How to get to the Nether in Minecraft in 2022

It's an inhospitable and downright dangerous place, but the Nether is a necessary location to traverse if Minecraft players wish to defeat the ender dragon and complete the story of Survival Mode.

For first-time Minecraft players, entering the dimension itself can be tricky. However, the process is quite straightforward and once players know how to do so, they'll likely never forget.

With a little obsidian, flint and steel, players will have a portal into the dangerous dimension up quickly. However, before entering the Nether, one should always stock up on weapons, armor, healing items and food, as perishing in the Nether significantly complicates things.

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Minecraft: Creating a Nether portal in 2022

A standard Nether portal (Image via Mojang)

In order to create a portal into the Nether, Minecraft players will need to construct one out of obsidian blocks before igniting the portal with a source of fire such as a flint & steel. The smallest possible frame for a Nether portal will require ten blocks of obsidian.

Since these blocks can be difficult to find naturally, players would be wise to pour a water bucket over a body of lava instead to create the blocks. They can then be mined with a diamond pickaxe at the player's discretion.

Once Minecraft players have at least 10 pieces of obsidian, they can begin crafting the frame of the portal. For a minimum-sized portal, the frame should be built two blocks wide on the top and bottom and three blocks tall on the sides, no corner pieces are needed.

4x5 is the minimum size for a Nether portal, but players can build as large as 23x23 if they have the obsidian to spare.

After the frame has been crafted, all that needs to be done is to light a flame inside the portal's boundaries. This is easily done by using a flint and steel on the inside of the portal's frame, though other sources of fire such as fire charges can work as well.

Some Minecraft players have even managed to open a Nether portal with lava. Regardless, the portal should remove the flame and fill the space inside the frame with purple energy. From there, all players need to do is stand within the portal for a few seconds and they'll be transported to the Nether.

In addition to crafting their own portal, ruined Nether portals also generate naturally in the Overworld. Though they tend to be broken along their frame, most ruined portals possess enough obsidian to be reformed.

These portals also often have frames partially made of crying obsidian blocks, which will often need to be replaced with regular obsidian as they cannot be used to complete a portal frame in Minecraft.

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