Why Isn’t My End Portal Working?
You’ve braved the depths, collected the necessary resources, and finally located a stronghold. Yet, the coveted End Portal stubbornly refuses to activate. Frustration is understandable, but the reasons for an inactive portal can vary. Here’s a breakdown of the most common issues and how to resolve them.
The primary reason your End Portal isn’t working is likely because it lacks the required Eyes of Ender. An active portal requires all 12 end portal frame blocks to be filled with an Eye of Ender. These frames can be found within the portal room of a stronghold, arranged in a circular pattern suspended over a pool of lava. While some of the frames may already contain an Eye of Ender, there’s only a 10% chance for each to be pre-filled upon world generation, which means that you will likely need to craft several and place them yourself. If you haven’t placed an Eye of Ender in every frame, the portal will not activate.
Another common reason is that you may be in Bedrock Edition of Minecraft, in which not every stronghold has an End Portal. In this instance, you must find another stronghold in your world.
Before we delve into the nitty-gritty, here’s a recap: you need a completed end portal frame, all 12 slots must have an eye of ender in them to fully activate the End Portal, and you need to be playing on the Java Edition of the game, or find a different stronghold in Bedrock Edition. Let’s explore some more potential roadblocks through frequently asked questions.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How Do I Get an End Portal to Work?
The process involves a few key steps:
- Locate a Stronghold: Use Eyes of Ender to guide you to the nearest stronghold. These eyes will point in the direction of the stronghold when thrown and will travel a short distance before shattering.
- Find the Portal Room: Within the stronghold, locate the portal room. This room typically has a lava pool with a circular frame suspended above it. The room typically has a staircase leading up to the portal frame and a silverfish spawner within the staircase.
- Fill the Portal Frame: Place an Eye of Ender into every empty slot in the portal frame. Once all 12 slots are filled, the End Portal will activate, displaying a swirling black texture.
Why Isn’t There an End Portal in My Stronghold?
This is specific to Bedrock Edition of Minecraft. Unlike Java Edition, where every stronghold has a guaranteed End Portal, some strongholds in Bedrock Edition do not contain one. If you’ve explored a stronghold thoroughly and can’t find a portal, you’ll need to locate another stronghold in your world. Luckily, both editions have 128 different strongholds in them, so you will eventually find one.
Is It Possible for the End Portal to Not Spawn in Minecraft?
Yes, though rare, it’s possible for a portal room to be overwritten during world generation by a cave, ravine, or mineshaft. Even in Java Edition, where strongholds initially always generate with a portal, this can occur. If this is the case, you’ll need to explore and find a different stronghold. This is one of the rarer cases for the portal to fail to work, but is important to understand as a possibility.
What Are the Chances of an End Portal Having No Eyes of Ender?
Each individual end portal frame block has a 10% chance of containing an Eye of Ender when generated. This means it’s highly unlikely that all the slots will be filled by world generation alone, with the chances of all 12 frames being empty being over 25%, which you will likely encounter in your playthrough of the game. You will almost always need to craft and place additional Eyes of Ender.
How Far Apart Do Strongholds Spawn?
In Pocket Edition, 3 strongholds are generated within a ring of radius between 640 and 1152 blocks from spawn. Additional strongholds will generate randomly throughout the world. In Java Edition, they generate in rings around the world spawn point, with strongholds evenly spaced around these rings until the maximum of 128 is reached. The distance between them varies greatly, so there’s no guaranteed spacing.
Can an Eye of Ender Be Wrong?
While Eyes of Ender generally point to the closest stronghold, they can sometimes lead you astray, especially if the world’s generation has been altered by different biome maps or older version updates. The Eye of Ender will lead you to the chunk that the stronghold generated, but if the generation is incorrect, it can lead to a location other than the stronghold.
How Many End Portals Are in Minecraft?
In Java Edition, each world contains exactly 128 strongholds, and each stronghold contains a functioning end portal. Therefore, there is a total of 1,536 end portal frame blocks generated in a world. In Bedrock Edition, 128 strongholds are also generated, but only some of them will have a portal. Therefore, you are guaranteed 128 end portal frames in Java Edition, and will likely be able to find them in Bedrock Edition.
What is the Floating Thing in the End Minecraft?
The End is known for its unique structures, including end cities and end ships. End ships are floating structures that sometimes generate alongside end cities, they are the only place you can find elytra and dragon heads. Additionally, you will see many chorus trees throughout the outer islands of the End; these are tall, coral-like structures composed of chorus plants and chorus fruit.
What Is the Portal After Killing the Ender Dragon?
The portal that appears after defeating the Ender Dragon is called the exit portal, also known as the end podium or end fountain. This portal allows you to return to your world’s spawn point. It activates upon every defeat of the Ender Dragon.
What Level is the Stronghold At?
Strongholds can generate at any Y-level, and will mostly generate underground, preferring biomes above sea level, but will generate underwater if necessary. They may even generate at the bedrock level, which can cut through the bedrock itself. This is important to remember when throwing eyes of ender as you will often need to dig down into the ground.
Is 9 Eyes of Ender Enough?
No, 9 Eyes of Ender is not enough to activate an End Portal. You need a total of 12 Eyes of Ender to fill all the slots in the end portal frame. You are more than likely to need to craft your own eyes of ender to complete the portal.
How Many Eyes of Ender Should I Craft?
You’ll need a minimum of 12 Eyes of Ender to guarantee you can activate the portal, however, if you are unlucky you may need to craft more in order to find the stronghold. The recipe for an Eye of Ender is one Blaze Powder and one Ender Pearl. Consider crafting a few extra in case you need to search for a second or third stronghold if your first is overwritten by natural generation or does not contain an end portal.
How Often Should I Throw an Ender Eye?
An Eye of Ender will shatter about 1 in 5 times that you throw it. This means you can usually get a few throws from one Eye of Ender. They don’t lead you straight to the End Portal itself, but rather to the stronghold, and you may need multiple throws to locate the stronghold, so consider crafting multiple in preparation for this.
How Do I Leave the End?
There are two ways to leave The End dimension: either by being killed by an enemy, or by defeating the Ender Dragon and using the exit portal that appears. If you are not strong enough to defeat the Ender Dragon, it is best to have precautions in case you are killed, and a method to safely return to your base.
Where Do Strongholds Stop Spawning?
In the Java Edition, strongholds appear in one of eight rings centered around the world spawn. However, there is a limit of 128 strongholds in a world, and beyond 24,320 blocks from the spawn, they stop spawning entirely. If you are playing on a world that has expanded far beyond the world spawn, this can sometimes lead to not finding a portal.
Hopefully, these answers have shed light on why your End Portal might not be working. Always remember to check that all 12 frames contain an Eye of Ender, you are in Java Edition or have found a stronghold with an end portal, and that the stronghold you are in isn’t overwritten by natural generation. With some perseverance, you’ll be ready to face the Ender Dragon and explore the mysteries of the End.