Tutorials/Defeating an End city

Capturing an end city can be fun, and one can obtain valuable loot. However, it can also be difficult and dangerous.

Finding an end city
Before finding an end city, the player must defeat the Ender Dragon and throw an ender pearl into the end gateway portal.

Once at the outer islands, start a map so you can see which islands you have already explored. You may want to maximize the number of islands on your map by traveling away from the empty space before activating the map.

To cross a gap between islands, build a bridge, sneaking as you go to avoid falling into the void. Use a material other than end stone to make your bridges clearly visible when returning to your gateway portal.

It is also recommended to bring an ender chest in case the city has valuable items.

Hazards
One is not likely to get lost in an end city, as down always leads out and up always leads in. If you want to mark which towers have already been explored, use signs.

You will also find that there are no endermen in the cities.

The main hazards are shulkers and falling. To stay safe, bring armor, preferably with enchantments like protection and feather falling.

Avoiding falls
End city towers are relatively empty. They are 3*3 tubes with blocks only on the edges, not the corners. Because of the emptiness, it is easy to fall when jumping up a step. Place blocks in the corners to complete the staircase.

Fighting shulkers
Whenever you see a shulker, wait until it opens (which should happen after a few seconds). Then, hit it repeatedly with a sword. Deflect its bullets if necessary.

If you get hit with a bullet, make sure you do not float to fatal heights. To avoid this, go under one of the purpur slabs and continue to hit the shulker. When the levitation wears off, you will only fall a few blocks.

If the shulker teleports out of sight, the battle is essentially complete because the shulker cannot attack anymore. If you happen to encounter the same shulker later, you can finish it off and collect the shell.

Special rooms
When exploring end cities, you may find special rooms.

Treasure room
If a room has chests, simply collect the loot.

Large shulker room
Large shulker rooms have a spiral staircase around the edge, but it is much easier to go down than up. An easier way is to pillar jump, killing shulkers as you go. After killing the shulkers, go down the spiral staircase and collect the shulker loot.

If the room branches out at the top, place ladders along the pillar and continue exploring.

End ship
Before going to the ship, make sure you have the necessary equipment for end cities. In addition, have an ender pearl (which is fairly easy to obtain in the end).

To enter, throw the ender pearl onto the roof of the ship. Then, go inside, and then to the treasure chamber. First, kill the shulker. Then collect the elytra and chest loot.

Finally, go to the bow, where the dragon head is. Place blocks around and under the head. Once it is secure, you can mine the head and return to the ground by building a bridge back to the pier, or teleporting using an ender pearl. Alternatively, you can use your elytra to get back to the pier, although this will cost durability.

Because end ships contain extremely rare items, it is recommended to put the items in an ender chest. If the end city doesn't have one, but you brought an eye of ender, you can make an ender chest.