How to Launch Pigs Safely Without Blowing Up Your Base

A pig launched while you hold TNT in your offhand explodes like a creeper and breaks blocks when it lands. A few habits keep that chaos away from your builds.

Before Every Launch

1. Look at your offhand slot. If it shows TNT, the pig will explode. If you only want cooked porkchops, swap the TNT out first.

2. Keep a harmless item in your offhand by default, such as a shield or a torch. This stops TNT from sitting there unnoticed.

3. Never store TNT in the hotbar slot next to your rockets, so you cannot grab the wrong one.

Choosing Where to Launch

• The pig flies straight up and comes back down nearby. Do your launching in open fields away from houses, farms and storage.
• Avoid launching next to your animal pens. A bomb pig landing among them can kill livestock and break fences.
• If you keep a pig pen near your base, lead pigs out with a carrot to a safe launch area first.

When Things Go Wrong

• Back away as soon as you realize a launched pig is carrying TNT. Treat its landing spot like a creeper about to blow.
• Afterwards, repair the crater with spare dirt or stone. Then double-check your offhand before the next launch.
• Playing with friends? Warn them before you launch an explosive pig so nobody is standing near the landing zone.