How to Beat Minecraft: A Step-by-Step Guide

The main goal of playing any game is to enjoy the journey and reach the conclusion. Minecraft is no different, even though it’s a sandbox game that can be played basically forever. That particular goal for Minecraft players is defeating the Ender Dragon. This fight requires preparation and consistent progression to execute. Therefore, in this guide, we’re covering exactly what steps you should follow in the progression to fight and kill the Ender Dragon and beat Minecraft.

Table of Contents

1. Learn Basic Survival Skills

As Minecraft is a survival game after all, you need to survive before actually trying to beat it. This implies you should get a beginner set of tools, a reliable source of food, and a safe location where you can settle down, like a base.

For starters, when you load into Minecraft, try punching a nearby tree and make your first wooden pickaxe. Then, use the cobblestone you mine around you to create stone tools and a weapon.

Get Food

The next order of business is surviving, which is thankfully not a difficult task in this game. You can plant seeds and harvest crops to make your own food. Moreover, there are plenty of animals, such as cows, pigs, chickens, and sheep (in most Minecraft biomes) to kill and get food from.

Alternatively, you can bring these mobs to fenced-off areas, where you’ll be able to breed them and have unlimited animal products. This is definitely recommended long term.

Make a Bed

After you’ve got tools and food, you should make a bed in Minecraft, so you can skip nighttime. The Hostile mobs in Minecraft, such as zombies, skeletons, creepers, and spiders spawn in dark places, so you can avoid them by sleeping.

Make Better Tools and Armor

Still, you cannot steer clear of them everywhere, as your next destination will be caves. Exploring underground caves is essential in Minecraft since you’ll find precious ore veins, which will help you upgrade your tools and armor. Caving is not necessary, though, as you can come across these veins by digging and mining through solid terrain.

In addition, you should make a shield for yourself. It blocks projectiles like arrows and protects you from creeper explosions. Also, be sure to bring enough food and torches with you so you can defeat more mobs and find more resources in Minecraft. Once you’ve obtained food, better tools, weapons, and armor and have a safe place to call home, it’s time to grind.

2. Gear Up to Fend Off Dangers

This step implies you should get stronger and make sure you cannot die just by falling off a cliff or fighting a couple of mobs. In this part of the progression, you will need to work a bit and spend a lot of time to become ready.

Get Enchanted Diamond Tools and Armor

Iron gear is pretty great as it will keep you protected and allow you to mine every precious ore block. Still, diamond gear is much better, so try to find diamonds in Minecraft as soon as possible.

Its durability, damage, and speed are far greater than iron gear’s, so it’s much more efficient to place Minecraft enchantments on them. You will beat Minecraft much more easily with them.

Trading with Villagers

Apart from crafting diamond gear yourself and wasting precious diamonds, you can obtain diamond gear through villagers. With different villager jobs, you can buy diamond tools, weapons, and armor for emeralds.

To gather emeralds in large quantities for trading, you can try making an iron farm in Minecraft and pumpkin and melon farms too.

Enchanting Your Gear

Now, it’s time to make your diamond gear even better with enchantments through the enchanting table or villagers again. With enchantments like fortune, you can get a lot more resources from a single ore block, protection will make you harder to defeat, feather falling will be able to avoid fall damage more. And finally, sharpness will enable you to deal more damage to most mobs.

So, make sure to check out our guides where we have listed the best pickaxe enchantments and the best Minecraft enchantments in general.

Expand Your Storage

You’ve probably gathered a whole ton of items so far, and this is just the beginning. Creating large and organized storage spaces will help you greatly and save time. You can even label your chests and barrels with item frames, regular signs, and even hanging signs that we can edit since Minecraft 1.20 update rolled out last year.

3. Obtain Blaze Rods

For this next step, you’ll need to find a lava pool on the surface or underground, pour water over it with your water bucket, and use your diamond pickaxe to mine and gather obsidian. You can also stumble upon ruined portals and gather obsidian there.

With obsidian, flint, and steel, you can build a Nether portal and light it up. Then, it’s time for you to venture beyond the Overworld into the scariest place in the Minecraft world, the Nether dimension. This step is completely necessary to beat the game, as you cannot just skip an entire dimension.

Find a Nether Fortress

What we’re looking for are mobs called blazes that spawn only in one structure, Nether fortress. Finding this structure is not always a simple task, since this dimension is full of perils like lava and strong hostile mobs.

Make sure to follow our guide on how you can find a Nether fortress. Furthermore, you should bring and wear one piece of gold armor, in order not to disturb piglins.

Farm the Blaze Mob

When you reach the fortress, you can start defeating blazes. They are bright fire mobs that shoot fireballs at you, that can be, thankfully, blocked by your trusty shield. They have a chance to drop blaze rods, and that’s exactly what we need.

There are also a couple of blaze spawners in most fortresses, which means you can reliably get blaze rods there.

Make sure to gather at least 8 blaze rods before you get back home. Besides blazes, you’ll find other fortress mobs, like wither skeletons, regular skeletons, and magma cubes (used to make froglight in Minecraft). Most are not particularly dangerous, but be wary of wither skeletons as they inflict the wither effect, which can be tricky occasionally.

4. Obtain Ender Pearls

The next special item we need to beat Minecraft is ender pearls. They are dropped by Endermen after you’ve defeated one, can be bought from cleric villagers, or bartered with piglins. Try to get at least 16 ender pearls.

Farm Endermen

Endermen are three-block-tall hostile mobs with black slender bodies. They spawn in the Overworld in dark places, similarly to other hostile mobs. You’re highly likely to spot them in desert biomes during the night. You can also find many Endermen in the Nether in the warped forest biome.

These mobs are very strong, but you can easily kill them by making a platform just above your head. Since they are three blocks tall, they won’t be able to hit you if you make a big enough platform. To draw their attention, just look straight at their face, and it will aggravate them.

Trade with Villagers

As you probably expect by now, you can buy various items and blocks from villagers, and it includes ender pearls as well. By crafting a brewing stand and assigning it to an unemployed villager, they’ll become a cleric. Expert-level clerics have a chance to sell an ender pearl for 5 emeralds.

Barter with Piglins

Piglins really love gold, and they will even throw useful blocks and items at you if you provide them with some gold ingots. The chances of piglins giving you ender pearls are a bit low, so consider other options first. Learn the specifics of bartering with piglins in our dedicated guide.

Steps 3 and 4 can be done in a different order, it matters that you have both of those items before Step 5.

5. Prepare for the Final Battle

Now that you’ve got yourself blaze rods and ender pearls, let’s combine them. Break blaze rods down into blaze powder and merge them with ender pearls in your crafting table to get at least 16 eyes of ender. You can later follow them and find the stronghold in Minecraft. Besides these very important items, there is still a lot of preparation ahead of you.

Brew Potions

Potions are extremely useful, especially in helping you beat the game. If you haven’t done it already, make sure to go back into that Nether fortress and grab as much nether wart as possible. With the potion of slow falling, you will fall slowly, so you won’t take any fall damage, no matter what height you fall from.

Also, you will need to stay up three or four nights in-game to spawn special nightmare mobs such as the phantom. After you kill them, you can get phantom membrane for the potion. It will become very clear why this is so crucial a little bit later in this article.

Protect Yourself from Endermen

Endermen are one of two mobs that spawn naturally in the End, the third dimension. They are, as we mentioned above, very tough mobs and can present a big issue if you’re not prepared. However, we can deal with them more easily in a couple of different ways.

Wearing a carved pumpkin on your head will keep your eyes hidden, so even if you look at the Enderman, they won’t be aggroed. Although it’s not pleasant to wear the carved pumpkin as it blurs your vision quite a bit, it’s essential.

Moreover, Endermen take damage after coming in contact with water, so if you make an infinite water source in the End with two water buckets and spread it everywhere, you’ll be protected from Endermen as they’ll just teleport around.

In addition, having plenty of blocks handy is generally useful in Minecraft. You’re able to pillar up with them, shield yourself from attacks, or block yourself in a small safe box. Not only that, but you can also make a safety platform, so Endermen cannot reach you.

Get a Good Bow

Since you’ll be shooting specific targets during the Ender Dragon fight, it’s highly recommended you bring a good bow. Infinity enchantment on the bow will enable you to fire infinite arrows from just a single one in your inventory.

This will save a ton of space and allow you to bring more potions or blocks. You can alternatively use a crossbow if you like it more, just remember, you cannot apply the infinity enchantment on it.

6. Go to the End Dimension

Once you are fully prepared, it’s time to find the Minecraft stronghold. Let the eyes of Ender lead you to a location in your world, which is the closest stronghold to your current position. When you reach the spot, start digging down.

Sooner or later, you’ll come across a big structure. What you want to find then is the End portal room. That’s a room with a lot of lava, some very unusual portal blocks, and a silverfish spawner. You can destroy the spawner since you won’t have much use of it.

The reason why you made 16 eyes of ender is the fact that portal blocks can generate with an eye of ender in them already. However, this is not guaranteed and there are 12 of them. Moreover, while looking for the stronghold, eyes of ender have a chance to break, so it’s always a better idea to have a few extras. You can then place the rest of the eyes of ender in the portal frame blocks, and the portal to the End dimension will appear.

7. Kill the Ender Dragon

There are only two ways out of the End dimension – going through the central portal or dying. That portal generates only when you defeat the Dragon. Therefore, if you haven’t done so, you can only exit the End if you die.

why you should make sure you have everything you need if you’re not planning on dying. Once you go through the portal, make sure you’re safe.

Get to the Main Island

The obsidian platform where you will spawn can generate inside the island or away from it. If it is generated inside the island, you’re pretty much safe. You simply need to start creating a staircase to the surface. However, if the platform is generated away from the main island, you need to use your blocks and get to the land as soon as possible.

The end dimension is different than the other two dimensions in the game. It’s filled with bigger or smaller islands made out of endstone, that are separated by the void. Void is extremely dangerous, and similarly to lava, you’ll start taking damage if you come in contact with it.

Unlike lava, everything you carry with you will be destroyed when you die. This just means you don’t want to fall into the void.

Dealing with Endermen

As you’ll realize rather quickly, there are Endermen everywhere in the End. When you get to the main island, you’ll first need to create some Enderman-free spots. Start by creating platforms right above your head, so even if you aggro one, they won’t be able to hit you.

Then, you could also spread the water and ensure your safety by always being close to it. The most challenging part though, will be looking up. You will need to do this regularly to keep the Dragon’s position in mind. If you don’t feel confident enough, you can always equip the carved pumpkin, so you cannot agro Endermen anymore.

The Ender Dragon Fight

Defeating the Ender Dragon is relatively easy actually. There are a couple of phases to this fight and you should just comprehend how they function. Let’s first focus on the Dragon’s behavior.

Ender Dragon Behavior

Understanding the Ender Dragon’s behavior is important in this fight. It will spend the majority of time just flying around and through the obsidian pillars. When it does this, you can shoot it with your bow, but it’s fairly difficult to hit it. Moreover, during its flight, the Dragon will occasionally shoot fireballs at you.

They are similar to ghast’s fireballs, but the Dragon’s attacks don’t disappear on impact but rather leave a lingering effect. For the next few seconds, there will be a purple cloud that deals damage to anything coming in contact with it. You’ll hear when this attack is coming towards you, so you can easily dodge it. You can also use some empty bottles to collect some of the Dragon breath that you can use later in making lingering potions.

After a few minutes, the Dragon will slow down right above the bedrock portal. This means it’s ready to perch. In that state, it’s completely immune to arrows and other projectiles. You’ll also hear a lot of flapping when the Dragon is perched. This is important because when it leaves the bedrock exit portal, it will fly directly towards the player.

If it manages to collide with you, you’ll get flung, sometimes, very high in the air. This is where the potion of slow falling comes into play. They will negate all the fall damage and also help you get to the main island if you’re above the void.

Once you stop hearing the constant flapping, it means the Dragon is headed right toward you and you should just keep moving around the exit portal.

First Phase of the Ender Dragon Fight

During this phase, you should focus on the end crystals on top of the large obsidian pillars. They constantly heal the Dragon, so there’s no point in hurting it. The height of these pillars varies, with some being short and others being tall.

You can use your bow to shoot the crystals on these pillars. It’s always a little more difficult to shoot the crystals on the tall obsidian pillars, so some pillaring up with blocks may be necessary.

End crystals are also explosive, creating large explosions when shot or hit. Therefore, always make sure you are shielded from the blast by not standing at the same height as the crystal when you are near it. You’ll also notice some iron bar cages around a couple of the crystals.

You can either pillar up to them, break the iron bars, and hit the crystal up close or shoot the crystal from a specific angle. The arrows will actually go through and reach the crystal if you fire them at an exposed corner against the obsidian pillar.

Second Phase of the Ender Dragon Fight

If you’re not sure whether all crystals have been eliminated, you can shoot the Dragon and see if it’s regenerating health. If it’s not, you can move on to phase two. This phase simply implies you should shoot the Dragon with your bow when it’s flying and hit it with your sword or axe when it’s perched. All while avoiding its incoming attacks.

One great tip is when the Dragon is ready to perch, you can move into the inactive bedrock portal. The beast will be right above you then and you can hit it straight in the head. This will deal more damage to the Dragon, and it’s less dangerous. Keep repeating this process over again until the Dragon has no health left and then, it’ll drop a whole ton of XP for you. Furthermore, you can then collect the rarest item in all of Minecraft, the Dragon egg.

Bed Method to Defeat Ender Dragon

You might’ve heard about people beating the game with beds. Similarly to the Nether dimension, you cannot set your respawn point by sleeping in the End, the bed will explode and quite possibly kill you. You can use this strategy to kill the Dragon itself, as bed explosions deal damage to every mob or player.

Right-clicking on the bed, placed on top of the bedrock portal, at exactly the right time will deal more damage to the Dragon and it’s possible to kill it with just a few beds if you know what you’re doing.

You need to make sure you’re protected from the blast by not standing at the same height as the bed. The bedrock block, which the bed will be placed on, will protect you from all the explosion damage this way. If you are going for this method, you don’t need to focus on the end crystals at all, since the Dragon cannot regenerate health that fast.

8. Next Steps, After Defeating Ender Dragon

After you defeat the Ender Dragon the exit portal will appear and you can go back to the Overworld. However, you could stay a little longer and look for the end cities, special structures in the End with absolutely OP loot, including the amazing elytra wings.

Not only that, storing shulker boxes in your ender chest will allow you to have portable storage wherever you go. From that point on, the sky is the limit. Once you go through the bedrock portal, credits will roll and you successfully beat the game.

With an elytra, exploring was made a lot easier and more fun so you can look for all the treasures in your Minecraft world. You could try to obtain all the armor trims to customize your armor and even the netherite upgrade so you can make netherite armor and tools, or find the sniffer egg so you can have dinosaur-like creatures in your base.

Then, aim to gather all the wood types, including the cherry wood and bamboo wood sets. You can also construct the best farms in Minecraft and bring your house ideas to life more easily. Minecraft is a wonderful game, that has so many features and possibilities in store for you to enjoy.

So that’s about all you need to know about beating this lovely blocky game. If you’ve never defeated the Ender Dragon before, then no worries, it may take some time to even reach the End dimension. But, once you repeat this process in multiple different worlds, your skills will only improve and you’ll beat the game faster each time.

Then, you could even explore the world of speedrunning by checking out some of the best speedrun seeds to get you started. Though, this is where we wrap up this guide. If this guide to beating the oh-so-loved sandbox game was helpful, don’t forget to let us know in the comments below. Also, share it with your friends who are just getting started with Minecraft and might need some help beating the game.