For what feels like the better part of a decade, Minecraft has established that it is no stranger to interdimensional travel, having multiple worlds. There’s the overworld, a place teeming with life and varied biomes all over. The End, a barren cluster of islands floating in the abyss, guarded by the Ender Dragon. And finally, the Nether. A terrifying hellscape caked in lava lakes and imposing monsters, most of which are out to destroy the player. Doesn’t that sound like just the place to be? Today, we’re going to talk about how to make a Nether Portal, the only way to enter the Nether. Let’s begin.
How to make a Nether Portal
Unlike most things in Minecraft, we won’t be crafting the portal, at least not in our inventory. We’ll need to make a physical structure. How cool is that? Anyway, first, we’re going to need to obtain Obsidian. Obsidian is a dark purple block known for its high blast resistance and strength, which is fitting where we’re headed. The problem is that it is relatively difficult to acquire. To mine Obsidian and pick it up, you will need a diamond or netherite pickaxe at least. Iron won’t work here!
Once you obtain the pickaxe, we need to find lava and water. Although Obsidian generates naturally in all dimensions, if we want a renewable source of it, we’ll need the liquids. Obsidian is formed when flowing water touches a lava source block. To replicate this effect, we’ll want to scavenge a few buckets of lava. Once we have our lava sources placed, you can simply pour water over them. We then move on to the necessary albeit tedious phase of mining the obsidian. From a non-enchanted diamond pickaxe, Obsidian takes 9.4 seconds to break. That may not sound like a lot, but we’re going to need ten blocks, so get ready to mine for a couple minutes.
Finally, once you have mined up at least ten blocks of Obsidian, it’s time to get building! What we’re going to do is form a physical doorway out of obsidian that leaves at least two blocks wide, and three blocks tall. The corners don’t need to be filled in, but if you care about aesthetics, you can build it like I do here. After that, grab a flint and steel and light the bottom of the portal, and boom! A purple gateway will open itself directly in front of you. Now, you have a functional Nether Portal.
Oh, and don’t worry about having to make another portal to get back home. When you enter the Nether, a portal will form automatically for you to return to the Overworld. Just in case, however, I would take the flint and steel with you. When ghasts attack, or any explosion for that matter, the Nether Portal can deactivate, and will need to be re-lit. Other than that, you’re golden!
Trivia
As of update 1.7.2, you can make the Nether Portal in different shapes and sizes! This is a relatively recent change, and doesn’t have much utility, but it’s pretty neat! With a minimum size of 4×5 and a maximum of 23×23, you can make any shape within those measurements. This still excludes corners.
The purple portal blocks that form after lighting the portal emit a light level of 11, which is less powerful than a torch but more powerful than glowing Redstone Ore.
If the portal in the Nether is destroyed or broken in some way, a new portal will be created when teleporting using the Overworld.
Conclusion
A fairly simple blog put out, to be honest. But nevertheless, this is crucial information that every Minecraft should have in their mental arsenal! Now, you can explore the nether hellscape to your heart’s content in search of piglin bastions, nether fortresses, and more. In any case, I hope this blog taught you something new, and have a great day!
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