What should you do in Minecraft once you've already got a house, a farm, and a Diamond Pickaxe? The game doesn't hand you a to-do list, but Java Edition 26.3 has 126 advancements across five tabs that make for a pretty solid roadmap. We've arranged them into a plan: from the Nether and the Ender Dragon, through Elytra and the Mace, to new additions from update 26.3 and challenges for experienced players.

  • Main path: the Nether Portal, Blaze Rods, Eyes of Ender, the stronghold, and the Ender Dragon.
  • After the dragon: Elytra from End Cities and fighting the Wither for a Nether Star.
  • Underground: Trial Chambers, Vaults, and the Mace made from a Heavy Core.
  • For fun: farms, builds, abandoned campsites from 26.3, and challenges like hardcore mode.

Main goals: the Nether, the stronghold, and the Ender Dragon

The first big step is building a Nether Portal. An Obsidian frame needs to be at least 4 by 5 blocks, and you don't even need the corners, so 10 blocks of Obsidian and a Flint and Steel will do. We walk through it step by step in our guide how to build a Nether Portal.

In the Nether, you're looking for a Nether Fortress and Blazes, which drop Blaze Rods. Blaze Powder from a rod combined with an Ender Pearl gives you an Eye of Ender. As the Eye of Ender page on Minecraft Wiki explains, a thrown Eye of Ender points toward the nearest stronghold, though it might break in the process. Activating the End Portal requires 12 eyes, though some frame blocks already have them in place.

Beyond the portal waits the Ender Dragon. Before you attack, destroy the crystals on the Obsidian towers, since they heal the dragon. Our guide how to beat the Ender Dragon covers the fighting tactics, and defeating it earns you the "Free the End" advancement.

After the dragon: Elytra and the Wither

Beating the dragon opens the gateways to the outer islands of The End, where you'll find End Cities. According to the Elytra page on Minecraft Wiki, Elytra only appear on End Ships, inside an item frame in a Vault guarded by a shulker. With Firework Rockets in hand, they'll turn any journey into a flight. You can read more about these structures on our End City page.

The next boss is the Wither. You summon it by arranging Soul Sand or Soul Soil into a T-shape out of 4 blocks and placing 3 Wither Skeleton Skulls on top. Defeating it gives you a Nether Star, needed to build a Beacon. We cover how to prepare for the fight in our guide how to beat the Wither.

Trial Chambers and the Mace

Trial Chambers are underground structures made of copper and Tuff bricks, with the entrance room located between Y -40 and Y -20. As the Trial Chambers page states, Breezes only spawn there, and Trial Spawners reward you with keys for fighting. A Trial Key opens a Vault filled with loot.

Drinking an Ominous Bottle inside a chamber triggers an Ominous Trial with tougher monsters. Enemies defeated there can drop an Ominous Trial Key, which opens an Ominous Vault. Only this kind of vault can drop a Heavy Core, with a 7.5% chance.

A Heavy Core combined with a Breeze Rod crafts a Mace, a weapon whose fall-attack deals more damage the longer you've been falling. You can find the structure's layout on our Trial Chambers page.

Builds, farms, and new stuff from 26.3

Not every goal requires combat. Automated farms save you time, and in our Minecraft farms section we cover projects from a wheat farm to an iron farm. We've gathered build ideas in our build ideas section, and for an ambitious project, check out a house carved into a mountain.

Update 26.3, released September 15, 2026, added the Dappled Forest with Pale Oak Wood... wait, with Poplar wood, and a new structure: the abandoned campsite. According to the description of version 26.3 on Minecraft Wiki, a regular Chest in the campsite holds maps to other campsites, while a hidden chest contains maps to further structures. We cover these in our article abandoned campsites in Minecraft 26.3, and the full list of changes is in Minecraft 26.3 Wilderness Bound.

Challenges for experienced players

You can open the advancements screen with the L key. According to the advancements page on Minecraft Wiki, Java 26.3 has 126 advancements across the Minecraft, Nether, End, Adventure, and Husbandry tabs. In Bedrock, achievements fill a similar role.

Particularly time-consuming ones include "Adventuring Time," which means visiting every biome in the Overworld, and "A Balanced Diet," which means eating every edible item in the game. We maintain a list with descriptions on our achievements and advancements page.

If regular survival has stopped being a challenge, try hardcore mode with a single life, or the one chunk challenge, where the entire game takes place in a single 16 by 16 block chunk of the world. You'll find more ideas in our challenges section and in our roundup 50 Minecraft tips.

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