Overview
No world reaches the End without a nether fortress, because blaze rods come from blazes and blazes come from spawners that exist nowhere else. That makes the fortress the most load-bearing structure in the game: eyes of ender need blaze powder, brewing needs blaze powder, and nether wart — the base of every useful potion — grows in soul sand gardens on the fortress staircases and grows nowhere else naturally. Plan the trip around those two items and treat everything else as a bonus. The fight is awkward for a specific reason: blazes shoot fireballs in volleys from above and behind, the walkways have no railings, and a knockback hit over open lava is more lethal than the fire damage ever is. Wall a blaze spawner in with cobblestone, leave a one-block gap, and fight from a corner where nothing can flank you, or build a proper blaze farm around it and never come back. Wither Skeletons spawn on the nether brick itself and inflict Wither straight through armour; their skulls drop at roughly 2.5%, so three skulls for the wither is an afternoon rather than a minute. Bring Fire Resistance potions and a stack of blocks.
Blaze rods for blaze powder, eyes of ender and brewing stands; nether wart for every potion worth making; wither skeleton skulls for summoning the wither; and chest loot including diamonds, saddles and golden horse armour. It is the mandatory stop between the Overworld and the End.
A dark nether brick complex of corridors, staircases, balconies and long bridges over lava. It is a mandatory stop on any run to the End, because it is the only structure with blaze spawners and the only reliable source of blaze rods and nether wart, the two ingredients every brewing setup begins with. Wither skeletons spawn on its brick blocks and drop the skulls needed to summon the wither. Nether wart grows in soul sand gardens on the interior staircases.
It is common in the The Nether, restricted to Nether Wastes, Soul Sand Valley, Basalt Deltas, Crimson Forest and 1 more, and it generates spans the Nether vertically; bridges often cross open lava at any height.
How to get it
Nether fortresses are common across nether wastes, soul sand valley, basalt deltas, crimson forest and warped forest, and they span the dimension vertically, so bridges appear at any height. Flying or walking in a straight line for 500 blocks along the same axis is the standard search method.
Tips
- Wall the blaze spawner in before fighting: a one-block gap lets you kill blazes one at a time instead of facing a volley.
- Harvest the nether wart and the soul sand together so you can replant a farm at home and never return for it.
- Fight wither skeletons in a corridor rather than on a bridge; the Wither effect is survivable, a knockback into lava is not.
- Read nether travel and survival before the first trip — fire resistance and a spare portal matter more than gear here.
Version notes
Present since 1.0.0, when blazes, nether wart and brewing arrived together. 1.16 surrounded fortresses with four new biomes but left the structure itself and its spawner rules untouched.
Properties
It generates in the Nether, where one block of travel covers eight in the Overworld, water evaporates on placement, and beds explode instead of setting a spawn point. In a world with cheats on, /locate structure minecraft:nether_fortress gives the coordinates of the nearest one. Without cheats, an explorer map from a cartographer villager is the reliable route for the structures that have one; everything else is exploration.
- Biomes it generates in
- 5
- Notable loot items
- 9
Where it generates
Nether Fortress generates in 5 biomes: Nether Wastes, Soul Sand Valley, Basalt Deltas, Crimson Forest, and Warped Forest. Outside those it will not generate at all, however far you travel.
Notable loot
Its loot includes Blaze Rod, Nether Wart, Diamond, Iron Ingot, Gold Ingot, Saddle, Golden Horse Armor, Obsidian, and Flint and Steel. These are the notable entries rather than the full loot table — the common filler (bread, coal, iron nuggets) is omitted, and in some structures the best of it comes from a vault or a spawner rather than a chest.
Mobs found here
Blaze, Wither Skeleton, Skeleton, Magma Cube, Zombified Piglin, and Ghast generate here. Several of them spawn nowhere else, which is usually the reason to make the trip.
What to watch out for
4 things to prepare for before you go in:
- Blaze spawners fire volleys of fireballs on sight
- Wither skeletons inflict Wither through armour
- Open bridges over lava with no railings
- Ghasts shooting you off the walkways
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
Do blazes spawn outside nether fortresses?
No. Blaze spawners generate only in nether fortresses, which makes the structure mandatory for blaze rods, blaze powder, eyes of ender and brewing.
How likely is a wither skeleton to drop a skull?
About 2.5% per kill, raised slightly by Looting. Three skulls are needed to summon the wither, so budget time rather than luck.
Where does nether wart grow?
In soul sand gardens on fortress staircases. Take both the wart and the soul sand home and it grows anywhere, which is why one visit can supply a world.
How do I find Nether Fortress?
Nether Fortress generates in the The Nether, only in Nether Wastes, Soul Sand Valley, Basalt Deltas, Crimson Forest and 1 more, and is common. /locate structure minecraft:nether_fortress finds the nearest one instantly with cheats on.
What loot is in Nether Fortress?
The notable entries are Blaze Rod, Nether Wart, Diamond, Iron Ingot, Gold Ingot, Saddle and 3 more.
When was Nether Fortress added?
Nether Fortress was added in Java Edition 1.0.0.
Related pages
Structures that share Nether Fortress's loot, its mobs or its biomes — not simply the next few in the list.
