Nether Fortress Blaze Farming
MediumNetherGet blaze rods from a fortress's blaze spawner quickly: without rods there is no blaze powder, and without powder there are no eyes of ender. Blazes only spawn in fortresses and drop 0 or 1 rod without Looting, so the fight comes down to killing as many as you can close to the spawner.
When to Use
In every category that goes through the End portal, since every eye of ender needs blaze powder. Go after the bastion when you can, so you arrive with fire resistance.
Estimated Time Save
Hunting blazes away from a spawner
Step-by-Step Guide
Find the fortress
Fortresses generate in every Nether biome. The Nether is split into 432 by 432 block regions that each hold either a fortress or a bastion, and in Java Edition a region picks the fortress 2 times in 5. The debug pie chart can show the direction of its spawners before you see the building.
Drink fire resistance
Blaze fireballs cannot hurt you while Fire Resistance is active, which is why the bastion comes first. Piglins barter both a drinkable and a splash potion of it.
Reach a spawner
A fortress has up to two blaze spawner platforms: three full-block stairs up to a small platform fenced with Nether brick fences. Runners often throw a pearl straight onto it.
Fight next to the spawner
A spawner only works while a player is within 16 blocks, so stay on or beside the platform instead of chasing blazes that drift off. Snowballs damage blazes as well, if you happen to have some.
Count your rods
Without Looting each kill gives 0 or 1 rod, so expect about two kills per rod. A rod crafts into 2 blaze powder and an eye of ender takes 1 powder plus 1 pearl, so 6 rods cover 12 eyes.
Wither skulls for All Bosses
Fortresses are also the only place wither skeletons spawn. Summoning the Wither takes three of their skulls, and a skull drops 2.5% of the time, 3.5% with Looting I.
Pros
- +The spawner gives a steady stream of blazes in one spot
- +With Fire Resistance the fireballs do nothing
- +A pearl onto the platform skips most of the walk through the fortress
- +The same fortress is where All Bosses runs get wither skeleton skulls
Cons
- -Rods drop on about half of all kills without Looting, so counts swing
- -Without fire resistance the fireballs add up fast
- -The fortress may be far off when the regions around you rolled bastions
- -Wither skeletons, skeletons and magma cubes spawn in the fortress too
- -Skulls drop only 2.5% of the time without Looting