What do you keep in your hotbar?

I like to keep the most important stuff in my hotbar
1) Sword: You never know when you will be attacked.
2) Pickaxe: For when I randomly find an ore.
3) Shovel: Just in case I have to dig through a cave.
4) Bow: To get food at a distance or kill mobs that might attack me.
5) Food: It's convenient to have it in the hotbar!
6) Map: To never get lost, of course!
7) Clock: To keep track of time whenever in a cave.
8) Torches: To easily access them when I am exploring a cave.
9) Blocks: If I get stuck in a pit or something, I can use these blocks to get out.

 

My sword, pickaxe, food, torches, and some basic block I can use to climb or patch things with. Just some bare essentials here. Everything else is usually situational and I like to keep my inventory pretty empty when I leave to go exploring or spelunking.

 

I've always had the same thing.
- Torches in first slot
- Sword in second Slot
- Pickaxe, Shovel or Axe in next two slots
- Cobblestone or building blocks
- Other things I need, including at least one food item.

 

Critical stuff on the left and right, rotating stuff in the middle:
- Sword
- Torches
- Bow
- Water when underground, otherwise building materials
- Random building block - usually planks or cobble
- Random - could be seeds, saplings, building material or whatever I picked up last
- Tool (axe, shovel, shears, fortune enchanted axe etc.) Edit: enchanted pickaxe. Not axe.
- Food
- Pickaxe

 

I'm always mining so I always have two or three types of picks, a sword, and torches, so many torches. I usually have, also, some blocks of land and something to eat.
A map could be useful too if you're not mining or even if you're doing it. I have so bad orientation so without it I'm just dead.

 

A pick axe, a sword, chicken and cobblestone. As cobblestone is really the only thing a build with, being the creative genius I am.

When I'm feeling really adventurous however, I'll sometimes throw a flint and steel in there.

 

What I normally keep in my hotbar changes according to what I am currently doing.
Mining
1,2 - 2 pickaxes for faster switching if one breaks
3 - shovel
4 - sword for protection
5 - food (usually lots of melons)
6 - cobble stone as a scaffold for navigating through the mines
7 - iron ore for keeping track of amount obtained
8 - gold ore for keeping track of amount obtained
9 - diamond for keeping track of amount obtained
Building
1-8 - Filled with different blocks for building
9 - sword for protection
Adventuring/Exploring
1 - Food
2 - Cobblestone
3 - Shovel
4 - Bow
5 - Sword (In the middle with important items right beside it to access quickly)
6 - Golden apples
7 - Water bucket for lava protection
8 - Pickaxe
9 - Flint and steel for quickly getting some cooked food

As you can see I try to keep my sword easily accessible most of the time to avoid death from mobs lunging at me and at a loss for what to do without my sword to quickly switch to. I like to adapt to the situation and use different combinations when doing different things in minecraft, because it is more efficient this way.

 

Always need a sword, and a few torches and food in there. Depending on what I'm doing at the time, I swap in hoes, shovels or axes.

 

On the first slot, it's always a sword. Whenever you're exploring underground, mining and such, you just always have to have a sword in hand, otherwise you're going to have a bad time. Call me paranoid, but even while I'm at the surface my sword is out at all times. On two and three I usually keep my Pickaxe and Axe, those are the two tools that I find myself constantly using, so of course I'd also be keeping them at the very beginning for convenience. And finally, my fourth and fifth slot would be food and torches. Torches are crucial while I'm out of my home. That's pretty much my regular setup whenever I'm playing.

 

Sword first, Pickaxe second, bucket of water third, dirt and cobblestone fourth and fifth. These are must all times, the rest I pick what I will be needing in the momentr

 

I normally keep a sword, pickaxe, axe and shovel with me at all times. When I have them, I like to put torches and a cheap building material as well as a bucket of water when I'm exploring too. You never know when you'll find some lava by accident and accidentally set yourself on fire. It's always good to have water with you. Also, building material is good for getting out of and exploring through mines quickly.

 

I always keep my typical tools: Pickaxe, Shovel, Sword, Axe.
Then for the rest, I keep other accessories. Usually, I like to have a building block in case I need to build, and then torches of course so that I can light up dark spots. The rest of the space is just random, so I put whatever I want in the rest of the slots.

 

Personally, when I'm on a player vs player server, I would have my sword on my first slot, bow on my second slot, food and torches in the next slot and a few tools I would need at that moment. I usually have different load outs in different situations, I would have my sword next to my pick-axe when gone caving, food next and then torches. Sometimes, I feel that they should implement more item slots as it is difficult swapping items in a player vs player fight.

 

This is almost my layout. I always keep the tools in the first 6 or so slots. In the last 3, I keep food, dirt blocks (for getting over stuff easily), and finally torches.

 

I usually mine so I keep an iron pickaxe, torches, and some cobblestone to even out annoying paths as I mine down the caves. It also helps to have weapons since random mobs show up at times.

 

1. Pickaxe
2. Sword
3. Axe
4. Shovel
5. Random Block
6. Food
7. Food #2
8. Torches
9. Bow

 

I usually try to keep in the hotbar the most important stuff.
Right now it's:

1. Sword
2. Pickaxe
3. Shovel
4. Bow
5. Torches
6. Food
7. Crafting table
8. Axe
9. Clock

 

Having your sword handy like that is actually a very good plan. I mean, sure you might not need it and it's a bit of a hassle when you have to swap back to the tool you need, but what if you do need it, and you're not ready for it?

 

In order:

• Sword
• Pickaxe
• Axe
• Shovel
• Food
• Torches
• Maybe some more food
• Cobblestone (good to have when you're mining..)
• Probably dirt

 

When casually playing I just keep a variety of blocks that I'm using to build and a few tools as well. When really playing and I want to explore I try to keep a variety of tools like Swords, Shovels, Pickaxes, Bucket of water, and different blocks and food like Cooked Porkchops and Steaks and Chicken. I try to have as many things that ensure my survival.