Playing Through: The Nether and The End - The Ultimate Player's Guide to Minecraft - page 276

The Kitchen Sink —Bring anything else you can think of to set up a small shelter
in the stronghold to act as your base, such as wood and iron blocks for tools, addi-
tional diamonds, a crafting table, a furnace, a brewing stand, and so on. At least be
prepared to make a small shelter in case you need to spend a night on your way to
the stronghold.
Finding a Stronghold
Each Overworld generates with three strongholds located between 640 and 1152 blocks
fromtheworld'soriginalspawnpoint.Youmightbeluckyandfindthestrongholdinjusta
few minutes, and it shouldn't take any longer than 20. They're spaced at equidistant angles
from the spawn, 120 degrees apart, with no part rising above the general terrain. They are,
however, cut by natural terrain features such as ravines and valleys, so while in most cases
they're buried deep underground, there's a chance you could stumble across an exposed
section. You may even find just a stronghold's portal room sitting on its own in water.
Follow these steps to find your first stronghold:
1. Climb to a high spot, hopefully with some clear space around, and then throw an
Eye of Ender. It will float into the air and zoom off in the direction of the nearest
stronghold.
2. In four out of five cases the eye floats to the ground a short distance away. Pick it
up to use again, and you're already on your way to the stronghold. In some cases
the eye just explodes instead. Don't worry; just head in the same direction.
3. Keep travelling for quite some way so you don't use too many eyes; then throw an-
other. The eyes float high when the stronghold is distant and float quickly to the
ground when you're close or over the top of the stronghold. In the PC edition, the
eye homes in on The End portal room, whereas in the Xbox edition it takes you to
the center of the dungeon and you need to explore the dungeon from there.
4. When you think you have the dungeon's location zeroed down, start digging. Use
normal mining techniques to create a staircase, turning regularly so that you stay in
the same general area. You'll know you're there when you start to dig up stone or
mossy bricks. Keep going until you break through into the portal room or a cor-
ridor, but don't dig straight down because you could fall into a lava pool (see Fig-
ure 12.8 ) . If you do need to work your way down into the room, open the roof a
little and sneak-place blocks against the wall to create steps.