The Ender Dragon is Minecraft’s final boss, and the road to it follows a fixed order: a Nether portal, blaze rods from Blazes, eyes of ender, a stronghold with an End portal and finally the fight against the crystals and the dragon. Here is the whole route step by step, what to pack and what happens once you win. It applies to Java 26.3 and Bedrock 26.52 (the Wilderness Bound drop, September 2026), and we flag where the editions differ.
The road to the dragon at a glance
- Build and light a Nether portal.
- Find a Nether Fortress and collect Blaze Rods from Blazes.
- Craft Eyes of Ender from Blaze Powder and Ender Pearls.
- Throw the eyes to find a stronghold with an End portal.
- Fill the frames with eyes to activate the portal.
- In the End, destroy the End Crystals and defeat the dragon.
1. Nether portal
A Nether portal is a rectangular frame of Obsidian. The smallest is 4×5 blocks, the largest 23×23. Corners are optional, so 10 Obsidian is enough for the smallest portal. Light the frame with fire, most easily with Flint and Steel.
Before you step in, brew a Potion of Fire Resistance. It protects you from the lava and fire the Nether is full of. The recipe is in our brewing guide.
2. Blaze Rods from a Nether Fortress
Blaze Rods only drop from Blazes, and Blazes live in Nether Fortresses, which also contain their spawners. One Blaze Rod crafts into 2 Blaze Powder. For 12 Eyes of Ender you need at least 6 rods, and since some eyes break while you search for the stronghold, bring back more.
3. Eyes of Ender
An Eye of Ender takes one Ender Pearl and one Blaze Powder, in any layout in the crafting grid. You can buy Ender Pearls from a Cleric villager, for example; see our villager trading guide. Every recipe is collected in our crafting recipes.
4. Find the stronghold
Throw an Eye of Ender and watch where it flies. It heads towards the nearest stronghold. After a moment it either drops to the ground, so pick it up, or it breaks. That is why you carry spares. Throw, walk a stretch in the direction the eye flew and repeat.
In Java there are 128 strongholds in eight rings around the centre of the world. The three closest sit in the first ring, 1,280 to 2,816 blocks from coordinates 0,0. This layout does not apply to Bedrock.
5. Activate the End portal
The End portal in a stronghold has 12 frames, and each one takes an Eye of Ender. Some frames may already hold an eye, so you may need fewer. You cannot take an eye back out of a frame, and you cannot obtain the frame itself in survival.
Before you jump in, know that the only way back is to defeat the dragon. Until then there is no portal out of the End.
6. What to bring
Mojang recommends this kit:
- a sword, ideally enchanted (see our enchantments guide for what to put on it),
- a bow or crossbow and plenty of arrows,
- the best armour you have,
- healing: Golden Apples and Potions of Healing,
- empty Glass Bottles to collect Dragon’s Breath.
Do not plan to sleep there. A bed explodes when you use it in the End, just like in the Nether.
7. Fighting the Ender Dragon
The dragon has 200 health, or 100 hearts, and damage anywhere but the head is reduced. Only players and explosions can hurt it. Here is the plan:
- Head to the middle of the island and stay inside the ring of pillars so you do not fall into the void.
- End Crystals sit on top of the 10 pillars and heal the dragon. Shoot them out first. Some crystals are protected by cages of Iron Bars.
- Once the crystals are gone, shoot the dragon while it flies.
- When the dragon perches above the portal in the middle, arrows do not work on it. Run in with your sword and hit the head.
Speedrunners kill the dragon with bed explosions, precisely because beds blow up in the End.
What happens after you kill the dragon
Your first dragon drops a pile of experience, 12,000 points, enough to take you from zero to level 68. You also get the Dragon Egg, an End Gateway to the outer islands appears and a portal back to the Overworld opens. Step into it and the End Poem by Julian Gough plays, followed by the credits.
The End Gateway takes you across roughly 1,000 blocks of void to the outer islands, home to End Cities, your next target after the dragon.
How to respawn the dragon
Place 4 End Crystals on the edges of the exit portal, one on each side. You craft a crystal from 7 Glass, an Eye of Ender in the middle and a Ghast Tear in the bottom middle. A respawned dragon only gives 500 experience points, and in Java the Dragon Egg drops only the first time.
Mojang’s own overview of the fight is on minecraft.net. If you want to look around the End without risk first, our commands list helps.
Join our Discord, Discord GamersTogether, to find teammates for a trip to the End. Two or three players make the fight easier.
FAQ
The End portal takes 12 eyes, but some frames may already be filled. You will lose more while searching for the stronghold, since eyes sometimes break, so craft spares.
They only drop from Blazes in a Nether Fortress. One rod gives 2 Blaze Powder, so 12 eyes take at least 6 rods.
While the dragon perches above the portal in the middle of the island, it is immune to arrows. Switch to your sword then and shoot it while it flies.
Only after you defeat the dragon. A portal back to the Overworld opens then; until that point there is no way out.
Yes, with 4 End Crystals on the edges of the exit portal. The new dragon only gives 500 experience points, and in Java the Dragon Egg drops only the first time.
Information verified on 19 October 2026. More guides are waiting in our Minecraft guides.