End Portal

Eyes of ender: how to get them

The eye of ender is an item with two jobs: locating the stronghold and activating the portal. You need anywhere from a few up to 12, depending on how many portal frames are already filled.

To craft one eye of ender you need:

• Blaze powder - you get it from blaze rods, which blazes drop in Nether fortresses. One blaze rod = 2 blaze powder.
• Ender pearl - dropped by endermen, or you can get them by bartering with piglins in the Nether.

Minimum preparation: 7-8 blaze rods and 12-15 ender pearls. Bring more than 12 pearls, because an eye thrown into the air has about a 20% chance to shatter instead of dropping back down. Take spares.

Finding the stronghold

A stronghold is an underground structure built from stone bricks, and it contains the room with the portal to the End. You can't see it from the surface, so you have to track it down.

The method with eyes of ender:

1. Throw an eye of ender into the air (right-click while holding it). The eye flies toward the nearest stronghold.
2. Walk in that direction a few hundred blocks and throw another eye.
3. Repeat until the eye starts flying down instead of forward. That means you are standing above the stronghold.
4. Dig down to reach the stronghold.

Strongholds generate in rings around the center of the world, and the first ring has 3 strongholds. The command /locate structure minecraft:stronghold shows the exact coordinates (in creative mode or with cheats enabled).

Once you are inside a stronghold, look for the portal room: End portal frames arranged in a 3×3 square over a pool of lava. A stronghold is a maze of corridors, libraries and rooms, so finding the portal can take a few minutes.

Activating the portal

An End portal consists of 12 End portal frames arranged in a 3×3 square (3 on each side). Every frame needs an eye of ender. Some frames may already have eyes, which is random (each frame has a 10% chance of generating with an eye).

Place the eyes of ender in the empty frames (right-click each one). When you place the last eye, the portal activates and a dark, starry surface appears. Jumping into it teleports you to the End.

Warning: this is a one-way trip. The only way back is to kill the Ender Dragon (which activates the return portal) or to die. There is no emergency exit. Make sure you are ready.

What waits in the End

The End is a dark dimension made of end stone islands floating in the void. You arrive on a 5×5 obsidian platform. The Ender Dragon waits on the central island, surrounded by obsidian pillars with end crystals on top.

The environment of the End:

• Endermen - everywhere. Avoid looking them in the eyes unless you want a fight.
• The void under the islands - falling means instant death and your items are lost forever.
• No day or night - permanent darkness. Beds explode (just like in the Nether).
• No natural water - there are no oceans or rivers, but a water bucket works fine.

Fighting the Ender Dragon

The Ender Dragon is the final boss of Minecraft. It has 200 HP (100 hearts) and heals from the end crystals on top of the obsidian pillars as it flies over the arena.

Step-by-step fight strategy:

1. Destroy the end crystals - this is priority number one. As long as the crystals exist, the dragon regenerates. Shoot the crystals on top of the pillars with a bow. Crystals in iron cages have to be destroyed by hand: climb the pillar and break the cage.
2. Attack the dragon on the ground - the dragon periodically lands on the bedrock fountain in the middle of the island. That is when you deal the most damage with a sword. Don't use beds to blow it up unless you are sure of what you are doing (powerful, but risky).
3. Avoid the charge attack - the dragon dives at the player. Jump aside. The dragon can also spit dragon's breath: a purple cloud that deals damage over time.
4. Don't look at the endermen - the dragon fight is trouble enough. Wear a carved pumpkin so endermen ignore you, but you lose visibility.

Recommended gear: diamond or netherite armor with Protection IV, a sword with Sharpness V, a bow with Power V + Infinity, plenty of food (golden apples), ender pearls (to get around quickly) and water buckets (for falling off the pillars).

After the dragon: End cities and the elytra

Two things appear after you kill the Ender Dragon:

• The return portal - the bedrock fountain in the middle of the island. Jump in to return to the Overworld and watch the end credits.
• End gateway - a small bedrock gateway at the edge of the island. Throw an ender pearl into it to teleport to the outer End islands.

The outer End islands are the main reason to kill the dragon. Here you will find:

• End cities - purple towers with shulkers (box-shaped mobs that shoot levitating projectiles). Their chests hold diamond armor, enchanted tools, iron, gold and emeralds.
• End ships - floating ships attached to some End cities. A ship holds an elytra, wings for flying and one of the most valuable items in the game.
• Shulker shells - dropped by shulkers. Two shells + a chest = a shulker box, a portable container with 27 slots. A game changer for storing items.
• Chorus fruit - an exotic fruit that teleports you to a random spot within 8 blocks when you eat it. Handy as an emergency escape.

Tips before the trip to the End

Related pages

• Complete End guide - exploration, farms and End cities
• End biomes - an overview of the biomes of the End dimension
• Nether portal - building and mechanics of the Nether portal
• Netherite: the complete guide - the best gear for the dragon fight
• Nether guide - blaze rods and ender pearls for eyes of ender
• All biomes - the encyclopedia of Minecraft biomes