How to Make a Nether Portal in Minecraft

If you want to visit the fiery underworld, you need to know how to make a Nether Portal in Minecraft. Here's all the information you need, including the correct Nether Portal dimensions and how to build your portal.

What Do You Need to Make a Nether Portal?

Nether Portals offer a gateway to the Nether, Minecraft's underworld. There are a few ways to construct Nether Portals, but they always require the same materials:

• At least 14 obsidian blocks
• An item that can create fire, such as lava, a fire charge, or flint and steel

The minimum dimensions for a Nether Portal are four obsidian wide and five obsidian high (for a total of 14 obsidian blocks). If you'd like, you can construct even larger frames and build adjacent Nether Portals that share sides.

How to Make a Nether Portal in Minecraft

Follow these steps to construct a portal to the Nether:

1. Add obsidian and your combustible block (fire charge, flint and steel, etc.) to your hot bar.

2. Place four obsidian blocks on the ground side-by-side.

   You cannot build Nether Portals underwater or in the End.

3. Place four obsidian blocks on top of one edge.

   To stack blocks vertically, stand on top of the block you want to stack upon and jump, then place the blocks below you while you're in the air.

4. Place four obsidian blocks on top of the other edge.

5. Place two obsidian between the edges of the vertical blocks to connect the frame.

6. Select your combustible block and drop it inside the frame to activate the portal. The inside of the portal should glow purple.

7. Jump inside the frame to teleport to the Nether.

When you arrive, the portal you built will follow you. To return to the overworld, reenter the portal.

How Much Obsidian You Need and Where to Get It

You'll need at least 14 obsidian per Nether portal, so you should collect as much as possible. To mine obsidian in Minecraft:

1. Make a crafting table using four wood planks. Any type of wood will do (Warped Planks, Crimson Planks, etc.).

2. Place your crafting table on the ground and interact with it to access the 3X3 crafting grid.

3. Craft a diamond pickaxe. In the 3x3 crafting grid, place three diamonds in the top row, then place sticks in the middle of the second and third rows.

4. Craft a bucket. Open the 3x3 crafting grid, place iron ingots in the first and third blocks in the top row, then place an iron ingot in the middle of the second row.

5. Use the bucket to scoop up some water.

6. Find some lava and pour the water on it.

7. Use the diamond pickaxe to mine the obsidian.

   The diamond pickaxe is the only tool capable of mining obsidian.

How to Deactivate Portals

There are a few things that can deactivate Nether Portals:

• Explosive blasts
• Water
• Destroying the obsidian frame with a pickaxe

Although the obsidian frame can withstand explosions, the portal itself cannot. Nether Portals can be reactivated the same way you originally activated them.

How to Link Nether Portals

Anytime you make a new Nether Portal, a link between the Nether and the overworld is created. Portals work both ways, so you can go back and forth. Once you're in the Nether, you can place portals in strategic locations to create shortcuts to the overworld.

The Nether is smaller than the overworld by a ratio of 8:1 on the X-axis. In other words, if you move one block to the left or right on the map while in the Nether, you will have moved the equivalent of eight blocks in the overworld. The Y-axis ratio is 1:1, so this doesn't apply when moving up or down on the map.