What is the best way to find a Nether Fortress in Minecraft 1.19

The Nether Fortress is still considered one of the most dangerous structures, even in Minecraft 1.19. Though the Nether realm and its structures haven't received any changes in the latest update, new players will be experiencing the realm for the very first time. Hence, they must know where fortresses are present and how dangerous they are.

Nether Fortresses are some of the biggest and scariest structures in the game. They are found deep in the Nether realm and are filled with two hostile mobs: Blazes and Wither skeletons. Since Minecraft 1.19 brought no changes to the structure, old tried and tested tricks can be used to find them in the game. Finding this structure is essential for completing the game's underlying story and defeating the Ender Dragon.

---

How to easily find Nether Fortress in Minecraft 1.19

Always follow positive X or Z axis

When players enter the Nether realm, they will be completely confused by the irregular terrain, mysterious hostile mobs, and loads of lava. Finding a fortress might seem quite hard simply because of how difficult it is to travel in the realm. However, players have devised a trick to find the fortress quickly using X or Z axis.

Keep following positive X or Z axis to find the fortress quickly (Image via Minecraft 1.19)

The best way to find Nether Fortress in Minecraft 1.19 is to either follow positive X or positive Z axis coordinates. These structures tend to generate more in the positive quadrants of the world. Hence, the moment players enter the Nether realm, they must set their direction and stick to it to find the fortress.

Players can either open the debug screen in Java Edition or turn on the coordinates settings in Bedrock Edition to see all three axes and their values. The key to finding the structure is to stick to one particular direction.

Of course, players must not just walk in a single line and explore nearby areas. They can increase their render distance and remove fog from any mod to see far-off places and spot the fortress as well. This will most definitely increase the chances of finding the structure quickly.

These structures are often generated over lava lakes (Image via Mojang)

If players end up on a lava lake, they must commit to the positive axis and build a bridge over the lake. Nether fortresses are often generated on lava lakes since they generate loads of bridges as well.

---

Using commands

Command to find the structure easily using cheats (Image via Minecraft)

Players who do not want to spend a lot of time finding the structure will need to use cheats and commands. If players do not have cheats enabled in an existing world, they can do so by going into the 'Open to LAN' settings and briefly allowing cheats.

They can then simply type in the '/locate' command, select 'structure' and then write 'fortress' to instantly get the location of the nearest Nether Fortress in Minecraft 1.19.