they remain in Bedrock Edition but become passive in Peaceful difficulty). Like shulkers in end cities, once these mobs are killed, they do not respawn, though the bastion continues to spawn normal mobs depending on the biome it is located in.
Walk in the nether until see a bastion remnant. Be careful not to fall into lava.
Structure[]
Before exploring a Bastion remnant, knowing its structures is quite important.
Bastion remnants generate as 4 types of structures: bridges, hoglin stables, housing units, and treasure rooms. Each type has its own set of structures that compose it. These structures may be supported by ramparts that contain cave-like paths. Piglins, piglin brutes, and hoglins spawn frequently throughout. Unlike nether fortresses, when over the lava ocean, they do not generate pillars of solid blocks down to the solid terrain beneath, but float above, entirely even.[1]
All bastion remnant structures found below are located in the folder client.jar/data/minecraft/structures/bastion.
File structure[]
| List |
|---|
|
Bridge[]
The bridge consists of a large ruined rampart structure with a piglin face carved into it. The inside of the "mouth" consists of multiple levels of walkways surrounded by lava. A damaged bridge goes out from the mouth, with a support pillar on the far side.
| Structure name | Description | Consists of | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
bastion/bridge/bridge_pieces/bridge
|
The double deck bridge. Only 1 generates per bastion. |
1384 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/bridge/connectors/back_bridge_bottom
|
First floor of the double deck bridge behind the rampart. | 
| |
bastion/bridge/connectors/back_bridge_top
|
Second floor of the double deck bridge behind the rampart. | 
| |
bastion/bridge/legs/leg_0
|
A pillar under the bridge. | 
| |
bastion/bridge/legs/leg_1
|
A pillar under the bridge. | 
| |
bastion/bridge/rampart_plates/plate_0
|
A wall on bastion/bridge/ramparts/rampart_1.
|
260 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/bridge/ramparts/rampart_0
|
The upper half of one side of the rampart. 2 of these generate per bastion. |
2954 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/bridge/ramparts/rampart_1
|
4361 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/bridge/starting_pieces/entrance
|
The upper half of the rampart. Only 1 generates per bastion. |
6548 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/bridge/starting_pieces/entrance_base
|
The lower half of the rampart. Only 1 generates per bastion. |
10685 Blackstone |
|
bastion/bridge/starting_pieces/entrance_face
|
Structure in front of the rampart resembling a face. |
517 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/bridge/walls/wall_base_0
|
The lower half of one side of the rampart. |
4854 Blackstone |
|
bastion/bridge/walls/wall_base_1
|
The lower half of one side of the rampart. |
5034 Blackstone |
|
Hoglin stables[]
The hoglin stables consist of a three-part rampart with damaged hoglin stables on either side. Hoglin stables' pieces are contained in the subfolder hoglin_stable. They contain the hoglin stable chests.
Housing units[]
The housing unit consists of multiple ruined two-part ramparts arranged around a central courtyard with nether wart growing in the middle. Housing unit pieces are contained in the subfolder units.
Treasure room[]
The treasure room structure consists of a large rampart supported by buttresses, with a bridge going between it and the treasure room itself. The rampart contains several treasure chests and a handful of blocks of gold.
The treasure room consists of many bridges suspended above a lava floor. At the bottom of a treasure room, there is a magma cube monster spawner, and a center loot area consisting of blocks of gold, as well as 1 or 2 treasure chests. Additional chests generate in the bastion, but they use the "generic" loot table instead of the "treasure" loot table. Treasure room pieces are contained in the subfolder treasure.
| Structure name | Description | Consists of | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
bastion/treasure/bases/centers/center_0
|
Center loot areas on the lava basin in the treasure room. Only 1 generates per bastion. |
121 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/bases/centers/center_1
|
118 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/treasure/bases/centers/center_2
|
134 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/treasure/bases/centers/center_3
|
75 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/treasure/bases/lava_basin
|
The lava basin at the bottom of the treasure room and a bridge on it. Only 1 generates per bastion. |
956 Lava |
|
bastion/treasure/brains/center_brain
|
Technical connection parts. | N/A | N/A |
bastion/treasure/connectors/center_to_wall_middle
|
N/A | N/A | |
bastion/treasure/connectors/center_to_wall_top
|
N/A | N/A | |
bastion/treasure/connectors/center_to_wall_top_entrance
|
N/A | N/A | |
bastion/treasure/corners/bottom/corner_0
|
The corners of the corridors of the first, second, and third floors are shown in the treasure room. |
191 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/corners/bottom/corner_1
|
89 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/treasure/corners/edges/bottom
|
The corners of walls. | 
| |
bastion/treasure/corners/edges/middle
|
| ||
bastion/treasure/corners/edges/top
|
| ||
bastion/treasure/corners/middle/corner_0
|
The corners of the corridors of the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors of the treasure room. |
86 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/corners/middle/corner_1
|
74 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/treasure/corners/top/corner_0
|
The corners of the corridors of the seventh and eighth floors of the treasure room. |
67 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/corners/top/corner_1
|
74 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/treasure/entrances/entrance_0
|
The bridge going between the entrance and the treasure room. |
292 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/extensions/empty
|
Structures extending from the corridors. | 1 Basalt | 
|
bastion/treasure/extensions/fire_room
|
355 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/treasure/extensions/house_0
|
124 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/treasure/extensions/house_1
|
151 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/treasure/extensions/large_bridge_0
|
Large bridges extending from the corridors. | 
| |
bastion/treasure/extensions/large_bridge_1
|
| ||
bastion/treasure/extensions/large_bridge_2
|
37 Blackstone |
| |
bastion/treasure/extensions/large_bridge_3
|
| ||
bastion/treasure/extensions/roofed_bridge
|
A bridge with a roof that extending from the corridors. | 
| |
bastion/treasure/extensions/small_bridge_0
|
Small bridges extending from the corridors. | 
| |
bastion/treasure/extensions/small_bridge_1
|
| ||
bastion/treasure/extensions/small_bridge_2
|
| ||
bastion/treasure/extensions/small_bridge_3
|
| ||
bastion/treasure/ramparts/bottom_wall_0
|
One side of the lower half of the rampart. |
2571 Blackstone |
|
bastion/treasure/ramparts/lava_basin_main
|
Lava basin under the bridge between the rampart and the treasure room. Only 1 generates per bastion. |
7250 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/ramparts/lava_basin_side
|
Lava basin on the left between the rampart and the treasure room. Only 1 generates per bastion. |
7250 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/ramparts/mid_wall_main
|
The middle right part of the rampart that connects to the bridge. Only 1 generates per bastion. |
3088 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/ramparts/mid_wall_side
|
The middle left part of the rampart. Only 1 generates per bastion. |
2941 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/ramparts/top_wall
|
The upper half of one side of the rampart. |
1187 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/roofs/center_roof
|
The roof of the treasure room. | 
| |
bastion/treasure/roofs/corner_roof
|
| ||
bastion/treasure/roofs/wall_roof
|
| ||
bastion/treasure/stairs/lower_stairs
|
Stairs on the bridge of bastion/treasure/bases/lava_basin.
|
13 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/walls/bottom/wall_0
|
The corridors of the first, second, and third floors of the treasure room. 4 generate per bastion, 1 on each side. |
1043 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/walls/bottom/wall_1
|
983 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/treasure/walls/bottom/wall_2
|
1075 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/treasure/walls/bottom/wall_3
|
952 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/treasure/walls/mid/wall_0
|
The corridors of the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors of the treasure room. 4 generate per bastion, 1 on each side. |
434 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/walls/mid/wall_1
|
412 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/treasure/walls/mid/wall_2
|
575 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/treasure/walls/outer/bottom_corner
|
The walls of the treasure room. | 
| |
bastion/treasure/walls/outer/medium_outer_wall
|
| ||
bastion/treasure/walls/outer/mid_corner
|
| ||
bastion/treasure/walls/outer/outer_wall
|
| ||
bastion/treasure/walls/outer/tall_outer_wall
|
| ||
bastion/treasure/walls/outer/top_corner
|
| ||
bastion/treasure/walls/top/main_entrance
|
The corridors of the seventh and eighth floors of the treasure room connect to the bridge outside. |
593 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/walls/top/wall_0
|
The corridors of the seventh and eighth floors of the treasure room. |
502 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/walls/top/wall_1
|
602 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
| |
bastion/treasure/walls/entrance_wall
|
The wall of the treasure room connects with the bridge outside. |
763 Polished Blackstone Bricks |
|
bastion/treasure/walls/lava_wall
|
The wall between the treasure room and the lava basin on the left. | 
| |
bastion/treasure/big_air_full
|
A technical connection part. | None | N/A |
Blocks[]
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an There is a 10% chance of spawning a piglin brute, a 40% chance of spawning a piglin with a golden sword, a 40% of spawning a piglin with a crossbow, and a 10% chance of not spawning at all.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p There is a 5⁄6 chance of spawning a piglin brute and a 1⁄6 chance of spawning a piglin with a golden sword.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k This hoglin has a 1⁄3 chance of not spawning.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j This gold block has only a 25% chance of appearing. Otherwise, air is generated in its place.
Mobs[]
General[]
Unlike most nether mobs, piglins, hoglins, and piglin brutes are not immune to fire damage. This makes bastion remnants one of the few places in the nether where the Flame and Fire Aspect enchantments can prove beneficial.
Piglin Brutes[]
Piglin brutes are variants of piglins that are unique to bastion remnants and are capable of dealing massive amounts of damage in a single hit thanks to their Golden Axe. The higher the difficulty, the more damage they deal, up to 19 attack damage in hard difficulty. Their heavy hits also mean that Armor offers much less protection: A full set of unenchanted iron armor only reduces the attack damage by 22%. To make matters worse, due to the fact that piglin brutes use axes instead of swords, they have the ability to disable shields.
Fortunately, unlike regular piglins, piglin brutes do not respawn when killed, meaning you won't have to worry about them reappearing once you clear all of them out of the bastion.
Here are some tips and tricks on how to defeat piglin brutes:
Ranged Weapons
When forced to draw some sort of weapon against a piglin brute, the use of ranged weapons is your best bet. Try to shoot them off ledges and preferably into lava. The Punch enchantment can assist. If they land in lava, there is nothing they can do and they burn to death. Only EXP and possibly a golden axe will be at-risk of disappearing into lava. This will have to be done from a long range, so that a horde of angry piglins don't rush up at you while you are charging your ranged weapon. Engaging in head-to-head melee combat with the piglin brute is to always be avoided (especially if playing on Java Edition) unless you know what you are doing.
If you're good at sniping, you may also be able to avoid aggravating nearby piglins as piglins can only alert nearby allies that are within 16 block away from the area where the piglin took damage, not the player's location.
2-block tall pillar[]
When piglin brutes are rushing towards you, and there is no low ceiling, you may want to pillar up 2 blocks. Standing on a 2 block tall column will prevent piglins from being able to reach you. However, a third block is required if you wish to attack the piglin brutes. Otherwise, the vertical knockback from your attacks might provide enough height for them to knock you off your platform. Alternatively, if you are in a situation where you can't place the third block, piglins cannot swim in Lava, meaning lava can be used to safely take out brutes without fear of them swimming upward.
When building your safety pillar, make sure there are no piglins nearby that can use a Crossbow to shoot you off your pillar. Additionally, be mindful of what's above you when you pillar up, or else you may get ambushed from above.
Diamond and Netherite Armor[]
As mentioned above, the high amount of damage that piglin brutes deal in a single hit will cause your armor to suffer a massive penalty. To mitigate this, bring either diamond or netherite armor, as in addition to the extra Armor points the sets give, both give an extra stat called Armor Toughness, which reduces the severity of any armor reduction caused by an attack. Using a full set of diamond armor halves the armor reduction that you receive - while a full set of unenchanted iron armor would only reduce damage by 22% in Hard mode [(armor points x 4%) - (damage x 2%)] = 60% - 38% = 22%, a full set of unenchanted diamond armor would reduce damage by 61% [(armor points x 4%) - (damage x 1%)] = 80% - 19% = 61%.
Boats[]
When piglin brutes are rushing towards you, you can simply place boats in front of their pathfinding. If you do this correctly, the piglin brutes will enter the boats while running towards you. Once they are in the boats, they are stuck; they are unable to exit or break the boats. You still do not want to go too close to the boats or hop in the boat, as the piglin brutes can still attack players within their reach. Using a ranged weapon will be the safest option to kill them, however a sword or axe will do the job if far away enough.
Lava Bucket[]
Arguably one of the strongest items you can bring to a bastion due to the fact that unlike most nether mobs, all piglins, brutes included, are not immune to fire damage, which makes lava buckets a very efficient way to kill them. Simply use the lava bucket on the block underneath the piglin brute to deal high amounts of damage. Additionally, Minecraft does not keep track of who places lava, meaning lava buckets can be used to deal damage without alerting other nearby piglins. However, remember that 3x as fast and twice as far in the Nether, so a single lava source could potentially kill lots of piglins or make exploring the bastion harder. This is why you might want to quickly refill your bucket and place the lava again over and over until the brute dies.
Using a lava bucket prevents the piglin brute from dropping any Experience upon death. However, the ability to damage piglin brutes without aggravating other piglins usually makes this option worth it.
Summoning Iron Golems[]
If you have enough inventory space to hold iron blocks and carved pumpkins, then consider how powerful iron golems are. Iron golems automatically attack piglin brutes, and can kill them in 3 to 8 hits, with an average of a 4-hit kill (Observing that on average, the iron golem will do 15
× 7.5 damage). Also, because iron golems have so much health, they can take 6-20 hits (Depending on two factors, difficulty and edition. The easier the difficulty, the smaller the damage piglin brutes do, and Bedrock Edition piglin brutes do less damage). Healing the iron golems with iron ingots will make the golem last longer. Additionally, due to the fact that the golems were created by you, they will not attack you should you accidentally hit one. However, they will attack your friends when aggravated, so care should still be taken if you are tackling the bastion remnant on multiplayer.
Blocking Yourself Off[]
If a piglin brute is closely chasing you in a corridor with a ceiling too low to build a pillar, your best bet is to rapidly place any solid block to block yourself off. Once the piglin brute is blocked off, you can then mine one of the blocks away, making sure the piglin brute doesn't have a gap to get through and reach you. Once you can see the piglin brute through the gap in the wall you built, shoot the piglin brute until it dies. Or more riskily, kill it with a melee weapon. The latter is incredibly risky as there is a chance they will still be able to hit you and deal massive damage.
Potions[]
If you have already gathered Blaze Rods and Nether Wart from a Nether Fortress, splash potions can prove effective against piglin brutes, especially if you encounter a group of them. Slowness can slow down their fast movement speed, poison can allow you to gradually drain their health while staying at a safe distance (it also damages them without angering other piglins), and weakness can help reduce their massive attack damage, which also reduces the penalty to armor that their heavy hits cause. If you're in a pinch and need to make a quick escape, a Turtle Master potion augmented with Glowstone Dust, while making piglin brutes incredibly resistant to damage, will slow down their movement speed to 10% of normal speed - even stronger than an augmented slowness potion.
You can also use a potion of Harming to instantly deal a large amount of damage. However, unlike poison, harming potions will anger nearby piglins.
Bringing a drinkable fire resistance potion is also a good idea for any nether trip in general should you lose your footing and fall in lava.
Piglins[]
There are many ways to overcome piglins. Here is a list:
- Wear at least 1 piece of golden armor. This stops the piglins from being initially hostile and allows you to travel relatively safely through the bastion, especially after clearing all of the piglin brutes out.
- However: Attacking a piglin brute will make all the piglins and piglin brutes in range become hostile, which can pose a problem since piglin brutes will attack you regardless of what armor you're wearing. As usual, so will using a chest or barrel, or mining any golden block including ores, However, if you can block them off or otherwise shelter yourself from them, their aggro will wear off in the usual 30 seconds after the brute is dealt with.
- 2 or 3-block tall pillar (not recommended for piglins with crossbows)
- Boats (works best for melee piglins)
- Summoning iron golems
- Distraction by dropping golden items
- Taking advantage of their fears by placing soul torches or using other soul fire.
- To prevent angering the piglins:
- Using TNT. However, don't light up the TNT with a Flint and Steel or a Fire Charge, or else the game will know that TNT was ignited by a player, and the piglins get angry. Instead, use buttons or pressure plates to light up the TNT, as the piglins will not get angry at you for hurting them that way. Their lack of knowledge about Redstone is intentional.
- Lava Buckets can also damage piglins without angering them, as Minecraft does not keep track of who placed the lava.
- Placing hoppers under their chests, taking advantage of their ignorance of Redstone. Note that chests now have gilded blackstone under them, so mining it out to make space for the hopper will anger the piglins anyway. Conversion to a double chest or using a piston to move the block underneath will solve this issue, and let you safely loot from the hopper.
- If you can kill the brutes and perhaps the crossbow piglins from shelter or a pillar, you can then wait for the others to calm down, which will take about 30 seconds. Throwing gold at them will help.
- For crossbow wielding piglins, you might want to do traditional ranged combat by simply shooting at them with bows and crossbows. Melee is also viable if you can get close to it and you have a shield to negate all of the damage and knockback taken. A shield is incredibly helpful in general when fighting them, as it can prevent you from getting knocked off of ledges.
- When groups of piglins become hostile, RUN AWAY. Get as far as you can away from the bastion, and simply return later. Being surrounded in piglins is NOT a good feeling. Alternatively, if you can find a corridor and block off the passageway with blocks letting none of them through. Then simply wait for them to calm down, and problem solved!
- Pouring lava on them.
Hoglins[]
Hoglins don't appear in bastion remnants too often, but they do sometimes. Keep these in mind when fighting them:
- Hoglins can attack from a 3 block tall pillar, but not a 4 block tall pillar. Although you cannot hit them from 4 blocks, you can still shoot them. If you make a 3 block tall pillar, it is possible to kill Hoglins with melee weapon as long as you don't lean too far over the edge.
- Piglins will never hunt any hoglins generated in bastion remnants. Don't rely on piglins to kill the hoglins for you.
- It is extremely hard for hoglins to get in boats. Instead, take advantage of the fact they can't fit through 1 block wide spaces[Java Edition only].
- If you must engage in melee combat with a hoglin, use a sword with Knockback II, Sharpness I-V, and Fire Aspect.
- It's a good idea to bring some warped fungus to scare away the hoglins, but make sure you also have flower pots or dirt to place them on.
Magma cubes[]
Magma cubes can come from spawners hanging from chains over lava. They are very hard to reach and the cubes can knock you into lava. Although breaking these spawners works and protects you, the problem is that you can no longer use them for magma cream farms. Here is a list of some strategies:
- Attack the big magma cubes first. This is because they have high health, do heavy damage, and jump high enough to knock players off 3-block tall pillars. The other magma cubes are much less dangerous, and can easily be killed in one hit with a decent weapon from atop a 3-block tall pillar, and the smallest ones can be killed with just your fist.
- Summoning iron golems is almost a perfect solution. Because they are immune to magma cube damage (knockback too), and deal massive damage, this is a good approach. But one problem: Lava. The area where magma cube spawners exist is filled with lava, which iron golems avoid and take damage in. Fortunately, this can be mitigated with a splash (or lingering) potion of fire resistance.
- If you don't have those kinds of resources, consider shooting them from afar. You should be far enough away to kill all of them before they make their way to you.
- You can fill in their lava pool piecemeal, making the area much safer. A potion of fire resistance can also help.
Magma cube spawner disabling[]
Using 9 solid blocks, the magma cube spawner can be completely disabled.
What a disabled spawner looks like from below. Take note that the blocks are one block higher than the level of the spawner.
There is always a magma cube spawner in each bastion remnant of the treasure room type. It is located close to the bottom of the large room, above a lava pool, guarding the ultimate treasure: a pile of gold blocks, and a chest. Most players would just easily disable the spawner by breaking it, as magma cubes spawn at any light level, torches won't do anything, and it takes a lot of time and blocks to fill up the entire 9×3x9 spawning area, enough time for the local piglins, piglin brutes and magma cubes to tear you into pieces. However, there exist a simple way to disable a magma cube spawner entirely and reliably, using as little as 9 blocks.
This disabling grid makes use of the mechanic that a magma cube, no matter large, medium or small, checks for the space requirements of a large magma cube before it spawns. Since a large magma cube is slightly wider than 2 blocks, there is no horizontal space within the 9×3x9 area for it to fit in. Also, a spawner can only spawn a mob's "feet" at 3 heights: one block below the spawner, same height as the spawner, or one block above the spawner. No matter which layer it chooses, even the lowest layer, since a large magma cube is slightly taller than 2 blocks, its "head" will slightly intersect with at least one of the solid blocks, cancelling the spawn attempt.
Defeating the bastion[]
General
Regardless of what part of the bastion you're trying to explore, it's a good idea to start exploring from the top and work your way down. Piglins won't hesitate to take fall damage to get to you, which can easily result in you getting ambushed if you start exploring from the bottom. A Piglin Brute landing on top of you is especially deadly, as they can disable your shield, leaving you completely vulnerable to their high damage attacks. Because of this, it is highly recommended to bring at least one Totem of Undying to a bastion remnant.
Getting to the top can be treacherous though; building to the top carries the risk of being shot off by a crossbow-wielding Piglin (If you've angered them or aren't wearing gold armor) or a Ghast, which can cause you to fall to your death or into lava. Digging through nearby netherrack to the top avoids these threats, but can result in you digging into a lava pocket and getting yourself melted. A Potion of Slow Falling can help protect you from the dangers of building up to the top and a Potion of Fire Resistance will keep you safe from any lava pockets you dig/fall into.
Once you have reached the top of the bastion, it is highly recommended to secure a respawn area, set a Respawn Anchor and lay a nearby chest or hopper with a supply of glowstone, should you need multiple respawn attempts. If you die in the bastion, getting your items back will be extremely difficult since Piglins can be very tough without armor, and will steal your armor leaving you unable to get it back. Because of this, it is also worth having a chest with back-up armor so you can safely retrieve your stuff without being instantly killed again by Piglins and Piglin Brutes.
Because the bastion remnant is almost completely made of blackstone, navigation can become difficult as the monochrome makes it hard to spot un-explored stairs or corridors. Marking your path (especially where you entered the bastion) with torches or brighter blocks like cobblestone can help you can see where you've already been. The ruined pathing of the bastion also means you should have a good supply of blocks to fill in the holes in the paths so you don't fall through them.
Remember that all nearby Piglins will become hostile if you attack a Piglin Brute, even if you're wearing gold armor. Most of the time, this makes it a better idea to avoid or trap brutes instead of fight them. You can also pour lava on the brutes to kill them, since this does not count as player damage, other piglins will not become hostile. If they're guarding a chest or there's no practical way to avoid fighting them, it can be a good idea to take out the surrounding Piglins first, especially the ones with crossbows, so that you can have an escape route ready if things don't go as planned. This also holds true for when you want to loot a chest or gold blocks, although you may not have to do this if there aren't any Piglins around; they can only detect you doing this from up to 16 blocks away.
You'll likely find your inventory filling up easily, given how much loot and equipment bastion remnants can hold. Shulker Boxes and an Ender Chest can greatly expand your maximum item capacity, but you can store the excess loot in chests that are already there if you're okay with making return trips. A Furnace can also be used to smelt all the gold weapons and armor you'll come across into nuggets; just make sure to leave one piece of gold armor unsmelted so you can equip it in case the one you're wearing breaks while you're exploring. Enchanted items can be disenchanted for experience with a grindstone.
Specific Bastion Types
When exploring a Hoglin stable, you should kill the Hoglins first. They have more melee range than the Piglins, are inherently hostile, and deal a lot of knockback, which can easily push you off the pillars and bridges of the bastion. Be careful not to hit any Piglins while doing this; Hoglins are dangerous enough when fought by themselves.
When exploring a Treasure Room, after clearing out the areas above, you should fill in the surrounding lava and disable/close off the Magma Cube spawner. Gravel and Sand can help you fill in the lava from above, as the lava pool is only 2 blocks deep with the exception of the occasional hole in the base of the bastion. A Potion of Fire Resistance can save your life if a Magma Cube knocks you into the lava pool while you're trying to fill it. Note that because Magma Cubes spawn at all light levels, the only way to disable the spawner is to completely cover it with blocks in a ~9x5x9 area with the spawner being in the center, one block under the top of that area. It's usually more practical to wall off the 9x5x9 area they spawn in instead. The entrance also has 4+ chests at, so make sure to loot those as well. You can loot one room, then mine into the left side (facing the entrance), and the second chest room will be on the other side.
When exploring a Bridge, the gold statue is generally somewhat safe to mine. It is on a 3-block tall podium, so piglin brutes and piglins with swords are easy to kill. Crossbow piglins can knock you off, so prioritize killing them first with a ranger weapon. After killing the piglins that rushed to you, the bastion is somewhat safe in the center. Avoid melee combat, as it is easy to get pushed into lava. A Punch bow will help shove piglins and brutes into the lava columns. Turning left will bring you to another dangerous area, so snipe the piglins from afar. Make sure to block off all entrances when opening chests, as piglins will be aggravated, so you can take your time picking out the lodestone and other valuables in the chest. Afterwards, open a small hole if piglins are nearby trying to attack you. If none are there, the bastion is pretty much free to explore.