Mobhunting is the singleplayer version of combat.
Not everyone can pull off this stunt, though, and they design a basic house, or as I call it, a hole.
But to make a traditional hole, you need a mountain.
You don't always spawn near a mountain, and you are forced to fight.
What I do in every survival situation is craft a stone sword, iron, if I can get it.
When nightfall comes, I slaughter the monsters and reap rewards such as string, bones, ender pearls, gunpowder, arrows, carrots, potatoes, and sometimes even damaged gear.
Most of these items can only be acquired by killing these monsters.
The following tips will be for killing certain monsters.
Zombie:
Use your sword to keep knocking the zombie back so he doesn't touch you.
Zombies deal damage by touching you.
Therefore, no damage!
Skeletons:
Most people will say that you should either use a bow to kill it.
They may also tell you to circle around it.
I disagree with both of those.
I like to charge the skeleton head on and stand right in front of it, swinging your sword.
You may take some damage, but your sword deals damage at a faster rate, therefore, the skeleton dies first.
WARNING: If fighting a mob of skeletons, you may die due to all of the skeletons damage overall.
Creeper: Creepers have the tendency to explode and suicide.
Unless you need gunpowder or there is a mob of creepers, I suggest you hit it once and let it blow up.
You will survive the explosion.
Otherwise, you do what everyone does.
You hit it once and hit the back key until it will no longer explode.
Then hit it again.
Repeat until killed.
Spider:
Spiders are like zombies and deal damage by jumping on you.
I have two formulas for killing spiders.
1:Wait for the spider to jump and knock it down while it is in midair.
Repeat until killed.
2:Keep the spider at a distance so when it jumps, it will fall short of hitting you.
Enderman:
Endermen take damage when they touch water, so jump in the middle of water.
The Enderman will teleport away, looking for a different angle of attack.
When it does, it will hit the water again.
The cycle repeats.
If you are not near water, Hit it with your sword.
As stated before, it will teleport away, looking for a new plan of attack.
You are able to predict that plan of attack by looking at the smoke trail it left behind.
TIP: If these strategies seem tough to pull off, you can avoid Endermen completely by not making eye contact.
You can also avoid Endermen by wearing a pumpkin on your head.
If you do have a pumpkin on your head, you can make eye contact with one and it will stay pacified.