Tutorials/Defeating the ender dragon

The Enderdragon is the final boss of Minecraft that you encounter when the player enters the End through the End Portal. For more information about the Enderdragon or the End itself, visit the Minecraft Wiki pages, as they will help a lot.

The Enderdragon
The Enderdragon is a huge mob that obviously looks like a dragon. It is all black, except for its purple eyes and white arms. It can morph through almost all materials, and will only spawn naturally in the End. His total health points are 200, and his attack strength is a whopping 10. He likes to fly around in the End, and he never stops. If the Enderdragon flies near one of the Obsidian pillars that naturally spawn in the End, the regeneration block at the top will slowly let the Enderdragon gain his health back. He doesn't attack much, but when he does it packs a hurtful punch. It's not easy to dodge, as he will fly in a straight line right at you. He rarely ever flies on the ground, or even near it, unless you are on the ground and he is attacking you. However, when you do attack him, he immediately turns around and flies away.

But how to kill him...?

Getting Ready
If you have gotten to the End, that means you must have gone to the Nether, survived, found a stronghold, killed many Enderman, and that also means that you probably have diamonds.

Peaceful
Set the difficulty to Peaceful. The Enderdragon won't despawn, but you won't have to worry about attacking Endermen

Sword (diamond)
Well, first of all, you need a Diamond sword. It will be necessary in killing the Enderdragon, when he gets close enough, a good smack in the head will do some damage. It will take more than a few smacks in the head to kill him. It is also recommended to enchant the sword with fire aspect. This won't do extra damage to the enderdragon, but any endermen you hit with it will forget about you.

How to use it
When you are on the ground, and the Enderdragon is charging you, its best to spam left-click with the cursor on the Enderdragon. If you are lucky, he won't hurt you and you will be saved... for now.

Bow and Arrows
The most key item in killing the Enderdragon, the Bow helps you damage the mob and do it at a distanced range. It helps if it has the infinite arrows enchantment, and that you have multiple bows with you with the same enchantment in case your bow "breaks". It unfortunately doesn't do as much damage as a diamond sword, unlike most mobs.

How to use it
When the Enderdragon is charging you, the "spam the left-click with a sword" always works well, but to keep it safe, a fully-charged arrow will make the Enderdragon sorry. Also, the bow is the best way to easily destroy the regeneration blocks, for it will be extremely hard to kill the Enderdragon without destroying them.

An easy to get block
Cobblestone is a great block for this use, as mining it will get you plenty of stacks. It is okay to also get any other kind of block, any will work, but ladders are useful also.

How to use it
You will need to get to the top of the Obsidian pillars to destroy the Ender Crystals. Even though possible to hit from the ground, it is easy to snipe other crystals from the pillar. Just jump, place a block, and keep jumping and placing to build a pillar underneath you, lifting you up to the crystal. Beware, the crystal will explode.

Beds
You are probably thinking- Beds??? Well, like they do in the Nether, beds will explode when placed. You don't need much, but they are better than TNT. Also, place a bed near the End Portal so you will spawn near it when you die. The only downside to this is when you win, you will go here.

How to use it
Place it immediately when the Enderdragon's head is near you. It will damage you, but also the Enderdragon.

Your cursor
It's pretty easy to get this one.

How to use it
The Enderdragon will flee if he is looked at. He will always fly toward you, but if you need to recharge your health bar, look at him. Unless he is charging you intentionally, he will go away.

Food
Food doesn't have much use here, only a little cooked beef is necessary. You should have full health when entering the End.

How to use it
Seriously? You don't know how to use it? Maybe you shouldn't be playing Minecraft... anyway, when your hunger is down, eat food, regenerate health, run away. There you go. You don't need much of it, because your hunger probably won't deplete.

Killing the Enderdragon
Oh no! It's him! First, build a ladder or a pillar next to the Obsidian pillars, and shoot the crystal with a bow, keeping a distance. Then, from that height, shoot the other crystals. Repeat this process until all the crystals are gone. The Enderdragon is still flying. Let's slay him. An inefficient way (how I did it), is to snipe all the crystals from a single tower.

Okay, now that he can't regenerate his health, shoot your bow at him. A lot. It's your best bet. If he gets to far away from you, stop looking at him. Not completely, just get your cursor off him. He will come at you. Annihilate him with all you got.

It's quite simple. It will take time, a lot of time, even on creative mode. Just be prepared for anything to happen.

To slay the dragon on creative, it's actually quite easy. I know it sounds stupid, but it's the kind of thing I do. Just fly and follow the dragon, looking away from him, and when he gets close wail on him with a diamond sword that is enchanted with a good enchantment (It's pretty easy to get on creative.).

Random Note
He can also fly through End Stone, Ender Crystals and Obsidian. Anything else, he will break. That's why TNT is a bad strategy.