A Guide to the Nether and End

For many players, the Overworld is just the beginning. The true progression of Minecraft lies in conquering the two other dimensions; the hellish Nether and the barren End. These realms present a significant uptick in terms of danger, but they hold resources necessary to access the game’s best items and abilities.

The following guide provides the strategies to survive these dimensions and possibly even master them. We will cover portals, essential resources, strategies, boss fight preparations, and how to reap your rewards, from Netherite armor to the Elytra.

The dimensions have evolved, particularly with the 1.16 “Nether Update” (which transformed the Nether into an actually interesting place) and the 1.9 “Combat Update” (adding End Cities, Shulkers, the Elytra and what little content we have there). 

Part 1: The Nether

Getting to the the Nether

Your first objective is to build a Nether Portal, a 4×5 rectangular frame of obsidian. The corner blocks are not required, meaning you only need 10 obsidian blocks.

While a Diamond Pickaxe can mine obsidian, the Bucket Method can bypass this requirement entirely. You only need a water bucket. 

1. Find a surface lava pool and have one Water Bucket.
2. Build a Mold: Using a non-flammable block like Cobblestone, build a 4×5 rectangular frame (with a 2×3 hole in the middle) one block behind where you want your portal. This mold will hold the lava in place.
3. Place the Lava: Use your Iron Bucket to scoop lava from the pool and pour it into the mold. Do one bucket of lava at a time, until you have the 10-block frame.
4. Create the Obsidian: Pour your Water Bucket on top of the lava. The water should turn all the lava source blocks into obsidian. This is your frame
5. Light it: Dispose of the water and clear out your mold. Use a Flint and Steel (one Iron Ingot, one Flint) on the inside of the frame to light the portal.

Securing Your Portal

Your first time in the nether will be dangerous on any playthrough. You have no idea where you just spawned and spawning on a narrow ledge over a lava ocean is common. If you are not careful, you will find yourself falling to a fiery demise.

Consider the following as an action plan:

1. Step Through and Look Around: Stand in the portal frame while crouching and look at your surroundings. Take note of any immediate threats, such as Ghasts (the large, white, flying mob) or lava lakes below you. 
2. Build Your Bunker: Quickly build a small room around your portal, preferably with non-flammable blocks. The ideal block to bring on your first trip is a stack of Cobblestone. They don’t catch on fire and resist Ghast fireballs. 
3. Secure Your Exit: A Ghast fireball can extinguish your portal, trapping you in the Nether. Make sure you have Flint and Steel with you so you can get back.

Your first trip inventory should include full Iron Armor, a Bow and a sufficient number of arrows, food, a Cobblestone stack, and the Flint and Steel.

You should also bring at least one piece of Gold Armor. A good strategy is to craft a Gold Helmet. It provides the same armor points as an Iron Helmet, meaning you will feel no loss in defense but gain the trust of the Nether-native Piglins.

Nether Resources

You will likely be in the Nether to locate three treasures.

1. Blaze Rods (The Primary Resource)

• What: A crucial  progression item, dropped by Blazes.
• Where: Blazes are found only in Nether Fortresses. They are dark, sprawling castle-like structures made of Nether Brick.
• Why: Blaze Rods are crafted into Blaze Powder. This powder is the only fuel for a Brewing Stand (for all potions) and an ingredient for the Eye of Ender; which is required to find the Dragon.

2. Nether Quartz (The XP)

• What: The white, crystalline ore found everywhere in Netherrack.
• Why: This is the game’s best early source of Experience (XP). Mining even just a single vein can grant multiple levels. It is also needed for Redstone components like Comparators and Observers.

3. Ancient Debris (The Upgrade)

• What: A super rare, blast-resistant block. The best strategy is to strip mine for it using beds or TNT at Y-level 15.
• Why: Smelting Ancient Debris gives you Netherite Scrap. Four Netherite Scraps plus four Gold Ingots craft one Netherite Ingot.
• Using a Smithing Table, one ingot upgrades a piece of Diamond gear to its Netherite variant. Netherite gear is stronger and more durable, but the best part is that it does not burn in fire or lava. Your items will float safely on the lava’s surface, turning a run ending misstep into an inconvenience.

Nether Mob Survival Guide

Every mob has a weakness you can exploit.

Ghasts (The Crying Ghosts)

• Threat: They fly and shoot explosive fireballs that destroy terrain and can extinguish your portal.
• Strategy: Stay in your cobblestone bunker or dig into walls. Snipe them with a Bow.
• Best Move: You can hit the fireball back at the Ghast with your sword or an arrow for a one-hit kill.

Piglins (The Gold Hoarders)

• Threat: Hostile on sight and attack in groups.
• Strategy (Passive): This is why you wore your Gold Helmet. Wearing any gold armor makes Piglins neutral.
• Warning: They will become hostile if you open any chest or break any gold block near them.
• Strategy (Active): Bartering. Drop a Gold Ingot on the ground, and a Piglin will inspect it and throw a random item back. This is the best way to get Fire Resistance Potions early.

Hoglins (The Angry Boars)

• Threat: Found in Crimson Forest biomes. They are aggressive, hit hard, and fling you into the air.
• Strategy (Hunt): They are the best source of food (Porkchops) in the Nether. Build a 3-block-high pillar to attack them safely from above.
• Strategy (Avoid): Hoglins are terrified of Warped Fungi (the blue mushrooms). Placing one on the ground will make them panic and flee.

Blazes & Wither Skeletons (The Fortress Inhabitants)

• Threat: Found in Nether Fortresses. Blazes shoot rapid-fire fireballs. Wither Skeletons inflict the deadly “Wither” effect, which drains health and can kill you.
• Strategy: Keep your distance and use a bow. A Fire Resistance Potion makes you immune to Blazes. Fight Wither Skeletons in 2-block-high tunnels where they cannot easily follow you.

Key Structures

Nether Fortresses

• The Problem: They are difficult to find.
• The Strategy: Fortresses tend to generate in “strips” along the North/South (Z) axis.
• The “Safe Tunnel” Method: The safest way to find one is to go to a high Y-level, just under the bedrock ceiling (around Y=115-120). At this height, you are above most lava lakes. Dig a long, 2×1-block tunnel in a straight line (North or South). Every 100 blocks, dig a “window” or staircase down to look. This methodical approach will eventually cross a fortress.

Bastion Remnants

• The Loot: Massive, crumbling black-and-gold castles. They are far more dangerous than fortresses but contain the best loot, including Gold Blocks and the mandatory Netherite Upgrade Template needed to craft Netherite gear.
• The Strategy: Bastions can spawn in any Nether biome EXCEPT Basalt Deltas.
• Critical Tip: A Nether Fortress and a Bastion Remnant cannot spawn near each other (within roughly 400-500 blocks). If you find a Fortress, stop looking for a Bastion in that area.

Nether Travel

The Nether’s most useful feature is travel. For every one block you walk in the Nether, you go  eight blocks in the Overworld. You should use this to build a Nether Hub.

If your Overworld base is at X=800, Z=-1600 and you find a village 8,000 blocks away at X=8800, Z=-1600, walking is impractical.

Instead, go to the Nether. Travel to the new coordinates divided by 8. Your Nether target is X=1100, Z=-200. Build a new portal at this exact location. When you step through, you will exit at X=8800, Z=-1600 in the Overworld. You have just turned an hour-long trek into a 5-minute commute.

Part 2: The End

The Stronghold

Once you have mastered the Nether and have your Blaze Rods. It’s time for the final act.

Step 1: Crafting the Key (Eye of Ender)
You must combine Blaze Powder (from Blazes) with Ender Pearls. Ender Pearls are dropped by Endermen. The best place to farm them is in a Warped Forest (the blue biome) in the Nether.

Step 2: Following the Eye
In the Overworld, throw an Eye of Ender (right-click). It will fly about 12 blocks toward the nearest Stronghold, the underground fortress holding the End Portal. Walk 100-200 blocks and throw another.
Note: Every throw has a 20% chance to shatter the Eye. Bring at least 20 to be safe (12 to activate the portal, plus extras for finding it).
When an Eye goes straight down into the ground, you have arrived.

Step 3: Inside the Stronghold (Finding the Portal Room)
Start digging. The Eye leads to the Stronghold, not the Portal Room itself. These are big, stone-brick mazes.

The “4,4 Chunk” Trick: This pro tip can help you reach our portal room in about 5 minutes.

1. Press F3+G to show chunk borders. Stand in the chunk where the Eye went down.
2. Find the Southeast corner of that chunk (check your direction on the F3 screen).
3. From that corner, count 4 blocks in (West) and 4 blocks up (North). You are at the (4, 4) coordinate within that chunk.
4. Dig straight down from this exact spot. This coordinate quirk will always drop you into the spiral staircase room, the guaranteed starting point of the Stronghold. The Portal Room is almost always nearby.

Step 4: Activating the Portal
You will find the Portal Room over a lava pool. It has a Silverfish spawner; destroy it (Or keep it for some strange reason you want to farm that). Place your Eyes of Ender into the empty slots on the portal frame (you need a maximum of 12). Once the last Eye is placed, the portal will activate. Remember that this is a one way trip until the Dragon is dead.

Ender Dragon Preparation

This fight is 50% preparation. Going in unprepared will result in death. Your gear should counter the three main ways you can die in there:

1. Being knocked off a tall pillar.
2. Being cornered by Endermen.
3. Taking damage from the Dragon’s Breath attack.

Ender Dragon Boss Fight Prep Kit

Category	Essential Gear	Recommended Extras
Armor	Full Diamond or Netherite Armor. Carved Pumpkin (wear on your head to make Endermen not aggro simply by looking at them).	Protection IV, Feather Falling IV enchantments.
Weapons	A Bow. A Diamond/Netherite Sword. At least 2-3 stacks of Arrows.	Power V, Infinity, and Sharpness V enchantments.
Potions	Potion of Slow Falling (brewed with a Phantom Membrane). An important item; it negates knockback fall damage.	Potions of Strength, Splash Potions of Healing.
Utility	Water Bucket (backup for falls and defense against Endermen). Stacks of good Food (e.g., Steak).	Scaffolding (much superior to pillaring up towers). Ender Pearls (for mobility). Golden Apples. Empty Bottles (to collect Dragon’s Breath).

Ender Dragon Fight Strategy

• Phase 1: Destroy the End Crystals
  The Dragon is healed by End Crystals on top of the tall obsidian pillars. You have to destroy them.

• Use your Bow to shoot the crystals that are not in iron cages.
• For the caged crystals, drink your Potion of Slow Falling first.
• Use Scaffolding to build up quickly. Break the bars, then the crystal. When the dragon knocks you off, you will float to the ground. Repeat for all caged crystals.

• Phase 2: Damaging the Dragon
  Once all crystals are gone, the dragon can no longer heal. It will periodically fly down to the bedrock portal structure in the center. This is your chance. Run up and attack its head with your Sharpness V sword. When it flies off, shoot it with your Bow.
• Surviving the Fight

• Dragon’s Breath: Avoid the purple particle cloud it spits, as it leaves a damaging area on the ground.
• Endermen: If you are wearing your Carved Pumpkin, they will ignore you. If not, do not look at them. If you aggro one, drop your Water Bucket at your feet; they are damaged by water and cannot reach you.
• Advanced Strategy: Bed Exploit
  Beds explode when used in the End. When the dragon perches on the bedrock portal, run up to its head. Place a bed. Place a single block between you and the bed to absorb the blast. Right-click the bed. It will explode, dealing some good damage to the dragon. It only takes 8-10 beds to kill the dragon this way.

The Outer Islands

After the dragon is defeated, it will explode and shower you with XP, and the exit portal to the Overworld will activate.

Look around the edge of the main island. A new, small, floating portal called an End Gateway will have spawned. You cannot walk or fly into it. You need to throw an Ender Pearl directly into the 1×1 portal block. This will teleport you thousands of blocks away to the Outer Islands.

End Cities and Elytra

• Finding End Cities
  You are on the Outer Islands to find an End City. These are tall, purple-ish structures that are quite rare. Pick a direction and travel in a straight line, using Ender Pearls to jump across the gaps between islands.
• Dangers

• Endermen: They are everywhere. Use your Water Bucket or build a 3 block high shelter (with a roof) to fight them safely.
• Shulkers: These are the “box” enemies that hide in purple shells. They shoot white, tracking projectiles. If a projectile hits you, you will get the Levitation effect, causing you to float uncontrollably and then fall to your death.
• Fighting Shulkers: Use your Shield to block the projectile. Rush the Shulker with your sword to damage it (it will teleport when hit).
• Emergency Save: If you get hit and start floating, eat a Chorus Fruit (from the purple “trees” nearby). Eating one instantly teleports you to the nearest solid block, canceling the levitation and saving you from the fall.

• Claiming the Elytra
  The Elytra (your wings) is not in the main city. It is located on the End Ship, a floating boat structure often “docked” next to a city. Bridge or Ender Pearl over to the ship. Fight the Shulkers inside (one always guards the Elytra). In the treasure room, you will find the Elytra in an item frame.
• Shulker Boxes
  The Shulkers you killed drop Shulker Shells. Combine two Shulker Shells with one Chest to craft a Shulker Box. This is a portable chest that keeps its inventory inside it when broken. This item, combined with your new Elytra, has completely changed the game.

Conclusion

Beating the Ender Dragon is not the end of the game; it is the end of the “Minecraft Story”. Now you make your own stories.

You are now the true master of all three dimensions. You have Netherite gear that can’t be burned, a Nether Hub for faster travel, Shulker Boxes for theoretically infinite inventory space, and an Elytra for flight. Congratulations, you are no longer just surviving; you are thriving. All the worlds are now yours to shape.

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