How to make a Nether portal in Minecraft: step-by-step guide

1. What a Nether portal is

A Nether portal is a structure built from obsidian blocks that, once lit, opens a passage between the Overworld and the Nether: a hellish dimension full of lava, dangerous mobs and valuable resources. In Survival mode a portal is the only way to reach the Nether (commands aside).

Once it's lit, the inside of the frame fills with a rippling purple animation and a constant low hum. Stand in the purple area for about 4 seconds and you're teleported. In Creative mode, teleporting is instant.

The Nether portal has been in the game since Alpha 1.2.0 (the Halloween Update). The mechanic hasn't changed much since: a 4x5 obsidian portal works exactly the same in current versions as it did over 15 years ago.

What you need the Nether for

The Nether is a mandatory stage of progression in Minecraft. Without it you can't get:

• Blaze rods - needed for brewing potions and for making Eyes of Ender (the road to the End and defeating the Ender Dragon)
• Nether wart - the base ingredient of most potions
• Netherite - the best material for tools and armor in the game
• Glowstone - a light source and an ingredient for strengthening potions
• Nether quartz - needed for observers, comparators and decorative blocks
• Fast travel - thanks to the 1:8 ratio between the Nether and the Overworld, a portal lets you travel 8 times faster

2. Materials you need

To build a Nether portal you need two things: obsidian for the frame and a flint and steel to light it. How much obsidian you need depends on the build you choose.

If you don't have the diamonds for a pickaxe yet, don't worry. The section on building without a diamond pickaxe shows how to cast a portal straight from lava and water, so you never have to mine the obsidian.

Other ways to light the portal

If you don't have a flint and steel, you can also light a portal with:

• Fire Charge - crafting: 1 blaze powder + 1 charcoal + 1 gunpowder. Single use.
• Ghast fireball - in the Nether you can deflect a ghast's fireball into the portal to relight it (handy if you lose your flint and steel).
• Fire spread - place a flammable block (such as wood) next to the portal and set it on fire. The fire can spread to the inside of the frame and light the portal.
• Lightning - a lightning strike on a block next to the portal can light it. Extremely impractical, but technically possible.

3. Standard 4x5 portal: step-by-step build

A standard portal is 4x5 blocks (4 blocks wide and 5 blocks tall, counting the frame). That's the smallest portal you can make. Here is how to build it:

Step 1: Prepare the ground

Pick a flat spot with at least 4 blocks of width and 5 blocks of height clear. Avoid building the portal over cliffs or over water.

Step 2: Place the bottom row

Lay 4 blocks of obsidian in a straight line on the ground. This is the base of the portal. If you're saving obsidian (the 10-block build), place only the 2 middle blocks - details below.

Step 3: Build the side columns

On the two end blocks of the bottom row, stack 3 blocks of obsidian vertically. You'll have two columns 3 blocks tall (not counting the bottom row).

Step 4: Close the top

Across the tops of both columns, lay 4 blocks of obsidian in a horizontal line, joining the two columns. You should now have a complete frame with an empty 2x3 space in the middle.

Step 5: Light the portal

Take the flint and steel in your hand. Right-click any obsidian block from the inside of the frame, or the floor inside the frame. The inside of the portal fills with a purple animation - the portal is ready.

Diagram of the full 4x5 frame (14 obsidian)

O O O O
O . . O
O . . O
O . . O
O O O O

4. Budget portal: only 10 obsidian

The corners of a portal don't have to be obsidian. They can be empty, filled with any block (cobblestone, dirt, wood) or simply missing. That saves you 4 blocks of obsidian: the build takes only 10 instead of 14.

That's a big saving early in the game, when every block of obsidian counts. 10 blocks of obsidian means exactly 10 lava sources to find, or 10 blocks to mine with a diamond pickaxe.

Diagram of a portal without corners (10 obsidian)

  O O
O . . O
O . . O
O . . O
  O O

A budget portal works exactly like one with a full frame. There is no difference in teleporting, in the time it takes to light, or in how it links to portals on the other side. The only benefit of a full frame is looks.

What you can put in the corners

You can put literally anything in the corners. Popular options:

• Cobblestone - the cheapest and easy to get
• Netherrack - fits the theme
• Crying obsidian - decorative, but it doesn't replace regular obsidian in the frame itself (a mistake many beginners make!)
• Empty corners - the most common choice, minimal cost

5. Building a portal without a diamond pickaxe: the casting method

If you don't have a diamond pickaxe, you can still build a Nether portal by casting the obsidian directly in the shape of the frame. The technique relies on the fact that a lava source turns into obsidian when flowing water touches it. All you need is a bucket of lava, a bucket of water and some blocks for a mold (cobblestone, dirt).

What you need for casting

• At least 1 bucket (ideally 2: one for lava, one for water)
• Access to lava - caves, surface lava lakes or mines
• Access to water - a river, the ocean or a water bucket
• Mold material - cobblestone, dirt, sand (anything easy to remove)
• Flint and steel - to light the portal

Step-by-step method

The principle is simple: you build a mold (a little wall), pour lava into the right spot, then flood it with water. The water turns the lava source into obsidian. You repeat this block by block until the whole portal frame is done.

1. Build the mold for the bottom row. Dig a trench 2 blocks long (the middle blocks of the bottom row) or 4 blocks long (the full bottom row). Fill it with lava from the bucket, then pour water on it and the lava turns into obsidian.
2. Build a helper wall. Next to the bottom row of obsidian, build a cobblestone wall 3 blocks tall. It will be the mold for the side columns.
3. Cast the side columns. Pour lava on top of the wall, then pour water next to it - the obsidian forms one block at a time. Repeat, moving up.
4. Cast the top row. Extend the mold up to the height of the 5th block and pour lava into the 2 middle spots of the top row. Flood it with water.
5. Remove the mold. Dig out all the cobblestone and dirt blocks that served as the mold.
6. Light the portal with a flint and steel.

The one-bucket method

If you only have one bucket, you can still use this method. Find a natural water source (a river or the ocean). Fill the bucket with lava and pour it into the mold, then guide water in by hand from a nearby source (dig a channel leading to the mold). When the obsidian forms, block off the channel and repeat. It's slower, but completely doable.

On multiplayer servers casting is especially handy in the first minutes of a game, when the race for diamonds is on and not every player manages to find a diamond pickaxe before the scramble for Nether resources starts.

6. Maximum portal: 23x23

A Nether portal can be any size from the minimum of 4x5 up to a maximum of 23x23 blocks (counting the frame). That means the open space inside can be anywhere from 2x3 to 21x21 blocks.

How much obsidian do large portals take?

Large portals have no mechanical advantage over small ones: teleporting works the same, the travel time is identical and linking to the portal on the other side follows the same rules. The only differences are:

• Looks - a large portal looks impressive, especially in decorative builds
• A bigger entrance - groups of players can go through a large portal at the same time
• More purple light - a portal gives off light level 11, so a bigger portal surface means brighter surroundings
• Zombified piglins - a bigger portal surface means a slightly higher chance of zombified piglins spawning in the Overworld

A portal doesn't have to be square. It can have any proportions, for example 4x23 (narrow and tall) or 23x5 (wide and short), as long as the width is between 4 and 23 and the height is between 5 and 23.

7. How to get obsidian without a diamond pickaxe

Obsidian is one of the hardest blocks in Minecraft. Mining it takes a diamond or netherite pickaxe: with any other pickaxe (wooden, stone, iron, golden) the block won't drop and you only waste time. But there are several ways to get obsidian without mining it.

Method 1: Casting (lava + water)

The most accessible method. Find a natural lava source (caves, the surface) and pour water on it. The lava source turns into a block of obsidian. Flowing lava (not a source!) turns into cobblestone, not obsidian, so make sure you aim at a source block. You can tell it apart because it stays still and fills the whole block.

Method 2: Finding it in structures

Obsidian generates naturally in a few places:

• Ruined portals - they appear on the surface and underground in the Overworld and in the Nether. They have a damaged portal frame made of obsidian, often with some crying obsidian too (don't mix it up with the regular kind!).
• Villages - chests in weaponsmith houses can contain obsidian. It's rare, but it happens.
• Nether fortress chests - can contain 2-4 obsidian.
• Piglins - bartering with gold: every gold ingot you trade has a small chance of getting you 1 obsidian.
• Natural lava pools - water running down into lava at the bottom of ravines creates obsidian platforms.

How long mining takes

With a plain diamond pickaxe, a block of obsidian takes 9.4 seconds to mine, so 14 blocks take over 2 minutes. Efficiency and Haste (from a beacon) cut that time a lot.

8. Lighting the portal

You light a finished obsidian frame by setting fire to any air block inside it. Most players use a flint and steel, but there are other ways too.

Flint and steel: crafting

Recipe: 1 iron ingot + 1 flint. Put them anywhere in the crafting grid - the recipe doesn't need a specific layout. Gravel drops flint with a ~10% chance. Mining gravel with a shovel enchanted with Fortune III raises the flint chance to 100%.

When the portal won't light

Check these points:

1. The frame is complete - the sides and the top and bottom rows have to be plain obsidian. The corners can be empty.
2. The inside is clear - there can't be any blocks in it (a torch, grass, flowers, nothing at all).
3. Minimum size - the frame has to be at least 4 blocks wide and 5 blocks tall (counting the outer edges of the frame).
4. Plain obsidian - crying obsidian doesn't work as part of a portal frame.
5. The Nether isn't disabled - on some servers the Nether is switched off in the configuration (server.properties: allow-nether=false).

Putting the portal out

You can put a portal out in a few ways:

• Pouring a bucket of water onto the purple area
• Destroying one block of the obsidian frame
• An explosion (TNT, a ghast fireball, a bed in the Nether)
• Placing a block inside the portal (a torch, for example)

A portal that's been put out can be lit again with a flint and steel - you don't have to rebuild it.

9. Portal mechanics: how linking works

Understanding how portals link is essential, especially when you build several portals in one area or want to set up a fast-travel network. The key rule: 1 block in the Nether equals 8 blocks in the Overworld on the X and Z axes (the Y axis converts 1:1).

The 1:8 ratio in practice

When you step into a portal in the Overworld, the game works out your "matching" Nether coordinates by dividing X and Z by 8. For example:

The game looks for a portal in the Nether near the calculated position. If it finds an existing portal, it teleports you to it. If it doesn't, it creates a new one automatically.

The search algorithm

Every time you go through a portal, the game does the following:

1. Works out the "matching" coordinates on the other side (X/8 and Z/8 into the Nether, X*8 and Z*8 out of the Nether)
2. Looks for the nearest existing portal within the search range
3. If it finds one, it teleports the player to the nearest portal (3D distance)
4. If it doesn't, it generates a new portal in the safest spot near the calculated coordinates

Coordinate calculator

Instead of calculating by hand, use our Nether coordinate calculator. Enter the coordinates of your Overworld portal and the calculator gives you the exact coordinates where you should build the portal in the Nether (and the other way around).

Fast travel: using the 1:8 ratio

The 1:8 ratio makes the Nether an ideal "corridor" for fast travel. Covering 1,000 blocks in the Nether equals 8,000 blocks in the Overworld. On many servers players build networks of Nether highways: ice roads made of blue ice, where a boat travels at about 72 blocks per second. In the Overworld that equals about 576 blocks per second, faster than an elytra.

You'll find more on precise portal linking, fixing overlapping ranges and building a transport network in the dedicated article on linking Nether portals.

10. Common portal problems and their fixes

The Nether portal is one of the most frustrating mechanics for new players. Here are the most common problems and tried-and-tested fixes.

Problem 1: The portal won't light

Causes:

• The frame is the wrong size - check that it's at least 4 blocks wide and 5 blocks tall (counting the frame)
• There's a block inside the frame - remove every block from the inside
• Crying obsidian was used instead of regular obsidian - crying obsidian doesn't work in a portal
• The portal is disabled on the server - check server.properties: allow-nether=true
• You're in the End - Nether portals don't work in the End

Problem 2: The portal leads to the wrong place

Solution: Work out the right coordinates (X/8, Z/8 for an Overworld-to-Nether portal, or X*8, Z*8 for a Nether-to-Overworld one) and build the portal by hand at the calculated coordinates on the other side. Use the Nether calculator to avoid math mistakes.

Problem 3: Two Overworld portals lead to the same Nether portal

Cause: Both Overworld portals are close enough that the game links them to the same Nether portal. Solution: Build a second portal in the Nether at the calculated coordinates of the second Overworld portal. You'll find the detailed calculations in the article on linking portals.

Problem 4: The Nether portal went out (ghast)

Cause: A ghast fireball hit the portal and put out the purple area. Solution: Use a flint and steel to light the portal again. Deflect the next ghast fireball into the portal (aim and left-click). To prevent it in the future, enclose the portal in cobblestone or stone bricks and leave an entrance. A ghast can't shoot through a wall.

Problem 5: Zombified piglins spawn at the Overworld portal

Cause: Zombified piglins can occasionally spawn at a portal on the Overworld side. Solution: They're not dangerous (they're neutral), but they can be annoying. Fence the portal in with a fence and a gate to limit their movement.

Problem 6: The portal generated over lava in the Nether

Cause: The game couldn't find a safe spot at the calculated coordinates and put the portal on the nearest solid block, over a lava lake. Solution: Carefully build a cobblestone bridge from the portal to safe ground. Then destroy that portal and build a new one in a safer spot at similar coordinates. On your next trip from the Overworld the game will find your new portal.

Problem 7: The portal vanished / I can't get back

Cause: The portal didn't vanish. You most likely came out of a different portal than you expected, or you lost the coordinates. Solution: Press F3, write down your current Nether coordinates and build a new portal. If you lost your Overworld portal, work out where it is: X_Nether * 8 = X_Overworld, Z_Nether * 8 = Z_Overworld.

11. Tips for advanced players

Placing portals well

If you're planning a network of portals (for different bases, a farm, a village), keep the distances between them in mind. Portals built close together in the Overworld can "compete" for the same portal in the Nether. The fix: always build both portals by hand (in the Overworld and in the Nether) at precisely calculated coordinates.

Portals in a speedrun

Speedrunners build a portal within the first 5-10 minutes of a run, most often by casting it next to a lava lake. Key optimizations:

• Look for lava on the surface (deserts, savannas, swamps) or in visible ravines
• Use the 10-obsidian build - every block you save cuts a dozen or so seconds off your time
• Don't hunt for gravel to get flint - craft a Fire Charge from blaze powder, coal and gunpowder (all available in the Nether) to light the return portal

Enclosing the portal for safety

In the Nether, a portal is exposed to ghast attacks. The recommended enclosure:

• Wall the portal in with cobblestone or Nether bricks (resistant to ghast explosions)
• Leave an entrance (1x2 blocks), but not directly in front of the portal - a ghast can't shoot around a corner
• Add lighting (torches, glowstone) around the portal to stop mobs from spawning
• Keep a spare flint and steel in a chest next to the portal

A portal as a trap / farm

The fact that zombified piglins can spawn at an Overworld portal can be used to build a gold farm. A maximum-size portal (23x23) with a system for killing zombified piglins on the Overworld side is one of the most efficient gold and XP farms in the game. It does take a lot of obsidian and advanced redstone.

The Nether hub: a central station

On multiplayer servers players build a central station in the Nether (a Nether hub): a large room with many portals leading to different players' bases. The hub connects to ice highways running in four directions. Every portal in the hub has to sit at precisely calculated coordinates to link to the right base in the Overworld.

Respawn Anchor

Since version 1.16 you can set your spawn point in the Nether with a Respawn Anchor. It's crafted from 6 crying obsidian + 3 glowstone. You charge it with glowstone blocks (up to 4 charges). It's handy when you're exploring distant parts of the Nether: place an anchor and an emergency portal so you don't lose progress when you die.

12. Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Related pages

• The Nether - the complete guide to the hellish dimension
• Linking portals - calculations, the algorithm, fixing connections
• Netherite - how to find it and upgrade your gear
• Nether biomes - a guide to the 5 biomes
• Nether fortress - exploring and farming
• Nether highways - ice roads
• Respawn Anchor
• Nether coordinate calculator - automatic coordinate conversion
• Guide: the Nether for beginners
• Potion brewing guide