End prep[edit]
The End is extremely dangerous, and you should have the following at minimum before entering:
- Diamond armor (enchanted and/or netherite is better)
- Stacks of blocks to build with
- Food
- Iron pickaxe
- Bow with stacks of arrows (or Infinity enchantment)
- Water bucket
Also, if you're serious about it, put some backup supplies in a chest in the portal room and place a bed in it to set your spawn point there.
The End Crystals[edit]
The first thing to do is to get to the surface of the main end island. If you're on a smaller island, build out. If you're underground, dig a staircase up. After that, shoot the floating purple things on top of the pillars to break them. Two of these ender crystals will be encased in iron bars, so you'll need to build up to break them. They explode when broken, so use your bow after breaking the iron bars.
Beating the dragon[edit]
The dragon, unlike most other mobs, has a HP bar at the top of the screen. If it refills, you haven't broken all the ender crystals yet. The dragon can swoop down at you, shoot purple poison breath (if you brought bottles, you can collect it for really advanced stuff), and fly to the bedrock thing in the center. If it's in the sky, shoot it. If it's on the thing in the center, use your sword or beds. The bed thing is because beds explode on usage in the Nether and the End, but this creates fire on the ground and can hurt you.
The End![edit]
Once the dragon starts exploding in purple light and dropping a ridiculous amount of EXP, you've beaten Minecraft! The bedrock thing in the center now has a portal back to the Overworld in it, but you might not want to head back yet.
And Then...?[edit]
After the dragon, you have a few options:
- Respawn it by putting End Crystals on the bedrock thing
- Go to the purple light and throw an ender pearl through the bedrock thing there to explore the End outskirts, exploring End Cities and Ships to get loot like enchanted diamond gear, elytras, and dragon heads.
- Go home and read the End Poem, the thing Minecraft has where credits would be.
- After going home, you can fight the Wither, an optional superboss.