How to Make a Nether Portal in Minecraft (2026 Step-by-Step Guide)
The Nether Portal is one of the most important structures in Minecraft — it is how you access the Nether dimension, where you find Blaze rods for brewing, Nether fortresses, Piglins, and eventually the materials needed to reach The End. Building one requires obsidian and a flint and steel, both of which are obtainable in mid-game with iron tools or better.
What You Need to Build a Nether Portal
The minimum portal requires 10 obsidian blocks to build a 2x3 interior frame (corners not required). The full frame with corners uses 14 obsidian. You also need one flint and steel to activate it. Obsidian requires a diamond pickaxe to mine — it cannot be collected with any lower-tier tool. You also need flint, obtained by mining gravel with a shovel (about 10% drop chance per block), and an iron ingot to craft the flint and steel in a crafting table.
Getting Obsidian Without a Diamond Pickaxe
If you do not yet have a diamond pickaxe, you can create obsidian in place using buckets of water and lava. Find a lava pool (common underground or in lava lakes near Y -55), then pour water from a bucket directly onto lava source blocks. Water on top of a lava source creates obsidian. Build the portal frame shape using this method: pour water to create obsidian in the exact positions you need. This approach requires patience but skips the need to mine obsidian, letting you build a portal before you have diamond tools.
Building the Portal Frame
Place obsidian in a vertical rectangle: 4 blocks wide and 5 blocks tall, with the interior being 2 blocks wide and 3 blocks tall. In practice, place 2 obsidian on the ground as the base, build up 4 obsidian on each side (left and right), then cap with 2 obsidian on top connecting the two pillars. The corner blocks are optional — the portal will activate without them, which lets you save 4 obsidian. The completed frame with interior should look like a tall doorway with purple or empty air in the middle.
Crafting Flint and Steel and Lighting the Portal
In a crafting table, place 1 iron ingot in the top-left slot and 1 flint in the middle slot to craft flint and steel. Hold the flint and steel and right-click on the bottom interior block of your obsidian frame. The inside of the portal will fill with an animated purple field — this means the portal is active. You can also light a portal using a fire charge (crafted from blaze powder, coal, and gunpowder) as an alternative if you already have Nether materials, or by shooting a flaming arrow into the frame.
Entering the Nether: What to Expect
Walk into the purple field and hold still for about 4 seconds. You will be transported to a matching portal in the Nether dimension. The Nether is hostile immediately — Zombie Pigmen, Ghasts, and Piglins are nearby in most biomes. Bring your best armor, a sword, a shield, a bow with plenty of arrows, fire resistance potions if you have them, and gold armor or a gold piece to appease Piglins (who will attack you on sight unless you are wearing at least one piece of gold). Never punch Zombie Pigmen unless you want an entire group aggro'd.
Portal Linking and the 1:8 Coordinate Ratio
The Nether uses a 1:8 coordinate scale — one block of Nether travel equals eight blocks of Overworld travel. This makes Nether corridors an extremely fast travel method between distant Overworld locations. When you build a second Nether portal in the Overworld, Minecraft calculates the nearest corresponding Nether coordinate (divide X and Z by 8) to find or create the matching Nether-side portal. Use this intentionally to create Nether highways connecting your base to villages, outposts, or farms that are hundreds of blocks away.
FAQ
Do I need all 14 obsidian to make a Nether portal?
No. The minimum is 10 obsidian if you skip the four corner blocks. The portal works identically with or without corners — corners are just aesthetic.
How do I get obsidian early without a diamond pickaxe?
Pour water from a bucket onto lava source blocks to convert them to obsidian in place. You can use this method to build the entire portal frame before you have diamond tools, then light it to enter the Nether and find a diamond or iron pickaxe in a fortress chest.
Can the Nether portal be any size?
The standard size is 4 wide by 5 tall (2x3 interior). You can build larger portals up to 23x23 interior — these create a much wider purple field but function identically. Larger portals are purely cosmetic.
Why did my second portal not link to my first one?
Portals link based on the 1:8 coordinate ratio. If your second Overworld portal is too close in Nether coordinates to the first, a new Nether portal will be created nearby instead of linking to your original. Space Overworld portals at least 128 blocks apart to ensure they create separate Nether links.
Is it safe to enter the Nether in iron armor?
Iron armor is survivable but brings real risk. Bring a shield, fire resistance potions, and plenty of food. Dying in the Nether can mean losing your items in a dimension that is much harder to navigate. Diamond armor is strongly recommended before extended Nether exploration.