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Craft an Eye of Ender by combining one Ender Pearl with one Blaze Powder in any two slots of a crafting grid. The recipe is shapeless, so the ingredients do not need a particular arrangement. After crafting, throw the eye in the Overworld to find the nearest stronghold, then use eyes in the stronghold’s End Portal frame to open the portal.
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What an Eye of Ender does
An Eye of Ender is both a crafting result and a navigation tool. Its first important job is locating a stronghold: when you throw one in the Overworld, it travels in the direction of the nearest stronghold. Once you reach that underground structure, the eyes have a second job. The stronghold’s portal room contains an End Portal frame, and placing eyes into its empty frame blocks activates the portal.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteYou therefore need to plan for two different uses. Some eyes are spent while you travel and search, while the final set is placed in the portal frame. A thrown eye can break instead of returning to you, so starting with only the exact number needed for the frame is risky.
Materials required
| Material | How to obtain it | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Ender Pearl | Endermen are a source. Other documented sources include bartering and villager trading. | Use one in the crafting grid. |
| Blaze Rod | Blazes drop Blaze Rods. The usual survival route therefore includes reaching the Nether and encountering blazes. | Craft the rod into Blaze Powder, then use one powder in the crafting grid. |
Each completed recipe produces one Eye of Ender. The two ingredients are independent: an Ender Pearl cannot substitute for Blaze Powder, and a Blaze Rod must first be converted into powder before it can be used in this recipe.
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Getting an Ender Pearl
Endermen can provide Ender Pearls. The game also documents bartering and villager trading as possible sources, so an enderman encounter is not the only route available to a survival player. Whichever source you use, keep the pearls available before you begin crafting; every eye requires a pearl of its own.
Turning a Blaze Rod into Blaze Powder
Blazes drop Blaze Rods. Once you have a rod, convert it into Blaze Powder before opening the crafting grid for the eye. This intermediate conversion matters because the recipe consumes powder, not the intact rod. The blaze requirement is the part of the normal survival route that sends you to the Nether.
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- Open a crafting grid.
- Place one Ender Pearl in any slot.
- Place one Blaze Powder in any other slot.
- Take the resulting Eye of Ender from the output slot.
The recipe is shapeless, meaning the two ingredients can occupy any two slots; there is no fixed pattern to memorize. Mojang’s Minecraft.net guidance summarizes the operation plainly: Combine those two ingredients in a crafting grid and you’ll get an Eye of Ender.
If the output does not appear
- Check that the item is an Ender Pearl rather than another ender-related item.
- Check that the Blaze Rod has been converted into Blaze Powder.
- Confirm that both ingredients are in the same crafting grid and that one of each is present.
- Because the recipe is shapeless, move the ingredients to different slots if you are accidentally trying to reproduce a pattern from another recipe.
How to use an Eye of Ender to find a stronghold
Stronghold finding is a process of repeated throws rather than a single guaranteed flight to the destination. Use the following sequence in the Overworld.
- Start in the Overworld. The documented locating behavior applies when the eye is thrown there.
- Throw an eye. Watch the direction in which it flies. It points toward the nearest stronghold.
- Travel in that direction. Move along the line indicated by the eye instead of searching randomly.
- Throw another eye periodically. Repeated checks let you correct your route as you travel and confirm that you are still moving toward the target.
- Watch for the downward turn. When the eye begins pointing down, the stronghold is below your current area. Switch from long-distance travel to an underground search.
- Search for the structure underground. The stronghold contains the portal room, so finding the structure is the necessary step before portal activation.
Reading the eye’s direction
Use each throw as a directional checkpoint. If the eye continues to lead forward, keep moving and check again after covering more ground. A downward indication is the important transition: it tells you to investigate below rather than continue across the surface. Periodic throws reduce the chance of walking a long distance after your route has drifted away from the stronghold.
Why you should carry spare eyes
Thrown eyes are consumable in practice. Minecraft.net reports a one-in-five chance that an eye shatters each time it is used. That probability applies to every locating throw, so the number you craft for navigation is not predictable in advance. Bring more than the minimum needed for the portal, and avoid throwing an eye repeatedly when one directional check is enough.
The break chance does not mean every throw will fail; most throws do not shatter. It does mean that a player who carries exactly enough eyes to fill the portal frame may run out before reaching the stronghold. Treat the frame requirement as a reserve, not as your entire supply.
Finding the End Portal room
The stronghold is the structure you are trying to reach, but the portal itself is in a particular room inside it. Continue exploring the stronghold after the eye has led you underground until you locate the portal room. The room contains the End Portal frame used for activation.
Finding the stronghold and finding its portal room are separate stages. An eye’s downward direction identifies the area in which to search; it does not replace the exploration needed to locate the room inside the structure. Keep your remaining eyes available for the frame once the room is found.
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How to activate the End Portal
- Enter the stronghold’s portal room.
- Identify the empty End Portal Frame blocks surrounding the portal opening.
- Place an Eye of Ender into each empty frame block.
- Continue until all twelve frame blocks are filled.
- When the frame is complete, the End portal activates.
The portal room has twelve frame blocks, so up to twelve eyes are needed for activation. If some frames already contain eyes when you arrive, use eyes only in the empty blocks and keep the remainder for your own supply. The eyes you throw while travelling and the eyes you place in the frame are the same item, but only the thrown ones carry the documented one-in-five shatter risk.
Planning your inventory
Separate your supply mentally into two reserves:
- Navigation reserve: eyes you are willing to throw while following the stronghold direction.
- Portal reserve: enough eyes to fill every empty frame block you find in the portal room.
The portal reserve can be as large as twelve eyes because the room has twelve frame blocks. Your navigation reserve depends on how many throws the journey takes and how many eyes shatter. Since neither value is fixed by the recipe, craft additional eyes whenever your materials allow it rather than assuming the journey will consume a predetermined amount.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Troubleshooting common problems
“I have a pearl and a rod, but I cannot craft the eye.”
A Blaze Rod is not the final recipe ingredient. Convert the rod into Blaze Powder first, then combine that powder with an Ender Pearl. Also verify that you are using one of each item in a single crafting grid.
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“The eye flies in a direction I did not expect.”
Throw it again after moving some distance and compare the new direction. The intended behavior is to point toward the nearest stronghold, and periodic throws are part of the locating process. If the eye starts pointing down, stop treating the journey as a surface trek and search underground in that area.
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That can be normal: each thrown eye has a one-in-five chance to shatter. The break is not evidence that the recipe was wrong. Use a spare eye for the next directional check and protect the eyes reserved for portal activation.
“I reached the stronghold but have no portal.”
The stronghold is larger than the portal room. Continue exploring its rooms and corridors until you find the room containing the End Portal frame. The eyes used to locate the structure do not automatically activate the portal.
“Some frame blocks already have eyes.”
Only fill the empty frame blocks. Count the vacant positions rather than assuming that all twelve need a new eye. Once every frame block is occupied, the portal activates.
Quick Recap
Quick checklist
- Obtain Ender Pearls from endermen, bartering, or villager trading.
- Obtain Blaze Rods from blazes and convert the rods into Blaze Powder.
- Combine one pearl and one powder in any two crafting-grid slots.
- Throw the finished eyes in the Overworld and follow their direction.
- Throw another eye periodically while travelling.
- When an eye points down, search underground for the stronghold.
- Explore the stronghold until you find its portal room.
- Place eyes in the empty End Portal Frame blocks, up to twelve in total.
- Carry spares because a thrown eye has a one-in-five chance to break.
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