If you’ve played the game before, you undoubtedly know that combat is a main aspect of Minecraft. The game is primarily about building and relaxing, however playing in survival mode stops players from doing this. There is a wide range of enemies in Minecraft. Each of these enemies is different from one another and has unique attacks and behaviours.
Some enemies in Minecraft will approach you head on and try to kill you straight away. Other enemies will try to fight you from a distance using a more tactical approach. In short, you’ll face many a few dangers while playing Minecraft if you choose the game’s classic survival mode.
You’ll obviously need a weapon in order to fend all these enemies off and keep yourself safe. Luckily the game is filled with many different weapons that players can use to fight these enemies and keep them at bay while trying to gather supplies for building. Two of the more popular weapons available for selection in the game are the axe and sword.
Sword vs Axe In Minecraft
The sword and the axe in Minecraft are arguably the two most popular weapons available in Minecraft. Both of them are used for the same purpose, which is to fight enemies, but they are both quite different. The axe has some advantages over the sword while the sword has some advantages over the axe. Many players debate between which of the two weapons is better. Here is a comparison between both of them to make it easier to answer this question.
Damage
In terms of damage, the axe is better than the sword. The axe is capable of focusing its power on a single enemy. This allows players to deal very high damage to a specific enemy and take them out in one or two hits. However, the axe isn’t capable of damaging multiple enemies at a single time.
As mentioned, the sword does less damage to enemies. Your character does a swipe attack while doing a store. This attack doesn’t focus on a single enemy. However, this is also good as a swipe attack allows you to damage multiple enemies standing in front of you.
Cost and Durability
A sword costs less to make as compared to an axe, however, this isn’t necessarily a good thing. While an axe is more expensive to make, it is also slightly more durable. Swords, on the other hand, are a bit cheaper to make but will break quicker than axes because of their lower durability. To be more specific, a sword will always break one-hit quicker than its axe counterpart.
Attack Rate
Swords have a huge advantage when it comes to attacking rate. Axes have a very long recovery time which can make them disadvantageous in a few situations. The sword, on the other hand, has good recovery time and allows players to attack repeatedly in very short amounts of time.
While Minecraft is all about building, farming and relaxing, there is quite an amount of hostile creatures in the vast open world. You can use a lot of methods to dispatch them, but the most common are still either sword or axe. In this article, we are going to compare sword vs axe in Minecraft to see which one is the better weapon.
1. Sword vs Axe In Minecraft
Damage
In Minecraft Java, the axe has higher damage than the sword. It allows the player to focus their power on a single enemy alone. This lets the player deal very high single target damage to an enemy, taking them out in just one or two hits. However, the weakness of the axe is its inability to deal damage to multiple targets.
The sword, on the other hand, deals less damage to enemies. However, it has the ability to do a swipe attack that damages multiple foes. Because of this, hitting multiple foes with a sword deals more effective damage than killing them one by one with the axe. Both swords and axes can be enchanted with various enchantments.
Cost and Durability
You need less material to make a sword as compared to an axe, however, this is not really a bad thing. While an axe is more expensive, it is also more durable. Swords usually break quicker than axes because of their lower durability.
Attack Rate
In Minecraft Java, swords have a huge advantage over axe when it comes to attack rate. The axe has a pretty slow recovery time, which can be difficult to use for some players. Swords, on the other hand, allows players to spam attacks repeatedly in a short amount of time.
2. Should you use sword or axe in Minecraft?
This actually comes down to personal preference and skill. Dreams and Technoblade, two of the best Minecraft players in the world, use Axe and Sword respectively. The Axe used to have lower damage than the sword, but that was changed in later patches.
In PVP
To use the Axe as a weapon, you need to practice a lot with the hit and run tactic, smacking the enemy then dodging to wait for the next attack to be available. Sword's fast attack, on the other hand, allow players to chain combo much easier. This matters a lot in PVP where you have to fight other people.
With Technoblade beating Dream using a sword, it is pretty clear that the Sword is better in Minecraft PVP.
In PVE
In Minecraft PVE, you often fight one or two enemies at the same time instead of getting yourself surrounded by a crowd. This is why the axe is effective - you can just one or two-shot an enemy so that they can't damage you. While the sword's sweeping attack allows you to fight multiple foes at the same time, you would not want to be surrounded at Normal or Hard.
The axe also allows you to break logs and blocks derived from wood faster than by using other tools. The Axe can also disable shields as well. From this, it is clear that the Axe is better in Minecraft PVE.
Interested in more of our articles related to Minecraft? Please check this post to find out more about Crossbows Vs Bows: Which Is The Better Ranged Weapon In Minecraft?
williamdripfoe
I see people more and more using axes instead of swords in bedwars and I just have to ask why?
Can someone give me an explanation or is it just because bedwars players have IQ below room temperature
KelsosWheel
Milkre
TheCostOfFreedom GLORY
Member
DREAM STANS!1! jk
Idk sometimes their axes do more damage than their swords. For example, diamond axes do more damage than stone swords (i think) They might also be in 1.16 so they believe axes do more dmg
Lrve
I see people more and more using axes instead of swords in bedwars and I just have to ask why?
Can someone give me an explanation or is it just because bedwars players have IQ below room temperature
williamdripfoe
I tried to help out one of these players a while back by just bullying them until they stopped using axes altogether. I talked to them later and they said "People find it annoying lol" so yeah I'm just kinda confused lmao
FearThyCreeper
Yes, I was also confused by that.
Granted, I play on 1.16 myself, I just have the IQ to know that axes are better on wood than human skulls.
I mean you could use axe's to get crits if someone is afk and you need to kill someone quick since axe's deal more damage but in 1.8 pvp if youre jumping and hitting youre just gonna get comboed and take much more kb, and itll look weird LOOOl
Diamond axe do the same damage as iron sword they also fast to break wood they also cost 1 gold less then an iron sword so in most situation i use diamond axes
ObjectClassKeter
MuffinGlob
because they play in 1.16 and in this version it shows that axes do more damage. since hypixel is optimized for 1.8, they dont actually do more damage but these kids are clowns and never listen.
Page 2
oHack
they are dumb 1.16 players
Lucalogy
I see people more and more using axes instead of swords in bedwars and I just have to ask why?
Can someone give me an explanation or is it just because bedwars players have IQ below room temperature
if they're using axes in 1.8 or something, they're just putting themselves at a disadvantage.
Critism
Because 99% of all bedwars players suck
Videoguy_
Yeah axes do more damage than swords in later versions of Minecraft (1.9+) but I tend to stick to 1.8.9 and use swords.
Dadestroye
Fitey
cuz they either think that 1.16 pvp is a thing or that getting an diamond axe is more cOsT eFfEcTiVe over swords
MalakaiDreemurr
I see people more and more using axes instead of swords in bedwars and I just have to ask why?
Can someone give me an explanation or is it just because bedwars players have IQ below room temperature
Bxlue
Draqonate
Esibizionista
I see people more and more using axes instead of swords in bedwars and I just have to ask why?
Can someone give me an explanation or is it just because bedwars players have IQ below room temperature
TheArcticHero
Cheddar Nation CHEESE
Guild Master
I sometimes do use axe but it's not due to 1.16, but due to pricings, I can't blockhit so using a sword or axe is the same for me if it deals the same dmg, if I go for bed rush I buy iron axe instead of stone sword which makes the same dmg and also I can save more recources for rushing.
Esibizionista
Ok, but an iron axe costs gold, whereas a stone sword costs iron. In most maps it is easier to get a stone sword. And why can't you blockhit? Just time your right-clicks while you fight.
Jellyi
Fusion Gamers DARK
Member
I think people use a diamond axe from an economical standpoint. What I mean by this is that the first buy of a diamond axe is significantly more than an iron sword, but after the first buy it’s one gold less. This means if you die a lot you technically save gold? Tbh the more likely reason is because they are in 1.16, but this is a thing that exists I guess.
Esibizionista
I think people use a diamond axe from an economical standpoint. What I mean by this is that the first buy of a diamond axe is significantly more than an iron sword, but after the first buy it’s one gold less. This means if you die a lot you technically save gold? Tbh the more likely reason is because they are in 1.16, but this is a thing that exists I guess.