How To Make A Nether Portal In Minecraft

The Nether Portal in Minecraft is an exciting creation that literally opens up new worlds to explore. The Nether is full of unique materials required to build high-end gear and to reach the game’s final boss, the Ender Dragon.

This guide will break down everything you need to know about the Nether Portal, including how to make it, what materials you can find in the Nether, and more. You can also get creative and create your own stylish nether portal design.

What Are Nether Portals For?

The answer is in the name — a Nether Portal is for traveling to the Nether! Why head to the Nether? Well, you can fight Blazes for important potion ingredients, explore a Nether Fortress for unique blocks, or use it to travel to new lands in the Overworld. That’s right, every step you take in the Nether is worth eight blocks in the Overworld.

In many ways, the Nether is the opposite of the Overworld. Here, Cobblestone is one of the most powerful blocks, beds explode, and water instantly evaporates. There isn’t a sky, either. Instead, the Nether is full of blocks, providing a claustrophobic feeling.

A Nether Portal frame next to some useful materials.

The Nether has a red tint, and it’s full of lava. This region also has its own fauna, and you can find some truly useful blocks like Glowstone.

Glowstone is a self-lighting block that prevents enemies from spawning in the Overworld.

Make sure to come prepared with powerful weapons and armor. Enchanted items are an even better idea. You’ll fight some formidable enemies, and the only way back to the mainland is back through your portal. If you die in the Nether, you’ll respawn in the Overworld.

Now that you have a bit of an idea about the Nether, it’s time to learn how to make a Nether Portal.

How To Make A Nether Portal

Nether Portals require a few ingredients: ten Obsidian Blocks and the Flint and Steel item. Let’s break down how to acquire each one.

Flint and Steel

The Flint and Steel item requires a piece of Flint and, ironically, an Iron Ingot, as Steel isn’t a material in base Minecraft.

How to make an Iron Ingot

Making an Iron Ingot requires finding Iron Ore while exploring. You can mine Iron Ore with a Stone pickaxe or something higher.

Iron Ore is one of the more common items in Minecraft.

After mining Iron Ore, smelt it at a Furnace to get an Iron Ingot.

How to find Flint

Flint is very easy to find. All you need is a shovel and a bunch of Gravel.

Flint can blend in with Stone, so be careful!

Dig up the Gravel, and Flint will occasionally drop from it. Flint has a 10% chance of dropping from Gravel.

Digging up a few patches of Gravel will almost always result in a few Flint pieces.

Finally, combine the Flint and an Iron Ingot via a Crafting Table to get Flint and Steel.

You can use Flint and Steel to set fires all over the world.

Obsidian blocks

Obsidian blocks are one of Minecraft’s toughest materials. They’re impervious to Creeper explosions, and mining them requires a Diamond pickaxe at minimum.

The Obsidian Block is quite distinct, standing out from the typical dirt blocks.

While you can discover Obsidian blocks while exploring, it’s a much better idea to make them from scratch by either pouring water over lava or pouring lava over water. You can do either process with a lava or a water bucket.

How to make a water or lava bucket

Making a bucket is quite simple. All you need is three Iron Ingots. Then, interact with a Crafting Table and organize them as follows.

You can turn an empty bucket into lava buckets.

Once you’ve acquired an empty bucket, hold it and right-click with either water or lava to fill it. In this example, we’ll be using a water bucket.

With your water bucket in hand, explore the underground until you find a lava pool.

Sometimes you'll find a lava lake. That works too.

Now, pour water over the lava source.

The two forces will combine, resulting in Obsidian blocks.

Mine ten of these Obsidian blocks with a Diamond pickaxe. Using a lower-level pickaxe will not work.

Alternatively, you can make a Nether Portal in creative mode. This doesn’t require a Diamond pickaxe or any Iron Ingots, but it’s much more fun to work for the creation.

Build an Obsidian Frame

With the Flint and Steel item alongside ten Obsidian blocks in your inventory, it’s time to make a Minecraft Nether Portal.

Build the portal frame in Obsidian block, making a 5×4 rectangular frame.

If you're running low on Obsidian, you can cut the corners of your portal frames.

Now, light the portal frame with your Flint and Steel. The portal structure should light up with a purple hue.

A lit Minecraft Nether Portal emits a purple glow.

Congratulations! You’ve made a Nether Portal. Now, you can step inside it, wait a few seconds, and explore all the Nether has to offer. Just beware — enemies can enter the portal as well. It might be best to build a base around your Nether Portals to prevent that from happening.

Also, breaking even one Obsidian block will power down your Nether Portal. To remake the ruined portal, place the Obsidian back and relight it.

You can make as many Nether Portals as you’d like. Because of the Nether’s 8:1 distance ratio, some Minecraft players connect their Nether Portals via railroads and use them to transport resources across massive distances.

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Max Moeller

Max is a freelance writer with a love for gaming and technology. He’s always looking for the next big game to play and tinkers with tech in his remaining free time.