Tutorials/Nether survival

This tutorial will give you many useful survival tips when going to the Nether if you want to stay and live there. You should first have good armor and tools before entering the nether, because it's a more dangerous place than the Overworld.

Introduction
The nether can be a dangerous hellscape for ill-prepared players. It is filled with a host of exclusive mobs not found in the overworld: hostile ghasts, magma cubes, hoglins, piglins, and the neutral zombified piglin, and also one passive mob, the strider.

The terrain is much harsher to navigate than in the overworld, with one false step potentially plunging you into an ocean of lava. It is also where nether fortresses can be found, housing other threats such as blazes and wither skeletons, and where bastion remnants can be found, housing piglins, piglin brutes and hoglins.

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 wither boss, and even lucrative mob farms.

Making a nether portal


To make a nether portal, the player will need 10 obsidian blocks to build a 5 by 4 block portal frame (the corners do not have to be obsidian) and flint and steel to ignite the portal. Although it's quite expensive, a fire charge can also be used as a one-use portal lighter. However, the player will need to go to the Nether to get the material to make a fire charge or find a fire charge in a ruined portal chest.

Place the obsidian to make a hollow upright rectangle, with the inside measures being two wide by three high (at least, the portal can be larger) and one block thick. Use something other than obsidian for the corners unless you have an abundant supply of obsidian to conserve this resource. Once the player has made the frame of the portal, they can use the flint-and-steel to light one of the bottom pieces of obsidian. The inside of the frame should light up with an eerie purple glow, meaning that the portal is now active and ready for use.

Longer method
If the player does not have any obsidian, but has buckets and available lava (a small lake or many flows), it is possible to "cast" a portal in place. Note that this process will not work if the player is already in the Nether - as if this is the case, the player will have plenty of lava, but no water. The only way to place water in the Nether is by putting it in a cauldron, using commands, placing a pure water block (accessible with cheats) or custom structures.
 * 1) The player will need at least 10 lava source blocks (carried in buckets), and a bucket of water. The lava will not be needed all at once, but having at least 2 lava buckets at a time will speed up this task.
 * 2) Build a mold out of dirt for the bottom: a trench 1 wide and 2 or 4 long.
 * 3) 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).
 * 4) Extend your frame upwards 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.
 * 5) Dig away the dirt frame, and light the new portal.

Simple method
You will only need at least 6 blocks, a water bucket, a lava pool, and a flint and steel(or other lighting method). A block breaking tool is recommended.


 * 1) As shown in the next gif, start by placing a block at the edge of a lava pool.
 * 2) Place water to the left of the block.
 * 3) Destroy the block.
 * 4) Pick up the water.

If the bottom two blocks are made of obsidian (as shown in gif):

Good, everything is going fine, as you will need all 4 of the obsidian so far. Continue to step 5.

If the bottom two blocks are NOT made of obsidian:

Because you are missing those bottom blocks, which are supposed to be obsidian, you need to destroy those blocks. After destroying those blocks, fill them with lava and use flowing water to solidify them with obsidian. Once you have all 4 obsidian blocks there, you can continue to step 5.

5. Place those two blocks, as shown in gif.

6. Place those four blocks, as shown in gif.

7. Place water as shown in gif.

8. Fill the left side, as shown in gif, with lava.

9. Fill the right side, then top side, with lava to complete the portal, as shown in gif.

10. Pick up the water, and light the portal.

Also, keep the portal housed in a lit building in the nether, but do not use beds because beds blow up in the Nether when the player tries to sleep in them. Instead, if you have enough materials, you can use a Respawn Anchor.

Preparation


Being well-equipped is essential for survival in the nether. Lacking a certain item in an unfortunate circumstance can lead to death. 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 you will lose 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. Hoping to find iron is not safe, since it turns up only in lucky chest finds or 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. So the most critical backup supplies to craft whatever you might need are iron, cobblestone, and logs. Other hard to replace items to consider are string, redstone dust, and water in buckets.

Tools and weapons
One of the most important tools in the nether, especially in a nether fortress, is your weapon. A melee weapon of iron or better is almost essential. A bow or crossbow, along with at least 64 arrows, 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 will do you well in close quarters combat, you should consider bringing a crossbow or a bow in addition to your melee weapon, as ghasts and blazes can be troublesome without them. However, ghasts can still be dealt with even without a bow and arrow; punching their fireball to deflect it back to them can be an acceptable way to deal with them if bringing a ranged weapon is not an option.

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

It may be prudent to bring along a flint and steel because even if you don't intend to build a new nether portal, a ghast fireball will easily break a portal block inside the portal frame, leaving you stranded until it is relit with fire from a flint and steel, fire charge, burning blocks adjacent to the portal frame, or even another ghast fireball.

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

Armor
Armor is also very 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. You should only consider bringing diamond armor if you are confident enough in your ability to survive, or else you may die and lose it. Shields can be very useful for fighting the skeletons present in nether fortresses and Soul Sand Valleys. Wear at least one piece of golden armor if you don't want to deal with piglins attacking you.

Transport
Striders can be the best means of travel in many situations. If you have a fishing rod and saddle, you only need to 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 only shows up in some bastion remnant chests, 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 and reliable means, and what kind of player would deliberately harm a strider anyway?

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.

Enchantments
Enchantments offer huge advantages for surviving in the nether, if you have access to an enchanting table with bookshelves. 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, and hoglins) are immune to fire damage, so enchantments like Fire Aspect should not be considered. For your armor, a combination of both Protection and Fire Protection will be very useful. Enchantments such as Aqua Affinity offer little to no use in the nether. Enchanting your boots with Feather Falling can save your life, and allow you to drop down onto low terrain safely. You may also enchant your boots with Soul Speed to transverse Soul Sand Valley biomes at higher speeds. Enchanting your pickaxe with Efficiency is not too useful, since most of the blocks you will be using it on is netherrack, which already mines quickly with even an unenchanted iron pickaxe. The only pickaxe enchantment with a real advantage in the nether is Unbreaking, as it can save you bringing multiple pickaxes.

Blocks
In general, blocks are very 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 will 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 will regenerate from eating it. Steak and porkchops are among the best foods for early gameplay, with bread, mutton, and baked potatoes being an acceptable alternative.

Suspicious stew is a niche, often overlooked, food item. It is also relatively cheap, requiring only a bowl, a red mushroom, a brown mushroom and a flower of your choice. Suspicious stew crafted from oxeye 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 very short amount of time. However, it is worth noting that stew cannot be stacked, so bringing a lot of it will quickly fill up your inventory. Consider bringing around half a stack of "regular" food, in addition to a handful of suspicious stew crafted with the aforementioned ingredients. Use the regular food for maintaining your hunger, and the stew as a method of quickly regenerating health in dangerous situations.

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 buckets of water, enough iron to make a cauldron, some bottles, and some cobblestone, 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 a home after your adventure, the exception is if the compass has been tied to lodestone. Torches are also useful for marking which 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 rare 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 pearl in the nether, which are via killing endermen that spawn abundantly in warped forest, or via bartering with Piglins which can give you almost a stack of ender pearls.

Gold Ingots can be useful for bartering with piglins, if you spawn in nether wastes or crimson forest. You can get useful items like fire resistance potions, ender pearls, obsidian, crying obsidian, netherite hoes (BE only until 1.16.100), etc. You can store gold ingots in gold blocks. Be careful not to drop gold blocks, as piglins will pick them up.

Even if you give your ingots to a piglin, you can still get them back, provided that you know which piglin you have bartered with. A way of doing this is locking one piglin up, bartering with it until you run out of gold, then killing it to get the gold back. Don't let other piglins get to you though.

Enter the Nether
When the player first enters the Nether, they may be struck by the amazing structure of it. Don't get too caught up in the scenery, though, as the Nether is a dangerous place. For the player's first visit, the main threats will be falling, fire, getting lost, hoglins, and ghasts. The falling and fire can be handled in the usual ways, but the most urgent threat will most likely be ghasts and then Hoglins on account of the fact that the other hazards don't move or shoot at the player. That said, don't be careless; sudden drops and holes can be hard to spot in the confusing netherrack landscape. Fire is more dangerous when there's no water to put yourself out with! The player may meet some magma cubes, but those are straightforward to kill. Do not mess with the zombified piglins just yet!

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 will generate right next to a giant lake of lava or a very high drop-off. If this is the case, then walking out of the nether portal upon arrival will likely result in the player's 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 increases their render distance to scan for nether fortresses, as well as when the player decreases the 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 their portal. Brick, stone, and other blast-resistant blocks will all suffice, but cobblestone is cheapest in the Overworld. Take the quickest possible look around, just enough to see what kind of ground the player is building on, then start placing down cobblestone for your shelter. 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 hobble you! Depending how much stone you brought, you may need to scant the walls, filling in with wooden fences which at least 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 will need at least two stacks of cobblestone for the walls and ceiling, and the floor and other trimmings may well cost another stack. Since the player will be right next to their portal, feel free to go back to the Overworld for more cobblestone as needed.
 * If your portal gets blown out, don't panic, that's why you brought flint-and-steel, and even obsidian for an escape portal.

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 will do until you figure out where an outside button or lever could be placed where it will not be vulnerable to fireballs. Note that if the player is building against a netherrack wall, you will 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 will also need 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/place you're in.
 * Crimson forest: Watch out for hoglins, the pig-like Nether mobs, because they deal heavy knockback and fling you into the air like iron golems. However, they are a food resource as they drop porkchops when killed. Piglins are formidable enemies that frequently spawn here and are hostile to those not wearing gold. They will attack you if you open a chest, ender chest or other container or mine gold while nearby. These mobs barter, so you can get things like crying obsidian and potions of Fire Resistance.
 * Warped Forest: Endermen spawn often, don't build with blocks endermen can pick up like netherrack, dirt and nylium. Make the shelter 2.5 blocks tall so endermen can't get in. Apart from the endermen, this is possibly the safest biome to spawn in.
 * Basalt Deltas: To even build here, you'll have to flatten the hard-to-navigate terrain. Watch out for magma blocks and the small lava pools, and magma cubes which can be very difficult and frustrating (not to mention armor-destroying) to deal with.
 * Soul Sand Valley: Make sure to put cobblestone in the floor and build your base out of blast resistant materials. Ghasts and skeletons spawn frequently. Soul Speed is almost essential in this biome, and despite the risk the Nether fossils that spawn here are good sources of bonemeal.
 * 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: You are very lucky. However, the portal needs to be protected. Use fence gates for entry, and make the ceiling 2 blocks high. You can also make the room bigger and have an iron golem in the room. The 2-block ceiling won't work. If you want, you can make the corridor entrances two blocks high instead so that any spawned iron golems and any wither skeletons can't get in or out. Watch for blazes, though.
 * Bastion Renmant: Another lucky spawn. Watch out for piglin brutes, piglins, magma cubes, and lava. It is tricky to navigate, but contains a lot of treasure and gold blocks. See the page Tutorials/Defeating a bastion remnant.

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 will generate 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 will link 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 towards and past your original portal, your new portal will probably 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 will get you to a better location in the Nether. Aside from replacing your old equipment, this jaunt will require 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 which will come 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 will be 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 will 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 will be 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 then created by smelting down iron horse armor, armor, tools that the player has, and chainmail armor from skeletons. 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.

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 will lose your xp levels if you do this. Assuming the player is not playing on hardcore and has not used a respawn anchor, they will 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.

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 will do) as comes near. The fireball will usually go in the direction of the player's gaze. If the player manages to hit the ghast with its own fireball, it will be killed instantly, and the player will get 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 won'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 will not 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 forest s and warped forest s. On the contrary, you may want to avoid soul sand valley biomes as ghast spawns are very abundant there.

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.
 * Burn them for cooked porkchop.
 * Sprint/critical hit them.
 * Spam click to knock them back while damaging them.
 * Build a 4 block tall pillar and shoot the hoglins. The height is crucial since they can attack someone on a 3-block pillar.

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 will find the player more accessible veins 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 page 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 only generates in such structures
 * Several blocks of gold

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 4*4*4 space to spawn, free of transparent blocks and slabs and only spawn rarely in nether wastes and basalt deltas, but quite commonly 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 only spawn in nether wastes and crimson forest.
 * Wear a piece of gold armor if possible, as if you don't wear gold armor, piglins will 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 very plentiful. This WILL take time, 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 alternative block, especially if you're in basalt deltas.
 * If you die in the Nether, you will 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, explosions and (your own) cacti. 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!
 * If you use a respawn anchor to respawn in the nether, you need glowstone to charge it, and it requires very 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 you portal easily by putting the lodestone near the portal,then link the compass.
 * Normal compasses and clocks will 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 will only show 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 no longer centered exactly at their creation, you can put framed clones of the map on your portals, and those green markers will also be 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 will 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 will miss you. Staircases are trickier: When digging down, lava will 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 will 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, you won't run back to your base only to realize that it consists of an exposed Nether Portal and nothing else. 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 will be 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 so as 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 a 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 ghasts 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 will be very 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. Lots of walls of any nonflammable material or nether brick fences will be handy too: safety railings on the walkways are really nice when a ghast starts taking potshots at you, and blocking off unused areas and broken bridges will 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, there will be a 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 slow and 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 will support a brewery and then some.
 * You may well want to build a portal leading back to the overworld from the nether fortress. Having an Overworld base handy will provide all the supplies you need.
 * When you find a blaze spawner, you have a choice: turn it off, or farm it. There will usually be at least two blaze spawners per nether fortress, and if several nether fortresses have joined together there may be more. So, don't assume the first one you find is your only option, but you will 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, it will give you the means to make potions, including potions of fire resistance. Those will 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. That will 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 absolutely 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 won't stop them from spawning—you'll need to plaster the area with a mix of jack-o-lanterns (or glowstone).

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

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. There will not be nearly as many blazes, so they will be 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. Note that Potions of Fire Resistance will make you immune to blaze fireballs but not their touch attack, which armor and regeneration potions can help with.
 * 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 won't mob you or the golem for the golem's attacks, but the repeated fights will 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 will keep blazes from flying out of reach & making it easier to obtain their rods
 * It takes 7 snowballs to kill a Blaze. Water can't be used in the Nether, as it will just fizz & vanish. 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 only spawn in Nether fortresses). Mine down most (if not all) the netherrack covering the fortress. Make any surface where you don't want mobs trapdoors or slabs. With the addition of nether quartz, the one who controls a fort 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 fort 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 other, 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 common in the Nether, in huge lakes (a sea of lava is near the bottom) rivers, and falling from the ceiling. You must be very careful around lava as water buckets will not work in the Nether, and ice will disappear 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 will be able to swim through lava without taking damage. Fire Protection on your armor can at least reduce the damage from a brief contact. 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 upwards, then watch for dripping red particles (if you have particles turned on). The drip itself will not damage you, but if you mine a dripping block, lava will come down. If you wish to get rid of lava flowing from the ceiling (in your way, or immediate hazard), you will have to 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 very 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 (They can generate under lava seas, but rarely).

Zombified piglins
Zombified piglins are very 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 won't attack unless you attack them. However, if you attack one Zombified Piglin in a group, like wolves, the whole group (and any others in a wide range) will swarm you, which will easily kill 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 will become hostile and will 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. Note that they can only see you in a 40-block radius — any Zombified Piglins between those distances will be turned hostile, but will 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 will be enraged. As of version 1.8, Zombified Piglins will now forgive you over time, if you leave them alone for 20 to 39.95 seconds, though if you are still within their 40 block pursuit radius, they will 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 to increase your level (killing many zombified piglins will give you a lot of experience), you can attack the zombified piglins in various, safe 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 will probably have to move around a lot to fight all of them at once, and distractions will only make it worse (also, you may need to collect your stuff after getting killed).

NOTE, Zombified Piglins wield and carry golden swords, which can sometimes be enchanted, but they usually only drop rotten flesh and gold nuggets, and rarely, gold ingots and 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 will attack you. 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 will 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 will make no impression to ones in the Nether.
 * 5) Diamond sword, diamond (or iron) armor, and full hunger bar- If you have a diamond sword (preferably enchanted with something like Knockback, which will 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!
 * 6) Healing splash potions - Saw a large group of piglins? Feel lucky? Throw some potions in the crowd! 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 cacti fence in the nether by placing some sand and cacti 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 will stay neutral.
 * 8) Iron Golems- When an iron golem attacks a piglin, that piglin will 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 very easily drag golems into the Nether when need be.
 * 9) Tower- Just build a three-block high tower to stand on, and the piglins won't be able to jump to reach you. NOTE: Don't do this near ghasts, they will blow you off your tower.
 * 10) Suicide Bed Bombing- If you actually died from engaging against them, you can use this method. It involves only one bed. Go into the nether with a bed  ONLY,  so no weapons and no armor, and lead the Zombified Piglins faraway from your portal or your droppings——beds make quite big explosions. Then, place a bed and wait for them to surround the bed. Right-Click the bed and, if you have good timing, you can kill a very large bundle of them in a single explosion.

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 sounds like crying ghost girls, 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 will resist 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 will now count as your attack, and if a zombified piglin so much as gets touched by the blast, it will be 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 will throw 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 will 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 Minecraft 1.9, these can no longer be crafted but can be found in chests in various locations: dungeons, desert temples, abandoned 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) will 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 will fuel 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 will last even longer). At this point, you can run away and come back with potions of Fire Resistance. This will make 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 will split 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 will inflict the wither effect for 10 seconds with a hit. They walk when idle, but will sprint towards 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 very small chance to drop a wither skeleton skull, which are essential to summoning the wither boss. These types of skeletons are only found 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 will become neutral towards you, and the babies are always passive. Throwing a golden item at them will pacify 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 will drop any picked up items. If you barter with them by throwing or using a gold ingot on them, they will 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 items 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 towards 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 zombie pigmen(before 1.16) or piglins, and also dropped when mining gilded blackstone and nether gold ore, can be used to make glistering melons, for healing potions, and golden carrots, which are the best 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 used for creating splash potions.

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 will work 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.

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 will also provide charcoal for torches and smelting. Oak trees will 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 will do. 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 will also serve 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), 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 will 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 will 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 zombie 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 nether fortress chests. Emerald, iron, redstone and lapis lazuli are renewable through villagers, and gold is renewable through zombified piglins. Coal is renewable from wither skeletons or smelting wood. Blackstone can be used as an alternative to cobblestone, but it is not renewable in Bedrock Edition until BE 1.16.100. You can get pigstep disc and snount banner from bastion renmant, and diamond and horse armor can be obtained through a nether fortress.

Paper and sugar need sugarcane, which can't grow without water. You can get string from killing striders. 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's no spider eyes, and no water. It must be brought in from the Overworld and stocked in buckets and cauldrons.

Tips

 * A player can crouch when near lava as a safeguard to avoid falling in. However, you will 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 will do, 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, a flint and steel (or fire charge), and compass will allow the player to return to the Overworld if they become lost. The compass adds an easy way in the overworld to find the player's spawn.
 * Bring a pumpkin or a jack o'lantern. They can help you find your direction, as the stem on the top of the pumpkin will always face 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.
 * Bring some warped fungus as a defense towards hoglins.


 * Know your biome: Knowing the threats of the biome you're in or the biomes you will be traversing 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
If you think surviving in the nether is too easy, you may want to try this challenge. This section assumes you play in Bedrock Edition 1.16.2, but it will still work in Java Edition with differences. You start in the nether, and advance from wood, gold, iron, diamond, and then netherite. To go back, you must bring back a full beacon. (The beacon + the pyramid.)

Starting
Create a world with cheats, and start the world with creative. Build a nether portal and go to the nether. Break the nether portal. Fly until you find a warped forest. When in the forest, set your world spawn point where you land. Use /kill to see if the spawn point works. Empty your inventory, use /kill, and change to survival. You can start the challenge now.

In the warped forest, punch trees until you get 20 logs. Make a wooden pickaxe, axe, shovel, hoe, and sword. Make a bowl and gather mushrooms. Mine some netherrack and find gravel. If you need to eat, hide away and craft mushroom stew. Note that stew is not stackable, so don't craft stew until you need to eat it. Your next goal is to find blackstone. Blackstone appears around lava lakes, and is common in basalt deltas. To fight magma cubes, have your back against a wall, and hit the cubes with your sword. You can also pillar up to hit the cubes, but piglins and ghasts can shoot you. If you run into nether gold ore, mine it. Try to craft at least one piece of gold armor. This will make piglins ignore you and will give you a little protection.

After the Stone Age
Once you have stone tools, you can mine more nether gold ore, nether quartz, and netherrack. If you hadn't made one, make a chest and store your quartz, extra planks and sticks, and things you don't need. Your next goal is to find a crimson forest or nether wastes. For exploring, try to have at least one piece of gold armor, enough mushrooms to make 32 stew, 32-64 blackstone, 16-32 warped stem, at least 1 gold ingot, some ender pearls, and your stone tools. Bring some netherrack and gravel for pillaring, getting down from high cliffs, and building bridges. Try to get some ghast tears, gunpowder, bones, and arrows. Bring some warped fungus as well. Once you found the crimson forest, try to get gold, porkchops, and iron. If you need gold, pillar up 3 blocks, and hit a zombified piglin. Kill the horde and pick up all the gold nuggets, ingots, swords, armor, and rotten flesh. It is recommended to use hard difficulty to get more valuable items, such as enchanted items. Use your gold to barter with piglins. You need iron, obsidian, crying obsidian, fire resistance, and nethite hoes. Other stuff can also be useful. Once you have done that, try to mine more stone, and get crimson fungus and crimson-related items (fungus, stems, wart blocks, roots, vines.)

If you have more inventory space, kill more zombified piglins, and do more bartering. Set up a small base there, and go back to the warped forest. In the warped forest, build a base and have your chests, furnaces, crafting tables, and respawn anchor in the main base. If you got enough iron, make an shield, iron sword, iron pickaxe, and iron armor. Make a few buckets to pick up lava.

The iron age
Once you have iron tools and armor, go exploring for more resources. However, you have to do some things first.
 * If you got soul sand, make some soul campfires, and cook raw porkchops.
 * Start building a nether portal, and make a respawn anchor.
 * Make as many torches as you can (only in BE). Craft soul campfire, and break it without silk touch.
 * Start a storage system so you can find your things.
 * Build a hoglin farm. Don't forget to slab the floor so piglins cannot spawn.
 * Make a furnace and smelt extra gold armor/swords.
 * If you can, find a ruined portal, and raid the chest/gold blocks. Mark the coordinates so you can come back for the obsidian/crying obsidian.
 * Make a strider farm for string for bows and fishing rods.

Your next goal is to raid nether fortresses and bastion renmants and get as much diamond as you can. Have at least an iron sword, shield, iron pickaxe, all other tools should be stone. Bring a stack of cooked porkchops and some netherrack/gravel. Bring your torches. Wear at least one piece of iron armor (chestplate) and a piece of gold armor (helmet). If you got iron boots with soul speed, wear them on. If you have the iron, make some minecarts and rails. There are no crimson/warped boats. Also, prepare obsidian for some ender chests.

You have two directions. You can do them in any order.

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, because you won't have silk touch yet. Avoid blaze spawners, as you don't have a lot of armor. Kill lone blazes and as many wither skeletons as possible. You will need 3 skulls. There is no enchanting, so you cannot get looting. 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. For 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 so they can't kill you. 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 will give you 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.

Wither
After you got the skulls and soul sand needed, and have picked the place to spawn the wither, place the soul sand T, and place 2 skulls, 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 bastion, or you can barter for spectral arrow (JE only).)

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 because of no 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

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