Summary
AlthoughMinecraftitself doesn’t have quests or set directions players should go, theadvancements found in particular in the Java Editionof the game give the player some general goals on what to do and how to interact with the game’s open-world sandbox. Many of these advancements are really simple, from getting wood or mining stone, and shouldn’t present any major issues for even beginner players.
However, there are other, more difficult advancements inMinecraftthat truly test the limits of even the most seasoned players. Many of them border on being downright ridiculous, and rather than pushing forward the game’s “narrative”, they’re more like challenges that players can attempt to complete throughout their journey. For the completionists out there, the followingadvancements from Java Edition ofMinecraftare by far some of the toughest ones to unlock.
Updated on Jul 18, 2025, by Ben Painter:Minecraft is a game that is never-ending, players can put hundreds of hours into the game and still have a lot to do. Advancements are Minecraft’s version of achievements, things in the game that gamers can tick off to complete. With every new update comes new advancements. The latest update,1.20brought fans archeology, sniffers, and smithing templates into the game, and with that came with new advancements for gamers to unlock. The next update 1.21 is set to bring trail chambers, wolf armor, and a new hostile mob, the Breeze, so there are set to be even more advancements added to the beloved game. This update adds five more of thehardest advancements to unlock in Minecraft.
19Star Trader
Trade With A Villager At Build Height Limit
If anyMinecraftplayers have ever tried to make a villager breederor trading hall, then they know how difficult it is to get villagers to cooperate. For whatever reason, there is no simple method in the game to get villagers to go where they want.
To achieve this advancement, gamers must take a villager up to the build height limit of Y-level 320 and trade with a villager. The easiest way is to make a bubble elevator and force the lucky participant up to the top. This will require an insane amount of blocks, not the most difficult, but it is a tedious task.
18Smells Interesting
Obtain A Sniffer Egg
Sniffers were a mob introduced in the latest main update, 1.20 ‘Trails and Tales’, they are essentially a big ancient creature that sniffs out and digs up torchflower seeds and pitcher pods.
To add this advancement to a player’s achievements, then all they have to do is acquire a Sniffer Egg, but this is no easy task as they are a rare spawn in the game. Making use of the new archeology feature, they are found in suspicious sandblocks in warm ocean ruins at a rate of 6.7%. It will take some amount of searching to locate them.
17With Our Powers Combined
Have All Froglights In Your Inventory
Frogs were a highly requested mob to be added to the game, and they eventually were, in 1.19, back in 2022 as part of the ‘The Wild Update’. They are located in the Swamp biome, which can be tricky to locate in itself.
What makes this advancement even harder isthe work it takes to acquire all three froglights. Froglights can only be obtained from a frog eating a magma cube, which then creates a froglight. There are three types of froglights, pearlescent, verdant, and ochre, which are dependent on what version of frog eats the magma cube; warm, temperate, and cold, respectively. Only temperate frogs spawn naturally, so gamers will need to take two frogs and breed them in their respective biomes and then take one of each frog into the Nether to eat a magma cube and produce a froglight.
16Monsters Hunted
Kill One Of Every Hostile Mob
With 34 hostile mobs in the game, killing each one will take some effort. Gamers will need to search high and low in multiple biomes, night and day, and need to go to all three dimensions to complete this advancement.
Thankfully, this does not mean that gamers need to kill the impossible warden, but it does require defeating the two bosses of the game, the Wither and the Ender Dragon. Gamers will also need to take part in a raid, which is the only way that Ravagers spawn in Minecraft. Some, like the Zombie, Skeleton, and Spider, are so easy to find and kill, but the others take a gargantuan effort to track and put an end to.
15Zombie Doctor
Weaken And Then Cure A Zombie Villager
To achieve the ‘Zombie Doctor’ advancement, gamers must become exactly that, a zombie doctor. Players must first locate a Zombie Villager, which spawns naturally at night sometimes. Then they need to cure it. To do that, players will need to hit the zombie with a potion of weakness and then give it a golden apple, and then the zombie villager will turn back into a regular villager.
This is a bit difficult to do as potions are hard to make as they require blaze rods and then there is the golden apple, which can be found in loot chests or crafted with gold ingots and an apple. A fairly easy task, butworking with a mob that is trying to kill the playercomes with its own problems. But, it is very much worth it as the new villager’s trades will come at a cheaper price, perfect for grinding for experience, emeralds, and other items.
14Great View From Up Here
Levitate Up 50 Blocks From The Attacks Of A Shulker
ThisMinecraftadvancement is one of those that players can potentially unlock by accident. If not, they’ll have to go out of their way to unlock it. Head over to an End City, where players need to float up to 50 meters into the air through a shulker missile, which applies the levitation status effect on the player.
Not only is this advancement dangerous, as players will be floating up very high and potentially risking death as they eventually come down, but it also implies players will need to head to the End and findan End Citywith enough shulkers in one spot. It also means subjecting themselves to damage from shulkers, which is nothing to scoff at, especially if players haven’t prepared proper diamond or Netherite armor at this stage inMinecraft.
13Two Birds, One Arrow
Kill Two Phantoms With A Piercing Arrow
Phantoms are special mobs that fly in the air at night and spawn only when the player hasn’t slept in three nights. This “insomnia” is what draws these creatures in, and they will hunt down the player every night until they sleep to stop them from spawning.
Two Birds, One Arrow is a special advancement inMinecraftrelated to these Phantoms.Players need to use a crossbowthat has the Piercing enchantment and land a shot that kills two Phantoms in a single strike. This is extremely challenging, as Phantoms tend to fly around in annoying patterns. Occasionally, however, two Phantoms fly in sync and as they lunge down slowly, players might be lucky enough to get a piercing shot in from their crossbow.
12Arbalistic
Kill Five Unique Mobs With One Crossbow Shot
Arbalistic is another crossbow-related advancement. This one requires players to kill five mobs with a single crossbow shot, which doesn’t seem too difficult at first glance given players have access to useful enchantments like Multishot and Piercing. However, these mobs need to all be unique mobs. That means players must kill five different mobs in a single shot, with an enchanted crossbow.
There’s so much to consider here: where to find the mobs, how to get the perfect crossbow with the right enchantments, and so on. The mobs need to be lined up, too, for it to work properly, which can result in a lot of failed attempts for players, making this one of the toughest advancements inMinecraft.
11The End…Again…
Respawn The Ender Dragon
Defeating the Ender Dragon inMinecraftis one thing, but defeating him a second time over after summoning him once again is another. Sure, by this time players will likely have great gear and good weapons, and they’ll have learned from their first fight against the Ender Dragon, but that still doesn’t remove the challenge from this task.
The trick is also to resummon the boss. Players will need to craft four End Crystals, which require Ghast tears that can be a pain to farm for more inexperienced players. Ghasts can sometimes die over lava pools or large drops in the Nether, and that makes getting their loot difficult in the first place.
10Serious Dedication
Use A Netherite Ingot To Upgrade A Hoe, And Then Reevaluate Your Life Choices
Starting off with something extremely unexciting and fairly simple is Serious Dedication. Players need to use up a Netherite hoe completely until it has no durability and it breaks. On paper, it sounds extremely easy, as it doesn’t involve the player risking their lives, other than to actually get their hands on the said Netherite. They’ll first have to craft a Diamond hoe, then upgrade itto Netherite, which are both a waste of resources.
After that, players will need time. A lot of it. The Netherite hoe has a durability of 2031, which means it can be used 2031 times before it breaks. Now, imagine tilling the ground that many times in the game. Needless to say, players will need some wrist support after a while given the intense and ridiculous nature of this advancement. Luckily, there’s a small trick: using a Netherite hoe to hit a mob also counts as a single durability point, so next time players need a weapon while mining in the caves, they may as well use their Netherite hoe.
