You're standing in a field. It’s getting dark. You need glowstone, or maybe you're just desperate to find some ancient debris to finally upgrade that gear. To get there, you need a gateway. Learning minecraft portal how to make is basically the "graduation ceremony" of any survival world. Most people think you just mine obsidian and call it a day, but honestly, there are way faster ways to get it done if you know the physics of the game.
The Nether isn't just a scary place with fire; it’s a logistical hub. If you haven't built a portal yet, you're essentially playing the game on foot while everyone else is using a literal highway system.
The Standard Method: Mining and Stacking
Most players start by looking for a diamond pickaxe. It's the classic route. You find a pool of lava deep underground, dump a bucket of water on it, and start clicking. And clicking. And clicking.
Obsidian takes forever to mine. Specifically, it takes about 9.4 seconds with a standard diamond pickaxe, or even longer if you're underwater or being harassed by a stray skeleton. You need at least 10 blocks for a "budget" portal (skipping the corners) or 14 blocks if you want it to look like you actually care about aesthetics.
Once you've got your blocks, you stack them in a 4x5 vertical rectangle.
Wait. Did you forget the flint and steel?
Without a spark, it's just a purple-less hole in the wall. You need one iron ingot and one piece of flint. Strike the inside of the frame, and the "portal blocks" will fill the center with that iconic swirling purple haze. If it doesn't light, check your dimensions. A 2x3 opening is the minimum. Anything smaller won't work, though you can technically make them much larger in modern versions of Minecraft—up to 23x23 if you’re feeling particularly grand.
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The "Speedrunner" Water Bucket Trick
Let’s be real. Mining obsidian is boring.
If you watch any high-level player or a speedrunner like Dream or Illumina, they almost never mine obsidian. They use a mold. Think of it like pouring concrete into a wooden frame. You find a lava pool—usually on the surface in a desert or deep in a cave—and you place blocks in a specific "L" shape.
By placing water next to the lava in a controlled way, you can turn the lava into obsidian exactly where you want it to stay. It’s faster. Much faster.
- Find a lava pool at least 4 blocks wide.
- Place a "temporary" block against the edge.
- Put water next to it.
- Break the temporary block so the water flows across.
- Use your bucket to pick up lava from the pool and "place" it into the water stream to form the sides and top of the frame.
It sounds complicated. It feels like a science experiment gone wrong the first three times you try it because you’ll probably accidentally turn your entire lava source into cobblestone. But once you master the "magma mold," you can go from zero to Nether in under 60 seconds. This is the absolute peak of minecraft portal how to make efficiency.
Ruined Portals: The Free Pass
Since the 1.16 update, Mojang added Ruined Portals. These are scattered everywhere—deserts, jungles, even underwater. Honestly, they are a godsend.
Sometimes these structures are nearly complete. You might find a portal that only needs two or three more blocks of obsidian to be functional. The chest nearby usually contains "Crying Obsidian," which looks cool but cannot be used to light a portal. Don't fall for that trap. You have to replace the crying obsidian with regular obsidian.
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If you find a ruined portal early on, loot the chest. Often, there’s a flint and steel or a fire charge right there. It's the game's way of nudging you toward the endgame content without making you grind for diamonds.
Why Your Portal Might Not Work
You built the frame. You struck the flint. Nothing happened.
Check for "obstructions." If there's a button, a torch, or a piece of tall grass inside the 2x3 opening, the portal won't ignite. The game needs those specific air blocks to be clear so it can replace them with the portal texture.
Also, check your corners. While you don't need obsidian in the four corners, you do need them to be empty or filled with a placeholder block. If you’re playing on a weird modded server, sometimes portal logic gets tweaked, but in vanilla Minecraft, the 4x5 outer rim is the gold standard.
The Linkage Problem
Sometimes the issue isn't making the portal, it’s where it takes you.
Minecraft's coordinate system is 8:1. For every 1 block you travel in the Nether, you travel 8 blocks in the Overworld. If you build two portals too close together in the Overworld (within 128 blocks), they will likely both link to the same exact portal in the Nether.
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This is frustrating. You build a cool base miles away, build a new portal, walk through, and end up in the same sweaty basalt delta you left ten minutes ago. To fix this, you have to do the math. Take your Overworld X and Z coordinates, divide them by 8, and manually build a portal at those exact coordinates inside the Nether.
Pro-Tips for Nether Survival
Once you’ve mastered minecraft portal how to make, the real challenge is not dying the second you step through.
- Bring a shield. Ghasts are loud, but their fireballs are predictable. You can knock them back with a well-timed punch or a shield block.
- Wear one piece of gold. Piglins are aggressive unless you’re wearing "bling." A gold helmet is usually the cheapest way to buy their neutrality.
- Fire resistance is king. If you can get your hands on a potion of fire resistance, the Nether becomes a playground instead of a death trap.
- Don't sleep. Seriously. Trying to use a bed in the Nether results in a massive explosion. It’s a classic prank to play on new players, but it will end your hardcore run instantly.
Actionable Next Steps
To get started right now, don't go looking for diamonds. Grab two iron ingots. Make two buckets. Find a deep cave or a lava pool near a village.
Practice the "water mold" technique in a creative world for five minutes first. It will save you hours of mining in your main survival world. Once you have your frame, make sure you have a "way back" marked. Bring a stack of torches or some cobblestone (which Ghasts can't blow up) to build a small bunker around your portal on the Nether side.
The Nether is a dangerous, chaotic mess of lava and floating jellyfish, but it’s the only way to reach the End. Build your frame, light the fire, and stop walking everywhere on foot. It's time to use the fast-travel system the developers intended.