Survival Minecraft is incredibly fun but can be challenging. This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything from your first moments spawning into a new world all the way to obtaining the coveted Elytra wings and raiding End Cities. Follow along with the video above or read the detailed steps below!
🌳 First Steps In Your New World
As soon as you spawn into your new Minecraft world, take a moment to analyze your surroundings. Look for resources like trees, animals, and any nearby structures. Your immediate priority is establishing basic tools and shelter.
✅ Essential Starting Tasks
| Step | Action | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Collect 3+ logs | Punch trees to gather your first wood |
| 2 | Craft crafting table | Convert logs to planks, then craft the table |
| 3 | Make sticks | Craft two batches of sticks from planks |
| 4 | Wooden pickaxe only | Don't waste resources on other wooden tools |
| 5 | Mine stone | Dig down until you hit stone, mine at least 3 cobblestone |
| 6 | Upgrade to stone tools | Craft a stone pickaxe immediately |
Once you have your stone pickaxe, mine approximately 32 cobblestone. This should be enough for a full tool set and two furnaces. If you spot iron ore nearby, you can get away with just one furnace and save time.
📦 Initial Resource Collection
With your stone tools crafted, begin exploring the area around your spawn point. Key resources to gather:
Collect several stacks, you'll need them constantly
Kill animals for meat, but leave 2 of each species for breeding later
Essential for torches and smelting (planks work as fuel in a pinch)
Either find 3 sheep or locate a village with beds
💡 Pro Tip: Villages
Villages are incredibly common in Minecraft 1.21. If you find one near spawn, it's a goldmine! Look for:
- ✨ Blacksmith houses with diamond loot
- 🌾 Hay bales and melons for food
- 🛏️ Beds to skip the night
- 📦 Loot chests in villager houses
🗺️ Exploration Explained
Once you have basic tools and a bed, it's time to explore. This phase is crucial for finding resources that will carry you through mid and late game.
🎯 Key Items to Gather While Exploring
Kill Endermen (use 2-block tall spaces to fight safely)
Farm skeletons for a good supply
Kill creepers carefully (hit and back away)
At least enough for one book
From jungle/bamboo biomes or shipwreck chests
Maintain sustainable food sources
Biome-Specific Tips
Your spawn biome determines your early strategy:
- Desert - Grab extra sugar cane, collect sand for glass, raid desert temples
- Plains - Maximum food farming potential, easy to navigate
- Ocean - Kill fish, check shipwrecks and ocean ruins for loot
- Forest - Abundant wood, navigate via treetops to avoid mobs
- Mountains - Exposed iron and coal on cliff faces
⚠️ Important: Always carry essential items
Since you don't have a permanent base yet, keep all important items in your inventory. Organize your hotbar: sword, pickaxes, axe, shovel, hoe for quick access to all tools.
⚒️ Tool Upgrades & Caving
Now it's time to find iron and upgrade from stone tools. There are two prime locations for iron ore:
Exposed iron on tall mountains - easy to spot and mine
Just above where stone transitions to deepslate
⚙️ Iron Requirements
You need a total of 42 iron ingots for optimal early game progression:
| Item | Iron Needed | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Full Iron Armor | 24 | Helmet (5), Chestplate (8), Leggings (7), Boots (4) |
| Complete Tool Set | 14 | Pickaxe, Axe, Shovel, Sword, Hoe |
| Bucket | 3 | Critical for water placement and lava safety |
| Shield | 1 | Most important defensive item in the game |
| TOTAL | 42 | Don't stop mining until you have this much! |
🛡️ Shield Priority
Your very first iron ingot should become a shield. It's the best damage prevention tool in the entire game and will save your life countless times. Your second priority is the iron pickaxe, followed by a bucket.
Caving Strategy
Before venturing into deep caves:
- Collect 0.5-1 stack of coal (torches are essential, coal is scarce deep underground since 1.18)
- Bring multiple iron pickaxes
- Have your shield in your off-hand
- Carry good food for health regeneration
- Remember: Since 1.18, mobs only spawn at light level 0, so even dim areas are spawn-proof
🛡️ Shield Priority
Your very first iron ingot should become a shield. It's the best damage prevention tool in the entire game and will save your life countless times. Your second priority is the iron pickaxe, followed by a bucket.
🏠 Creating a Starter Base
Once your inventory starts filling up, it's time to establish a starter base. This doesn't need to be elaborate—just functional.
Base Requirements
- 4+ chests - Enough to sort and store items
- 2 beds - One for your base spawn point, one for mobile respawn setting
- Furnaces - For smelting ores and cooking food
- Crafting area - Keep your crafting table accessible
- Safe walls - Simple plank walls work fine
Location Tips
Place your starter base near:
- Large cave entrances (for mining access)
- Villages (for trading and resources)
- Multiple biomes (for diverse resource gathering)
- Your world spawn or important structures
🚪 Door Placement Warning
On hard difficulty, zombies can break wooden doors if placed incorrectly. Place doors facing away from where you want them to open. When closed, zombies will see them as "open" and won't try to break them down.
🌾 Crop, Animal & Micro Farms
Sustainable food is important for long-term survival. If you already have food from villages, you can skip this section temporarily.
Crop Farm Basics
- Potatoes - Best easy-to-grow food source (zombies drop them, or find in villages)
- Wheat - For breeding chickens, sheep, and cows (bone meal grass for seeds)
- Alternating rows - Plant wheat and potatoes in alternating rows for 2x growth speed
Animal Farming
The most valuable animals to farm:
- Cows - Best option: beef (same value as pork) PLUS leather
- Sheep - For wool and mutton
- Pigs and chickens are less efficient but still viable
💎 How to Mine Diamonds
Diamonds are essential for progression. You have two main methods:
Cave Mining (Recommended)
If you have access to a large cave system, exploring it is often the fastest way to find diamonds. Benefits:
- Faster exploration of large areas
- Find other valuable ores simultaneously
- More exciting gameplay
Downsides: More dangerous due to hostile mobs, diamond veins in caves tend to be smaller (1-2 diamonds often).
Strip Mining (Safer)
If you don't have a good cave, strip mining is reliable:
- Mine down to Y-level -58 (lowest point before frequent bedrock)
- Create a staircase or mine between two blocks to safely descend
- Mine one long tunnel
- Create side tunnels every 2-5 blocks
Diamond Requirements
Aim for 7 diamonds minimum:
- 3 for diamond pickaxe
- 2 for enchanting table
- 2 for diamond sword (very useful in the Nether)
💎 Diamond Mining Tips
- Always mine around diamond ore—parallel veins are common
- Be careful near lava—block it up immediately
- Collect any gold and lapis you find (useful for Nether and Ender Dragon)
- Cave floors often hide diamonds due to air exposure rules
🪨 Collecting & Using Obsidian
With your diamond pickaxe crafted, it's time to gather obsidian. You need 14 obsidian total:
- 10 for the Nether portal
- 4 for an enchanting table
Safe Obsidian Collection
- Find lava (usually abundant in caves)
- Place water to convert lava source blocks to obsidian
- Turn ALL nearby lava into obsidian before mining (prevents losing obsidian to lava)
- Keep the water bucket there for safety
- Mine obsidian carefully—takes about 10 seconds per block
Crafting the Enchanting Table
To craft a book, you need:
- 3 paper (from 3 sugar cane)
- 1 leather (from cows, horses, or llamas)
Pro tip: Kill cows while they're on fire to get cooked steak instead of raw beef!
🔥 Nether Exploration & Raiding
The Nether is one of the most dangerous dimensions, but it contains essential resources for reaching the End.
Pre-Nether Preparation
Before entering the Nether for the first time:
- Set your spawn - Sleep in a bed near your portal
- Scout first - Enter with NO items to see what's on the other side
- Return and gear up - Based on what you found
🎒 Essential Nether Gear
| Item | Purpose | Priority |
|---|---|---|
 Golden Boots | Prevents Piglin aggression | CRITICAL |
| 🛡️ Shield | Block ghast fireballs and blaze fire charges | CRITICAL |
| 🍖 Food (0.5+ stacks) | Health regeneration, more is better | HIGH |
 Flint & Steel | Relight portal if needed | HIGH |
 Bow & Arrows | For blazes and ghasts | MEDIUM |
 Overworld Blocks | Mark paths (dirt/cobblestone - Endermen can't pick up) | MEDIUM |
 Torches | Mark your trail | MEDIUM |
 Logs | Some recipes require Overworld wood | LOW |
 Boats | Trap mobs in emergencies | LOW |
🔥 Nether Safety Tips
- Write down your portal coordinates immediately
- Mark your trail with Overworld blocks (cobblestone/dirt)
- Never bring diamonds or valuable items until you've scouted
- Crimson Forests are particularly dangerous—be extra careful
🏰 Nether Fortress Raiding
Finding a Nether Fortress is your primary Nether objective. They're the only source of:
- Blaze rods - Essential for Eyes of Ender
- Nether wart - For potion brewing
- Wither skeleton skulls (for Wither boss)
- Valuable loot chests
Fortress Exploration Strategy
- Mark explored areas - Place blocks at dead-end tunnels to avoid re-exploring
- Check under stairs - Nether wart grows here
- Search every chest - Can contain diamonds, iron, gold
- Break empty chests - Avoid checking them twice
- Find the blaze spawner - Usually in exterior sections connected to the main structure
Fighting Blazes
- Shield is essential—block all fireballs
- Isolate blazes—fight one at a time when possible
- Destroy fire under blazes so rods don't burn
- Create safe corners to regenerate health
- Control spawner by adding/removing light
Fighting Wither Skeletons
- Place blocks 2 blocks above your head—they're 3 blocks tall and can't reach you
- Shield blocks their sword attacks
- Their wither effect is dangerous—keep food ready
Blaze Rod Requirements
You need 11 blaze rods:
- 8 for Eyes of Ender (for finding stronghold)
- 3 for brewing (1 for brewing stand, 2 for fuel/additional uses)
🔮 Ender Pearls & Blaze Rods
Getting Ender Pearls
You need 12-16 ender pearls. Choose your method:
⚗️ Crafting Eyes of Ender
Combine blaze powder with ender pearls
+
🧭 Finding The Stronghold
With Eyes of Ender crafted, you can locate the stronghold—home of the End Portal.
🎒 Preparation for the Journey
16 Eyes of EnderExtra ender pearls (travel & safety)
10 obsidian (return portal)
Enchanting table + lapis
Best armor and toolsTorches for exploringBuilding blocks (dirt/cobblestone)Using Eyes of Ender
- Throw from high ground - Get a clear view of the direction
- Note the direction - Travel 500-600 blocks that way
- Throw again - Adjust your path
- Repeat - When the Eye flies downward, you're within 12 blocks
- Mark the spot - Build a pillar where it flies straight down
🧭 Pro Finding Tip
Eyes of Ender have a 20% chance to break when thrown. Strongholds never spawn near world spawn, so travel far before throwing additional Eyes to conserve them.
Pinpointing the Stronghold (Advanced)
For exact coordinates:
- Enable chunk borders (F3+G in Java)
- The Eye flies toward coordinates 0,0 of a specific chunk
- Find the corner where X and Z are both 0
- Dig down from block 4,4 of that chunk
- You'll land directly on the stronghold staircase
🏛️ Raiding The Stronghold
Strongholds are large, maze-like structures. Your objectives:
Usually in a room with lava and silverfish spawner - your main objective!
2 libraries per stronghold, contain valuable enchanted books
Hidden throughout the structure - check above wells!
From cobwebs using your sword (need ~20 for scaffolding)
Stronghold Exploration Tips
- Block off dead-end corridors to avoid retracing steps
- Light everything—silverfish and other mobs spawn here
- Break the silverfish spawner immediately when found
- Check above wells—hidden chest always spawns there
- Ravines often intersect strongholds—be careful of gaps
📚 Library Loot
Grab all paper - for firework rockets later
Save enchanted books - for after the dragon fight
Collect string from cobwebs - need ~20 for scaffolding⚙️ Setting Up at the Portal
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Destroy silverfish spawner - Remove the threat immediately |
| 2 | Set up temporary base - Place chests, furnaces, enchanting table |
| 3 | Place bed - Set spawn point here for safety |
| 4 | Smelt food - Cook all raw meat before the fight |
| 5 | Craft scaffolding - 1 string + 6 bamboo = 6 scaffolding |
| 6 | Build Nether portal - Quick return path to main base |
✨ Enchanting Before the Dragon
Set up your enchanting table near the library bookshelves for level 30 enchants:
| Item | Target Enchantment | Priority |
|---|---|---|
 Diamond Boots | Feather Falling IV | TOP PRIORITY |
 Diamond Helmet | Protection IV or Respiration | HIGH |
 Diamond Sword | Looting II+ (for End City shulkers) | CRITICAL |
| Bow | Power II+ and Unbreaking | MEDIUM |
 Iron Armor | Whatever levels remain | LOW |
🐉 Ender Dragon Battle
📋 Pre-Fight Inventory Checklist
⚠️ Glass Bottles Are Important!
Dragon's breath is needed for lingering potions and can only be collected during the dragon fight. Bring 3+ stacks of glass bottles to collect it. This saves you from having to respawn the dragon later just for bottles.
Phase 1: Destroy End Crystals
The Ender Dragon regenerates health from End Crystals on obsidian pillars. You must destroy all 10 crystals first.
Phase 2: Defeating The Ender Dragon
Once all crystals are destroyed, focus on the dragon.
🏙️ Raiding The End Cities
The outer End islands contain End Cities—home of the Elytra wings and incredible loot.
Preparing for End Cities
Looting II+ sword (maximize shulker shell drops)
Firework rockets (craft from gunpowder + paper)Building blocks for bridgingWater bucketEnder pearls
Trapdoor (for entering Gateway) or ender pearl if Bedrock Edition
Diamond armor and tools - Often enchantedEnchanted books
Ender chests - Portable storage
Elytra - In item frame at front of ship
Brewing standHigh-tier loot chests🎉 Congratulations!
You've now completed the main progression of Minecraft! With full diamond armor, Elytra wings, shulker boxes, and access to End Cities, you have all the tools needed for any late-game project. The world is yours to explore and build in!
🎯 What's Next?
You've beaten the Ender Dragon and obtained the Elytra, but Minecraft's adventure is far from over:
Get Mending and Unbreaking III for unlimited flight
Iron, gold, mob, crop, and more automated systems
For prismarine blocks and sponges
Unique loot and totem of undying
For nether stars and beacon powers
Best armor and tools in the game
🎓 Master Minecraft Survival!
This guide covered the essential survival progression from a new world to Elytra. Master these fundamentals, and you'll be ready for any Minecraft challenge!