Let’s face it: creating Eyes of Ender can be a long and frustrating experience. You have to kill some tough mobs, farm lots of materials, explore the depths of the Nether, and (somehow) make it out alive again. With that said, if you take the time to plan out the process beforehand, it doesn’t have to be all that bad. This guide will teach you how to do it as painlessly as possible.
Step 1: Farm Endermen
Before you can create an Eye of Ender, you will need to have Ender Pearls. Ender pearls are dropped by Enderman (at a rate of roughly every other kill, I’d say).
To farm Endermen, I’d recommend going to a flat biome like a desert. With no trees, mountains, or other tall structures in your way, your line of sight will be much clearer and you’ll be able to see them from a greater distance. This will allow you to kill more Endermen more quickly (increasing your chances of getting a lot of loot) before the sun comes up.
Tips for killing an Enderman
After you engage an Enderman, do not look at its face. Looking at his face will cause the Enderman to panic and teleport away (he will return later, but he will almost always sneak up behind you where you can’t see him. And it might happen while you’re fighting something else, which is definitely not good).
When you’re fighting an Enderman, stare directly at the lower portion of his legs and strike him there. He will get a few shots in, but you will be able to kill him pretty quickly and you should not come close to dying (assuming you’re wearing decent armor).
Step 2: Farm some snowballs
This might sound a little silly, but trust me on this. To create an Eye of Ender, you will need to kill Blazes. You don’t want to walk up and strike a blaze with your sword (they will slaughter you), but they will take damage from snowballs. Snowballs can’t be found in the Nether, so you’ll need to take them with you. To collect snowballs, take a shovel to a snowy biome and start digging. Fill up your bags.
Step 3: Create a nether portal
As I mentioned before, you will need to kill Blazes to get the Blaze Rods you will need to create an Eye of Ender. Blazes are only found in the Nether, so you’ll need a way to get there. If you don’t know how to create a nether portal, you can read my guide for building one here. Follow the instructions, and then come back here to continue on.
Step 4: Enter the Nether
Now that your nether portal is created, it’s time to head inside. But before you head in, make sure that you only have the absolute necessities in your inventory. There is a very good chance that you are going to die in here, and you don’t want to lose any valuable items. I would recommend bringing some cheap armor, a few stone swords, a few stone pickaxes, a stack of torches, and your snowballs. Everything else can stay at home. It’s just too easy to die in here, and I’ve lost some valuable stuff on account of me being an idiot. So hopefully I can save you the same trouble.
Once you’re in the Nether, you should take a minute to write down your coordinates (you can find them by pressing F3 on your keyboard). It’s incredibly easy to get lost in here, and you want to make sure that you can find your way out again.
Step 5. Find a Nether Fortress
Every Nether instance has a Nether Fortress inside, and these fortresses are where we will find the Blazes that we need to farm. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and spawn right next to a fortress, but most of the time you will have to hunt for it.
Like most structures in Minecraft, fortresses are randomly generated. That makes it a little hard to describe what they look like, but I’ll do my best.
Nether Fortresses are built of Nether Bricks, Nether Brick Fences, and Nether Brick Stairs. The bricks are black, so just look around for a tall black structure (it will be massive). That will be the Nether Fortress.
Step 6: Enter the Nether Fortress
This can be easier said than done. Sometimes, Nether Fortresses are elevated far off the ground, and they rarely have a natural entrance. This is where your pickaxe will come in handy, since it’s up to you to dig your own path to the top of the fortress. I usually dig stairs that wrap along the outside edge of the fortress so I don’t have to waste a lot of torches by digging through the center.
Step 7: Find (and kill) a Blaze
Search the top level of the Nether Fortress for Blazes, taking care not to get too close when you see one. When engaged, they will occasionally engulf into flames and hurl fireballs at you. These fireballs can be easily avoided from a distance, but not so much when you’re up close.
Queue up your snowballs, and start chucking them. Though it might be tempting to unload them rapid-fire, try to take your time. Your supply is limited, and you will want to kill as many as you can on a single trip.
The drop you are looking for is a Blaze Rod. Each Blaze Rod can be deconstructed into two Blaze Powders. So how many do you need? Well, that’s hard to say. Eyes of Ender can break, and you never know how many you’ll go through while searching for a Stronghold. So get as many as you possibly can.
Step 8: Craft your Eye of Ender
Once you have your Blaze Rods, you will need to deconstruct them into Blaze Powders. With your Blaze Powders in hand, place them (along with your Ender Pearls) onto your crafting table like this:
That’s it! Now that you’ve created your Eyes of Ender, go off and find your Stronghold.
