Overview
A ruined portal is the fastest legitimate shortcut into the Nether, and most players walk past one without realising they were holding the whole recipe. The frame is broken obsidian, the ground around it is scattered with gold blocks and netherrack, and the chest beside it reliably carries obsidian, Flint and Steel, and often a Golden Apple or an enchanted golden pickaxe. A working portal needs a frame ten blocks of obsidian in a four-by-five rectangle, corners optional, and a ruined frame usually supplies most of that already — fill the gaps with the chest obsidian, or cast your own by pouring a water bucket over the lava pools the structure generates with. Light it and you have a portal on day two rather than day twenty. Variants matter for how you approach: the desert and jungle versions sit on the surface, mountain ones cling to cliffs, and the buried and underwater versions are completely hidden, so a surprisingly large share of the ruined portals in any world are ones you will never see. Clear the lava before you start mining; the pools sit flush with the ground and are easy to step into while looking at a chest.
An early portal to the Nether without mining obsidian, plus a chest holding obsidian, flint and steel, gold, golden apples, fire charges and sometimes a bell or an enchanted golden pickaxe. The surrounding gold blocks are free ingots for a first trade.
A broken nether portal frame of crumbling obsidian and blackstone, with lava, netherrack and gold blocks scattered around it, plus a chest. Variants generate on land, in deserts, jungles, swamps, mountains, oceans and fully buried underground. The chest is the reason to visit: it is the earliest reliable source of obsidian, flint and steel, and often gold, which means a ruined portal can be repaired into a working portal on the spot with little more than a bucket of water.
It is very common in the Overworld, and it generates anywhere from bedrock to mountaintops; underwater and buried variants exist.
How to get it
Ruined portals are very common in every Overworld biome, from bedrock level to mountaintops, with buried and underwater variants as well. Walking any 500 blocks of open terrain usually passes one, and the chest beside the frame is the giveaway when the obsidian itself is half-buried.
Tips
- Count the obsidian before you mine anything: you need ten blocks for a working frame, and the chest usually makes up the shortfall.
- Cast replacement obsidian on the spot by pouring water over the lava the structure generates with, rather than hauling blocks home.
- Repairing and lighting a ruined portal opens a two-way route, so zombified piglins can step through it into your world.
- Check the chest before the frame — an enchanted golden pickaxe from one of these is often the best tool a new world has seen.
Version notes
Added in 1.16 with the Nether Update, alongside crying obsidian and blackstone. Their loot tables made the portal chain reachable much earlier than the old diamond-pickaxe-and-lava-pool route.
Properties
It generates in the Overworld, which is the only dimension with a day-night cycle and weather, and the one every distance in the game is measured against. In a world with cheats on, /locate structure minecraft:ruined_portal 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.
- Dimension
- Overworld
- Rarity
- Very common
- Y level
- anywhere from bedrock to mountaintops; underwater and buried variants exist
- Added in
- 1.16
- Notable loot items
- 8
Notable loot
Its loot includes Obsidian, Flint and Steel, Gold Ingot, Golden Apple, Gold Nugget, Iron Nugget, Fire Charge, and Bell. 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.
What to watch out for
3 things to prepare for before you go in:
- Exposed lava around the frame
- Buried and underwater variants require careful digging
- Repairing and lighting it opens a two-way path for zombified piglins
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
How much obsidian does a nether portal need?
Ten blocks in a four-by-five frame with the corners left out. Ruined portals usually provide most of them, and the chest tends to supply the rest.
Are ruined portal chests worth opening?
Yes. They are the earliest reliable source of obsidian and flint and steel, and they carry gold, golden apples, fire charges and occasionally an enchanted golden pickaxe.
Can a ruined portal be lit as it stands?
Only if the frame happens to be complete, which is rare. Usually you need to patch two or three gaps before flint and steel will do anything.
How do I find Ruined Portal (Overworld)?
Ruined Portal (Overworld) generates in the Overworld, and is very common. /locate structure minecraft:ruined_portal finds the nearest one instantly with cheats on.
What loot is in Ruined Portal (Overworld)?
The notable entries are Obsidian, Flint and Steel, Gold Ingot, Golden Apple, Gold Nugget, Iron Nugget and 2 more.
When was Ruined Portal (Overworld) added?
Ruined Portal (Overworld) was added in Java Edition 1.16.
Related pages
Structures that share Ruined Portal (Overworld)'s loot, its mobs or its biomes — not simply the next few in the list.
