How to get the "Overkill" achievement on Minecraft?

I'm having some problems to get the "Overkill" achievement.

The achievement's description says:

Deal eight hearts of damage in a single hit.

So to achieve this achievement I built a Diamond Sword and then I used the last enchantment at the enchantment list and it didn't worked.

What should I do to achieve this achievement?

NOTE: The enchantment was the one that used something like 9 of my levels.

1

4 Answers

So the diamond sword was a good start.

Enchanting is the right way to go, you'll want a high level enchantment though, save up your 30 levels and spend them all at once (it doesn't take too long to get to 30).

Make sure you've got one of Smite, Bane of Arthropods or Sharpness. The first two are better, as they deal more damage, but you can still do it with Sharpness.

Once you've enchanted, find out what your sword can damage most. I.e. if it's got Bane of Arthropods, find a spider.

Next, maximise your damage by jumping to deal a critical hit. With all these factors you should easily deal 8 hearts of damage.

Remember that the amount of damage per hit varies, so you may need to whack a few mobs before you get the achievement.

2

For me a Strenght 2 potion and a Iron Sword with Sharpness 1 killed zombies and skeletons in 1 hit, without critting. Enderman went down in 2 hits.

You must enchant a sword for bonus attack. Then,you can either fly to deal a critical hit or drink a Strength potion. Note that the attack a weapon has are half-hearts (e.g. The diamond sword gives +7 attack strength= +3.5 hearts damage dealt).

I got a diamond sword, decided to go absolutely ballistic, (I had about 200 levels) and enchanted it with all possible enchantments, even the ones not meant for swords. (I did this by combining the sword with enchanted books) I then got a critical hit on a zombie to complete the mission. Not only I did the 8 hearts of damage, I killed it in one single hit! Hope this helps.