The End is another special dimension in Minecraft. You cannot get there at first, but Endermen help you get there eventually.
Endermen and Eyes of Ender
Endermen are rare monsters, but you find them here and there throughout the Overworld. Large, dark areas that are at least three blocks high have a chance to spawn Endermen at any time.
Fight these enemies by attacking their feet. This prevents them from teleporting. Don’t use ranged attacks, and don’t look them in the eyes because that makes them aggressive before you’re ready to fight.
Kill enough Endermen, and you start to accrue Ender Pearls. These items are useful for instant teleportation. Throw them at your target—and bam!—you’re there. This causes damage to your player, but it’s still fun.
That said, you’re best off saving most of your Ender Pearls; they are crafted into Eyes of Ender. These items help you find strongholds and then to activate portals that are located only within those strongholds.
Craft more than 12 Eyes of Ender when you want to reach The End. Use the Eyes to locate the nearest stronghold, attack that base, and look for the room with the End Portal. This is where Silverfish spawn. Track them back to that room, destroy their Monster Spawner, and then fill in the 12 slots around the End Portal with your Eyes of Ender. Doing so opens the way—you can now get to The End.
Note that you can’t get back, so don’t step through the portal until you stash your best items at home.
Going to The End and Killing the Ender Dragon
End Portals stay activated once you’ve found them and used your Eyes of Ender. That’s good news, because your trip to The End won’t always go well. We recommend against taking all of your good equipment for your first trip there. You should get your bearings, make sure your spawn location is “safe,” and try to build a starting base with your first life there.
The game’s final boss is here; it’s called the Ender Dragon. This thing is so powerful that it breaks most blocks by flying through them. Obsidian and the End Stone that dominate this dimension are both exceptions. Bring enough Obsidian to quickly create a small room beside the portal where you spawn (not on it). Form this room and drop an Ender Chest there, if you have one. This lets you harvest End Stone and transport it back to the Overworld even before you’re able to kill the Ender Dragon.
Preparing for Battle
Once you’re comfortable going to The End and getting your bearings, start to arm yourself for the final engagement. You want a Bow with the best Power enchantment you can get. A few stacks of Arrows won’t hurt, though you likely won’t need all of them unless things go very badly.
A good Sword helps, too. The Ender Dragon is too mobile to kill with a Sword, but Endermen also inhabit The End, and they are an additional threat. Swords should have either Fire Aspect or the highest possible damage output.
Diamond armor with Protection IV is your smartest bet for safety. Your helm can be either a Pumpkin or a Diamond Helm. The latter is better for survival. Pumpkins are better for avoiding extra fights with Endermen, because they don’t attack when you look at them. This is a matter of personal preference.
Potions of Healing and Regeneration are both useful during the battle. Golden Apples or Enchanted Golden Apples are great, too.
Ender Pearls are helpful as well. They let players teleport from smaller islands over to the main island, possibly saving themselves if they’re knocked over the edge during the boss fight.
Slaying the Dragon
A series of End Crystals keeps the Ender Dragon alive and healthy. Each Crystal is placed on top of an Obsidian pillar, like the ones on which you arrive. Destroying these is a critical part of the boss fight. If you don’t break the crystals, the Ender Dragon can stay at or near full health indefinitely, despite your best efforts.
Watch for the healing beams that emanate from the End Crystals. Their energy flows toward the dragon. Trace it back to figure out where the crystals are located, and use your Bow to shoot at them until they explode.
Once the crystals are no longer healing the Ender Dragon, turn the Bow on him! Head shots are the way to go if you want to win this fight anytime soon; they inflict quadruple damage. The best way to achieve these hits is to wait for the Ender Dragon to come after your character. Nail it in the head with a fully charged attack. Get another shot in immediately afterward, and then watch the dragon fly away. Chase it and wait for the boss to turn and come after you again. Repeat your attacks and wait for the kill!
The Aftermath
The Ender Dragon drops so much experience that even a character with no experience will max out their levels almost immediately. It’s better to bring a few friends to spread around the experience, or bring in materials for enchanting work so you can enchant multiple items and still max out your experience.
The Ender Dragon also drops a Dragon Egg. This doesn’t have a use (yet). However, you can collect it. Clicking on the Dragon Egg causes it to teleport. Do this one time to get the egg away from the End Portal, which appears to take you home. You don’t want the egg to fall into the End Portal and break.
After the Dragon Egg teleports, track it down. It sometimes appears below the ground. Tunnel until you find it, and then get two blocks beneath it. Destroy the End Stone there, place a Torch, and then destroy the block above to drop the Dragon Egg onto the Torch. This turns the egg into a resource and allows you to collect it.
And now, you have completed The End. Come back here to farm Endermen or End Stone, and use your new End Portal to return home at any time.
