When you thought you’ve accomplished everything there is in Minecraft’s overworld, little did you know there’s another place to conquer. Yes, there is a dimension called the Nether; it’s a place distinctly separate from the overworld and is full of fire, lava, fungi-based vegetation, and home to many hostile creatures. But in the midst of your adventure to the Nether, there is one place every Minecraft player should conquer—the Nether Fortress. This is crucial to progressing in the game and it’s the only place you can farm blaze rods. Reaching the Nether Fortress isn’t just a walk in the park, either. Looking for the fortress can definitely become quite a challenge considering you need the right tools and gear just to get there. We will talk about ways to prepare for your adventure into the nether, equip you with the right gear, and how to find the coveted Nether Fortress.
What to bring when exploring the Nether?
The nether is filled with lava lakes and hostile mobs so you’re going to need to gear up and protect yourself by equipping the right set of weapons and armor. Walking into this antagonistic environment where one wrong move could potentially get you killed is definitely not for the faint of heart. Even skilled and fully equipped players have a hard time venturing the Nether. It is always good to prepare yourself with the right gear when going on this dangerous adventure; here’s what you’ll need:
- Sword: You should bring a strong weapon in order to defeat hostile mobs in the nether. Enchanting your sword is not necessary but you should at least have an iron or diamond sword before venturing into the nether. If you want to enchant your weapon, you should go for either smite or sharpness.
- Bow: Bringing a bow is necessary – especially when trying to kill a ghast, a large white floating hostile creature that shoots fireballs. Be sure to bring a generous amount of arrows if you don’t have the infinity enchantment equipped on your bow. You can also enchant your bow with power to increase arrow damage, which is highly recommended.
- Pickaxe: An iron or diamond pickaxe is necessary when trekking through the Nether. The Nether is filled with nether rack, nether quartz, and more. Take this time to gather up resources with your pickaxe as you journey to find the Nether Fortress. You may also use the pickaxe to build tunnels to cross high, mountainous paths.
- Armor: Equip a full set of iron or diamond tier armor. A full set of armor includes the helmet, chestplate, leggings, and boots. For armor enchantment, we suggest equipping at least protection III or IV. For boots, you can also choose feather falling to decrease fall damage from great heights.
- Cobblestones: Bring at least 64 cobblestones (or one stack) for you to work with while in the nether. You can use the cobblestones to craft different items such as stairs and tools, or use it in building tunnels, creating walls, paths, and more. You should also bring more cobblestones in the chance you decide to build a temporary base in the nether.
- Logs: Bring a few logs to help you craft items that require wood such as sticks and planks that are necessary for weapons, tools, and more. Carrying logs will also help save space in your inventory instead of carrying planks.
- Torches: Bring a good amount of torches before you go on your Nether adventure. The Nether has a dark atmosphere and un-lit, restricted field of view could become a major problem especially when trekking through dangerous areas with lava pools below. You can use torches to light your way as well as use them to mark areas you’ve previously explored, similar to leaving a trail of bread crumbs. To make torches, simply place one coal on top of a stick in the crafting table. remember to bring extra coals and sticks in case you need to craft more torches.
- Water Bucket: Bringing at least 1 water bucket allows you to clear areas filled with lava and it can also be used to put yourself out if you’re on fire. Crafting a bucket requires you to place 3 iron ingots in the 3×3 crafting grid. You should place the iron ingots in the correct pattern as shown below to craft a bucket.
- Crafting Table and Furnace: A crafting table and furnace is required when crafting most of items in the game. Bring one in case you need to craft something along the way or you run out of tools to work with and end up needing to craft something on-the-go.
- Food: Food can be a source of healing and to satiate hunger levels. Since this will be your main source of health, bring as much food as possible. You should bring food items that heals back the most health such as cooked porkchop, steak, or mutton.
- Chests: You might want to bring a chest or two if you plan on creating a temporary base in the nether. Considering it would be a long journey home, you would definitely want to make pit stops to replenish your inventory and craft items safely. Placing chests in your temporary base would help free up enough inventory space to continue your journey or leave some items for your next trip to the Nether.
How To Get to the Nether
Although it sounds easy, there are steps required in order to get to the Nether Realm. It is a dimension that exists beneath the idyllic scenery of Minecraft’s overworld. Getting there isn’t as simple as riding a horse and galloping through the mountains. To get there, you need to build a portal. Fortunately, you only need 2 things to build it: 14 obsidian and 1 flint and steel.
The easiest way to farm obsidian is to find a lava pool and simply pour water in it. This will harden lava to create obsidian which you can only farm by using a diamond pickaxe. You need 14 obsidian blocks to create the nether portal. To make flint and steel, you need 1 iron ingot and 1 flint and place them in the crafting grid. Remember to place them in the exact pattern shown below, otherwise, it won’t work.
To make a nether portal, all you have to do is to create a rectangular shape using the obsidian blocks and place them in a 4×5 pattern. Once you created the outer frame, use the flint and steel to light the inner frame on fire. This will generate the portal to the Nether.
How To Find the Nether Fortress
This is where it gets tricky. Finding the Nether Fortress is not that simple. You could literally walk thousands of miles, explore almost all areas, and still won’t find one. The bad news is unless you use cheats, game commands, or use creative mode, you probably won’t find the fortress easily. And to make matters worse, Minecraft’s 1.16 Nether update makes the apparent distance between fortresses even farther.
So how do you find the Nether Fortress? Well, there are a few ways you can try to make searching for fortresses easier. Here are some tips listed below:
- You can start by changing your render settings to see further in the distance. Adjusting render allows the game to generate more scenery in your field of view at the cost of FPS and graphic performance.
- Search for giant structures such as buildings and pillars. The nether fortress is made up of nether bricks—dark purple bricks—that are designed similar to that of a castle.
- Cross the lava ocean using striders. They are passive mobs that you can find walking in the middle of lava lakes and oceans. To ride striders, you must use a saddle and control their movement using warped fungus on a stick similar to how pigs are ridden and controlled. Crossing the lava ocean allows you to gain access to new areas in the nether making your search for the nether fortress easier.
- Try heading in the direction of positive X axis. Check your coordinates by pressing F3 on your keyboard for PC users and FN + F3 for Mac. Coordinates should pop up on your screen that will tell you which direction you are currently on. Look for the XYZ mark on the map. Head towards positive X axis (north) as nether fortresses have a higher chance to generate more in that direction.
- If you’ve looked everywhere and decided to give in to cheats, try using the command /locate fortress to get the coordinates to the nearest fortress. This should give you an exact location of where the nearest nether fortress from you would be. Then check your current coordinates with F3 to navigate your way to the fortress.
Once you reach the Nether Fortress, make sure you have all your gear and weapons ready as you will have to battle your way through it. Explore the fortress thoroughly to gather resources effectively.
