Minecraft Legends guide: How to beat the Horde of the Bastion and The Unbreakable boss

Minecraft Legends: Horde of the Bastion Unbreakable boss.
Minecraft Legends: Horde of the Bastion Unbreakable boss. (Image credit: Windows Central)

The hardest of Minecraft Legends' hordes is by far The Horde of the Bastion. As the name implies, they build impressive fortresses from which they employ ballistic buildings, which fire dangerous exploding projectiles. On top of that, many of the Piglins in these hordes wear armor, giving them more defense than other hordes. None is more heavily armored and dangerous than The Unbreakable boss, who wields a lava launcher.

Running headlong into the fray with your best mob units will just result in lost fighters so you need to think strategically to be victorious. Here are some pointers on how to defeat the Horde of the Bastion and its Unbreakable, lava-launching boss. 

Minecraft Legends: What to know about Horde of the Bastion

Minecraft Legends: Horde of the Bastion projectile. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Minecraft Legends' The Horde of the Bastion is a tricky group, but this battle really lets this strategy game's combat tactics shine. Many of these bases won't have an entry point and players will need to breach the walls to really make progress. However, you also need to be careful of the many projectiles launched from the fortress. These projectiles do damage upon landing, but then they spin and explode, breaking into five smaller parts, which also then proceed to spin and explode. They can do massive damage to structures and mobs. You want to weaken The Horde of the Bastion's power by minimizing its Piglin troops and destroying buildings before you can go in and attack their portal. 

Horde of the Bastion Piglins

Minecraft Legends: Horde of the Bastion Piglins. (Image credit: Windows Central)
  • Blaze Runt: Though unarmored, these little enemies do throw blaze rods at a decent length and can set you on fire. They're easily defeated with just a few swings of the sword or a few arrows. Just try to dodge their attacks or your health can go down fast.
  • Mace Runt: Close combat fighters with maces that are deadly in a large group. Keep them at bay with your own archers and arrow towers.
  • Spore Medic: These Piglins have masks over their faces and work to heal wounded allies. You'll want to take them out to take down hordes faster.
  • Piglin Builder: Each carries a machine on its back and fires projectiles that can damage structures and units. Defeat them to keep your fortifications safe.
  • Brute: These larger pigs hold a weapon in each hand and do devastating whirlwind attacks. You want to keep them back from your armies and structures with ranged attacks and have melee fighters finish them off if they get close.
  • Portal Guards: Much larger, armored pigs that wield massive maces. They can knock down basic structures with ease. Use Redstone Launchers and Creepers to defeat them quickly.
  • The Unbreakable: A massive Piglin boss who only shows up on the map once the initial bases have been defeated. He shoots lava from his arm and can do devastating melee attacks. Creepers, Zombies, and projectiles are important for defeating him. 

Horde of the Bastion buildings

Minecraft Legends: Piglin Pit. (Image credit: Windows Central)
  • Piglin Pit: Spawning areas where new batches of Piglins appear. Take these out to reduce Piglin numbers.
  • Blaze Rod Tower: A medium-range structure that can catch you or your team on fire if you're too close. Destroy these quickly to advance further into a fortress.
  • Patcher: Works like your own Carpenter Hut to repair any damaged Piglin structures within range. Get rid of these to prevent Piglin structures from taking longer to beat. 
  • Spike Tower: Shoots molten-hot projectiles to hurt any enemy structures or units. Take these out by sending in Cobblestone Golems when the shield drops. 
  • Siegeworks: A tall, thin tower that increases the range of Piglin projectile towers. You'll want to take these out fast to shorten the Piglin's reach. 
  • Terror Horn: Quickly spreads Netherrack poison. You don't have to take out all of these, but it's good to get the ones in your main path out of the way.
  • Lava Coil Towers: Protective shield generators that glow yellow, orange, and red near the top. They prevent a portal from taking damage so take them out in order to destroy the portal.

Minecraft Legends: How to defeat Horde of the Bastion bases

Minecraft Legends: Replenish resources by opening boxes at the village wellhouse. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Fill up on resources: To start things off, head to your villages (or just one village if you've unlocked the Shared Village Chests Improvement) and open the boxes at the Wellhouses to replenish your resources. If that doesn't give you everything you need, then take time scouring the world and gathering resources. 

Minecraft Legends Horde of the Bastion: Find a safe spot to create a base. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Choose a safe spot to start: Head to one of the Horde of the Bastion bases and scout out the area around the fortress. You want to try to find a spot where projectiles cannot reach you. You might even be able to set up right beneath the fortress walls if a place is safe enough. Instruct your Allays to clean up Netherrack so you can build even closer to the fortress and press in on it.

Minecraft Legends Horde of the Bastion boss: Spawning Creepers.

Minecraft Legends: Spawning Creepers to attack the Horde of the Bastion boss. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Get your forces ready: Some of the Horde of the Bastion bases will send Piglins at you from the start, so you need to have a mob ready to defend yourself. At this point, I highly recommend Skeleton Archers for keeping Piglins back with ranged attacks. You'll also want Zombies for fighting back any Piglins that get through with melee attacks. Tell your mob to stand near your fortifications in order to keep Piglins from meddling.

Minecraft Legends: Buildings getting healed via Carpenter Hut. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Build a Wellhouse and fortify your base: Build fortifications and a Wellhouse so you can fast travel to the area (and so that if you respawn you won't have far to go). Place Arrow Towers and Scatter Towers around your base to help protect it from possible Piglin incursions. I also recommend building a Masonry and Carpenter Hut near the Wellhouse. Together, these buildings will make your walls and towers stronger while also automatically healing them if they take damage.

Minecraft Legends Horde of the Bastion: Destroy projectile towers with the Redstone Launcher. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Advance forward and take out projectile towers: Continue to have your Allays clean up the Netherrack blocks and inch closer to the fortress while putting down your own projectile towers. When the onslaught is managed, spend resources to build at least one Redstone Launcher with a projectile-blocking Protector Tower in front (press the right stick and go to the building tab to add buildings to your Hotbar). If you can manage the resources, place a Kaboomery to add explosive knockback to projectiles, a Spyglass Overlook to increase your firing range, and a Battle Drum to increase firing speed.

Use the Redstone Launcher to fire powerful projectiles and take down arrow towers, Piglin Pits (spawn points), or enemy projectile buildings in the distance with just a few hits. Note that Redstone Launchers have a long cooldown after launching two projectiles in a row, so if you can manage to build two or three Redstone Launchers this will go faster.

Minecraft Legends Horde of the Bastion: Cobblestone Golems destroying Piglin fortress. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Breach the fortress walls: Once most towers and Piglin spawn points are destroyed, it's time to enter the fortress. If there's a main gate, then break it down using a large group of Cobblestone Golems. If there is no entry point, angle a Redstone Launcher at a nearby wall and create one — you might need to build a ramp to get inside. Then remove the Redstone Launcher and its Protector Tower so you can reuse them further in, gather your forces around you, and head into the fortress.

Minecraft Legends Horde of the Bastion: Portal Guard. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Destroy Portal Guards: There are usually two or three large Piglins that carry maces in each fortress. These are called Portal Guards and they hit hard enough to destroy buildings very quickly. You obviously don't want these guys around for long. The fastest way to defeat them is to either hit them directly with the Redstone Launcher or to send Creepers at them. You can also keep them busy with Zombies or Skeleton archers if needed while you prepare your Creeper army.

Minecraft Legends Horde of the Bastion: Build inside the fortress. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Advance and set up inside the fortress: Keep cleaning up Netherrack blocks as you advance inside the fortress. If you hit lava, try to have an Allay gather in such a way that it at least clears up one block of Netherrack on the other side, and then continue to clean up the ground from there. Defeat any Piglins that head your way and when enough of the ground is cleared beneath you, start putting up your own projectile towers as well as Zombie, Cobblestone Golem, and Skeleton spawn points.

Minecraft Legends Horde of the Bastion: Use the Redstone Launcher to take out enemy structures. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Take out remaining Piglin spawn points, arrow towers, and projectile launchers: Have your Arrow Towers, Scatter Towers, Skeletons, and Zombies take out the oncoming Piglins. Once you're somewhat safe, build Protector Towers and Redstone Launchers to take out enemy buildings you couldn't reach before. It's important to take out all Piglin spawn points to reduce the oncoming hordes and to destroy all enemy projectile towers as these can decimate your forces in unexpected places. While your Redstone Launchers cool down, direct groups of Cobblestone Golems to take out arrow towers and other buildings along the path, but make sure to protect them so they can reach their targets.

Minecraft Legends Horde of the Bastion: Destroy the shield towers protecting the portal. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Destroy the Lava Coil Towers to damage the portal: Some Horde of the Bastion bases employ Lava Coil Towers, which put up a kind of shield around the portal. You must destroy all of these towers before the portal can take any damage. As with other buildings, work on taking them out with the Redstone Launcher and Cobblestone Golems. You'll know how many Lava Coil Towers a base has by looking at the icons above the portal HP gauge. Their position also shows up on the compass at the top of the screen. When all towers are destroyed, the portal's gauge will change from orange to purple.

Minecraft Legends Horde of the Bastion portal. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Destroy that portal: Gather several Cobblestone Golems to your side and bring them to the portal. By now, you should only be dealing with the Piglins that spawn from the portal itself. So, hack away at them while your minions destroy the portal. You'll be victorious in no time.

Minecraft Legends: Map of The Unbreakable Leader of the Horde of the Bastion. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Move on to the next Horde of the Bastion base and repeat: With one Horde of the Bastion base down, it's time to take out the others. Employ the same tactics and you'll have them all beaten in no time. 

Minecraft Legends: How to defeat the Horde of the Bastion's The Unbreakable boss

Minecraft Legends Horde of the Bastion: The Unbreakable boss. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Once all of the initial Horde of the Bastion bases have been defeated, a brand-new base housing The Unbreakable boss will appear. Make your way to it and create a fortified area complete with a Wellhouse somewhere close by so you can fast-travel to it if needed.

The Unbreakable boss is located at the center of this massive base near the portal and cannot launch anything at you unless you are close to them. But to fight them, you'll need to first breach the outer walls, destroy offensive buildings, and weaken the horde. Do the same tactics used to defeat the previous Horde of the Bastion bases, getting rid of all enemy projectile-launchers, stat-boosting structures, and Piglin spawn points while cleaning the ground beneath your feet. Once you break into the center of the fortress it's time to attack The Unbreakable.

Minecraft Legends Horde of the Bastion boss: Send Creepers, Zombies, and Skeletons to attack The Unbreakable. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Which fighters to use: The Unbreakable boss fires chunks of lava from his right arm and will do a devastating attack if you're close. To defeat him quickly, send Creepers to explode at close range. This will cut huge chunks out of The Unbreakable's health, but obviously, Creepers need to be respawned often. You'll also want to send several Zombies as their strong melee attacks cause moderate damage. Skeleton archers can also whittle away at The Unbreakable's health without getting damaged themselves, but they will take longer.

Minecraft Legends: Firing Redstone Launcher at The Unbreakable boss. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Distract the boss and shoot projectiles: If you're somewhat close, this boss tends to aim at your character rather than your mob. So, dodge around The Unbreakable while keeping away from your forces and your fighters won't get injured as much. Every now and then, run back to a Redstone Launcher and fire at the boss to blast a chunk of health away. Then spawn more units as needed and return to the fight.

Minecraft Legends: Horde of the Bastion portal. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Destroy that portal: Once The Unbreakable is down, the Nether Portal at the center of the Piglin stronghold will automatically explode, guaranteeing your victory over the Horde of the Bastion.

That'll do pig, that'll do

If you go at the Horde of the Bastion without employing specific tactics then you'll just end up wasting a lot of units and resources. These industrious piggies have armor making them harder to defeat and their industrial ways allow them to hit targets at a farther range. Think strategically and take out each structure in their fortresses to weaken them before charging in. 

The Unbreakable boss is relatively easy to defeat as long as you have weakened the rest of the horde and have greatly reduced the number of Piglins that spawn in the area. Send your best units forward and let them have at him until you can turn your attention to the portal itself.

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Rebecca Spear
Editor and Reviewer

Self-professed gaming geek, Rebecca Spear, is one of Windows Central's editors and reviewers with a focus on gaming handhelds, PC gaming, and laptops. When she isn't checking out the latest games on Xbox Game Pass, PC, ROG Ally, or Steam Deck; she can be found digital drawing with a Wacom tablet. She's written thousands of articles with everything from editorials, reviews, previews, features, previews, and hardware reviews over the last few years. If you need information about anything gaming-related, her articles can help you out. She also loves testing game accessories and any new tech on the market. You can follow her @rrspear on X (formerly Twitter).