You’re standing there, elytra wings twitching on your back, staring at a crafting table. You want to go far. Not just "over the hill" far, but "across the entire end dimension without stopping" far. Most players just slap a piece of gunpowder and some paper together and call it a day. That gets you a duration 1 rocket. It’s fine for a quick hop. But if you actually want to travel, you need to know how to make flight duration 3 rockets because the efficiency difference is staggering.
It’s basically the difference between driving a moped and a jet.
Most people think you just add more paper. Or maybe more firework stars? Nope. It’s simpler, yet somehow more annoying if you haven't automated your sugar cane farm yet. Honestly, the math behind firework flight is one of those weird Minecraft quirks that hasn't changed in a decade, yet people still mess it up every single time they try to craft in bulk.
The Recipe That Changes Everything
To get that "3" on the tooltip, you need three pieces of gunpowder. That’s the big secret. One paper, three gunpowder. You arrange them in the crafting grid—doesn't really matter where, as long as they’re all in there together.
If you use one gunpowder, you get duration 1. Two gets you duration 2. Three is the max. Don't try to put four; the game won't let you, and you'll just be sitting there clicking a ghost item.
Wait.
There is a catch. If you add a firework star to this recipe, you’re making a weapon, not a transport tool. If you’re using these for elytra flight—which, let’s be real, is why you’re reading this—do not add a firework star. If you do, the rocket will explode at the end of its fuse. Since you are literally tethered to the rocket while flying, that explosion happens right in your face. It hurts. If you're low on health or playing on Hardcore mode, a duration 3 rocket with a star is basically a suicide pact.
Why Duration 3 is the Gold Standard for Pros
Why bother with the extra gunpowder? It’s about momentum and server lag.
When you use a duration 1 rocket, you get a short burst of speed. The fuse is roughly 1 second long (or 12 to 22 game ticks). With a duration 3 rocket, that fuse stretches out to nearly 3 seconds (32 to 52 ticks).
Think about it this way. Every time you right-click to fire a rocket, there's a tiny "wind-up" in the physics engine. If you use three duration 1 rockets back-to-back, you're constantly fighting that start-stop motion. But one duration 3 rocket? It's a smooth, sustained burn. You gain more altitude per gunpowder spent because you aren't fighting gravity as often during the "cooldown" phase between clicks.
Expert players like Hermitcraft's Mumbo Jumbo or EthosLab have been preaching this for years: efficiency isn't just about resources; it's about clicks per minute. Fewer clicks means your mouse lasts longer and your hand doesn't cramp up during a 10,000-block trek to a woodland mansion.
The Math of the Burn
Let's talk numbers, but keep it simple.
- Duration 1: ~12-22 ticks of thrust.
- Duration 2: ~22-32 ticks of thrust.
- Duration 3: ~32-52 ticks of thrust.
Basically, you’re getting more than double the "push" for the same amount of paper. In a world where paper comes from sugar cane (which is slow to grow without a massive flying machine farm) and gunpowder comes from creepers (which are exploding jerks), you want the most bang for your buck. Or rather, the most flight for your boom.
Sourcing Your Materials Without Going Crazy
If you want to make flight duration 3 rockets at scale, you need a plan. You can’t just go out and hunt creepers at night like it’s 2011. You’ll get maybe ten gunpowder before a skeleton snipes you from a bush.
You need a mob grinder.
A standard "dark room" dropper farm is the baseline. Build a giant cobblestone box in the sky, 128 blocks above the ground to make sure all the spawns happen inside your trap. Use water streams to push them into a drop chute. If you’re feeling fancy, build a dedicated creeper farm using trapdoors on the ceiling. Because creepers are slightly shorter than skeletons and zombies, placing trapdoors on the ceiling of a 2-block high room prevents anything but creepers from spawning.
For the paper? Just go to a river. Or, better yet, find a village and trade with a librarian. Actually, scratch that—just plant a 10x10 plot of sugar cane on sand next to water. It’s boring, but it works.
Avoiding the "Exploding Face" Syndrome
I mentioned this before, but it bears repeating because it's the number one way high-level players lose their gear.
👉 See also: Solo Leveling: Arise Overdrive and why you're probably wasting your resources
When you look in your inventory, the rocket must say "Flight Duration: 3" and nothing else. If there are extra lines like "Small Ball" or "Green" or "Lime," that means there is a firework star inside.
If you find yourself in the middle of the ocean with nothing but exploding rockets, you have to fly "dirty." This means you fire the rocket and immediately pull up hard, then dive, trying to stay ahead of the blast radius. It’s nerve-wracking. Just craft them right the first time. Use one paper, three gunpowder, and leave the dyes in the chest.
Inventory Management for Long Trips
When you're prepping for a massive journey—say, searching for an Elysian fragment or a specific biome—how many should you bring?
A single stack of duration 3 rockets (64 items) will take you thousands of blocks. If you have Unbreaking III and Mending on your Elytra, the wings will likely break before you run out of rockets.
Pro tip: Keep one stack in your off-hand and two backup stacks in your Ender Chest. Never fill your entire inventory with them; you need room for the loot you find.
Technical Nuances of Elytra Physics
There's this weird thing with the "angle of attack." If you point your nose straight up and fire a duration 3 rocket, you'll stall out near the end of the fuse. The best way to use these is to aim about 40 degrees upward. This maximizes the distance traveled while still gaining enough altitude to glide for a while after the rocket peters out.
If you’re traveling horizontally, just tap the rocket whenever you see your speed bar (if you use mods) or your visual momentum start to drop. With duration 3, the "push" lasts so long that you can actually open your map and check your coordinates without falling out of the sky before the fuse ends.
Common Myths About Rocket Crafting
I’ve heard people say that using Soul Sand under the crafting table makes them go faster. That’s nonsense. I've also seen claims that "Duration 4" exists in vanilla. It doesn't. You can get higher durations using /give commands or NBT editors, but in survival Minecraft, 3 is the hard ceiling.
Another thing: the color of the gunpowder doesn't matter (obviously, since it's all gray), but some people swear that crafting them in the Nether makes them last longer. It doesn't. Physics are consistent across dimensions, except for the fact that you'll probably fly into a wall of lava if you aren't careful in the Nether.
Quick Checklist for the Perfect Flight Rocket
- Ingredients: 3x Gunpowder, 1x Paper.
- Output: 3x Firework Rockets (Flight Duration 3).
- Safety Check: No firework stars included.
- Usage: Best used with Elytra for long-distance travel.
What to Do Next
Go to your storage room and check your gunpowder supplies. If you have less than three stacks, you aren't ready for a big trip.
Set up a basic sugar cane farm—just a simple observer/piston setup will do. While that's running, head up to Y-level 150 and build a simple platform for a mob farm. Once you have the infrastructure, you’ll never have to settle for duration 1 rockets again.
The next time you head into the End to find an End City, you'll notice the difference immediately. The flight is smoother, the distance is greater, and you aren't constantly spamming your right-click button like a maniac. It makes the game feel less like a grind and more like the sandbox it’s supposed to be.
Get your gunpowder, skip the stars, and start crafting. The 1.21 and 1.22 updates have made the world bigger than ever; you're going to need the extra air time.