You’re standing in a field. Maybe you’ve got some iron armor, a decent sword, and a chest full of cobblestone, but you’re bored. The Overworld is fine, but it’s safe. It’s predictable. You want the chaos of the Underworld. You want to see the glow of lava lakes that stretch for chunks and hear the haunting cry of a Ghast. To get there, you need a door. Specifically, you need to know how to build a portal to the nether in minecraft because, honestly, if you mess up the dimensions or the materials, you’re just wasting your time standing in front of a weird purple-less obsidian frame.
It’s the gateway to endgame content. Without it, no Potions. No Beacons. No flying around with Elytra because you can’t get the Blaze Rods needed for Firework Rockets. It’s the literal backbone of Minecraft progression.
The Raw Materials: More Than Just Purple Glow
Obsidian. That’s the big one. You can't just use crying obsidian (the stuff with the dripping particles)—that’s for Respawn Anchors. You need the classic, deep-purple-black block. To get it, you need a Diamond Pickaxe or a Netherite one if you’ve somehow skipped steps. If you try to mine obsidian with iron, the block just breaks into nothingness. Ten seconds of your life gone for a big pile of nothing.
The most basic portal requires a frame that is four blocks wide and five blocks high. If you do the math, that’s 14 blocks. But here’s a pro tip: you don’t actually need the corners. If you’re short on obsidian, or just lazy, you can use "dummy blocks" like dirt or cobblestone in the corners. This reduces your requirement to just 10 blocks. It looks a bit budget, sure, but it works exactly the same.
Why Speedrunners Don't Even Use Pickaxes
Most people think you must mine obsidian. You don’t. If you’ve ever watched a Minecraft Championship or a random Twitch streamer, you’ve seen them "cast" a portal. They find a lava pool, usually underground or in a desert, and use water buckets to freeze the lava into obsidian exactly where they want it.
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It’s a dance. You place a block of dirt, dump water against it, and then carefully flow the water over the lava source blocks. One by one, the frame builds itself. It’s risky because one slip means you’re swimming in fire, but it’s the fastest way to get to the Nether within five minutes of starting a new world.
Step-by-Step: How to Build a Portal to the Nether in Minecraft
First, find your spot. Usually, players put these in a basement or a dedicated "portal room" because the sound is annoying. That constant "whoosh-vroom" noise will drive you crazy if the portal is right next to your bed.
- Lay the base. Place two obsidian blocks on the ground. If you’re feeling fancy, put decorative blocks on either side of them.
- Go vertical. Build three blocks up on both sides of your base blocks. You should now have two pillars that are three blocks tall.
- Connect the top. Place two more obsidian blocks across the top of your pillars.
- The Spark. This is the moment of truth. Grab a Flint and Steel. Right-click the top of one of the bottom obsidian blocks.
If you did it right, the center fills with a swirling purple vortex. If it didn’t work, check your height. A common mistake is making it 4x4. Portals must be at least five blocks tall. Interestingly, since the 1.7.2 update, portals can actually be much larger. You can go all the way up to 23x23. Why would you do that? Mostly for the "cool factor" or if you're building a massive gold farm that requires dozens of Piglins to spawn and fall through the portal.
Lighting the Fire Without Flint
What if your Flint and Steel breaks? Or you’re in the Nether and a Ghast fireball hits your portal and puts it out? You’re stuck. It’s a terrifying feeling. But you aren't actually trapped. You can use Fire Charges (crafted from gunpowder, blaze powder, and coal). You can even trick a Ghast into shooting at the portal frame; if the fireball hits the inside of the obsidian, it will reignite.
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You can even use wood. If you place wooden planks inside the frame and put lava next to them, the fire from the burning wood can eventually "catch" and light the portal. It’s slow and feels like a primitive science experiment, but it’s a life-saver.
The Math of the Nether: Don't Get Lost
The most important thing to understand about how to build a portal to the nether in minecraft isn't the construction—it's the coordinates. The Nether is a 1:8 ratio. Every single block you walk in the Nether is equal to eight blocks in the Overworld.
This is how people travel thousands of blocks in seconds. If you build a portal at X: 800, Z: 800 in your main world, it will appear at roughly X: 100, Z: 100 in the Nether. If you want to link two specific locations, you have to do the math yourself. Divide your Overworld coordinates by eight, go to that exact spot in the Nether, and build your portal there. If you don't, the game might get "lazy" and link your new Overworld portal to an existing Nether portal that’s "close enough," which usually results in you being dumped in a random cave 500 blocks away from your base.
Advanced Design and Aesthetics
Once you’ve mastered the 10-block budget frame, you’ll probably want something better. You can hide the obsidian behind other blocks like Deepslate or Quartz. You can't cover the purple portal blocks themselves, obviously, but you can build a massive "ancient ruins" structure around it.
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- The "Sword" Portal: Build a giant obsidian sword sticking out of the ground, with the "blade" being the portal itself.
- The Overgrown Gateway: Use Moss blocks, Vines, and Glow Berries to make it look like an abandoned relic.
- The Void Hole: Use black concrete around the frame to make it look like a rip in reality.
Things That Can Go Wrong (And How to Fix Them)
Sometimes, you step through and the game spawns the portal over a literal ocean of lava. It’s rare, but it happens. Always bring at least a stack of cobblestone with you on your first trip. Cobblestone is blast-resistant, meaning Ghasts can’t blow it up. If your portal spawns on a tiny floating ledge, use the cobble to build a "safe box" around the portal immediately.
Another weird glitch: Portal Snapping. Sometimes, if two portals in the Overworld are too close together (within 128 blocks), they will both lead to the same portal in the Nether. This is annoying for multiplayer servers. To fix this, you have to manually build the second portal in the Nether at the exact divided coordinates.
Your Move: The Checklist
Before you strike that flint, make sure you have:
- A Shield. Seriously. A skeleton can shoot you through the portal before your screen even finishes loading.
- Gold Armor. One piece—boots or a helmet—will keep the Piglins from jumping you the second you arrive.
- Food. The Nether drains hunger fast because you're constantly jumping over terrain.
- Extra Obsidian. If you get lost and need to build a way back, you’ll thank yourself.
Start by gathering 10 blocks of obsidian. Use a bucket of water and a bucket of lava to "cast" the frame if you don't have a diamond pickaxe yet. Place two on the bottom, three on each side, and two on the top. Light it up. Once you're in, immediately write down your coordinates. If you lose your portal in the red haze of the Nether wastes, those numbers are the only thing that will get you home.
The Nether isn't just a place to visit; it’s a tool. Mastery of the portal system allows for faster-than-light travel and access to the game’s most powerful items. Get the frame right, respect the 1:8 coordinate math, and you'll never be stuck in the Overworld again.