Minecraft wiki entry for Combat, associated text: Creepers are very powerful and often catch players of all experience levels off guard, despite their small line of sight. On Hard difficulty, the player can't even survive a direct creeper explosion with unenchanted netherite armor. Creepers don’t usually get that close though, and will usually begin to explode up to 3 blocks away because of their detection radius. Using an Axe for combat is recommended, as they deal more damage per hit and the player is highly advised against trying to hit one multiple times consecutively anyways.