Minecraft World FAQ - Structures and Portals | Artemis PvP

Question 1

What's the point of the Nether in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Fast travel and unique materials. Every block you walk in the Nether equals 8 in the Overworld, and the Nether is where you get things like Nether wart, blaze rods from fortresses and ancient debris for netherite.

Question 2

Can you leave the End without killing the Ender Dragon?

Accepted Answer

Only by dying. The exit portal home only switches on once the dragon is defeated.

Question 3

How do you find a stronghold in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Throw eyes of ender: each one flies toward the nearest stronghold. Follow them, and dig down where they fall straight into the ground. A thrown eye can break, so bring spares. The stronghold's portal room needs 12 eyes in total to light the End portal (some frames may already have one).

Question 4

How many strongholds are there in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

128 in a Java Edition world, spread across eight rings around the world's centre. Bedrock Edition has no fixed limit. Every stronghold is a place where an End portal can be found - its portal room. Strongholds generate at any height, mostly underground, and can even cut into the bedrock layer.

Question 5

Do all strongholds have an End portal?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The End portal room is the only room every stronghold is guaranteed to have, and strongholds are the only place End portals are found. It is never within five rooms of the entrance staircase, so expect to explore. Strongholds are mostly underground but can generate at any height, even cutting into bedrock or under water. A stronghold can spread up to 112 blocks out from its starting staircase.

Question 6

How do you activate an End portal?

Accepted Answer

Put an eye of ender in every one of the 12 End portal frame blocks in a stronghold's portal room. The portal opens when the last eye goes in. End portal frames cannot be obtained in Survival, so you have to use the portal in a stronghold, and eyes cannot be taken back out.

Question 7

Why is my End portal not working?

Accepted Answer

Every one of the 12 End portal frames needs an eye of ender in it; the portal opens only when the last eye goes in. In survival you cannot build your own, so it has to be the portal inside a stronghold. In Creative, frames you place yourself must all face inward toward the 3x3 middle, or the portal will not open. Once it is open, jump into the black portal blocks to go to the End.

Question 8

How do you make a Nether portal?

Accepted Answer

Build a rectangle frame of obsidian at least 4 blocks wide and 5 tall (the corners are optional) and light the inside with flint and steel or fire. That leaves a 2 by 3 opening inside the frame. The biggest frame allowed is 23 by 23. Every block you travel in the Nether equals 8 in the Overworld, and a portal links to an existing portal within 128 blocks of the matching spot on the other side - otherwise the game builds a new one.

Question 9

How do you link two Nether portals in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Divide your Overworld X and Z coordinates by 8 and build the Nether portal at that spot (Y stays the same). When you walk through, the game looks for the closest portal near the matching spot in the other dimension; on Java that is within 128 blocks in the Overworld and 16 blocks in the Nether. Two Overworld portals end up linked to the same Nether portal when they are both close enough to it. Build each pair at matching coordinates to keep them separate.

Question 10

What is the best Y level for diamonds?

Accepted Answer

Around Y=-58 and Y=-59, near the bottom of the world - deepslate diamond ore is most common there (Java Edition 1.18 and later). Mine diamond ore with an iron pickaxe or better. Fortune gives extra diamonds; Silk Touch drops the ore block itself.

Question 11

What is the best Y level for iron in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Iron has two sweet spots: around Y=16 underground, and high up around Y=232 in mountains. A third, thinner spread of iron runs evenly from Y=-64 to Y=72. The high band (Y=80 to 384) is the biggest, but only tall mountains reach it.

Question 12

What is the best Y level for gold in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Around Y=-16, deep underground. In badlands (mesa) biomes there is a lot of extra gold from Y=32 up to 256, so badlands are the best place to mine it. Gold ore needs an iron pickaxe or better to drop anything.

Question 13

Where do you find emeralds in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Emerald ore only generates in mountain and windswept hills biomes, and it is most common high up, around Y=232. Villagers also pay emeralds when you sell them items.

Question 14

Can you grow amethyst in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but only where it spawns: budding amethyst inside an amethyst geode slowly grows amethyst buds into clusters, and clusters drop amethyst shards. You cannot move budding amethyst, even with Silk Touch. Amethyst shards are used to craft spyglasses and tinted glass.

Question 15

How do you find an Ancient City?

Accepted Answer

Ancient cities are in the deep dark biome at Y=-51, far underground. Look for sculk and dark, wide caves, and stay quiet - sculk shriekers there can summon the warden. Their chests hold things found nowhere else, such as disc fragments, some armor trims and echo shards.

Question 16

What is the point of the deep dark in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

The deep dark holds ancient cities, whose chests have loot found nowhere else - disc fragments, some armor trims and echo shards. It is also where the warden can be summoned, so players go there carefully.

Question 17

How do you find a Trial Chamber?

Accepted Answer

Dig deep in the Overworld: trial chambers are underground, and their starting room is between Y=-40 and Y=-20. They are built from copper and tuff bricks. Trial spawners there drop trial keys for vaults. Breezes only spawn in trial chambers.

Question 18

What is the point of trial chambers in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Loot and the mace. Clearing trial spawners gives trial keys that open vaults; drinking an ominous bottle starts an ominous trial with tougher mobs, whose ominous keys open ominous vaults - the only source of heavy cores for a mace. Trial chambers are also the only place breezes spawn, and breeze rods craft wind charges.

Question 19

Can you only loot a trial chamber vault once?

Accepted Answer

Each player can open a given vault once, but every player gets their own turn at it. Open vaults with the trial keys that trial spawners drop. Ominous vaults need ominous trial keys and hold the rarer loot, such as the heavy core.

Question 20

What is a trial spawner in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

A trial spawner is the spawner found in trial chambers. It spawns waves of mobs, and once you beat them it drops items or trial keys, then goes quiet for 30 minutes. More players nearby means more mobs. If you walk up with Bad Omen you start an ominous trial, and nearby spawners turn into ominous trial spawners with their own loot. You cannot pick one up in survival.

Question 21

How do you find a Woodland Mansion?

Accepted Answer

Woodland mansions are rare and spawn in dark forests and pale gardens, usually far from spawn. A woodland explorer map from a cartographer villager points to one. Mansions are home to vindicators and evokers - and evokers drop totems of undying.

Question 22

Is there a secret room in a woodland mansion?

Accepted Answer

Some mansions have one: a room hiding a block of diamond inside a mass of obsidian, and it can be on any floor. Rooms are random, so not every mansion has it. Mansions are guarded by vindicators and evokers, and evokers always drop a totem of undying. Allays can be found locked in their jail rooms.

Question 23

Where do you find a Nether Fortress?

Accepted Answer

In the Nether. Fortresses are big Nether-brick bridges and corridors and are the only places where blazes and wither skeletons spawn. The Nether is split into regions that each hold either a fortress or a bastion remnant, so if you find bastions, keep exploring in another direction.

Question 24

How do you find a Bastion Remnant?

Accepted Answer

Explore the Nether: bastions are large castle-like ruins that generate in every Nether biome except basalt deltas. Piglins and piglin brutes guard them. Bastions are where netherite upgrade templates are found.

Question 25

What are the four types of bastions in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Bastion remnants come in four layouts: the bridge, the hoglin stables, the housing units and the treasure room. They are found across the Nether, except in basalt deltas. Bastions are the only place to find netherite upgrade templates, and piglin brutes guard them. The treasure room has a magma cube spawner.

Question 26

Where do you find an Ocean Monument?

Accepted Answer

In deep ocean biomes. Ocean monuments are big underwater temples guarded by guardians and elder guardians, and the only place to find sponges.

Question 27

Is an ocean monument worth raiding in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Yes, if you want sponges or prismarine: monuments are the only place sponges are found. The treasure room in the middle hides 8 blocks of gold. Every monument has three elder guardians, one at the top and one in each wing, plus regular guardians, which only spawn there.

Question 28

How do you find a mushroom island?

Accepted Answer

Search deep oceans far from the mainland - mushroom fields always generate as islands surrounded by deep ocean. No hostile mobs spawn there.

Question 29

How do you find a pillager outpost?

Accepted Answer

Pillager outposts are semi-rare towers that generate every several hundred to a couple thousand blocks - rarer than villages, more common than woodland mansions. Killing the raid captain there gives an ominous bottle, used to start raids and ominous trials.

Question 30

How do you find a village in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Explore plains, savanna, taiga, meadow, snowy plains and desert biomes - villages generate there. In Java Edition there is about a 1 in 2 chance of a village within 500 blocks of world spawn. With cheats on, /locate structure minecraft:village_plains (or another village type) gives the coordinates of the nearest one.

Question 31

How do you use /locate in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Type /locate structure followed by the structure's name - for example /locate structure minecraft:stronghold - and the game prints the coordinates of the nearest one. It needs cheats or operator permission.

Question 32

How do you get to an End city?

Accepted Answer

Beat the ender dragon, then go through the End gateway that appears - it takes you to the outer End islands, where End cities generate on the larger islands. You can cross the void another way (for example by bridging), but the gateway is the easy route. Some End cities have an End ship - the only place to find elytra and dragon heads.

Question 33

How do you get into an End gateway?

Accepted Answer

Throw an ender pearl into it, or fly straight into it with an elytra. Bedrock surrounds the gateway, so you cannot just walk in. It sends you out to the End's outer islands, where End cities are. Each time you kill the Ender Dragon a new gateway opens around the main island, up to 20. Every outer island gateway has a twin that brings you back.

Question 34

What do you do with the dragon egg in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

The dragon egg is a block you get once per world (twice on Bedrock) for beating the Ender Dragon. If you try to mine it, it teleports away. To pick it up, push it with a piston or let it fall onto a torch or another non-full block; it then drops as an item.

Question 35

What do shulkers do in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Shulkers are box-shaped mobs that live only in End cities. They shoot homing bullets that give you Levitation for 10 seconds, so fight them away from long drops. They are the only source of shulker shells, which you need for shulker boxes.

Question 36

What does chorus fruit do in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Eating chorus fruit teleports you to a random spot nearby, and you can eat it even when full. Smelt it into popped chorus fruit to make purpur blocks. Chorus fruit comes from breaking chorus plants.

Question 37

How do you find a cherry grove in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Look in the mountains. Cherry groves are pink-leaved biomes that form on mountain slopes, plateaus and valleys, often next to meadows, plains and forests lower down. They give cherry logs and pink petals. You can also find one with /locate biome cherry_grove.

Question 38

Is there a secret room in a desert temple?

Accepted Answer

Yes, two. Four loot chests are hidden under the floor in the middle, guarded by a TNT trap set off by a pressure plate, and a buried room at the side holds suspicious sand you can brush for loot. The pressure plate sits right under the blue terracotta in the middle of the floor and is wired to 9 TNT, so do not drop straight down onto it.

Question 39

How do you find buried treasure in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Follow a buried treasure map, which you can find in the map chest of a shipwreck or ocean ruin. The X marks a chest buried on or near a beach, sometimes underwater. Buried treasure is the only source of the heart of the sea, which you need to craft a conduit.

Question 40

How do you find lush caves in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Look for azalea trees on the surface: they grow above lush caves, with roots that hang down into the cave. Lush caves are most common under humid biomes like dark forests, bamboo jungles and old growth taigas. Inside you find moss, glow berries on cave vines, spore blossoms, dripleaf, clay pools and axolotls.

Question 41

What is the pale garden in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

The pale garden is a rare, grey variant of the dark forest, full of pale oak trees and pale plants. Creaking hearts in its trees spawn creakings at night. Look for it inland next to dark forests, often on high ground such as plateaus and mountain slopes.

Question 42

Is there anything good in the badlands in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Yes: badlands (mesa) are covered in coloured terracotta and red sand, have extra gold ore, and can contain badlands mineshafts. They form next to deserts. Gold ore is much more common in badlands than anywhere else, from Y=32 up to 256.

Question 43

What's the point of trail ruins in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Trail ruins are buried ruins in heavily forested biomes, built for archaeology. Brush the suspicious gravel there to find pottery sherds, armor trim templates such as Host, Raiser and Shaper, and the Relic music disc. Trail ruins generate in the same places on Java and Bedrock for the same seed.

Question 44

What is the rarest biome in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

There is no official ranking, but mushroom fields are one of the rare ones: small mycelium islands, always next to deep ocean and cut off from other biomes. The pale garden is also described as rare. Mushroom fields are one of the few places huge mushrooms grow naturally, and mooshrooms live there.

Question 45

How does an iron farm work in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

It uses villagers: villagers summon iron golems when they gossip or panic, and the farm kills the golems for their iron ingots. A common design is a small built village whose villagers can see a zombie (which makes them panic), with a kill chamber for the golems.

Question 46

How do you farm sugar cane in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Plant it on grass, dirt, sand or a few other blocks directly next to water, and it grows up to 3 blocks tall - about one block every 18 minutes, even in the dark. Harvest the upper blocks and leave the bottom one to regrow. Sugar cane makes paper (books, maps, rockets) and sugar. Automatic farms use pistons to break the grown blocks.

Question 47

How far can water reach crops in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Water hydrates farmland up to four blocks away in every direction, diagonals included, when the water is level with the farmland or one block higher. One water block in the middle of a 9x9 patch keeps all of it wet. Blocks in between do not matter, and still or flowing water works the same. Rain also hydrates farmland, and crops grow faster on wet farmland.

Question 48

What do you do with a spawner in Minecraft?

Accepted Answer

Most players turn a spawner into a mob farm: it keeps spawning its mob while you are within 16 blocks and the light suits that mob. You cannot pick it up in survival, even with Silk Touch. Breaking one with a pickaxe gives 15 to 43 experience, but the spawner is gone for good. Lighting the area stops mobs that need darkness from spawning.