Finding the End Portal and Navigating The End

Approaching the Stronghold

After exiting the Nether and triangulating the stronghold position, you need to dig down to the structure and find the end portal room. This phase bridges the gap between your Nether exit and the final dragon fight.

Strongholds on Java Edition generate between Y=0 and Y=40 in most versions. The portal room floor is typically at Y=20 to Y=35. Dig at the triangulated coordinates, aiming for roughly Y=25 to maximize your chance of entering the stronghold near the portal room level.

Entering the Stronghold

When you break into the stronghold, you will find yourself in one of several room types: a corridor, a staircase, a library, or a portal room if you are lucky. Take note of what type of room you enter, as this tells you roughly where you are in the stronghold's branching layout.

Strongholds generate as a tree-like branching structure. The main "trunk" consists of corridors that branch off into side rooms and dead ends. The portal room is always on a branch, meaning it connects to the rest of the stronghold through a single doorway.

Finding the Portal Room

The portal room has distinctive features that help you identify it quickly:

• A silverfish spawner in the center of the room
• The end portal frame, a ring of 12 frame blocks over a pool of lava
• Iron bars decorating the room
• A staircase leading up to the portal level

To find the portal room efficiently, follow these principles:

1. Always turn right (or always turn left) at every intersection. This systematic approach ensures you do not revisit corridors.
2. Check behind stone brick walls. The portal room entrance can be blocked by naturally generated stone bricks, especially if the stronghold overlapped with other terrain generation. Break suspicious walls to check for hidden rooms.
3. Listen for silverfish. The silverfish spawner in the portal room produces silverfish sounds even through walls. If you hear silverfish chittering, the portal room is within a few blocks of your position.
4. Avoid libraries. Libraries are large dead-end rooms. If you enter a library, turn back immediately and try a different branch.

Dealing with Silverfish

Silverfish are small hostile mobs that spawn from the portal room spawner and from infested stone blocks throughout the stronghold. They deal minimal damage individually but can swarm in groups.

Do not waste time fighting silverfish. Sprint past them when possible. If they block your way to the portal, kill them quickly with a sword and move on. The spawner continues producing silverfish, so lingering in the portal room costs you time.

Infested stone blocks look identical to regular stone bricks but release silverfish when broken. If you accidentally break one and trigger a swarm, sprint away rather than fighting the entire group.

Filling the Portal

The end portal frame consists of 12 blocks arranged in a ring. Each block has a slot that can hold an eye of ender. In naturally generated strongholds, some slots may already contain eyes (each has a 10% chance of being pre-filled on Java Edition).

Stand outside the portal frame and face toward the center when placing eyes. The eyes must face inward for the portal to activate. If you stand inside the frame and place eyes, they face outward and the portal will not activate.

Count how many eyes are already placed and add enough to fill all 12 slots. Once all 12 slots are filled, the portal activates with a starfield effect and becomes passable.

Entering The End

Before jumping into the portal, make final preparations:

• Ensure your hotbar is arranged for the dragon fight: beds in sequential slots, food in easy reach, and blocks for shielding.
• Top off your health and hunger by eating food.
• Drop unnecessary items (cobblestone, extra tools) to declutter your inventory.

Jump into the portal. You will spawn on a small obsidian platform at the edge of the main end island. The bedrock fountain where the dragon perches is in the center of the island, surrounded by obsidian pillars with end crystals on top.

The End Island Layout

The main end island is roughly circular, about 100 blocks in diameter. Key features:

• Spawn platform: A 5x5 obsidian platform on the edge of the island, sometimes floating in the air or embedded in the ground. This is where you appear after entering the portal.
• Bedrock fountain: A small bedrock structure in the center of the island. This is where the dragon perches and where you will place beds for the kill.
• Obsidian pillars: 10 tall pillars topped with end crystals. The crystals heal the dragon while active. In modern speedruns, you skip destroying crystals and use bed explosions to overwhelm the healing.
• Endermen: They spawn throughout the island. Do not look at them directly or they will attack. Keep your crosshair above enderman eye level while sprinting to the fountain.

Getting to the Fountain

Sprint directly from the spawn platform to the bedrock fountain. If the spawn platform is floating in the air, bridge down to the island surface with blocks. If the platform is underground, dig up to the surface.

The dragon begins its scripted flight sequence as soon as you enter The End. You have a limited window before its first perch, so do not waste time. Sprint straight to the fountain, avoiding endermen and ignoring end crystals. Your only objective is reaching the fountain before the dragon arrives for its perch.