Last updated: 5 September 2026
How to Find a Stronghold in Minecraft
The stronghold is where the End portal lives — the only way to reach the End and fight the Ender Dragon. There is no map marker for it; you find it by throwing Eyes of Ender and following where they fly. With a stack of eyes and a little triangulation you can pin one down fast and be standing on the portal in minutes.
01Craft Eyes of Ender First
Everything starts with Eyes of Ender. Each one is crafted from one Ender Pearl (dropped by Endermen, or bought from Piglins by bartering with gold) plus one Blaze Powder (made from a Blaze Rod, which Blazes drop in Nether fortresses).
The recipe is simply 1 Ender Pearl + 1 Blaze Powder = 1 Eye of Ender, in any shape in the crafting grid.
Bring at least 15–16 eyes. You need 12 to activate the portal, and every time you throw one to scout, there is roughly a 20% chance it shatters instead of dropping back for you to pick up.
02Throwing and Following Eyes
Throwing an eye is how you locate the nearest stronghold:
- Stand out in the open (on the surface) and press use to throw an Eye of Ender.
- It floats up and travels horizontally toward the nearest stronghold, hovers for a moment, then drops — about 80% of the time you can run over and pick it back up.
- Walk or sprint in the direction it flew, then throw another eye every 20–40 blocks to stay on course.
- Once you're within about 12 blocks of the stronghold, a thrown eye stops arcing forward and instead dives straight down — that is your signal to start digging.
Never throw eyes while underground or in caves — they will fly into the ceiling and waste throws. Always scout from the surface.
03Triangulation — The Fast Method
Instead of physically chasing every eye across the map, you can triangulate the stronghold's location from just two throws:
- Throw an eye and note the exact direction it flew using the debug facing readout (press F3 on Java to see your facing angle).
- Travel several hundred blocks perpendicular to that direction.
- Throw a second eye and note its new direction.
- The point where those two lines cross is the stronghold — head straight there.
This saves a huge amount of walking because the stronghold can be over a thousand blocks away. Many players use a free triangulation calculator with the two F3 readings to get exact coordinates. Bedrock Edition has no F3 debug screen, so there is no facing-angle number to read — turn on Show Coordinates in world settings instead and line up on a distant landmark in the direction the eye flew, then repeat from your second throw location.
04How Far and How Many
On Java Edition, strongholds generate in rings around the world origin (0,0), with a fixed 128 strongholds total across 8 rings (older versions had only three, before the ring system existed). The innermost ring — the closest strongholds you can reach — sits roughly 1,280 to 2,816 blocks from spawn, so expect a journey.
Bedrock Edition works differently: there is no ring system and no fixed count. Strongholds generate at random positions anywhere at least 160 blocks from the world origin, and a few extra ones are guaranteed to spawn near village meeting points. On either edition, a thrown Eye of Ender always points you to the nearest stronghold, so you never have to find a specific one — just follow the eyes.
05Digging In and Activating the Portal
Strongholds are underground stone-brick complexes with libraries, corridors and store rooms. Once an eye dives downward over your position:
- Dig down carefully — never dig the single block straight under your feet, in case you drop into lava or a deep room. Stagger your descent or use a staircase.
- Explore until you find the End portal room: a 12-block portal frame suspended over a lava pool, with a silverfish spawner nearby.
- Some of the 12 frame blocks may already contain an Eye of Ender — each frame has an independent 10% chance of generating pre-filled, so on average about 1 of the 12 is already done for you. Fill every empty frame by pressing use on it with an eye.
- When all 12 frames hold an eye, the portal activates with a starfield in the centre.
Light up the room to stop silverfish swarming you, keep a water bucket handy for the lava, and make sure you are fully geared before you jump in — the other side is the Ender Dragon fight.
FAQ
How many Eyes of Ender do you need to find a stronghold?
You need 12 to fill the End portal frame, but bring around 15–16. Each eye you throw to scout has roughly a 20% chance to shatter instead of dropping back, so a few extra covers the losses and any frames that are not already pre-filled.
Which way do you go when the Eye of Ender floats?
Travel in the direction the eye flew horizontally. Keep throwing one every 20–40 blocks to stay on track. Once you're within about 12 blocks of the stronghold, an eye stops moving forward and dives straight down instead — dig down there.
How far away is the nearest stronghold?
On Java Edition, strongholds generate in rings around the world centre — the closest ring sits roughly 1,280 to 2,816 blocks from spawn, out of 128 total strongholds. Bedrock Edition has no rings or fixed count: strongholds generate randomly at least 160 blocks from the origin, with a few extra guaranteed near village meeting points. Either way, a thrown eye always points to the nearest one.
What do you do when you reach the portal room?
Find the 12-block portal frame over the lava pool and fill every empty slot with an Eye of Ender by pressing use on it. Each frame has a 10% chance of already being filled (about 1 of 12 on average), so you rarely need all 12 eyes. Once all 12 hold an eye, the portal activates and you can jump through to the End.
Sources
Where the facts on this page were checked. If one of them now says something different, we want to know — tell us and we will fix the guide.
- Stronghold Minecraft Wiki
- Eye of Ender Minecraft Wiki
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