Where Strongholds Generate
Strongholds generate underground. Eyes of Ender travel toward the nearest stronghold's starting area, while the End portal room lies somewhere inside.
How to Find Strongholds
Eyes of Ender narrow the search to the stronghold area, but the portal room still has to be found within the underground complex.
What to Look For
- Throw an Eye of Ender, travel in its direction, and repeat from spaced-out positions
- When the eye begins travelling backward, narrow the search area
- Dig a safe staircase rather than straight down, then search corridors for the portal room
Find Strongholds with Commands
Use /locate structure minecraft:stronghold. The returned position leads to the structure, not necessarily directly to its End portal room.
Edition Note
- Stronghold placement differs substantially between Java and Bedrock, but Eyes of Ender work in both
Common Search Problems
If the search is taking much longer than expected, check these common causes.
- Eyes can break when thrown, so bring extras
- A cave can intersect and fragment the stronghold
- Bedrock strongholds can generate beneath villages, but not every village has one
OR!
Find Strongholds with MineyMap
MineyMap can show Stronghold locations generated in your own world, so you can choose a destination on the map and travel there in-game without searching blindly. See how MineyMap works.
