I still remember my first attempt at building an End Portal back when I first started playing Minecraft. I had collected 12 Eyes of Ender over two weeks of exploring, dug out a flat spot in my base, and plopped down all the frame blocks only to realize nothing happened. It took me three hours of troubleshooting to figure out I’d placed half the frames facing the wrong direction. If you don’t want to waste that kind of time, this guide breaks down exactly how to make end portal on Minecraft for both survival and creative play, with zero guesswork.
Required Materials for Building an End Portal (By Game Mode)
The materials you need change completely depending on whether you’re playing in survival or creative mode, so don’t skip this section to avoid running out halfway through your build. In survival, you can’t craft End Portal frames at all, so you’ll have to plan ahead to collect everything you need before you start. In creative, you can grab all the supplies straight from your inventory in 10 seconds. You don’t need any fancy tools to place the frames either, just enough open space to fit the 5x5 build footprint without blocks blocking the center area.
- Survival mode required items: 12 End Portal frames (found only in Stronghold libraries, chests, or generated portal rooms) and 12 Eyes of Ender (crafted from Blaze Powder and Ender Pearls, or found in chests across the Overworld)
- Creative mode required items: 12 End Portal frames (available in the building blocks tab) and 12 Eyes of Ender (available in the tools/items tab)
- Optional materials for any mode: 16 cobblestone blocks to mark your build area, 1 torch to light up the space and prevent mob spawns while you work, and a few extra building blocks to add a safety platform around the finished portal
If you’re playing in peaceful survival mode, you can still collect all required materials without fighting mobs. Eyes of Ender can be traded for with librarian villagers, and End Portal frames can be looted from unguarded Stronghold chests if you avoid the hostile mobs that usually spawn there. You just have to move carefully when exploring underground structures to avoid drawing attention.
How to Make End Portal on Minecraft in Survival Mode
Most new survival players don’t know that you can actually build an End Portal from scratch anywhere in the Overworld, not just use the pre-generated one you find in Strongholds. The only catch is that you can only get Eyes of Ender as loot in pre-generated structures if you don’t want to fight Blazes in the Nether first. Let’s walk through the step-by-step build process to get it right on the first try.
First, find a flat, open spot at least 5x5 blocks wide, with no blocks above or below the center 3x3 area. Stand in the exact middle of this 3x3 spot before you start placing any frames, because this will ensure every frame faces the right direction automatically. Place 3 End Portal frames along each side of the 3x3 square, making sure the little indent on the top of each frame points toward the center of the square. Don’t move from your spot in the middle until all 12 frames are placed, otherwise you might accidentally place one facing the wrong direction.
Once all 12 frames are placed, right click each frame with an Eye of Ender to insert it. You’ll know you did it right when the portal activates immediately, filling the center with a dark, starry block that you can walk through to reach the End. If it doesn’t activate, double check that all frames are facing the center, and that you haven’t placed any blocks inside the 3x3 portal space. If you’re having trouble finding enough End Portal frames in Strongholds, you can also get them as rare drops from Elder Guardians in Ocean Monuments, though that’s a far more dangerous grind than exploring a few Strongholds.
How to Build an End Portal in Creative Mode (Quick Shortcut)
Creative mode is way more forgiving for End Portal builds, because you don’t have to grind for materials, and you can fix mistakes instantly. You don’t need to kill any mobs to build a creative mode End Portal, which makes it perfect if you just want to test out End builds or play around with the dimension without going through survival grind. The build process is almost identical to survival, but you have a lot more flexibility for where you place it.
You can even build an End Portal floating in the sky, or deep underwater, as long as you leave the center 3x3 space empty. The one trick to speed up your build is to keep your character standing in the center of the 3x3 area the entire time you place frames. This eliminates any chance of placing a frame facing the wrong direction, which is the number one mistake new players make. If you’re building a portal for a creative map or server, you can even add decorative blocks around the frame to make it fit your base’s aesthetic, as long as you don’t block access to the portal itself.
If you’re building a portal for a public server, you can even add a safety platform around the portal to prevent players from accidentally falling into the void when they first spawn in the End. You can also connect the portal to a transit system with minecart tracks or nether portals, so players can easily get to the End from anywhere on the server. Many creative builders also use End Portal frames as decorative blocks for futuristic or magical builds, since they have a unique glowing texture that looks great in custom bases or adventure maps.
Common End Portal Build Mistakes to Avoid At All Costs
Even if you follow the steps perfectly, small mistakes can keep your portal from activating, and it’s easy to miss them if you don’t know what to look for. Always build the frame standing in the exact center of the portal spot – if you move around while placing frames, you’ll almost certainly place one facing the wrong direction. Even one incorrectly facing frame will stop the portal from activating entirely, so don’t skip this step.
Never place blocks inside the 3x3 portal area while building, even temporary blocks to mark your space. Even a single cobblestone block or torch in that center area will prevent the portal from spawning when you insert the last Eye of Ender. Another common mistake is using less than 12 Eyes of Ender. Some pre-generated Stronghold portals spawn with a few Eyes already inserted, but if you’re building from scratch, you need all 12 to activate it.
If you’re playing on a multiplayer server, double check that server admins haven’t disabled End Portal building for regular players, because that’s a common setting on survival servers to limit End access. Another less common mistake is building the portal too close to the world height limit or too far down underground. While the game technically allows portals anywhere, some server plugins or older game versions will prevent portals from activating if they’re built below Y level 0 or above Y level 256. If you’re playing on an older version of Minecraft before 1.18, you’ll also need to make sure there are at least 3 blocks of empty space above the portal frame, otherwise the portal won’t spawn. If your portal still won’t activate after checking all these issues, try breaking all the frames and replacing them, since it’s easy to miss a misaligned frame even when you’re looking for it.
Building an End Portal doesn’t have to be the frustrating, time-consuming process I went through my first time. With the right materials and attention to detail, you can have a working portal up in less than five minutes, whether you’re playing survival or creative. Now that you know how to make end portal on Minecraft, you can start planning your trip to fight the Ender Dragon, explore End Cities, or build custom End-themed bases in any game mode. Just don’t forget to bring a few extra blocks with you when you step through the portal, so you don’t end up stuck floating over the void with no way back to your spawn.