A Guide To The End On Minecraft Survival Servers

Only the most accomplished Minecraft players get the chance to explore this mysterious dimension, and if you think you have what it takes, you could become a part of the elite group yourself should you manage to locate a stronghold portal and activate it.

The End is full of surprises and challenges not seen anywhere else in Minecraft, so we’ve come up with a guide to talk over everything to help prepare you for when you reach the dimension yourself. Let’s get straight to it.

Reaching The End On Survival

Reaching The End

The only way to reach the End is via an end portal, which can only be found in strongholds. Strongholds are huge underground structures that generate in the survival server overworld and can be located using an eye of ender – when you use an eye of ender, it'll fly up in the direction of the nearest stronghold, showing you exactly which way you need to go.

Now, if you’re not a Minecraft veteran, you may be wondering what an eye of ender is, so let us explain.

Eyes of ender are items that can be crafted using ender pearls from endermen, and blaze powder from blazes, and you’ll actually need up to 12 of them to activate the end portal, so they’re useful to have. Endermen can be found in various places throughout Minecraft but most commonly in warped forests in the nether, whereas blazes can only be found in nether fortresses. Therefore, if you’re planning on reaching the End, you’ll be needing to stop by the Nether first.

Once you track down a stronghold with an eye of ender and activate the portal, you'll be able to jump through to reach the new dimension. Make sure you're prepared though, as once you go through, there's no going back. Good luck.

What The End Is Like

The End is a huge dimension full of floating islands made from end stone surrounded by the void. On Minecraft survival servers, the world is regularly reset so it can be explored and new dragon eggs can be looted. The central island is where the Ender Dragon spawns, but there are also outer islands roughly 1000 blocks out that you can explore once you defeat the dragon – more on those later though. Don’t stray too close to the edge of an end island because one wrong step may lead you to your doom…

The End is also home to thousands of endermen, so you’ll need to take extra care not to look one of these creatures in the eyes to not aggravate them. Once you reach the outer islands, you’ll come across a bunch of other interesting structures too, but we’ll talk about those in a bit.

Fighting The Ender Dragon

When you first enter the End, you’ll arrive on the central island where the dragon resides. The Ender Dragon is widely regarded as the final boss of survival Minecraft, so make sure you wear your best armour and bring plenty of food to boost your chances of defeating the flying creature.

Obsidian pillars are present all around the central end island, and the Ender Dragon uses the end crystals located on top of them to regenerate its health, so make it a priority to shoot these crystals down and destroy them first otherwise the fight will last forever. Once the majority of the crystals are gone, you should then try to lower the dragon’s health.

Minecraft Survival Servers: End Cities

End Cities

Once you defeat the Ender Dragon, an end gateway portal will generate on the central island which you can use to access the outer islands. These outer islands are great to explore because if you’re lucky, you’ll come across an end city. End cities are huge structures full of some of the best loot in the game including enchanted armour, enchanted tools, and a bunch of other rare resources. You’ll be able to spot an end city easily from afar thanks to its distinct purple colour and branching structure, though because they’re rare, it may take some time to come across one.

Because the outer islands are, well, floating islands, they’re not the easiest to travel between unfortunately. Therefore, make sure you bring plenty of blocks to use for bridging as well as a bunch of ender pearls to cross large void gaps – it’ll make your life so much easier.

Shulkers

When it comes to end cities, it’s worth bearing in mind that they’re inhabited by things called shulkers. These hostile box-like mobs are extremely dangerous because not only do they do damage with their guided projectile bullets, but they also inflict the levitation status effect. Levitation causes you to float upwards for 10 seconds, and once that time is up, you drop straight back down, which can be deadly if you float up high enough to take lots of fall damage. Be very careful when fighting shulkers and do what you can to avoid getting hit by their bullets.

If you do manage to successfully kill a shulker, you may be rewarded with a shulker shell that you can use to make a chest-like storage block called a shulker box. These boxes act in the same way as chests but don't drop everything when mined, so can be used to transport or store large quantities of items. Pretty awesome, right?

Minecraft Enderman in Survival

Elytra Wings

Lastly, let’s talk about the elytra wings, which give you the ability to fly and can only be found in the End. They spawn in end ships, which are floating boat-like structures that occasionally spawn alongside end cities. If you come across one, count yourself lucky, as elytra wings are some of the most sought after things in Minecraft and will make navigating the world so much easier. Be careful though, as shulkers will be guarding this precious treasure, so prepare for a fight!

Some Final Words

The End is a dangerous yet exciting dimension filled with all kinds of secrets and treasures that we hope you feel confident to explore now after reading this article. Getting out of the End alive with all your loot may prove to be a challenge, but if you manage it, you'll be one of the most powerful players around. Good luck with your quest!