Tutorials/End survival

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This tutorial will tell the player how to survive in the End after killing the ender dragon.

Prerequisites

Before continuing, please note that this page assumes that the player has already killed the ender dragon. If they have not done so, then it is strongly suggested for them to do, as it is extremely difficult to survive in the End with the ender dragon alive. (If they need help to do so, see Tutorials/Defeating the ender dragon). It also assumes that they are playing on Easy difficulty or above because playing in Peaceful makes it far less challenging than on other difficulties.

The End is less dangerous than the Nether, however, the player will likely die quickly without proper equipment.

Upon entering the End, the player is recommended to open as many gateways to the outer islands as possible for maximum efficiency in transportation, covering ground, and gathering the resources of each island. The gateways will generate a maximum of 20, with new ones being created every time a respawned Ender Dragon is killed by the player.

The first dragon will give the most experience to the player, and be the most difficult to defeat. The first dragon can only be defeated with resources the player has brought with them to the End, but after the first gateway is generated, it allows the player to set up an outpost on the outer End islands. There, the player can bring:

• Saplings and dirt for farming and growing trees (providing building material, charcoal for torches and smelting needs, and much more)

• 2 water buckets for pools to stay safe from endermen, fishing (which still works in the End)

• composters to synthesize bonemeal (wheat and beetroots are great for growing in the end, as they always leave more seeds than the player needs and feed the composter with these. Cocoa beans are the most efficient plants for feeding a composter)

• lava for a cobblestone generator.

• Optional: a brewing stand to brew potions for combat while the player takes a recovery break and bamboo for easy scaffolding structures. However, unlike the above-listed items, potions are not renewable in the End (scaffolding is renewable as it requires bamboo which can be grown indefinitely under enough light level, or bone meal and strings which can be obtained as a junk item from fishing) and require the player to import the necessary materials from the Overworld and the Nether beforehand.

Once a base of this sort has been set up, and the player has a sufficient amount of ender pearls to teleport through the gateway, they can take a break from the battle at any time. The player can respawn the ender dragon—only this time, if the player has been sufficiently damaged, rather than dying they are able to teleport to the outpost to eat, recover, and—if they wish—brew potions and acquire new building materials as needed. The player can then teleport back through the gateway to return to battle the Ender Dragon at full health (see "pros" of living in the end for a list of all the renewable resources, combat gear, and food the player can bring with them into the End).

Pros and cons of living in the End

Pros

It has only two mobs after the defeating of the ender dragon: endermen and shulkers.
It has a lot of empty space for building.
It is very flat and easy to see across.
It has a large amount of obsidian, and an unlimited amount of ender pearls and an unlimited amount of end stone, with the ability to respawn the ender dragon.
Unlike the Nether, it can have both water and lava in it for cobblestone. The player can also grow trees and crops.
The player can go to the outer islands, where they can find chorus fruits, chorus plants and end city-related things.
The End is the only place where the player can find an end ship, where they can get the elytra, an extremely useful item used for flying. It is also the only source of the invaluable resource of Shulker Shells.
On servers, it is usually the least heavily-trafficked dimension. Most people live primarily in the Overworld and use the Nether for rapid transport, leaving The End very quiet.
Finally, The End can be made to be very much like the Overworld, and can be set up to provide infinitely renewable sources of almost everything the Overworld has. This includes water, iron, food, trees, stone (and its variant of cobblestone), bone meal, all resources collected from animals (including honey, wool and meat), and all resources collected from Villager trading (including glass, glowstone, redstone dust, Lapis Lazuli, Bottle o' Enchanting, bows and arrows—which aren't much use in the End, but are still available—armor, tools, enchanted books, stone variants, block of quartz, and more. See "Farming" section for how to gain access to these.

Cons

If the player falls into the Void, they will die and lose all their items unless they have gamerule keep inventory on.
Endermen spawn infinitely; no matter how many they have killed, there will always be more until players light the area sufficiently.
If players want to survive, they have to bring a lot of stuff with them that would otherwise be inaccessible unless they have an ender chest.
Beds and respawn anchors don't work and they will explode and set fire to the area around the player if that player attempts to sleep in one or set their spawnpoint with one.
Players without either boots with Feather Falling or a potion of slow falling risk falling to their death after shulker attacks.
Nether portals don't work in the End.
The few players visiting the End often travel many kilometers in search of end cities, and will likely take any loot they find there.

Endermen

Endermen can be very annoying while in the End ( more annoying than even Creepers ) . They completely cover the island and are very hard to avoid looking at. Therefore, when traveling in the End, make sure to always carry a bucket of water. If an enderman tries to attack, place down the bucket where you are. It should walk into the water and then teleport away. It may also stop attacking‌^{[Java Edition only]}, but even if it doesn't, it will die from the water.

Another approach is to wear a pumpkin, and all the endermen will ignore the player completely until the player attacks them. Unfortunately, the player can only see partially, but by pressing F5 (Ctrl + F5 or Fn + F5 on some computers), the player will enter third-person mode, where the player can see fully again. Alternately, they can also toggle the HUD by pressing F1 which disables the blur caused by the pumpkin‌^{[Java Edition only]}. However, this will make the hotbar and hunger bars disappear too. The final option is to use a resource pack that changes the pumpkin blur.

in Java Edition, a useful tip to avoid accidentally looking at endermen is to show entity hitboxes by pressing F3 + B‌^{[Java Edition only]}. The white-colored hitboxes can help discerning endermen from the similarly colored purplish-black background of the End.

Buildings

The Home

In the End, there are many ways to build a home. If the player is on multiplayer, one idea is to build the house underground, so that other players won't be able to find them. Also, underground houses are very easy to make.

Ender house 2 — An underground End Home.

Another option is to hollow out one of the obsidian pillars, making a multi-level building. This may take a significant amount of time, as obsidian takes a long time to mine. However, keep in mind that if you or another player respawn the ender dragon, the obsidian pillars will regenerate, which will entirely destroy your base.

Ender house — A obsidian pillar that has been converted into a house.

Whether building or digging the home, the player will need to take measures against endermen spawning in it. The simplest tactic is to make sure that all ceilings are no more than 2 ¹⁄₂ blocks high, so they don't have room to spawn or enter. Where this isn't practical, the player can make floors out of bottom slabs. Then, they can't spawn or teleport there, though they can still walk onto it if they have the headroom. In particular, if you want a secure roof, fence it and make it out of bottom slabs.

Note also the blocks that endermen can move. Because of this, the house should not be made of blocks that endermen can pick up, such as grass block. Instead, use stronger building blocks, such as any sort of stone or planks, that endermen can't move.

Also, the player can build a home in the outer islands where there are infinite islands.

Portal Room

One thing the player should do is make a room or building for the end portal. This prevents the player from accidentally leaving the End, and also prevents endermen from falling through the portal and appearing in the Overworld. Note that if the player updates the portal by respawning the dragon, the ceiling of the portal room will disappear.

Ender Portal survival — A basic end portal room.

Island outpost

This is similar to the main house, to be used as an overworld-like base in the process of respawning 19 ender dragons to complete the circle of gateways. When the player has killed the first dragon, they have unlocked a single end gateway to the outer end islands. The player will be teleported to an outer island, where they can build a simple house, farm and fish pond—all of which are easy to make. This outpost is intended to have basic renewable resources in or around it, and can include a farm for both crops and trees, water and lava for a cobblestone generator, furnaces, methods of storage (such as a chest, barrel, shulker box or ender chest), a crafting table and a brewing stand if needed. The house should not have a bed, as it is nothing more than a hazard, and could be any size the player chooses. The farm must be lit up with a decent light source, or the crops will not successfully plant. The player is also advised to stock up on arrows and bows, as these are difficult to renew in the end.

Once the outpost is set up, the player may teleport to this house through the gateway when their health is critical during the process of killing the respawned ender dragon. If it is not a priority, it can consist of no more than a farm and hole-in-the-ground shelter. However, if the player plans to beat all 19 remaining dragons, the base can be extended into a fully self-sustaining presence, even providing iron for weapons and armor. Through great difficulty, Villagers may be transported to the outer island base (either by flying machine or pushing baby villagers through the gateway) and traded with for arrows, bows, and enchanted gear. Through a variety of creative loopholes, the outer island base may be expanded into a fortress so self-reliant that the player never has to leave.

The Dragon Egg

The player should also collect the dragon egg from the top of the portal. Before collecting it, the player should cover the portal with blocks, so when it drops it will not land in the portal and get sent to the Overworld world spawn point. After that, do not mine it. If the player does, the egg will teleport away. One way to get the egg is to place a piston facing towards it and activate the piston, causing it to drop as an item. If you make the egg fall onto a torch it will be in item form as the egg is affected by gravity, like sand and gravel. It is possible to mine the egg by making a large 30x30x15 cube of blocks with the egg in the very middle. You need to tunnel to the very middle and make the passage out of transparent blocks like doors or fence gates as the egg cannot teleport to these blocks. You can break the egg with your fist and it will drop. This method is not recommended as it will take many stacks of blocks.

A piston that when activated will break the egg and drop it as an item.
The same situation, only now the piston has been activated.

Although the dragon egg is purely ornamental, it is still nice to have in the base as an ornament to remind the player of when their journey in the End began.

Farming

Overworld Farms

In the End, the player can still make many of the farms they would typically make in the Overworld. One of the most important farms to make is a cobblestone generator. Here are two different designs for cobblestone generators that both require 1 lava bucket and 1 water bucket. The first design only generates one block at a time, while the second design can generate 4 blocks at the same time, making it far more efficient than the other one.

A cobblestone generator that generates 1 block at a time.
Another cobblestone generator but this time generates 4 blocks at a time.

Another important farm to make is a tree farm. To make the trees actually grow, the player will need to place a torch or some glowstone near the tree, as the natural light level is too low for the tree to grow.

A tree farm in the End.
The same farm, only this time the trees have grown.

All of the normal farms (like potato farms, sugar canes etc.) work as they do in the Overworld, however they may need to place a light source next to the farm for it to function properly. Nearly all renewable resources of the Overworld can be infinitely renewed in the End, with a few caveats:

The player must bring the necessary materials and mobs from the Overworld to start. However, once these are in place, the player can make a colony so self-sustaining that it requires no transport to the Overworld for supplies. When enough Ender Dragons have been killed to open as many gateways as the player is comfortable with, they can start by taking with them some dirt (with optional grass blocks to make the islands more like the Overworld), a few buckets of water and lava, and seeds. Crops and trees can grow normally in the End (unlike the nether, which has fire hazards and no water for the crops) so they will not need anything done differently to care for them, as well as the cobblestone generator.

Second, once the buildings and infrastructure are in place, the player can transport animals and villagers to the island. Chickens can be brought in the form of eggs and hatched anywhere in the world, but other mobs will need to be pushed or lured through the End portal. The player is advised to block off the return portal, as this will teleport any mobs who fall through it to the player's spawning spot in the Overworld. Provided that the player has brought villagers through the gateway, it is possible to build iron farms in the End, giving the player infinite iron to make weapons and armor to fight the Dragon with once the initial farm is set up on an outer island.

Building farms on the outer End Islands has several advantages, the biggest being safety from being destroyed by the Ender Dragon. If the player is seeking to colonize the outer End Islands, they will need to take many difficult steps to get animals and villagers there. Pigs are under a block tall, and can be pushed/lured up a staircase or elevator to the End gateway to be pushed through to the other side. For other mobs such as cows, Villagers and sheep, the player will have to push baby versions of the mobs through the gateway. Building a flying machine out of sticky pistons and slime blocks has several advantages, such as being able to transport adult mobs and able to cover far greater distances than End Gateways (the flying machine will keep journeying through the void forever unless it collides with something or is broken en route by the player, and can be built high above the end's tallest structures to avoid collisions. If wanted, a player could take flying machines with villagers and animals millions of blocks away from the center, making for great secret bases on servers).

Since almost everything works the same in the End as it does in the Overworld, the player can then set up the farms they would in the Overworld without great difficulty, once the animals or villagers required for it are in place. (Beds explode if a player tries to sleep in them, but villagers follow a normal day-night cycle in the nether and end, and sleep in beds without issues, allowing for Iron farms and artificial villages to function normally). Villagers will still trade Glass, Glowstone, Redstone Dust, Lapis Lazuli, Bottle o' Enchanting, Bows and Arrows, Armor, Tools, Enchanted Books, Stone variants, Block of Quartz, and more, and the player can gain the emeralds they need by trading the crops or smooth stone already availiable in the End—effectively making the End a closed-loop system that eventually needs nothing from the outside world.

End Exclusive Farms

One of the advantages of living in The End is that it is far easier to build an enderman farm or grinder. These take a lot of effort to make but are extremely useful after making them. If the player wants to learn how to learn how to make one, see enderman farming. Enderman farms are useful, as enderman drop experience as well as ender pearls, which can be used to teleport or crafted into eyes of ender, which are used to make end crystals and ender chests.

An enderman farm in the End.

Another advantage of living in the End, or at least going to gather chorus fruits, is to make a chorus fruit farm (The player can make it in the Overworld too). Chorus fruits can be used as food, items for making purpur blocks, and its popped variant also make end rod.

Ender chest

The ender chest is one of the most useful items in the game. The items inside of one ender chest are accessible in all other ender chests. Due to the massive amounts of obsidian present in the End, it is very easy to make an ender chest for each building or area of the End. Blaze powder or rods used to make ender chests must be collected from blazes beforehand. Also, don't forget that ender chests can be destroyed by the Ender dragon.

Video

End Survival Challenge

This survival challenge is similar to the "Starting in the nether", but it is starting in the end. The challenge is shorter than the nether survival but is more dangerous. You have to use cheats to teleport yourself to the end outer islands. The game must be on hardcore mode, because if you die, you will end up in the overworld, which will be cheating. Do not set your spawn point in the end because the exit portal always takes you to your spawn point. Once you are there, you can start the game.

Since there is no wood and animals in the end, your first goal is to get food. Gather at least 2 stacks of chorus fruit by breaking a chorus tree. Chorus fruit restores 4 hunger points but teleports you randomly. Your next goal it to find an end city to get tools, weapons, and armor. You don't have to kill the shulkers, but block the bullets by punching them. If you are at a large shulker tower, let one bullet hit you and punch the rest of the bullets so they can't kill you. Once you make it to the top, there are 2 chests containing enchanted diamond and iron armor and tools. Don't wear anything with curse of binding because you will be stuck with it. The treasure room also has chests, one chest and an ender chest. If you have a silk touch pickaxe, you can break the ender chest. Take all the treasure and kill the shulkers. If you got a pickaxe, you can mine end stone and purpur. Mine some blocks and bridge to the ship if there is one. Take the elytra, loot, and potions and kill the shulkers. Make sure you have good inventory management because you cannot make shulker boxes without crafting table. Raid more end cities to find more armor and tools and weapons. Your next goal it to find a return end gateway or build a 1000 block bridge back to the end central island.

Once you make it back to the central island, you have to kill the ender dragon. Pillar up to the towers and block yourself with end stone before punching the crystal in order to reduce damage. Repeat for the other towers. For the caged towers, break the iron bars from under and punch the crystal to reduce damage. Since you don't have a bow and arrows, stand in the exit portal and hit the ender dragon when it perches. Watch out for dragon fireballs and keep attacking until the dragon it dead. Gather all the experience. To get the dragon egg, get a torch from the exit portal and punch the dragon egg so it teleports onto end stone. Mine 2 blocks down from the block next to the dragon egg and break the block 2 blocks under the egg. Place a torch and break the block the egg is on. The egg will drop and you can collect it. Now you can return to the overworld and continue as normal.