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Free tool · Minecraft Java

Find the stronghold with two eyes of ender

Throw an eye of ender, copy where you are and which way it flew; walk a bit to the side and repeat. With those two readings we tell you where the stronghold is and, inside it, the End portal. No more burning ten eyes following them blindly.

First throw

Second throw

The angle is the first number of “Facing” in F3, looking straight at the eye. For the second one, walk about 300 blocks sideways, not in the eye's direction.

The stronghold is roughly at

X
1,508
Z
-1,208

1,792 blocks from the second throw. Through the Nether: X 188, Z -151.

It falls in stronghold ring 1, the closest to the world centre: a good sign.

Go there, throw another eye to fine-tune and, when it lands on the spot, dig down: it's underground.

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Step by step

  1. Throw an eye of ender and, while it flies, stand right behind it and look at it with the crosshair in the middle of the screen.
  2. Without moving, press F3+C: the game copies a line with your position and your angle. Paste it into “First throw”. You can also type the X, the Z and the first number of “Facing” shown in F3.
  3. Walk about 300 blocks to one side (perpendicular to where the eye went, not behind it). The more sideways, the more accurate.
  4. Throw another eye, do the same and paste it into “Second throw”. You get the stronghold's X and Z.
  5. Head there (through the Nether it's eight times less walking: the calculator gives you those coordinates too), throw one more eye to fine-tune and dig when it lands at your feet.

If the result says it isn't in any ring, it's almost always an angle copied without looking straight at the eye, or two throws too close together. Redo the second one a bit further away.

The stronghold rings

In Java (since 1.9) strongholds aren't just anywhere: they sit in eight rings around 0 0, and each ring has more than the one before. That's why the first one is usually less than 3,000 blocks from the world centre.

RingStrongholdsDistance from 0 0 (blocks)
131,280 – 2,816
264,352 – 5,888
3107,424 – 8,960
41510,496 – 12,032
52113,568 – 15,104
62816,640 – 18,176
73619,712 – 21,248
8922,784 – 24,320

On a server, going to the End is a group thing

The dragon is more fun as a group, and the End stays as it is for whoever arrives later. If the trip drags on, link portals through the Nether; if the End stutters when everyone goes in, see how to fix server lag. And to skip the search as an admin, the admin commands.

Frequently asked questions

How many eyes of ender do I need to find the stronghold?

With this calculator, two throws are enough to know where it is, and one more when you get there to fine-tune. Each eye you throw can break (one in five times in Java), so carry a few spare on top of the 12 the portal may need.

Why don't I get the angle in Bedrock?

Bedrock shows your position but not the direction you're facing with decimals, which is what's needed to cross the two lines. In Bedrock, follow the eyes on foot: throw, walk that way and repeat until the eye goes down instead of up.

How far away are strongholds usually?

In Java there are 128 per world, spread in rings around 0 0. The 3 closest are between 1,280 and 2,816 blocks from the centre; the next 6, between 4,352 and 5,888.

Is there a command to find it?

Yes: “/locate structure minecraft:stronghold” gives the nearest one, but you need to be an operator (or have cheats on). On a server, the admin can use it from the console; if you'd rather find it by playing, use the eyes.

Does it work on a Paper server?

Yes. Paper generates the world the same way as the normal game, so the strongholds are in the same place and the eyes point the same way.

Only playing in one friend's world when they're online?

With a server, the world stays on even when the host isn't playing, and everyone moves on when they can. At NapNodes the RAM in your plan is yours alone and each machine's load is public on the status page. Try it with a free 3 GB Minecraft server, no card and no end date.

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