Eye of Ender — Minecraft item

Overview

An Eye of Ender is the compass that finds a stronghold and the key that switches its portal on. Thrown, it floats a short distance in the direction of the nearest stronghold and either drops to the ground for you to pick up again or shatters — about a 20% chance per throw — which is why the standard advice is to bring at least 16 and expect to lose three or four. Two throws from two points several hundred blocks apart triangulate the stronghold far more reliably than walking after one eye in a straight line, because the eye points at the structure, not at the portal room inside it. Once you have found the end portal frames, each of the 12 frame blocks needs an eye placed into it; some frames generate with eyes already in place, so the real cost is usually 9 or 10. Eyes are also the ingredient in an End Crystal and in an Ender Chest, which means a well-supplied base always has spares. Crafting one is a single blaze powder plus a single pearl, so the whole bottleneck is really blaze rods and endermen.

Locating the nearest stronghold, activating the end portal, and crafting ender chests and end crystals — the three jobs that stand between you and the dragon fight.

Eye of Ender is a miscellaneous item in Minecraft 1.21.4. It stacks to 64. You make it with Ender Pearl and Blaze Powder.

Its crafting uses are End Crystal and Ender Chest.

How to get it

Craft 1 from 1 Ender Pearl and 1 Blaze Powder. Bring 16 or more to a stronghold hunt: about 20% shatter on each throw, and the portal needs up to 12 in its frames.

Tips

Throw one, note your coordinates and the eye's direction, walk 300 blocks sideways and throw again; the crossing point is the stronghold.
Eyes fly towards the structure's centre, so dig down where they start moving downwards rather than where they hover.
Never break an end portal frame that already holds an eye — you cannot get it back, and Silk Touch does not help.
Read the ender dragon guide before the trip; the eyes are the cheap part of the preparation.