The fastest way to find a stronghold in Minecraft is to throw an eye of ender and follow it. Each eye flies toward the nearest stronghold before dropping back to the ground, and repeating that a few times gets you close enough to dig straight down into the structure. From there, the goal is the End portal room: fill its empty frames with eyes, step through, and you're fighting the Ender Dragon.
What you need before you start
An eye of ender is crafted from one blaze powder and one ender pearl. Blaze powder comes from blaze rods, and blaze rods only drop from blazes, a hostile mob that spawns in Nether fortresses. Ender pearls drop from endermen or can be bought from piglins through bartering. None of this is a quick errand: reaching a fortress, farming rods, and hunting endermen is a multi-trip project, and it's worth treating as its own goal before you go stronghold hunting.
- Eye of ender recipe: 1 blaze powder + 1 ender pearl makes 1 eye
- Blaze powder recipe: 1 blaze rod makes 2 blaze powder
- Blaze rods: dropped by blazes in Nether fortresses
- Ender pearls: dropped by endermen, or bought from piglins by bartering
How to find a stronghold with eyes of ender
Throw your first eye of ender on open ground, away from walls or cliffs it could get stuck against. It rises into the air and flies toward the nearest stronghold before dropping. Walk that way, throw another, and repeat. The tracking works the same whether you're exploring a vanilla stronghold or a structure overhaul like YUNG's Better Strongholds, which redesigns the interior layout but keeps eyes of ender as the way in.
Once an eye starts diving downward instead of flying outward, you're close, within roughly 12 blocks of the structure. That's your cue to stop throwing and start digging straight down. Strongholds are built from stone brick, not the ordinary stone and cobblestone of a cave, so you'll recognize it the moment you break through.
- 1.Throw an eye of ender on open ground and watch which way it flies.
- 2.Walk in that direction, then throw another eye to confirm the line.
- 3.Repeat until an eye dives downward instead of flying outward, meaning you're close.
- 4.Dig straight down carefully, watching for lava or caves, until you break into stone brick.
How to activate the End portal
A stronghold's End portal room has 12 frame blocks arranged in a ring, and each one needs its own eye of ender to activate. On average only about one frame already has an eye set when the stronghold generates, and the odds of finding one fully pre-filled are close to zero, so budget for filling most or all of the ring yourself. Place an eye of ender into each empty frame by using it on the frame block, the same way you'd place a normal block.
- 12 frame blocks total, arranged in a ring around the portal
- About 1 frame is pre-filled with an eye on average; the rest are empty
- Use an eye of ender on each empty frame to insert it
- The portal activates once every frame holds an eye
How to summon the ender dragon
You don't need to do anything special to summon the Ender Dragon. It spawns automatically about a second after the first player steps through the End portal, along with the exit portal's bedrock frame in the middle of the island. The moment you arrive in the End, the fight has already started.
The dragon's health regenerates constantly as long as end crystals remain lit on the obsidian pillars ringing the island, so ignoring them turns the fight into a stalemate. Destroy every crystal first. Breaking one while it's actively healing the dragon also deals direct damage, so clearing the pillars is both defense and offense. Only once the pillars are clear should you focus on the dragon itself: a bow or crossbow while it's airborne, melee when it perches on the central portal or an exit pillar.
- 1.Destroy every end crystal on the obsidian pillars before focusing on the dragon.
- 2.Shoot the dragon with a bow or crossbow while it's flying.
- 3.Switch to melee when it perches on the central portal or an exit pillar.
- 4.Watch for it knocking you airborne, and keep blocks or a slow falling potion ready.
How to find the stronghold before the dragon fight
Beating the dragon fills the exit portal in the middle of the island, drops a dragon egg above it, and opens up your first access to End cities and elytra beyond the main island. If you clear it once and want the fight itself to feel new on a second attempt, mods like Ender Dragon Fight Remastered rework the attack pattern without changing the crystal-first strategy above.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get a totem of undying?
You can't craft a totem of undying. It's a guaranteed drop from evokers, a rare mob found inside woodland mansions and summoned during village raids. Killing an evoker always gives you one totem, unaffected by Looting, so getting one means taking on one of these harder side fights rather than gathering crafting materials.
How many eyes of ender do I need to find a stronghold?
A full End portal has 12 frame blocks, and on average only about one already has an eye of ender set when the stronghold generates. In practice, bring closer to 12 to 16, since throwing an eye has a 20 percent chance of shattering it for good, and you don't want to run out one frame short.
What happens if an eye of ender breaks when I throw it?
Each throw has roughly an 80 percent chance the eye survives and drops back to the ground for you to collect, and a 20 percent chance it shatters and is gone for good. Those odds add up over several throws, so craft a few spares before you start rather than throwing your very last eye.
Do I have to destroy the end crystals before fighting the dragon?
Not literally, but you should. End crystals sit on obsidian pillars around the arena and heal the dragon continuously while active, so ignoring them turns the fight into a stalemate. Destroying a crystal that is actively healing the dragon also deals direct damage to it, so clearing the pillars first is both defense and offense.
Can I use a compass or map to find a stronghold?
No. A regular compass points at your world spawn or a lodestone, and a map just charts terrain you've already explored, neither of which knows where a stronghold is. Eyes of ender are the only vanilla tool that tracks toward the nearest stronghold, which is why throwing them is still the standard method.
