The Nether

Building the Portal

A Nether portal is a vertical rectangle of obsidian, lit from inside. The smallest frame is four blocks wide and five tall, and its corners are optional, so ten obsidian is enough.

• 1

  The frame

  Build two columns of three obsidian with a two-block gap between them, then a row of two along the bottom and the top. If you have no diamond pickaxe yet, you can also cast the frame in place by pouring water onto lava source blocks, one block at a time.

• 2

  Light it

  Flint and steel, crafted from an iron ingot and a piece of flint (from gravel), lights the portal. Use it on the inside of the bottom of the frame and the purple portal fills the gap.

• 3

  Coming back

  Stepping through builds or finds a matching portal on the other side. A ghast’s fireball can put the portal out; flint and steel relights it, and walling the Nether end in with cobblestone or stone protects it.

• 4

  One to eight

  Every block you travel in the Nether equals eight in the Overworld, so a pair of portals is also the fastest way to cross large distances later on.

The Nether Fortress and Its Blazes

Fortresses are long bridges and corridors of dark nether brick that span lava seas and valleys. They are the only place blazes live, and they hold the blaze spawners you will be farming.

• 1

  Finding one

  Travel along one direction, ideally at a height where you can see across the terrain. The bridges are easy to recognise once they are in view. Bridge over lava with cheap blocks rather than walking on narrow edges.

• 2

  Blazes

  Blazes float, shoot volleys of small fireballs and are immune to fire. A shield blocks the fireballs. Fight them from behind cover, close to their spawner so that you are not chasing them over lava. Snowballs also hurt them.

• 3

  Blaze rods

  Blazes drop blaze rods only when you kill them, and without the Looting enchantment a blaze drops at most one, and not every time. Rods craft into blaze powder, and every eye of ender needs powder, so collect more rods than you think you need; spare rods also make a brewing stand.

• 4

  Wither skeletons

  Fortresses also hold wither skeletons, tall black skeletons. Their rare skull drop is what summons the Wither in Chapter 7, so keep any you get.

Piglins, Gold and Bartering

Piglins are the gold-loving inhabitants of the crimson forests and bastions. They attack on sight unless you wear at least one piece of gold armour; boots or a helmet is enough.

• 1

  What makes them angry anyway

  Even with gold on, hitting a piglin, opening a chest near them or breaking gold blocks or gold ore in front of them turns them hostile. Check for watching piglins before you loot.

• 2

  Bartering

  Give an adult piglin a gold ingot (drop it near them or use it on them). After a few seconds of inspecting it, they throw back a random item. Ender pearls and potions of fire resistance are among the possible returns, along with lots of common items such as gravel and string.

• 3

  Baby piglins and brutes

  Baby piglins grab gold you drop and give nothing back. Piglin brutes, found in bastions, ignore gold armour completely and fight hard; they cannot be bartered with.

Bastions and Netherite (Optional)

Bastion remnants are huge blackstone castles full of piglins, brutes and loot. You do not need one to beat the dragon, but they are where the best chests are.

• 1

  What is inside

  Bastion chests can hold gold, gear and the netherite upgrade smithing template, which you need to turn diamond gear into netherite at a smithing table. Expect a fight to reach them.

• 2

  Ancient debris

  Netherite starts as ancient debris, a rare block buried low in the Nether. It never shows on the surface and needs a diamond pickaxe. Smelt it into netherite scrap; four scrap and four gold ingots make a netherite ingot.

Chapter Completion

✅ Before Moving On to the Stronghold...