Tutorials/Nether survival

This tutorial provides useful survival tips when going to the Nether, whether you want to just visit or make a more permanent base there. This tutorial also explains how to beat the game by starting in the Nether with nothing.

Introduction
The Nether is a dangerous place for even experienced players. It is filled with a host of exclusive mobs not found in the Overworld: hostile blazes, wither skeletons, ghasts, magma cubes, hoglins, piglins, and piglin brutes, and the neutral zombified piglin, as well as one passive mob, the strider.

The terrain is much harsher to navigate than in the Overworld: one false step could mean death by fiery lava. Nether fortresses and bastion remnants both spawn in the Nether. Nether fortresses are the homes of wither skeletons and blazes, and piglin brutes, piglins, and hoglins all spawn in bastion remnants.

This guide is intended to help you increase your chances of survival in the Nether and opening up a lot of gameplay such as brewing, nether hubs, the End, and the ender dragon and wither bosses.

Making a nether portal
To make a nether portal, the player needs to make a rectangular frame of obsidian, though the corners do not have to be obsidian.


 * The minimum size for the frame is 5 high by 4 wide, which requires 10 blocks of obsidian and produce the "classic" nether portal 3 high by 2 wide within it.
 * The corners can be any block (including more obsidian) or none at all.
 * The frame can be larger, as long as it is rectangular and there are no other blocks inside the rectangle.
 * A ruined portal can provide a partial frame for the player to complete, but any crying obsidian must be removed from the frame, as that is not a valid frame block.
 * The "traditional" way to create the frame is simply to get 10 or more blocks of obsidian (mined or from loot chests) and place them into the frame shape.
 * Alternatively, a portal frame can be partly or completely "cast" in place, as described below. This is useful if the player does not have a diamond pickaxe.
 * Once the frame is built, a fire block anywhere within the frame activates the portal.
 * The traditional way to light the portal is with a flint and steel.
 * A fire charge also works. Fire charges require a Nether material to craft (blaze powder), but even in the Overworld they can be found in a ruined portal chest.
 * Lacking either of these, any other source of fire works; if wooden blocks are placed facing the portal (but not in the frame) lava can be used to set those afire, providing the needed fire block.

Using lava and water
A player can cast part or all of frame in place, by placing lava source blocks and using water to convert them to obsidian.


 * This only works in the Overworld, as water cannot be placed in the Nether, not even long enough to convert lava. Water in a cauldron does not work, and in the End, nether portals do not work at all.
 * The water does not need to flow over the lava; any lava source block that finds water (source or flowing) next to it gets converted immediately.
 * Flowing lava converts to cobblestone, and if lava flows into the water it converts the water to stone or cobblestone; if either is inside the frame it must be removed before lighting the portal.
 * The lava can be carried in as many buckets, but if a lava pool is handy, one or two buckets are required to fetch each block as needed.

Brute-force method

 * 1) Build a mold out of dirt for the bottom: a trench 1 wide and 2 or 4 long.
 * 2) Fill each block of the trench from a lava bucket, then place the water on a mold block to flood the lava and turn it into obsidian (if it turns into stone or cobblestone instead, then the player may have misplaced a source block. One can fix this problem by mining out the stone or cobblestone and trying again).
 * 3) Extend your frame upward and repeat the process to mold the next layers: three levels of two separated pits for the portal sides, then another trench for the top.
 * 4) Dig away the dirt frame, and light the new portal.

On-the-fly method
It is also possible to place blocks to the side and "hang" water off them to make most of the frame. This video illustrates the typical "speedrun" technique.

Preparation


Being well-equipped is essential for survival in the Nether. Lacking even a seemingly useless item in an unfortunate situation can put you in serious danger. However, be sure not to bring any items that have little or no use for your objective, leaving room to carry the loot you came to the Nether to find in the first place, as well as reduce the number of items lost if you die.

Carrying backup items to handle specific emergencies can take up more inventory space than carrying the minimum supplies to craft what you need as the situation arises, provided you take into account that you need to be in a safe place for the time it takes to place, or craft, a crafting table, then go through one or more steps of crafting to get what you need. For example, gravel is common in all Nether biomes except basalt deltas, so flint and steel can be crafted if that becomes necessary, provided you are carrying iron. It is unwise to bank on finding iron, as the only ways to find it are as rare loot in generated chests or by bartering. The same supply of iron serves in lieu of carrying replacement pickaxes, buckets, or weapons, but could take too long to craft into a bucket to scoop up unexpected lava. Huge fungus stems can provide logs, and thus make sticks, a crafting table, and so on, but they are not as versatile as logs from trees and could take a while to find if you're in the wrong biome. Similarly, you could rely on finding blackstone rather than carrying cobblestone, but it isn't quite as versatile and isn't as easily found as gravel. Always carry logs, cobblestone, and iron, and possibly potions of Fire Resistance. If you have a lot of iron to spare, you may want to carry it as iron blocks, and bring pumpkins or jack-o-lanterns to build an iron golem if you get mobbed.

Tools and weapons
One of the most important tools in the Nether, especially in a structure, is your weapon. A melee weapon of iron or better is almost essential. A bow or crossbow, along with at least 64 arrows (or one if you have Infinity on your bow), is enough to dispose of any enemy. Glowstone is common in the Nether and allows a dwindling supply of arrows to be extended by turning them into twice as many spectral arrows, which are beneficial in their own right. While melee weapons work well in close quarters combat, consider bringing a crossbow or a bow in addition to your melee weapon, as ghasts and blazes can be troublesome without them.

An iron pickaxe or two (or a single diamond pickaxe) can be useful, as you can use it to clear a path, or to gather some blocks if you run out. It can also be used to carve a staircase into the side of a nether fortress to gain access to it.

Always bring along a flint and steel because even if you don't intend to build a new nether portal, a ghast fireball can easily break a portal block inside the portal frame, leaving you stranded until it is relit with fire from a flint and steel, a fire charge, burning blocks adjacent to the portal frame, or even another ghast fireball. If you forgot to bring a flint and steel, all hope is not lost -- you can bargain with Piglins for iron (or find one in a chest), or you can make a fire charge from Nether materials (Wither Skeleton for coal, a Ghast for gunpowder, and kill a blaze for blaze powder).

Ensure your tools have enough durability to last long enough for you to achieve your goal.

Armor
Armor is also important. Even if you are not planning on doing much fighting, armor reduces the amount of damage you take from being submerged in lava, making it a potential life-saver should you accidentally fall in lava. A full set of iron armor should be enough to boost your chance of survival. Consider bringing diamond armor only if you are confident in your ability to survive (or if you're playing on Hardcore Mode), or else you may die and lose it. Shields can be useful for fighting the skeletons present in nether fortresses and soul sand valleys. Wear at least one piece of golden armor to stop piglins attacking you, as this earns you their respect.

Transport
Striders can be the best means of travel in many situations. If you have a fishing rod and saddle, you need only locate some warped fungus and head down to a lava lake to lure a strider. Fishing rods are not found in the Nether, and string to make one appears only in some bastion remnant chests or as a drop from killed striders, so it's better to carry some rather than pulling off a dangerous heist or raid, hoping for lucky finds. You have better odds of coming across a saddle in a nether fortress or bastion remnant chest, but if your plan is to use a strider to find one of these structures, you need to have brought your own ahead of time. Killing striders in desperation as a source of dropped string could work, but it isn't the most practical or reliable means to do so.

If you don't have a saddle but by chance see a zombified piglin riding a strider, you can draw it close, and ideally onto land, by wounding the rider with an arrow (or even a thrown egg or snowball), then kill it and take the pre-saddled strider for yourself. They might even drop their warped fungus on a stick for you, but the odds of that are not high. Building some walls around yourself before trying this is probably necessary, since the zombified piglins in your area are likely to turn hostile when you attack the strider jockey.

Carrying a few boats can be helpful. Boats can help you slide off high cliffs without taking fall damage, and capture angry piglins, zombified piglins or endermen rushing toward you. Remember that boats cannot be crafted from Nether wood types, so you have to bring logs from the Overworld if you want to craft more boats.

It can be helpful to carry some bone meal (or bone blocks if you have a lot). When applied to weeping and twisting vines, these vines can grow downward and upward rapidly with a few clicks. Then the player can climb the vines as a reliable, reusable method of vertical transport.

Enchantments
Enchantments offer huge advantages for surviving in the Nether, if you have access to a means of obtaining them. For your weaponry, you should consider damage-boosting enchantments on your weapons (e.g. Sharpness and Power). Be aware that all mobs in the Nether (except for regular skeletons, piglins, hoglins and endermen) are immune to fire damage, so enchantments like Fire Aspect should not be a priority. Infinity is absolutely a great bow enchantment, as it saves you inventory space carrying arrows, as well as the constant worry of running out of them.

For armor, a combination of both Protection and Fire Protection are helpful. Most water-related enchantments such as Aqua Affinity and Respiration offer no use in the Nether at all; however, Frost Walker allows you to walk normally across magma blocks without taking damage, which can sometimes make traveling in the Nether easier. Enchanting your boots with Feather Falling can save your life by allowing you to drop down onto low terrain more safely. You may also enchant your boots with Soul Speed to traverse soul sand valleys at higher speeds, since walking on soul sand slows you down if you lack that enchantment; but keep in mind that moving too quickly means an easier time walking off ledges (and worse, into lava).

Enchanting your pickaxe with Efficiency II allows you to instantly break netherrack, however mining netherrack too quickly can expose hidden lava that rapidly flows out and engulfs you, so if you do not have fast reflexes, it is recommended that you use unenchanted pickaxes instead. Other pickaxe enchantments useful in the Nether are Unbreaking and Silk Touch. Unbreaking can save you bringing multiple pickaxes (but again, you can choose to devote on quantity instead of quality, and just craft new pickaxes when you need them). Silk Touch ensures that nether gold ore drops the ore itself, guaranteeing you one gold ingot per ore block (instead of 4 nuggets on average with unenchanted pickaxe), as well as obtaining nylium, useful for farming Nether wood and foliage.

Blocks
In general, blocks are handy to bring along with you in the Nether. They can allow you to pillar jump to reach high places, block off mobs from reaching you, and allow you to bridge across to different masses of land over the lava oceans. Two or three stacks of cheap, non-flammable blocks (e.g. cobblestone) should be enough for a normal trip in the Nether. Blocks that are affected by gravity (e.g. sand or gravel) can be useful to get down from a high place; for example, from the top of a nether fortress bridge. The Nether's terrain is tough to navigate, so bringing these blocks can prove highly useful. A pickaxe can be useful in the event you run out of blocks, as it can be used to mine some of the abundant netherrack.

Bringing 10-14 obsidian is a good idea too, in the event you get lost and lose your portal home. Bear in mind that you also need your flint and steel to light this emergency portal.

General supplies
Food is as important in the Nether as it is anywhere else in the game. If you run out of food, you lose your ability to sprint, and, more importantly, regenerate health. Running out of it can be fatal. Think about how long you are planning to be in the Nether, and how much fighting you might do, and bring an appropriate amount of food for it. Keep in mind that different foods provide different amounts of saturation, which is the most important thing for healing. The more saturation a food has, the more health you regenerate from eating it. Steak and porkchops are among the best foods for early gameplay, with bread, mutton and cooked salmon being acceptable alternatives.

Mushroom stew is also a good option, which can be crafted from mushrooms and "wood" found in the Nether. Bringing a few suitable flowers from the Overworld allows you to upgrade that to suspicious stew Usingoxeye daisies provides 7 seconds of Regeneration, which can save your life if you are low on health with enemies nearby, or if you have been afflicted with Wither from a fight with a wither skeleton. Suspicious stew crafted from dandelions or blue orchids provides much more saturation than regular foods, which can also be used to heal a lot of health in a short amount of time. However, it is worth noting that stew cannot be stacked, and even the ingredients take up three (mushroom stew) or four (with a flower) inventory slots. Consider bringing around half a stack of "regular" food, in addition to the aforementioned ingredients that can be crafted into suspicious stew as you need. Use the regular food for maintaining your hunger, and the stew as a method of quickly regenerating health in dangerous situations.

Food sources in the Nether are rare but do exist, such as porkchops dropped by hoglins, and red and brown mushrooms that can be found scattered throughout the Nether. However these food sources are usually hard to find consistently, so don't expect to be able to keep yourself fed without bringing food from the Overworld.

If you have already explored the Nether and gotten some blaze rods, and can thus brew potions, you should do so. Fire Resistance potions are extra valuable in the Nether, as falling into lava is always a possibility. Splash potions of Healing can also save your life if you find yourself low on health in combat, like the suspicious stew (mentioned above). If you planned ahead and brought one or more water buckets, enough iron to make a cauldron (you can put water in a cauldron to put yourself out (Java Edition only), some bottles, and some cobblestone or blackstone (to craft brewing stands), before searching out a nether fortress, you can find everything else you need there to begin brewing potions, putting you in a much stronger position. A few stacks of torches can provide a means of leaving a trail, allowing you to find your portal again if you lose it. (Although, in this case, the use of coordinates is often a more practical solution.) Remember that compasses do not work in the Nether, so do not bring one intending to use it to find your way home unless it has been aligned to a lodestone. Torches are also useful for marking the parts of a nether fortress you have already visited, so less time is wasted exploring areas of the nether fortress you have already exhausted.

A small handful of empty buckets can be useful for removing lava in awkward places. They can also save your life if you run into one of the many single blocks of lava while digging through the netherrack.

Ender pearls can be extremely useful if you fall into lava. They are also useful for crossing lava pits, or reaching otherwise hard-to-access areas. However, you should consider that ender pearls are relatively hard to get, and you may want to save them for activating the end portal later (if you have not already done so). There are two easy ways to obtain ender pearls in the Nether: killing endermen that spawn abundantly in warped forests or bartering with piglins, which can give you almost a stack of ender pearls.

Gold ingots can be useful for bartering with piglins (as well as distracting them if they are angry with you) if you visit the nether wastes or crimson forest. You can get useful items like fire resistance potions, ender pearls, obsidian, and crying obsidian. If you have more than a stack of gold ingots, you can store them as gold blocks. Be careful not to drop gold blocks, as piglins pick them up and without giving you anything in return.

Netherrack can be acquired in the Overworld from ruined portals. This can be smelted, and the resulting nether bricks crafted into nether brick fence. Three stacks of netherrack yield exactly a full stack of fences. Since nether brick fences are blast resistant and can also be seen through, they make a good option for windows and/or perimeters when building your first shelter around your portal. A quick way to do this recipe is as follows:


 * 1) Verify your count.  If you have 3 stacks even, set aside 12 pieces of your netherrack and put it back in your chest.   Alternatively, you can add 6 pieces to fill out one more recipe.
 * 2) Smelt your netherrack into bricks; using hoppers or multiple furnaces make this more convenient.
 * 3) Spread the bricks evenly across a crafting table's squares, thus making 9 stacks of 20 (or 22) bricks.  Take one of those nine stacks and put it back in your inventory, and combine the other 8 stacks pairwise into the 2x2 recipe for nether brick blocks.  Craft the lot of those (40 or 44 recipes) with a shift-click.
 * 4) Now you can just arrange the saved bricks and the blocks into 10 (or 11) recipes.  If you went for the 11th recipe, you end up with a full stack and 2 extra fences.

Entering the Nether
While the Nether's scenery is captivating, remember the Nether is a dangerous place. For the player's first visit, the main threats are falling, fire, getting lost, hoglins, and ghasts. The first two can be handled in the usual ways, but the most urgent threats are most likely ghasts and then hoglins on account of the fact that the other hazards don't move or shoot at the player, excluding piglins (although they do not attack a player wearing at least one piece of golden armor who is not attacking or opening containers.) That said, don't be careless; sudden drops and holes can be hard to spot in the confusing netherrack landscape. Fire in the Nether is more dangerous than in other dimensions, as water cannot exist or be placed there. Magma cubes are also a threat considering their natural armor and the fact that they multiply like slimes, although the little ones still deal damage.

When you first arrive at the Nether, stay in the portal until the chunks around you load so that you can see what the immediate surrounding area looks like. Often, a nether portal generates right next to a giant lake of lava or a high drop-off. If this is the case, then walking out of the nether portal upon arrival likely results in death.

Lag
With a slower computer, the player may encounter a massive lag spike upon entering the Nether. The workaround involves doing the following: after the player steps out of the portal, turn on the debug info, then  to pause the game. Note the "Chunks Updated" line—even while paused, the game is continuing to load chunks and update them. It is wise to also note down the coordinates of the portal. The player can then wait for the chunk updates drop to zero, meaning the game has finished loading the region around them. Then the player can resume play. This trick is also useful when the player changes their render distance.

Protecting the portal
Even though hunting, exploring, and mining may sound fun, it is unwise to start doing this as soon as the player steps into the Nether for the first time. The player's first order of business is to build a cobblestone shelter around the portal. Brick, stone, and other blast-resistant blocks also work, but cobblestone is cheapest in the Overworld. As noted above, nether brick fences can be crafted even before entering the Nether at all (by mining ruined portals for netherrack), and these are both transparent and blast-resistant.

Take the quickest possible look around, just enough to see what kind of ground the player is building on, then start building as fast as is practical. Unfortunately, a first portal has a disproportionate chance of coming out next to an abyss, lava lake, or netherrack wall, and even if it spawns in the open, there may be multiple ghasts in view.


 * If the situation is clearly impossible, abandon the original portal, find someplace safer, and build a return portal! Lava flooding the portal or multiple ghasts waiting for you can force this. You also need to get the coordinates of your portal, the same as described for "Lag" above.
 * Firstly, if your portal spawned on soul sand, you have the immediate need for a floor that doesn't slow you down. Depending how much stone you brought, you may need to scant the walls, filling in with wooden fences to block mob vision.
 * Otherwise, you should start with the walls, throwing up enough stone to block ghast fireballs.
 * The player may find themselves under fire from ghasts immediately upon entering the Nether. Don't panic, just concentrate on building a wall between the player and the ghast, bouncing fireballs back to prevent too much damage. After you finish the fight or at least get a bit of shelter, relight the portal as needed, and then extend the wall around the portal.
 * If you are next to a sudden drop or lava, start with the wall protecting you from that.
 * If you are next to a netherrack wall, you can build an initial shelter against it, but expect to put cobblestone there too -- hopefully at a later visit, but if ghast fireballs get in, some of that wall may go away (not to mention being on fire).
 * If by ill chance the player wound up with a portal floating over lava, attach the bottom layer to the outside of the ledge blocks, and do just enough to shelter the player while they're starting a bridge to land where the player can make a return portal.
 * You need at least two stacks of cobblestone for the walls and ceiling, and the floor and other trimmings may well cost another stack. Because you are right next to the portal, feel free to go back to the Overworld for more cobblestone as needed.
 * If your portal gets blown out, don't panic. Flint and steel, fireballs, or extra obsidian, are all you need to relight it. If you have a compass and a lodestone you can use that too.

Your shelter needs to be at least 5 blocks high, but the portal itself can be part of the roof. While it's tempting to do the same with a wall, it's probably safer to be able to walk around the portal on both sides. Use iron bars for windows. Make sure to leave enough space for a crafting table and a chest or two. The chests are important if the player does not want to lose too many of your items whenever you happen to die. Don't forget the door, either - wood suffices until you figure out where an outside button or lever could be placed where it is safe from fireballs. Note that if the player is building against a netherrack wall, you need a cobblestone back wall in front of that. If you want to dig there later, you can always put a door in. Once the player got the walls and ceiling up, likewise cover or replace the floor with cobblestone, extending it to under the walls. The walls should extend a block below floor level, and a little further under the doors. The shelter also needs a few blocks of cobblestone floor outside the doors, in case a ghast shoots the player while they're entering or leaving. You should end up with a space completely enclosed by cobblestone, iron, and perhaps a bit of obsidian.

Make sure you know which biome you're in:
 * Crimson Forest: Watch out for hoglins, because they deal high damage and high knockback, and can fling you into the air. However, like pigs, they drop porkchops when killed. Piglins are formidable enemies that frequently spawn here, and they attack players who are not wearing gold. They also become hostile toward those who open chests, ender chests, barrels or other containers, or destroy gold-related items like blocks of gold, ores or gilded blackstone. These mobs barter, so from them you can get crying obsidian and potions of Fire Resistance.
 * Warped Forest: Endermen spawn often here, so make sure that you build with blocks they cannot pick up. Make ceilings two blocks high so that they cannot teleport or spawn inside. Because ghasts, magma cubes, piglins, hoglins and most other Nether mobs do not spawn here, this is possibly the safest biome to stay in.
 * Basalt Deltas: Building here is a real challenge thanks to the pockets of lava, magma blocks and basalt that spawn on the floor, and the uneven pillars and spikes. You also need to watch out for magma cubes, which deal high damage, even the little ones, and some knockback.
 * Soul Sand Valley: You need to change out the floor from soul sand and soil to avoid being slowed down. Watch out for ghasts and skeletons: they spawn most frequently here, and the natural terrain can slow you to a crawl.
 * Nether Wastes: Read the info above for protecting the portal. Piglins, magma cubes and ghasts spawn here, but it is a good place to find quartz as it is not obscured by any nylium.


 * Nether Fortress: While this is a lucky place to spawn, you must protect the portal well. Make sure the ceiling is 2 blocks high to avoid having wither skeletons spawn there. Make sure to light it up well, as blazes can spawn at higher light levels than most hostile mobs, and they send out alarm calls when attacked. However, you have immediate access to what most players come to the Nether for: blaze rods and wither skeleton skulls, as well as naturally-generated fortress loot.
 * Bastion Remnant: While slightly less lucky a spawn, you have access to magma cube spawners and a partly laid-out base. Watch out for piglin brutes: they aren't fooled by gold armor, have high health and powerful attacks. Piglins attack you if you attack a brute. See Tutorials/Defeating a bastion remnant to learn how to get the large quantities of gold blocks that it contains.

Later on, you can start to make nice houses and bigger bases in the Nether, but for now, a cobble shelter with the portal, a chest, and a crafting table is sufficient. The only necessities are iron armor, a pickaxe, sword, and shovel (all iron), food, bow and arrows, cobblestone for making quick shelters, dirt or gravel for pillar-jumping or stopping lava, and your trusty flint and steel. The rest of the items or extra supplies can be stored in the chests. If the player is going any distance, bring enough obsidian to make an emergency portal.)

To prevent mobs from spawning in the player's Nether home/base, one can use transparent items or half-blocks as the floor. However, be warned that mobs can spawn on the nether portal itself. Now that your nether portal is safe, the player can start doing what they came to the Nether for!

Special cases

 * If the player's portal emerges floating over a lava lake, the portal generates a few extra blocks of ledge at the bottom, but it is still recommended to build that out into a platform, then continue building a path to safety. Upon reaching a safer location, the player can build a shelter there, and a new return portal within it. Deactivate the old portal before the player starts using the new one so that the portal in the Overworld gets linked to the new one.
 * If you face an impossible situation and die without being able to deactivate the old portal or make a new one, you may need to go back and fix things the hard way.
 * Hopefully, you got the coordinates of the Nether side of the portal. If your portal was in mid-air, against a cliff, or in some other awkward situation, it is likely that the coordinates that your original portal "should" have gone to was blocked by lava and/or large masses of netherrack. Multiply the coordinates of the Nether portal by 8 to see where its "natural" matching location in the Overworld is, and compare that to the actual coordinates of your original portal in the Overworld. If they're dramatically different, the space between probably represents the hazard that blocked you.
 * To get a portal to a new place in the Nether, you need to travel at least 1000 blocks from the matching location of where the portal actually came out, and make your new portal there. The next question is, which direction? If you go back toward and past your original portal, your new portal might come out on the other side of the hazard that blocked the original portal, and you need to get back there to decommission that. So, you're better off going away from your original portal, and 1000-plus blocks past where the nether portal you got would have matched. With luck, that may get you to a better location in the Nether. Aside from replacing your old equipment, this jaunt requires much the same preparation as the first, including cobblestone and obsidian.
 * Once you're back in the Nether at a safer location: First, see if you can do a quick run to retrieve any surviving items, shuttling them back to your new portal if needed (If that looks dangerous or everything's gone into the lava, just forget that and start anew). Build a shelter for your new portal, go back to restock on cobblestone and then go back to where the old portal was. If the location turns out to be salvageable, you may be able to just build a shelter and continue, otherwise:
 * If the old portal hasn't been broken by ghasts, decommission it by mining a block. Now, scout out a Nether location that comes out someplace more reasonable, as close as possible to your base. You may even be able to make a better location, by building a platform over lava or tunneling into a netherrack mass to get within 16 blocks of your base portal's "natural" coordinates. Now, you can build your new shelter first, then put your return portal inside.

If the portal gets blasted
The player's first resource should be their flint and steel. If for some reason the player does not have one, relighting the obsidian portal frame becomes much more difficult. If the portal was exposed enough to get hit by a ghast fireball, the player could persuade a ghast to hit it with another fireball by getting into the line-of-sight long enough to shoot the fireball. If the player dodges the fireball quickly enough and it hits the obsidian of the portal, the portal gets re-lit.



Another possible method is to take any flammable block and place it on one side of the block. By getting lava close to the flammable blocks, the lava can eventually light the wood, thus lighting the portal frame. Having the lava right on the opposite side of the frame of the flammable block is the fastest method. Also, the higher the difficulty, the faster the blocks catch on fire, so this method is more difficult in Easy or Peaceful difficulties. If the player also lacks a bucket, one can channel lava past the portal, or even build a trail of flammable blocks (planks are cheap, but wooden slabs are cheaper) to the nearest fire. That last method is especially tricky, as fire doesn't always catch. If this happens, try making it wider than one block.

A new set of flint and steel can be acquired. Looking in nether fortresses or ruined portals, there is a chance of finding a flint and steel in a chest. Also, gravel occurs naturally in the Nether, so a player can collect flint from there. Iron nuggets can be bartered from piglins, even or made from smelting down armor or tools. This process requires having a furnace and fuel source (such as a bucket of lava). Iron nuggets can also be obtained from bartering with piglins.

Another option is to create a fire charge. This is trickier as it requires gunpowder, coal, and blaze powder, so the player may have to kill a ghast, wither skeleton and blaze to collect all three of these items. Fire charges work just like flint and steel, except each use uses up one item. Fire charge may also be found in ruined portal chest. Fire charges can also be obtained from bartering with piglins.

As a last resort, if the player has (or can make) a chest or two (they appear in nether fortresses, so you might be able to locate one), the player can stuff all their equipment into the chests (not forgetting armor), and then commit suicide. However, you lose your XP levels if you do this. Assuming the player is not playing on hardcore and has not used a respawn anchor, they respawn in the Overworld, and can re-equip themselves at leisure (this time, not forgetting the flint and steel) before going back through the portal to collect their items. Note that this is more difficult on a multiplayer server because another player can come by and steal your items. If you have previously brought blaze rods back to the Overworld, you might even be able to use an ender chest, which can let you stash your stuff and pick it up back home from another such chest.

Additionally the player if holding a diamond pickaxe can break a block of the portal replacing it after and relighting the portal.

Fending off ghasts
Ghasts are one of the hardest and most annoying mobs to fight in Minecraft, mainly because of their floating ability and their long-ranged fireball, which does considerable damage to both players and the landscape. If you are bridge-building across a lava sea, they might shoot you off. (One direct hit can kill an unarmored player.) That said, they do have several weaknesses:
 * They do not actually chase the player (nor flee), even after being attacked. They just move randomly around the landscape, firing at any player who comes into the line of sight (and range).
 * Also, ghasts have 10 points of health (two fully charged shots with an unenchanted bow), so sniping them is not too difficult. A bow enchanted with even Power I or a critical hit can one-shot them.
 * The fireballs are fairly easy to dodge, but they also tear up the landscape, not to mention setting it afire. However, the player can also bounce a fireball away by hitting it (fist, weapon, tool, anything works) as comes near. The fireball usually goes in the direction of the player's gaze. If the player manages to hit the ghast with its own fireball, it dies instantly, awarding the player the "Return to Sender" achievement/advancement. Be forewarned that this takes practice, so don't expect to use this method as the sole defence against ghasts. The player can also deflect the fireball by hitting it with an arrow, a snowball or even an egg.
 * The classic defense is to build a mini-shelter out of cobblestone, 3 blocks high with a ladder to let the player poke their head (and bow) over the top, and preferably a 3&times;3 roof two squares above that for protection. Note that if the ghast can't see you, they don't fire.
 * If a ghast does come into reach the player can also hit them with a sword. This can happen when they spawn in a cave, or just randomly fly into one, or happen to fly close to the ground. Besides this being a rare opportunity, you may also need to dodge or bounce fireballs at close range.
 * If there is more than one ghast attacking the player, the best option is to run and/or hide. If the player sprints, fireballs cannot hit the player. If they can get out of sight from all but one, they can then focus on shooting down that one.
 * Ghasts don't spawn in crimson forests and warped forests. On the contrary, you may want to avoid soul sand valley biomes as ghast spawns are abundant there, however if a ghast spawns in a biome where ghasts can spawn, such as a Nether Waste or Soul Sand Valley, a ghast can end up drifting into a crimson forest or a warped forest, on random.
 * If a ghast is spotted in the distance and if you do not have any ranged weapons, It is recommended to leave the area, and take cover. tunneling into a wall and sealing the entrance, ghasts are unlikely to enter small or isolated areas, such as caves or ravines. Ghasts also do not enter structures, such as Nether Fortresses and Bastions, making these areas good places to hide from ghasts. Do not head directly to a nether portal to escape a ghast, ghast fireballs can destroy the portal, making it hard for players to return if they do not have a flint and steel.

Fighting hoglins
Hoglins have high health and a lot of knockback resistance. However they can be burned, and they fear warped fungi. Some ways to get away from them are:


 * Let the piglins kill it.
 * Use warped fungi to scare them, which prevents them from attacking, then hit them as they retreat.
 * Burn them with fire or lava.
 * Dig a 1-wide hole on the nearby wall and hit them from inside.
 * Sprint/critical hit them.
 * Spam click to knock them back while damaging them.
 * Build a 4 block pillar to kill the hoglins with a ranged weapon, or dump lava on them.
 * More risky, build 3 blocks up and crouch to melee attack them. However, Hoglins can still occasionally get you from this height and knock you off the pillar. If you are not on a flat area, they can get up on another block enabling them to hit you. Always examine where you are building up.
 * If you lack any tools or ranged weapons, it is best to avoid crimson forests and some bastion variants, if you spawned in a crimson forest, avoid hoglins, hide behind blocks or trees, hoglins do not attack you if you are not close to them, or if you are not in their line of sight. If a hoglin does spot you run to a group of piglins, as piglins are known to kill hoglins, hiding or getting to a high area is also a good idea, as hoglins have a hard time of reaching these areas. Placing down a warped fungus can scare hoglins away, as well as luring them into lava lakes and ruined portals.

If there is nothing around to scare off a hoglin and your armor is low, you are best using ranged weapons or fire to kill hoglins.

Resources found in the Nether

 * Netherrack, soul sand, gravel, lava, magma block, glowstone, nether quartz ore, soul soil, blackstone and its variants, nether gold ore, basalt, crimson stem, warped stem, are all freely available. Note that while the player can pillar-jump to mine a high glowstone formation, a little exploration may reveal more accessible blobs of the stuff (look for places with low ceilings).
 * Crimson and warped fungus are found in crimson forests and warped forests
 * Red and brown mushrooms are likewise found scattered about.
 * Ghasts sometimes drop ghast tears and/or gunpowder.
 * Magma cubes can drop magma cream.
 * Zombified piglins sometimes drop rotten flesh and gold nuggets. They can drop golden swords and gold ingots. However, attacking these is unwise until the player is prepared to handle a lot of them.
 * The player can also mine nether quartz, used for advanced redstone components, and decorative purposes as well. Fortune is a true gift here.
 * Obsidian can be farmed with nether portals. View the nether portal for more details (the diamond pickaxes needed to mine these can rarely be traded for emeralds by some villagers, making them renewable).
 * Blackstone can be used as a substitution for cobblestone in the Nether, or as a good building material.
 * Nether gold ore can be mined to get gold nuggets, which can then be crafted into gold ingots.
 * Ancient debris can be used to craft netherite items.

Once the player finds a nether fortress, they can obtain several other resources:
 * Nether bricks, nether brick fences, and nether brick stairs. These are ghast-resistant and non-flammable building materials. They can also be crafted from smelted netherrack, but that takes some time and effort. The nether fortress is made of nether brick, including those massive support pillars and all the decorative fencing.
 * Nether wart, which the player can grow on soul sand. The player can also grow it back in the Overworld, provided they brought back some soul sand.
 * Blazes drop blaze rods, and are the only source of them.
 * Wither skeletons occasionally drop their skulls, which can eventually be used to spawn the wither. They also provide coal, and bones (bone meal for plants).

Once player finds a bastion remnant, they can obtain several other resources:
 * Pigstep music disc
 * Nether wart (alternative way)
 * Gilded blackstone, which generates only in such structures
 * Several blocks of gold

Piglins can be bartered with for a variety of resources:


 * Blocks: Blackstone, Crying Obsidian, Gravel, Obsidian, Soul Sand
 * Materials: Ender pearls,  Leather, Iron nuggets, Nether bricks (individual bricks), Nether quartz, String and Water bottles
 * Other useful items: Fire charges, potions of fire resistance (regular or splash), spectral arrows (regular arrows in Bedrock Edition), and boots or books with Soul Speed.

Exploring the Nether
When exploring the Nether, there are a few things to remember:
 * Hostile mobs are common, and can spawn anywhere there is space. Luckily, what are perhaps the two most dangerous Nether mobs - ghasts and blazes - have special spawning needs. Ghasts require a 5*4*5 space to spawn, free of transparent blocks and slabs, and spawn rarely in nether wastes and basalt deltas, but are quite common in soul sand valleys. Blazes spawn only in nether fortresses, and only below light level 12. Zombified Piglins are common as well—while they start out neutral, they can easily get in the player's way so that they accidentally attack them, and they spawn only in nether wastes, crimson forest, and nether fortresses.
 * Wear a piece of gold armor if possible, because if you don't wear gold armor, piglins attack you.
 * Be generous about laying down cobblestone paths and putting up ghast shelters preemptively. If you need more cobblestone, go back to the overworld and get more.
 * You can actually use the netherrack you mined to make nether bricks, smelt it with lava, which is plentiful. This is time-consuming, but nether bricks are as good building material as cobblestone, and it's plentiful. You could actually make an automatic smelting facility to cook your netherrack.
 * You can also use Blackstone for an alternative block, especially if you're in basalt deltas.
 * If you die in the Nether, you respawn back in the Overworld (Unless you use a respawn anchor, which you can set your spawn there). As long as you stay in the Overworld, Nether time is frozen. In particular, you can take all the time you want to re-equip yourself and plan; when you do go back, if you can get from the portal to your death site within 5 minutes, you may well be able to retrieve anything not lost to fire, lava or explosions.
 * If you're playing in multiplayer, this may not apply - if there are other players nearby in the Nether, they can keep the chunk loaded and the clock running. Also, they might save and/or steal your items!
 * Even in single-player, if the Overworld side of the portal is loaded, it can spawn zombified piglins, which may wander through the portal. Every time they do this, the Nether side of the portal is loaded for about 15 seconds &mdash; not much, but if you spend too long before heading back, it can add up.
 * If you use a respawn anchor to respawn in the Nether, you need glowstone to charge it, and it requires rare crying obsidian to craft it. You can get crying obsidian from bartering or mining them from ruined portals.
 * Navigation is tough. Where the in-game methods below fail, the debug screen may be helpful, as it provides your coordinates and direction, or if you have a lodestone and a lodestone compass(normal compasses spin wildly), you can find your portal easily by putting the lodestone near the portal, then link the compass.
 * Normal compasses and clocks spin wildly (although the day/night cycle continues while in the Nether), and maps made in the overworld don't work either.
 * Use lodestone compasses for navigation in the Nether, which require lodestone crafted from a netherite ingot and chiseled stone bricks.
 * You can activate a blank map in the Nether, and use a crafting table to zoom it out a bit. However, such a map shows only the bedrock "roof", and the direction indicator spins randomly, so it's not nearly as useful as an Overworld map. On the other hand, it does give some idea of where you've explored, and the marker is in the correct location on the map. While maps are not centered exactly at their creation, you can put framed clones of the map on your portals to make those green markers appear in the correct locations.
 * When exploring, try to keep going in one direction until you reach an impassable obstacle (wall, cliff, lava lake), and leave a trail of markers along the path from your base, so you can easily find your way back. Dirt and torches are recognizable, but jack o'lanterns let you point the direction to your base (all the above are vulnerable to ghast fireballs, but unlike torches, Jack o'lanterns remain if the netherrack supporting them is blown away.) Cobblestone arches (as well as any paths you've made) also work well as they resist Ghast fireballs, are easily distinguishable from surrounding netherrack, and can be positioned so that passing through them orients you to the direction you came.
 * Tunneling through netherrack: Making a 1×2 tunnel is a sure way to get killed by lava. Instead dig a 2-wide tunnel with the floor of the left side one block lower than the right, or vice-versa. This makes a trench for the lava, and if you're standing on the high ground, the lava does not touch you. Staircases are trickier: When digging down, lava can appear below or in front of you and can be bucketed or blocked off. When digging up, dig 2-wide, and regularly put 2-long areas with a one-block pit in front of the next step. This gives you someplace to dodge flowing lava, and the pits capture the flow. Also, watch out for lava "drips" when mining upward. Ladders or signs can also help block lava until you have a chance to do something about it.
 * And again, the debug screen provides your coordinates and facing—this is also helpful for choosing where to place a new gate back to the overworld.
 * This cannot be restated enough: be sure to build a base. This way, if you accidentally attack a mob of zombified piglin or have a ghast on your trail, your base must protect you, and consist of more than just an exposed nether portal. Again, as ghast fireballs can blow large holes in netherrack walls, you should construct your base out of cobblestone, stone, or, for a decorative look, stone bricks. Not only do these blocks have the necessary blast resistance to withstand a ghast fireball, they also are not found naturally in the Nether. This makes it much easier to identify your base from a distance.

Nether fortresses
One of your main objectives in the Nether is to locate a nether fortress. To see all the features of the nether fortresses visually, try this video. Basically, their straight walkways and tall pillars are unmistakable but may be dimmed by distance. Be sure to look carefully into the abyss beyond the edges of the areas you explore; if you're not using Far render distance already, you can occasionally switch to it to see farther. If you do not see any, remember that the lava seas that generate in the Nether allow the player to spot more land, and a saddled strider can help in this regard. Be aware that sometimes most of the fortress is engulfed in netherrack. Therefore, open your eyes and look for signs of fortress-like nether bricks, blazes, and wither skeletons.

Even after spotting one, you may well need to find a way to get to it, or even build a bridge to it. (Suggestion: three-wide cobblestone, with two-high iron bars or nether brick fences for railings, and a roof. Those ghast get really annoying when you're out on a bridge… you might even put in a couple of turrets for sniping at them, too.)

Once you do find one, it is a good idea to make sure you have the necessary supplies to gather its many resources. So, head back to your base, or even back to the Overworld, and get, at a minimum, a stone pickaxe, an iron sword and lots and lots of food. An enchanted golden apple is handy when it's time to take on a blaze spawner, but you may want to stash that nearby and go back for it when you actually find the spawner. Trading with piglins can also get you potions of fire resistance before the fight. Lots of walls of any non-flammable material or nether brick fences are handy too: safety railings on the walkways are really nice when ghast starts taking potshots at you and blocking off unused areas and broken bridges helps cut down on fights.

There are a few things that are of the utmost importance when exploring a nether fortress:
 * Explore the nether fortress thoroughly. You might not find much, but every once in a while you can find nether wart plantations, which usually generate behind staircases, or a blaze spawner. These are your key prizes, as the only places you can find these are in the nether fortress, or in bastion remnants, which is both rarer and more dangerous. Details on nether wart farms can be found on the nether wart farming page.
 * Wither skeletons are scary but they can't go through a 2-block high passage.
 * When exploring a nether fortress, always place torches to your right - that way when you want to get out you just make sure that the torches are on your left. Jack o'lanterns make this even simpler — always face them toward the exit (or where you need to go to reach said exit).
 * If you come across a nether wart plantation, collect as many (if not all) of them as you can, as nether wart can be used to brew awkward potions——the base for most potions, then replant the plot (you'll have plenty leftover). Then go back to your base and create a nether wart farm by planting it on soul sand. Nether wart doesn't care about light or water and grows in the Overworld and The End, so you can take the farm back to your overworld base. Note that you don't use all that much, so four to six blocks of soul sand support a brewery and then some. You can use excess nether wart to trade with Cleric villagers and get a couple extra emeralds, which is better than throwing them away or hoarding them.
 * You may well want to build a portal leading back to the overworld from the nether fortress. Having an Overworld base handy provides all the supplies you need.
 * When you find a blaze spawner, you have a choice: turn it off, or farm it. There are usually at least two blaze spawners per nether fortress, and if multiple nether fortresses have joined together there may be more. So, don't assume the first one you find is your only option, but you do need to fight blazes at least once "the hard way" if you didn't get a fire resistance potion by bartering (enchanted golden apple notwithstanding). That first fight may be fairly tough, but together with the nether wart, you gain the means to make potions, including potions of fire resistance. Those make return engagements much easier.

Navigation through a nether fortress
The way to navigate through a nether fortress needs torches. When you finish a part of the nether fortress, put a torch at the entrance of the room to help you explore the nether fortress easily. Or you could block off the entrance with a certain block (like cobble). Wither skeletons can give you the Wither effect——a health draining status effect made by both a wither projectile or wither skeletons hitting you. Blazes are extremely dangerous and can be in the hallways and rooms, so make sure you are aware of that.

Closing a blaze spawner


While a blaze spawner can be destroyed as usual with a pickaxe, you probably shouldn't do that unless you're sure you'll never, ever, want to hunt there. Blazes can spawn up to light level 11, up to 4 blocks away from the spawner (and a block above or below it), so simply placing torches on the spawner doesn't stop them from spawning. You'll need to plaster the area with a mix of jack-o-lanterns (or glowstone, shroomlight).

This lighting pattern should suffice to squelch a Blaze spawner: (Top view, all on the same level.)

An additional light block is needed above the spawner, as shown in the 3D image. If the area around the spawner is to be cleared, another light block is needed below the spawner as well.

Farming a blaze spawner
There are many hints for fighting blazes on their page. Here are some useful ideas:
 * For your first fight, kill blazes that are not in the spawner room. This lesser number of blazes are easier to fight when you don't have a potion of fire resistance.
 * If you haven't brought out the enchanted armor, now's the time. Fire Protection and Protection are both helpful.
 * An enchanted golden apple is good to bring, but if you haven't acquired one yet potions can act as a substitute. Specifically, potions of fire resistance, strength, and regeneration can be a huge help. Although Potions of Fire Resistance make you immune to blaze fireballs, you are not immune to their touch attack. Armor and regeneration potions can help.
 * An iron golem may be helpful, especially once you've got the spawner contained. One big disadvantage is the golem's huge knockback, which can throw Blazes and their drops out of reach. The golem's distractibility is also an issue &mdash; between spawnings, they're liable to wander off after zombified piglins and wither skeletons. The zombified piglins don't mob you or the golem for the golem's attacks, but the repeated fights soon wear down the golem. (A splash potion of regeneration or repairing the iron golem with iron ingots can help with that)
 * A creative option is to mine under their platform to make a bolthole with a narrow opening up to their platform, perhaps 1&times;3. As they descend into the hole to reach you, you'll be able to get in several hits before they can respond. Nether fortress stairways (the narrow sort, not like the one leading to the Blazes) can provide a similar bolthole.
 * A fishing rod can be useful for pulling blazes into melee range so their drops aren't lost.
 * Create a "ceiling" above the spawner-this prevents blazes from flying out of reach and makes it easier to obtain their rods.
 * It takes 7 snowballs to kill a Blaze. Water can't be used in the Nether, as it simply fizzes and vanishes. You can try making a Snow Golem, but they'll quickly "melt" due to the Nether heat. (Again, splash potions of fire resistance can help.)
 * With fire resistance assured, you may want to seal yourself in the spawner room, so that wither skeletons, magma cubes, or other Blazes can't ambush you from behind.
 * Bring a shield to block the fireballs.

Living in a nether fortress
If you've mastered the Nether, you can go in and start making a nether fortress more habitable. If you can have control of a nether fortress on a multiplayer server, you can control who enters the area, and also control who gets blaze rods (as blazes spawn only in nether fortresses). Mine down most (if not all) the netherrack covering the fortress. Make any surface where you don't want mobs with trapdoors or slabs. With the addition of nether quartz, the one who controls a fortress can also control who gets nether quartz from the area.

First, you should repair any bridges, as this can prevent falling deaths in the nether, though it gives mobs more access to the nether fortress. In many places, lava may be leaking in, so it is advisable to close off the area.

Almost all forts have a single roofed, large building, which you can use as the main building, where you can store all the necessities. You should put doors on the building, to prevent destructive mobs from entering.

DO NOT make a bed, beds explode in the Nether and the End if you sleep on them, though crafting tables are needed, and an ender chest might be useful (if one leaves the Nether in a hurry, they can get their items via another chest). Use a respawn anchor instead.

You should disable blaze spawners, so you can use them for mob grinding purposes later on, but also prevent blazes from overrunning the nether fortress, as they are extremely hazardous.

Some parts of a nether fortress have been filled in with netherrack and it can be a pain to dig it out. TNT is useful, though this risks damaging the fort, creating more hassle for the user. However, digging netherrack can give you a good source of nether bricks——a good source of building material back home in the overworld.

Nether wart plantations are in most nether fortresses, with many warts in one plantation. They usually generate behind staircases, so keep an eye out when hunting for them. For more about nether wart, see Tutorials/Nether Wart Farming.

If one finds a nearby fortress that is not attached to the first one, nether bricks can be looted to repair the nether fortress if in survival. Large parts of the fortress itself such as the pillars for bridges are solid, and nether bricks can be looted from the inside of these pillars.

Killing the various mobs that spawn there is tricky. Blazes, zombified piglins, and ghasts pose a threat, though wither skeletons are a minor annoyance. Mobs spawn at a faster rate in a nether fortress, and trying to kill all the zombified piglins is impractical, so it is best to just leave them alone, as a large pack of zombified piglins could knock you off into a lava ocean. A few of these mobs can be prevented from spawning at all with proper light levels. Blazes spawn at light level 11 and under and wither skeletons at 7 and under, so lighting up the entire area with torches is recommended. Ghasts need a large space to spawn, 5x4x5 blocks with a solid block beneath them, so light sources should prevent all those mobs except zombified piglins from spawning. The zombified piglins are neutral, so avoid accidentally hitting them and you'll be fine.

If imported farming does not work, you should use the naturally growing mushrooms to make soup, so you have a bit to eat, though it is preferable to make better food, such as bread, with imported dirt and wheat seeds. This, however, may prove difficult, due to the inability to hydrate farmland in the Nether. Chickens can also be brought in using eggs to provide raw chicken.

Lava
Lava is plentiful in the Nether, in huge lakes (a sea of lava is near the bottom) rivers, and falling from the ceiling. You must be careful around lava as water buckets do not work in the Nether, and ice disappears instead of melting into water. Also, lava spreads much faster and farther in the Nether than in the Overworld (7 blocks instead of 3). Two good ways of crossing lava are to make a potion of Fire Resistance or eat an enchanted golden apple; while this effect is active, you can swim through lava without taking damage. Fire Protection on your armor can also protect you from lava: if using iron armor or better with the maximum possible protection, you take only half a heart of damage every couple seconds (with higher tier armor reducing how often you take damage), which is small enough that it can be outpaced by the natural regeneration you receive from a full hunger bar. This level can be achieved by wearing 1 armor piece with Fire Protection IV and 3 with Protection IV, or by wearing 2 armor pieces with Fire Protection IV and 1 with Protection IV. Note, however, that this rapidly damages your armor's durability. This can be mitigated with the Unbreaking and/or Mending enchantments, or completely negated by using Netherite armor, which doesn't lose any durability from fire and lava damage. It also uses up food as you'll need to keep eating in order to keep healing, so it's not as suitable as a Fire Resistance potion for crossing large bodies of lava, but it does remove the danger of dying from accidentally falling into lava without having to constantly drink potions "just in case." Fire Protection also has the side benefit of reducing the amount of time it takes for you to stop burning if you catch on fire from the lava. If any lava is in the way of your builds, simply clear it out using a bucket or fill it with blocks, and then continue on.

If you can find and reach a lava flow's source block, you can bucket it just like in the Overworld. Unfortunately, in the Nether, much of the lava is pouring down from great heights. Normally, use cobblestone, or iron bars to contain lava or direct it away from you  (if you use flimsy blocks like dirt or netherrack, a ghast fireball can undo your work in a moment!) As always, if you mine upward, then watch for dripping red particles (if you have particles turned on). The drip itself does no damage, but if you mine a dripping block, lava pours down. If you wish to get rid of lava flowing from the ceiling (in your way, or immediate hazard), you must block jump up to the source (or simply aim at the ceiling), and cover the hole with any non-flammable block (if it's flowing straight down from a flat ceiling, you may need an extra block next to the flow to place the dam). One must be extremely careful about the placement of the block, however—if misplaced, the block can just spread the lava wider.

You can ride a saddled strider and control it with warped fungus on a stick to cross a lava ocean. Make sure you know how to get back, though. Lava oceans are sometimes big and easy to lose direction in. If you want, you can drink a combination of Night Vision and Fire Resistance potions while exploring lava seas, because you can swim across lava to the bottom to scan the ground for ancient debris, which can rarely generate under lava seas.

Zombified piglins
Zombified piglins are common in the nether wastes and roam in packs of 4-10, and they also spawn in crimson forests. Before 1.16, Zombified Piglins were instead known as zombie pigmen. They are neutral mobs, meaning that they don't attack unless you attack them. However, if you attack one Zombified Piglin in a group, the whole group (and any others in a wide range) swarms you like wolves, easily killing any unprepared player. When a Zombified Piglin is attacked, all others in a wide range (33 to 55 blocks horizontally and 10 blocks vertically) of the victim become hostile and give chase if you are within 40 blocks of them. This can be avoided if you kill the zombified piglin in one blow, but that's easier said than done. Do this by using a diamond sword enchanted with Smite IV or above and a critical hit. They can see you only in a 40-block radius — any Zombified Piglins between those distances are turned hostile, but do not move toward you (instead of wandering as normal) until you come into sight. This can be a nasty gotcha: When you defend yourself, any zombified piglin within a new 33 to 55 block range become enraged. As of version 1.8, Zombified Piglins forgive you over time if you leave them alone for 20 to 39.95 seconds, although if you are still within their 40 block pursuit radius, they continue to attack. If you really need to get gold from them, stand on a two-block high pillar in an open space and then kill them. However, Piglins and Ghasts get really annoying on the platform.

It is usually better to leave these creatures alone, but if you want gold nuggets, or you want to increase your level (killing many zombified piglins gives you a lot of experience), you can safely attack the zombified piglins in various ways. Also, if you have to fight Zombified Piglins, make sure there isn't much (or even better, no) lava or fire surrounding you. You may have to move around a lot to fight all of them at once, and distractions make it worse (also, you may need to collect your stuff after getting killed).

Note that Zombified Piglins wield and carry golden swords, which can sometimes be enchanted, but they usually drop only rotten flesh and gold nuggets, rarely dropping gold ingots or their swords. Their swords can sometimes be enchanted, with the level of the enchantment varying depending on the difficulty.


 * 1) Build a killing ground- Near a large group, fence/wall off a controlled area, and set up gates, one-way doors, and suchlike so that you can limit them to approaching one or two at a time, and block them off altogether when needed. Don't forget an escape route! Note that this can be much more difficult as of 1.8 as they now have path-finding AI.
 * 2) Bow and arrows- Using a bow, you can pick off Zombified Piglins one at a time at a safe distance. Just make sure you have enough arrows and they don't get to you——Zombified Piglins run faster when provoked, so being in high ground is a good choice.
 * 3) Separation- Isolate the Zombified Piglin and kill them, but make sure they are far away from any other Zombified Piglin, or else they attack. Time-consuming, but safer than the bow-method. This is no longer as effective as of 1.8 since their anger radius has been vastly increased, though if you stay away long enough they forgive you.
 * 4) Nether portal - Mobs can travel through portals. So, if you can push or lead them into a portal, you can follow and deal with one or two at a time in the Overworld. Some Nether mobs, especially Zombified Piglins, can spawn inside portals, so they can be teleported into the overworld. If you attack a Zombified Piglin in the Overworld, it makes no impression on ones in the Nether.
 * 5) Diamond/netherite sword, iron or better armor, and full hunger bar- If you have a diamond sword (preferably enchanted with something like Knockback, which help for fighting groups), a full set of diamond or iron armor, and you are regenerating, you may be able to beat the whole group. NOTE, this is not recommended as, if you die, you could lose a diamond sword and a full set of armor. It helps if you staged the fight somewhere away from lava and close to your spawn portal. DON'T FORGET: they may pick up your armor and/or weapon if you die! If your armor has Protection 4, however, this becomes much safer as the protection greatly reduces damage. However, still be aware that they can knock you into lava, fire, or off a cliff.
 * 6) Healing splash potions - One splash potion can heal you for  HP, and also damage the Zombified Piglin(s) by the same amount. So you need 3 potions to reduce them to  HP, or 4 potions to kill them.
 * 7) Cacti- It is possible to create a cactus fence in the Nether by placing some sand and cactus blocks. You can then bump into zombified piglin to push them into the cacti until they die and drop items. If you are careful not to actually attack them (no clicking!), the nearby piglins stay neutral.
 * 8) Iron Golems- When an iron golem attacks a piglin, that piglin does not strike back. Also, they kill the piglins in 2-3 hits and usually aren't hurt at all. This tactic works better if you have a lead. If your Overworld portal is in a village, then you can easily drag golems into the Nether when need be.
 * 9) Tower- Just build a three-block high tower to stand on, and the piglins cannot jump to reach you. Don't do this near ghasts; they can blow you off your tower.
 * 10) Bed Bombing- Place down a bed and blow it up. Remember to have a block in between you and the bed, otherwise you may kill yourself too.

Ghasts
As mentioned earlier, ghasts shoot deadly fireballs at you when you're in their sight of 100 blocks, so stay alert for incoming fire any time you're in the open, or exposed to open space. Their noises, which sound like crying babies, can give some warning, but their fireballs travel even farther than their sounds, in fact the fireballs travel for one minute before despawning (or until the ghast is dead)., so this isn't a reliable warning. Cobblestone resists the fireballs, which is why you should bring a lot.

However, ghasts can give you trouble with zombified piglins around! If you bounce back one of their fireballs, the fireball now counts as your attack, and if a zombified piglin so much as gets touched by the blast, it becomes provoked (along with all its buddies in and out of sight).

Pro tip: when the fireball is within the player's reach, aim at the Ghast and punch. As long as the fireball is in your FOV you can hit the ghast. NOTE: If surrounded by multiple ghasts, constantly hitting attack while aiming at a Ghast throws all fireballs in that direction, regardless of which direction they are coming from (they still need to be within reach). Do be careful, however, with bouncing fireballs back at Ghasts on the ground, as the explosion from the fireball can not only damage the vicinity, but provoke zombified piglins as above.

Remember that unlike shulker bullets, ghast fireballs do not follow the player. If you are in a difficult situation, just run to a safe place. You can always outrun the impact area.


 * 1) Bow And Arrows- Simply run to a safe place without other mob distractions and finish it off with a bow & arrows.
 * 2) Sniper Turrets- If you are crossing a bridge over a lava sea, build sniper turrets . They consist of walls with holes on them. Fire arrows or charges at ghasts from the turrets and quickly duck behind a two-block-tall wall when the ghast fires at you.

Blazes
Although they cannot be found in the "general" Nether, blazes can spawn in nether fortresses, both naturally and through spawners. For the first run, it is strongly recommended to find an enchanted golden apple. As of the new Minecraft 1.9 update, these can no longer be crafted but can be found in chests in various locations: dungeons, desert temples, mineshafts, and woodland mansions. Failing that, loading your armor up with Fire Protection and Protection enchantments can help; maximum protection comes with 10 levels total of Fire Protection, with each two levels of regular Protection counting as one of Fire Protection.

After that first run, your first two blaze rods (and some nether wart) let you brew potions of fire resistance; use the first one to make a brewing stand, then craft the second into blaze powder. The first piece of blaze powder fuels the brewing, the second can make magma cream if you haven't picked any up yet, but if you do have some it can be used to make Potions of Strength (with a bit of redstone, your potions last even longer). At this point, you can run away and come back with potions of Fire Resistance. This makes you completely immune to their fireballs, and if you keep a block or so distance, you can avoid their melee attack.

Once you've gotten more comfortable with the blazes, you can build one of the spawners into a farm, by casing over the spawner area with nether brick fence, and digging a hole underneath for the blazes to slowly descend into.

Magma Cubes
Magma cubes are slime-like mobs that spawn in the nether wastes and spawn abundantly in basalt deltas, generally near lava (hence the name magma cube). They look like burnt slimes with yellow eyes, and seem to have springs under them (they jump fairly high and the "springing" is visible). Their properties are much like slimes, as killing a large one results in it splitting into 2-4 medium-sized ones, which splits into 2-4 small ones. The large and medium Magma cubes have a chance of dropping magma cream and experience when killed. You can prevent magma cubes from spawning in your base by making the floor out of transparent blocks. As mentioned earlier, you can stand on a pillar to kill magma cubes, but any ghasts or crossbow-wielding piglins might really annoy you.

Wither Skeletons
Wither skeletons are tall, darkened skeletons, wielding stone swords. They inflict the wither effect for 10 seconds with a hit. They walk when idle, but sprint toward a player when they see one. However, they can't pass through a two-block-high space, which makes them somewhat easy to deal with. They drop bones, coal, and occasionally their stone sword. They also have a small chance to drop a wither skeleton skull, which are essential to summoning the wither boss. These types of skeletons are found only in nether fortresses. They can roam in groups in fortress hallways, so be careful of blazes and being withered in this situation. Knockback is good for packs where you want them as far away as possible.

Piglins
Piglins commonly spawn in Nether Wastes, Crimson Forests, and in Bastion Remnants and are armed with either golden swords or crossbows. The adults are by default hostile, but if you have at least one piece of gold armor on they become neutral toward you, and the babies are always passive. Throwing a golden item at them pacifies them for a moment. When killed, they have a small chance of dropping their golden sword or crossbow, any armor they naturally spawned with, and they drop any picked up items. If you barter with them by throwing or using a gold ingot on them, they throw something back, as seen on the bartering page. You can prevent them from spawning by thoroughly lighting up the area as they spawn at light levels 11 or below. They also run from soul fire related blocks and zombified piglins. If they go into the overworld through a nether portal, they start to shake and turn into zombified piglins shortly after.

Hoglins
Hoglins are large pig-looking mobs, which drop raw porkchops, leather, and experience upon death. They spawn in Crimson Forests and Bastion Remnants. They are naturally hostile with 40 health points. They run from warped fungus, nether portals, and respawn anchors. They run toward players and fling the player into the air upon hitting. Unlike most hostile mobs, hoglins can be led with leads and bred with crimson fungi. If they go into the overworld through a nether portal, they start to shake and turn into a zoglin shortly after. Hoglins make good sources of food when you run out of them in the Nether for long periods of time or if you get lost.

Brewing
Many resources in the Nether are essential for brewing potions:
 * Blaze rods, from killing blazes, are needed to make a brewing stand, where all potions are brewed. They are also required for making an eye of ender (making the rod into powder), which can locate an End portal.
 * Nether wart can be found in nether fortresses or bastion remant and is used to brew the awkward potion, the base for most potions.
 * Blaze rods can also be crafted into blaze powder, for strength potions, and fuel for the brewing stand.
 * Magma cream is dropped from killed magma cubes, and can also be crafted from blaze powder and slimeballs. It can be used to brew fire resistance potions.
 * Gold nuggets dropped by zombified piglins and also when mining gilded blackstone and nether gold ore, can be used to make glistering melon slices, for healing potions, and golden carrots, which is one of the best kinds of food in Minecraft and can also be used to brew night vision and invisibility potions.
 * Ghast tears drop from killed ghasts, and are used to brew regeneration potions.
 * Glowstone dust is mined in the Nether, and used to increase potion potency (e.g., from poison to poison II).
 * Gunpowder is used for creating splash potions.
 * Piglins can give you water bottles when bartering.

Settlement
Turns out it wasn't enough for you to explore the Nether. You've decided it looks like a nice place to live (or if you're in a multiplayer world, perhaps you seek strategic control of the rapid-travel capability). So, what do you need to survive here?

Crops
You can start by importing some dirt to grow plants. You can even use a hoe to till it into farmland, but there's a catch: With no water available, you need to till the ground, then plant your seed immediately, before the farmland reverts to dirt. Likewise when harvesting wheat, replant immediately and keep the hoe on your hotbar. This works for all the farmland crops: wheat, melons, pumpkins, carrots and potatoes and beetroot. Melons would be the most reliable as after the stem is fully grown, hydration does not affect the rate at which melons grow. Wither skeletons can provide bones for bone meal to speed this process. Cocoa plants are farmable on jungle logs as usual, so that gives you cookies too. You can also farm sweet berries. While you're at it, you can layout a few blocks of soul sand for a nether wart farm.

Mushrooms
It is also possible to build an 8 by 8 platform, plant mushrooms on two opposite edges, and then use bone meal. This can provide you with a steady source of Mushroom Stew, and you can put torches or saplings in the other corners. On dirt or grass, mushrooms need a light level of 7 or below, but on podzol, mycelium, or nylium, applying bone meal causes them to grow into their respective huge mushroom type at any light level. Nylium is also the only block in the Nether on which you can farm mushrooms, and that is crucial (or alternatively, bring podzol or mycelium from the Overworld).

Generated structures
Once you've gotten used to Nether dangers, you can invade and repair a nether fortress, as it provides many Nether commodities, such as blazes and nether wart. However, falling is a real danger, as there might be a lava ocean below you. If you're in survival, and you've found multiple nether fortresses (not connected but nearby) you can loot nether bricks to repair your favorite nether fortress. You can smelt netherrack into individual nether bricks, then craft your own walls, stairs, and fences. You can also transform bastion remnants in similar ways. For bastion renmants, block off any lava, and fill in any gaps. Try to fix up the jagged edges of the bridges/walkways. Make the bastion into an bartering farm/magma cream farm. Add decorations and fix up the bastion.

Wood
You'll want wood for tools and torches (and perhaps to smelt into charcoal), so make a tree farm as well. Wood also provide charcoal for torches and smelting. Oak trees also provide the occasional apple for golding, but that's not really a food supply. If you want Nether woods variants, you can grow Huge fungus as they don't need dirt, but nylium to grow. Also Nether wood is inflammable.

Another catch: Trees need space to grow - and ghasts need space to spawn. Happily (and contrary to popular belief), ghasts do spawn on blocks, and they need a 5×5 space free of transparent blocks and slabs. You can scatter slabs, glass and glowstone around the floor of your tree farm. You can plant saplings with glowstone adjacent, and slabs on top of the diagonal blocks. You can do this in rows for max efficiency. If you're low on glowstone, jack o'lanterns and torches suffice. You also need at least 4 blocks of air above the sapling. Using this method of tree farming, you can have a large enclosure for mass wood farming without ghasts! If not too densely lit, your tree farm also serves for bone-meal assisted huge mushrooms, which is useful for Mushroom Stew. The most basic way to safely farm trees is to have a 5×5×7 room with a floor made out of glowstone or glass (if you are using glass, make sure to put torches next to the sapling) and have 1 dirt in the middle of the floor.

Animals and villagers
Chickens can also be farmed in the Nether (by bringing in eggs or by killing Chicken Jockeys), but likewise, take space, and warrant anti-ghast measures. There is gravel around for flint and Nether wood for sticks, so with the chickens for feathers, you can make arrows.

Cows, pigs and sheep can be brought through the portal, which can provide you with wool, leather, and meat. Sheep require special measures: You'll need to get a grass block with a Silk touch tool or killing an Enderman holding one and use that to start grass on a well-lit dirt floor, so they can regrow their wool. You can also just breed the sheep until you have a lot, and then shear some of them and kill the sheared ones. However, the sheep do not re-grow their wool.

Villagers can be brought into the Nether through a portal, either using a boat or minecart. Make sure the portal is protected, so ghasts don't fireball you or damage the villager. Villagers can use beds without blowing them up, allowing for artificial villages and iron golem farms to function properly. They do run away from zombified piglins even though zombified piglins don't attack them.

Other
Some things can't be produced in the Nether, and need to be brought in from the Overworld: There are no ores, besides nether quartz ore, ancient debris, and nether gold ore. There is no diamond unless you import it from the overworld or you find it in bastion remnant or nether fortress chests. Emerald, iron, redstone and lapis lazuli are renewable through villagers, and gold is renewable through zombified piglins. Iron is also renewable from bartering, as well as water, though it has to be stored in cauldrons. Coal is renewable from wither skeletons or smelting overworld wood. Blackstone can be used as an alternative to cobblestone. You can get the Pigstep music disc and the snout banner pattern from a bastion remnant, and diamonds and horse armor can be obtained through a nether fortress.

Paper and sugar is crafted with sugarcane, which can't grow without water. You can get string from killing striders or bartering with piglins. Fishing rods cannot be used for fishing as there no water, but can be used to craft warped fungus on a stick to ride striders or reel in mobs. The same applies to some ingredients for brewing: Besides sugar, there are no spider eyes. They must be brought in from the Overworld. However, the piglins can provide occasional water bottles.

Tips

 * A player can crouch when near lava as a safeguard to avoid falling in. However, you still get knockback from being hit.
 * Mobs such as the ghast can surprise the player, so the player should be watchful of their environment, especially when in bad positions, such as bridging a gap.
 * A zombified piglin farm can be created by walling the player off, then killing the piglins through a small hole.
 * Killing magma cubes can help the player collect magma cream, which is used for brewing potion of fire resistance, an extremely useful potion in the Nether. One can also get Potion of fire resistance from piglin barter.
 * Avoid getting lost in the Nether's low visibility by placing markers, such as torches or jack o'lanterns. Any markings suffice, but make sure they are not native to the Nether.
 * The player should be careful on gravel, as gravel can generate with no supporting blocks, making it fall when it receives an update.
 * Glass and string block a ghast's vision, allowing the player to see ghast filled areas without being shot at. This is useful for bases in the Nether.
 * Bringing 10 obsidian and a flint and steel (or fire charge) allow the player to return to the Overworld if they become lost. Compasses don't work in the Nether, unless linked to a lodestone. A respawn anchor charged with glowstone in a base you've built avoids you having to find your way back entirely.
 * Bring a pumpkin or a jack o'lantern. They can help you find your direction, as the stem on the top of the pumpkin always faces Northwest even in the Nether, no matter what direction the Pumpkin itself is facing.
 * As long as there are no ghasts or blazes present, traversing the Nether by mining along the edge of a wall is fast, safe, and efficient, unlike tunneling through said wall, which requires a fast reaction time and/or the constant digging of pits for lava to drain to.
 * Wear a piece of golden armor (possibly enchanted) when traversing through the Nether to avoid piglin attacks.
 * Or place a soul fire based block to scare them away. Torches and campfires work, but only the soul kind.
 * Bring some warped fungus as a defense toward hoglins.
 * Know your biome: Knowing the threats of the biome you're in can be invaluable. In Nether Wastes, zombified piglins, piglins, and magma cubes roam, with the occasional ghast or enderman. In Crimson Forests, Piglins, Hoglins, and Zombified Piglins roam. In a warped forest, only endermen spawn. In Soul Sand Valleys, ghasts are abundant, along with skeletons and the occasional enderman. In basalt deltas, Magma Cubes spawn abundantly, along with some ghasts. The lava oceans are home to the striders.

Nether survival challenge
This is a challenge where you start in the Nether with nothing and leave. This section assumes you play in a release of the Nether Update. Both Java and Bedrock editions use the same mechanics. There are no impactful differences except that Bedrock mob spawning is different and less stable, and Bedrock Edition has worse loot in chests.

Starting
Create a Creative world. Build a nether portal and go to the Nether. Break the nether portal. Usually players start with a respawn anchor and four glowstones. If you are setting your spawn, make sure to right click on it even after it is charged so that you set your respawn point. You can avoid placing nether portals and respawn anchors and set your spawnpoint in the nether permanently with this set of commands: Make sure to stand on solid ground before executing /spawnpoint.
 * /gamemode c
 * /execute in minecraft:the_nether run tp ~ ~ ~
 * /spawnpoint @s ~ ~ ~
 * /gamemode s

In either a crimson forest or a warped forest, obtain around 20 stems. The wart blocks can be broken with hoes faster. You do not need to break them, but they make the landscape ugly if you leave them floating. Make wooden pickaxes and start mining right away. Lava pockets generate at all levels in the Nether, so you could directly mine into lava. You must be careful, and if you run into lava, quickly block it off. Blackstone can be found in large blobs from levels 5-28. In a Basalt Deltas biome, it can generate with basalt on the surface. While you are mining, look for some nether gold ore. It gives you gold nuggets, which you should turn into gold ingots. (If you have Silk Touch, you'll get more gold by smelting the blocks.) With Blackstone, which can be used as a substitute to cobblestone, upgrade to stone tools, and make a furnace. After crafting many bowls, look for brown and red mushrooms and craft mushroom stew. Your priority is to mine any nether gold ore you see, so that you can get one piece of gold armor (most easily boots), so that the Piglins don't attack you. Continue mining any gold you see, and collect wood and mushrooms for mushroom stew. (You need a bowl, a red mushroom, and a brown mushroom for stew)

Finding a good place to settle
There are five different biomes, each with their advantages and disadvantages. Find one to base up in.

The safest of all Nether biomes, but can be unexpectedly dangerous. Nothing spawns there except for endermen and striders. You need to be careful about the endermen, and make the entrance to your house only two blocks high so that you can run inside and kill endermen if you want to/have to.
 * Warped forest

One of the more dangerous Nether biomes. It's inhabited by hoglins, piglins, zombified piglins, and striders. hoglins are the best way to get food in the Nether, and piglins are rarely an issue if you have gold armor. Zombified piglins are neutral, and don't attack you unless you attack them. Because the main use of this biome is to get wood and porkchops, it's better to base up on the edge of the biome, since there is no need at all to be inside it. Put warped fungus near your house to scare away hoglins, and put soul fires (fires lit on soul sand or soul soil), soul torches, soul lanterns, or soul campfires to scare away piglins. Idle piglins are scared by soul things, and if they are attacking you they do not ignore the soul things. No matter what, whether idle or hostile, they are scared of zombified piglins, so trapping and nametagging a zombified piglin and place it outside your house can scare away piglins under all circumstances.
 * Crimson forest

This is the one of the most dangerous biomes. It is definitely not recommended to base up here. Because of the jagged terrain, magma cubes, and lava, it is easily the most dangerous biome to be in. The only benefit of this biome is easy access to magma cubes for magma cream (for brewing fire resistance potions), and easy access to blackstone (used as a substitute to cobblestone), and an easy access to basalt (no usage other than building). Do not build your house inside this biome, but building it close would do no harm.
 * Basalt deltas

This is one of the more dangerous biome. Mobs that spawn there include skeletons and ghasts, however they do not spawn in large packs, so you occasionally bump into these mobs. Soul fire does twice the normal damage, and skeletons and ghasts can easily overwhelm you. Soul sand also slows you down a lot, which is terrible paired with skeletons and ghasts. However, if you have Soul Speed boots (iron boots enchanted with a random Soul Speed level can be obtained from bartering with piglins), you can traverse this biome a lot easier. The benefits include easy access to nether fossils, which provide a large quantity of bone blocks, and skeletons from which you can get bones. You can also obtain soul sand and soul soil, the latter exclusive to this biome, however soul sand can generate near lava in other places and is obtained from bartering.
 * Soul sand valley


 * Nether wastes

One of the safer biomes in the Nether. This biome is mainly inhabited by a mass of zombified piglins, but is also inhabited by piglins, more rarely. The piglins are scared of the zombified piglins so the piglins should not be an issue most of the time. This biome is known to be flat and easy to explore, which makes it perfect for building. Since this biome has exposed netherrack on the surface, there is more easily accessible nether quartz and nether gold ores than any other biome. You can build a gold farm, which is extremely useful.

Mob-proofing your house
You can prevent any mobs from spawning by placing bottom slabs on your house. Bottom slabs refers to slabs that are placed on the bottom of a block, with one more half-block vertical layer above it. You need to also prevent mobs from entering your house.

Hoglins are scared of charged respawn anchors, lit nether portals, and warped (blue) fungi. This is easiest with warped fungi. It can be planted on any nylium or on soul soil. Soul soil can be obtainable from a soul sand valley. If you break a soul campfire, which can be crafted using soul sand, it drops one soul soil block. Soul sand can be obtained from soul sand valleys or with a 8.5% chance from bartering with Piglins.

Piglins are scared of all soul fire items, which includes lit soul campfires, soul fire, soul torches, and soul lanterns. They are also scared of zoglins and zombified piglins. They ignore all items that usually scare them when hostile, except for zombified piglins, meaning that everything besides zombified piglins only scare idle/non-attacking piglins. Placing zombified piglins in a trap is not normally viable because being mobs in the hostile category, they despawn after the player is outside a 128 block radius. Naming a zombified piglin with a name tag prevents this. Keeping idle piglins away is actually useful because opening chests inside your house angers them. The best solution, if you don't have a name tag, is to just wear gold armor and not do anything to provoke piglins. If provoked, they cease hostilities in 30 seconds if you do nothing to further provoke them.

All other mobs cannot be deterred, but can be easily blocked off.

Mining
Gold is the most valuable resource in the Nether. Bartering allows the player to obtain many items and though obtaining a full gold suit of armor does not sound useful, it gives 44% protection and allows the player to take 2x more damage, about. The resources that you must get while mining is:


 * Nether gold ore. It drops 2-6 gold nuggets, and attempts to generate 10 times per chunks from levels 10-117 in blobs of size 1-10. It generates 20 times per chunk in basalt deltas, because it can replace only netherrack. Keep in mind that it is still slower to mine in basalt deltas because basalt is slow to mine.
 * Blackstone. Mining consumes a lot of stone pickaxes, and stone is needed for all tools, furnaces, and brewing stands. It is found in blobs of up to 1-33 from levels 5-28, generating 2 blobs per chunk. You can easily find more than 33 blackstone in one blob if it connects to other blobs
 * Ancient debris. Ancient debris is essential to obtaining netherite ingots and is found in blobs of 1-3 from levels 8-119. A blob of 1-3 ancient debris attempts to generate once per chunk from levels 8-22, and an additional blob of 1-2 ancient debris attempts to generate once per chunk from levels 8-119. It is difficult to find ancient debris from levels 8-119, and better in low places (levels 8-22). It is the most common at level 15

This means that the best level to mine at is y=14, because it covers the most ancient debris, nether gold ore, and blackstone possible.

Disabling mining spawns
Most people mine by having a main "hub" tunnel, and having a lot of seperate tunnels that go off of that.

You do not want to have your mines where you are farming mobs. More spawn in your mines and less spawn where you are farming. To prevent this, know where your main hub mining system is in proportion to your base. You need to make sure all of your biomes where you are farming things are outside of your mines. For example, if your base is at X point, and all of your biomes where you farm mobs are south of your base, then your mining tunnels must go north in proportion to your base. That means that your main hub mining tunnel must go between east and west, with the seperate mining tunnels going north, in that specific example.

Bone meal farming
A bone meal farm is essential to obtaining mushroom stew through a mushroom farm, and farming trees and fungi. Most vegetation items in the Nether can be composted in a composter, including nether wart, shrooslights, nether wart blocks, warped wart blocks, weeping vines, twisting vines, warped roots, crimson roots, nether sprouts, crimson fungi, and warped fungi. However, weeping vines and twisting vines are the best, preferable twisting vines. Twisting vines and weeping vines can be farmed in a similar manner to sugarcane, with the whole plant growing from a single block. However, twisting vines grow upward and weeping vines grow downward. Farming these vines are quite simple. For twisting vines, plant a lot on the ground. When you need to harvest it, harvest the second block off the ground, to destroy all blocks but the one from which the plant is growing, to save a lot of vines. For weeping vines, it is a lot harder to farm. Ideally, you plant them on the top of wherever you are, and make a platform for you to go up and harvest them (second block from the source block from which the whole plant is growing), and then the plants fall on the ground. You can then use a composter to turn it into bone meal by using it. Most importantly, allow your plants space to grow. They can both grow to a maximum height of 25 blocks.

Vegetation farming
Vegetation farming is essential to tree farms, hoglin farms, and strider farms. When you bone meal nylium of any type, it generates vegetation on that nylium block and surrounding nylium blocks. The vegetation includes fungi of both types, roots of both types, and nether sprouts. Certain types of nylium generate more of their color type of vegetation, for example crimson nylium generates mostly crimson fungi and roots, but can generate warped vegetation. The only thing you need to obtain from these farms is warped and nylium fungus, used for breeding animals and growing trees. All other items are used only as decoration. There is no setup for this, but make sure you are doing it on the maximum amount of nylium possible so that there is space for it to generate. If your area of nylium is not wide enough, you can spread it by putting bone meal on netherrack adjacent to nylium. You can also obtain nylium in the Warped Forest, where endermen are often found holding it

Tree farming
When a fungi is placed on its corresponding nylium and then fertilized with bone meal, it can turn into a huge fungi. Warped (blue) fungi can turn only into a huge warped fungi if placed on warped nylium (blue nylium), and vice versa with crimson. There is no special setup, but you need to destroy the nether wart blocks (fastest with a hoe), because it needs space to be able to generate a huge fungi. Also, after it grows into a huge fungus, the nylium below it decays into netherrack, and you need to apply bone meal to it, which turns it back into nylium if there is adjacent nylium next to the netherrack.

Mushroom farming
Mushroom stew is the easiest food to farm. When bone meal is applied to a mushroom placed on any nylium, it can grow into a huge mushroom. They can be placed on nylium only to be fertilized, and unlike other blocks like dirt, they do not require a low light level to grow. Setup:


 * They need space to grow.
 * After it is grown into a huge mushroom, the nylium below it decays into netherrack, so you need to put bone meal on it, which turns the netherrack back into nylium if there is nylium adjacent to it.
 * The blocks are fastest broken with an axe. They can be hard to reach from the ground, so you can build stairs up to a platform that lets you jump on top of the mushroom.

The iron age, after the stone age
After the establishing food and wood farms, you can begin the next stage of progression. Next, you need to explore. Exploring is the most essential part to the next step of your progression. While exploring, you need to


 * 1) Find a nether fortress. You can find 1-3 diamonds as loot for a 19% chance in both Java and Bedrock, You can also find other loot including saddles, and golden armor, golden swords, golden and iron horse armor. The armor you can wear to be protected against Piglins. You can also smelt it into gold nuggets, and you can smelt the iron horse armor into iron nuggets too. You want to also find nether wart, and in the future, blaze rods
 * 2) Mine a lot of nether gold ore. Since this can be found through the Nether, it is definitely worth it to get all of the gold that you can, since it is valuable in bartering. Get any in sight.
 * 3) Find a Bastion Remnant. There are four variants, and each one has different treasure. Bastion Remnants can provide a large amount of gold and various items in treasure, including large quantities of iron, arrows, gold, and even diamonds, diamond armor, or diamond tools, which can be enchanted. This is definitely worth the exploration since it speeds everything up by a lot
 * 4) Find a ruined portal. If you are planning one escaping the Nether, having a nearly finished portal is helpful. The treasure can also be good, including obsidian, gold armor for Piglins, enchanted gold tools, and iron nuggets sometimes. They also have gold blocks near them, which you can't mine with a stone pickaxe.
 * 5) Discover the rest of the biomes. Each biome has helpful things about it, and having access to all of the biomes is extremely helpful.

Next, you want to do bartering with the Piglins. Hopefully, you have around two stacks of gold ingots, which can be a grind to get. You can drop a gold ingot near Piglins or use it on them. They'll pick it up and drop you a random item.

You are looking for several items in particular:


 * 1) Iron. There is a 2.18% chance of Piglins giving you 10-36 iron nuggets, which you can craft into ingots. Since you cannot afford the luxury of making iron tools, your first priority would be to make a shield. Next you need to make an iron pickaxe. The reason for this is that gold blocks generate in bastion remnants, and you cannot obtain them with a stone pickaxe. You cannot afford to make any other tools, but if you have enough you can make a hopper. That makes your total iron to explore a bastion remnant 9 iron
 * 2) String. Piglins have a 4.36% chance of giving you 3-9 string. Striders drop string as well, dropping 2-5 string, without Looting on a sword. You need string to craft a bow, which you need for taking down a bastion. You also need it to craft wool for beds for Netherite mining, however that is late-game.
 * 3) Spectral arrows (Java Edition only). Piglins have an 8.71% chance of giving you 6-12 spectral arrows. These function like normal arrows, and do the same damage, however they give entities the glowing effect for 10 seconds. That causes a white outline to appear around the target that shows up through obstructions, which is effective in bastion remnants
 * 4) Potions of fire resistance/splash potions of fire resistance. Piglins have a 1.74% chance of giving you a 3:00 Potion of Fire Resistance or a 3:00 Splash Potion of Fire Resistance. These are useful for fighting blazes, and useful for lava and fire if you slip by accident.

That's all you should need for exploring the bastion remnant or the nether fortress. However, you can receive many more good things. Visit the bartering page for more information.

1. Nether Fortress
Find a nether fortress and break in. Use the right hand torch rule for exploring. Take the loot from the chests and try to find diamonds. Get nether wart and blaze powder. Make some ender chests and put your loot inside. Have some spare eyes of ender if you don't yet have silk touch. Avoid blaze spawners, as you don't have a lot of armor. Kill lone blazes and as many wither skeletons as possible. You need 3 wither skeleton skulls to spawn the Wither. There is no way to craft enchanting tables, so you can get Looting only through ruined portals. When fighting, make sure piglins, other skeletons, other blazes, and endermen cannot get to you when you are fighting.

2. Bastion Remnant
Find a bastion remnant. Be careful with piglins. When looting chests, block yourself in or place hoppers under the chests. If you have one, put the loot in an ender chest. Kill the piglin brutes as they aren't distracted or scared by anything, and they always pursue the player. If the bastion is a treasure bastion, you can get diamond armor, tools and diamonds. Keep raiding bastions until you get enough diamonds.

Once you get enough diamonds, make only a diamond sword and pickaxe. Don't make the other tools. If you can, make some diamond armor. The next step is upgrading your items to netherite. Make a smithing table and start mining. If you have a strider farm, breed striders and kill them for string. Make as much wool as possible and prepare beds. Go underground, and use beds to blow up areas. 4 ancient debris yield 4 netherite scraps. 4 netherite scraps + 4 gold ingots makes an netherite ingot. Using the smithing table, upgrade your equipment to netherite. Next, find a good place to spawn the wither. It is recommended to spawn it in a large flat area. Reinforce the area with obsidian, as many layers as you want. You should reinforce the base with as much obsidian as possible, just in case the wither flies away and hits your buildings.

Potion brewing
Potions are not necessary but vital if you are taking on the Wither. Craft a brewing stand with a Blaze Rod and 3 Blackstone. You need nether wart to brew potions, so set up a farm with soul sand. You also need blaze powder to fuel it. Now, Water Bottles are obtained through Bartering with the piglins. The only way to obtain water bottles in the Nether is through bartering. Piglins have a 2.18% chance to give you a water bottle when bartered with. Using water bottles, you could make potions with the ingredients limited to those that occur only in the Nether, which include blaze powder for potion of strength, ghast tears for potion of regeneration, glistering melon slice for potion of healing, golden carrots (from various loot) for potion of night vision, and magma cream for potion of fire resistance. You can use glowstone dust to to increase the potency of your potions, however reducing the duration, or gunpowder to turn it into splash potions you can throw, taking less time to use the potion on yourself.

Wither
After you got the skulls and soul sand needed, and have picked the place to spawn the wither, place 4 soul sand in a T shape, and place 2 skulls on top, but don't place the 3rd one until you are ready to fight. Prepare at least a full set of iron/diamond armor with a piece of gold armor. Bring fire resistance, and a netherite sword/pickaxe. Bring a bow with as many arrows as possible. (You can get arrow from bastions, or you can barter for spectral arrows.)

Go to the wither spawning location, and block up dangerous areas with obsidian, including the floor. If you can, fight in a warped forest, as withers attack endermen.

At the start of the fight, fire fully charged arrows at it. Watch out for the skulls and hide to restore hunger/health. If the wither breaks the obsidian, reinforce it. At half health, use your sword to hit the wither until it is dead. Do critical hits to kill faster. Once the wither is dead, pick up the nether star, and prepare the beacon base. (You cannot make the beacon yet because there is no way to obtain glass). Once you have all the mineral blocks you need, build the portal to the overworld. Set up your beacon to show you beat the Nether survival challenge. You can continue on this world and do what you want.

Watch the Nether survival challenge on Pixlriffs' channel on youtube. Pixlriffs

Also Watch the Nether survival challenge(Season 2 ) on Binary Vigilante’s Channel on YouTube 

Tutoriels/Survie dans le Nether チュートリアル/ネザーでのサバイバル Poradniki/Przetrwanie w Netherze Выживание в Нижнем мире 教程/下界生存