Building Blocks: End City

Once you’ve slain the Ender dragon and rolled credits, Minecraft is done right? Wrong. There are a plethora of other pastimes to pursue and lots more loot to locate. Excitingly, some of the most exotic goodies can be found really quite close to the site of your grand victory over the Ender dragon. Today I’m gonna help you hunt down our structure of the month – the End city.

First though, a little history lesson. End Cities were first unveiled to players in June 2015 just before Minecon 2015, and then released in the Combat Update in February 2016. Fun fact – right before they were designed, Jens 'Jeb' Bergensten was visiting China, and so it’s very plausible that their unique look was influenced by the design of traditional Asian pagodas.

Now, let’s get down to business. Finding an End city isn’t too hard but it does need a little work. First, you’ll want to get yourself a lot of Ender pearls, which should be easy enough once you’ve defeated the Ender dragon, as you’ll be standing on a big platform with a lot of Endermen on it.

You’ll also want to bring a bunch of blank locator maps and an Ender chest to make sure you don’t lose things if you die. Good weaponry and armor, food and potions, a carved pumpkin to avoid angry endermen, and some blocks to build with are handy too. Oh – and a bucket of water. A bucket of water is a great way to avoid dying to falls into the void – position the flow so it’s close to where you’re exploring, and if you drop then try to fly into it. You’ll then be able to swim back up unharmed.

Ready? Good. Hurl an Ender pearl into the End gateway and you’ll be instantly teleported to the End’s outer islands. Hopefully you’ll be able to see an End city from where you land, but if not then jump between islands until you do – either by building a bridge or hurling an Ender pearl. Don’t worry – if the pearl falls into the void then you won’t be teleported. Eventually you’ll see a structure that looks like a multistorey branched tower, ideally with a ship parked at it near the top. Prepare yourself for danger, and head on in. 

You’re unlikely to get lost in an End city, but death from falling is a real risk because the shulkers that inhabit them will often apply the levitation effect. Feather Falling enchantments can help, but really you’re just gonna need to be careful – try to stay under low ceilings when you can, and if you do find yourself rising unexpectedly then either drink a bucket of milk to void the effect or place water below you just before you hit the ground to void the damage.

Look out for treasure rooms in the End cities (and stash the goodies in your Ender chest so you don’t lose them), but really the reason you’re here is to collect a couple of items that don’t appear anywhere else – shulker shells to make shulker boxes, and an elytra. The latter can only be found on the ships I mentioned previously – bridge or Ender pearl your way over to its deck, kill the shulkers living within, grab the dragon head if you want to, and then head downstairs to pick up the elytra. Once you’ve found it, don’t forget to use it to descend safely to the ground again.

You can sustain yourself for quite a long time in the End by eating chorus fruit (stay away from ledges when you do), but eventually you’ll need to return home – which can be done by either returning to the portal you arrived in, or by putting your most important gear in your Ender chest (don’t forget your armor) and hurling yourself into the void. I prefer the former, but hey – no judgment if the latter sounds easier!