How To Create a Nether Portal in Minecraft

In Minecraft, the world you spawn in isn’t the only accessible dimension because Nether Portals exist. These portals are the gateway to the Nether, an underground hellscape full of mobs, hostile or neutral. Many people want to go there because of its rare resources and loot waiting for someone to claim it.

Making a Nether Portal isn’t tricky, but you need some endgame-level resources if there aren’t any naturally occurring ones. Read on to learn more about these gates to hell.

Making a Nether Portal With Lava

A Nether Portal is made using two main ingredients, Obsidian and Fire. While Fire isn’t a block, players can start one with the following tools.

• Flint and Steel
  
• Fire charge
  
• Fireballs made by Ghasts
  
• Lightning strikes
  
• Natural fires
  

Obsidian is a rock that forms when you combine Lava with Water. It can occur naturally, but you can create your own Obsidian blocks too.

Nether Portals must measure at least 4×5 blocks, but the maximum is 23×23. Therefore, you’ll need more Obsidian to reach the Nether.

Because of its durability, Obsidian can’t be mined by any tools aside from a Diamond or Netherite Pickaxe. Other material can break it over time but doing so doesn’t result in Obsidian drops. Here’s how to do it:

1. Craft some Buckets.
   
2. Get some Buckets of Water.
   
3. Go to a cave system and find a lava pool with more than 10 source blocks.
   
4. Leave the cave.
   
5. Break two blocks, creating a hole in the ground.
   
6. Pour Lava into the hole and quickly pour Water to create Obsidian.
   
7. Repeat until you have a form a Obsidian door.
   
8. Get your Flint and Steel.
   
9. Use it to open the Nether Portal, which will now glow purple.
   

This method is convenient because you don’t need to mine Obsidian at all. You’re only producing the rock from scratch.

Making a Nether Portal With Obsidian

If you have Obsidian blocks, you can easily construct a Nether Portal without having to get Buckets of Lava. You can immediately go to the Nether this way:

1. Craft a Diamond Pickaxe.
   
2. Go to a cave with a lava pool.
   
3. Pour Water into the Lava to create Obsidian blocks.
   
4. Use your Diamond Pickaxe to mine the Obsidian.
   
5. Mine at least 14 Obsidian blocks.
   
6. Leave the cave and go to a convenient spot.
   
7. Place the Obsidian blocks in a 4×5 frame.
   
8. Use a Flint and Steel or other methods to start a fire on the frame.
   
9. The Nether Portal will now activate.
   

Using mined Obsidian blocks is much faster than cooling Lava with Water. There’s also less room for error or risk of damage. Lava can sometimes spread to the player and cause damage.

You’re safe and sound with these blocks unless something attacks you halfway through the building process.

Repairing Ruined Nether Portals With Obsidian

Ruined Nether Portals are broken Obsidian frames found in the Minecraft overworld, and they’re not exactly a common sight. If you find one, however, it’s time to complete it.

Near these Ruined Nether Portals are some chests, which sometimes contain just the amount required to repair the portal. Some even have Flint and Steel in them.

While not every chest contains the missing materials, you shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to reconstruct the Nether Portal.

1. Locate a Ruined Nether Portal.
   
2. Open the chest nearby and see if it contains Obsidian.
   
3. If yes, repair the portal.
   
4. Use a fire source to activate the Nether Portal.
   If there isn’t enough Obsidian in the chest, you’ll need to follow a different process.
   
5. Find a Ruined Nether Portal.
   
6. Look for a lava pool and get some Buckets of Lava.
   
7. Pour the Lava onto the missing spaces and instantly pour Water to make Obsidian.
   
8. Repeat until the Nether Portal is ready.
9. Start a fire to activate the Nether Portal.
   

Because Ruined Nether Portals are randomly spawned unless you know the exact seed of the world, it’s not wise to gamble on encountering one. It’s your lucky day if you do, however.

Connecting Your Nether Portals Together

Nether Portals in the overworld can connect to portals created in the Nether, but there’s a catch. One block in the overworld equals eight in the Nether, creating a 1:8 ratio. In other words, you need to find out the first portal’s coordinates.

1. Deactivate a Nether Portal and stand on it.
   
2. Grab the exact coordinates, which will be in the X, Y, Z format.
   
3. Divide the X and Z values by eight.
   
4. Round anything above 0.5 up and other values down.
   
5. Once you have the new coordinates, reactivate the Nether Portal and enter.
   
6. Travel to the new coordinates.
   
7. Create a new Nether Portal on these coordinates.
   
8. Activate and enter it.
   
9. You should now be transported to the first Nether Portal.
   

To link a portal in the Nether to the overworld, multiply the values by eight. The same rounding rules apply.

Remember that two Nether portals in one dimension can’t be right next to each other. They must be separated by a distance of around 128 blocks.

Because traveling in the overworld equals covering eight times more distance in the Nether, many players construct multiple Nether Portals to move thousands of blocks in a fraction of the time. They don’t need to spend half an hour going from base to base.

Instead, they can return to the overworld and cover the same distance in minutes. Some multiplayer servers have portals built for this purpose.

Additional FAQs

Is Diamond needed to make a Nether Portal?

Diamond isn’t a mandatory material for making Nether Portals, as you can construct them with Lava and Water before starting a fire to activate them. However, if you want to place Obsidian blocks on the ground, you may have to mine them using a Diamond Pickaxe. Fortunately, Obsidian blocks can be found in chests.

Does Y level matter when linking Nether Portals?

The Y coordinate doesn’t matter when you want to link portals. Thus, the only ones you need to multiply or divide are the X and Z coordinates.

How many buckets are needed to createa Nether Portal?

To construct a Nether Portal, you’ll need around 10 Buckets of Lava and as many Buckets of Water as possible. Though Water is ubiquitous in Minecraft, you don’t want to have any Lava flowing out of control. Therefore, having a few more buckets will keep your Nether Portal safe.

I’ll Be Back

Constructing Nether Portals is one step of the journey toward beating Minecraft, and these gates require Obsidian. While it’s impossible to mine without a Diamond Pickaxe, you can still make it with Lava and Water. No matter the method you choose, you still get to travel to the Nether.

How many Ruined Nether Portals have you found? How do you prefer making Nether Portals? Let us know in the comments section below.