How to Make an Ender Chest in Minecraft

Build a crafting table.

A crafting table will allow you to construct the ender chest. To build the table, chop a tree with an axe until you get a wood block, then separate it into 4 wood planks. Open up your inventory and fill the default 2x2 crafting menu with all 4 planks. The newly-made crafting table will automatically appear in the box to the right; just click and drag it into your inventory. You can find the 2x2 crafting menu on the top right corner of the inventory screen. To make wood planks, just place a wood block into one of the 4 crafting slots, and they’ll populate in the far right box. Crafting tables are essential for making complex recipes requiring more ingredients than the default 2x2 space can fit—including an ender chest.

Craft a diamond pickaxe.

Diamond pickaxes can mine obsidian, which you need to craft the chest. Dig underground past layer 12 in the Overworld, where you’ll find light blue-speckled blocks containing diamonds. Mine 3 diamonds with an iron pickaxe, and open up your crafting table. Place the diamonds across the top row of spaces and 2 sticks in the middle of the bottom rows to get your pickaxe. Though diamonds can be mined past layer 12, your chances of finding them are even greater on layers -50, -58, -59, and -64. You also have a small chance of finding a diamond as loot in treasure chests around the game world. To get sticks, all you have to do is place a wood plank in one of your Inventory’s crafting boxes. From there, it’ll deconstruct into sticks.

Gather 8 obsidian blocks.

Obsidian can be mined in underground caves. Obsidian forms where water meets lava, so search lava pools for black obsidian blocks. You can make obsidian by finding a pool of lava, fencing it in, and pouring water over it with a bucket. Wait for the water to spread over the lava before scooping it back into the bucket and mining the new obsidian with your diamond pickaxe. You can also find obsidian by chance. Search underground until you spot black obsidian blocks you can mine—but be careful not to fall into any nearby lava.

Obtain an ender pearl.

Track down and kill an enderman to score a pearl as loot. Ender pearls are rare in Minecraft, but endermen have a 50% chance of dropping one when killed. Make sure you have a good weapon (like a diamond sword) and armor equipped. Wait for one to spawn at night and attack it to see if it drops a pearl. You may have to kill a few until you get one! Endermen can be tough foes, but you can make the fight safer by putting a carved pumpkin on your head as a helmet. Endermen only attack when you look at them, but the pumpkin hides your face so you can look at them freely. You can carry a bucket of water with you and dump out the water if the fight gets too hard. The enderman will take damage from the water and teleport away. If you place a boat close to the enderman, it’ll stay on the boat without leaving or attacking back (since endermen don’t like water).

Make a Nether portal.

The Nether contains an important ingredient for making your ender chest. Collect 14 obsidian blocks and use them to construct a 4-block wide by 5-block high frame for the portal. Then, equip flint and steel or a fire charge and use it to activate the nether portal. Once either is used, the portal will begin to glow purple, signaling that it’s ready for use! Position your mouse pointer on one of the bottom obsidian blocks of the portal frame before activating the flint and steel or fire charge. To use the portal, simply walk through the purple area, and you’ll be transported to the Nether.

Get a blaze rod.

Enter the Nether portal and kill a blaze to obtain a rod. You’ll find blazes, which are floating mob monsters, living at Nether fortresses. Once you find a fortress, kill a blaze with either an enchanted sword or a ranged weapon like a bow or crossbow. Loot it to find blaze rod—there’s a roughly 50% chance of getting rods each time you kill a blaze. Thankfully, you’ll only need 1 rod to complete the ender chest. Make sure you wear protective armor when searching for a blaze stronghold. It’ll keep you safer during the battle!

Turn the blaze rod into powder.

Blaze powder is needed to make an eye of ender for the chest. Turning a blaze rod into powder is another simple process! Open up your crafting table and place the rod in one of the crafting slots. It’ll automatically deconstruct into 2 units of blaze powder, which is more than enough for the next step in the process.

Craft an Eye of Ender.

Combine the blaze powder with the ender pearl to make the Eye. Open your crafting table and place 1 ender pearl in the middle box of the table’s 3x3 crafting grid. Then, add 1 blaze powder in the box directly left of the pearl, again in the middle row. When you’re done, the Eye of Ender will appear in the box to the right of the grid. Once you have the Eye, click on it and drag it into your inventory to use it for crafting next. To use your crafting table, place it on the ground wherever you want and then stand right in front of it before opening the crafting screen.

Build an ender chest.

Use the obsidian and a crafted Eye of Ender to make your ender chest. The main recipe for an ender chest is 8 obsidian and an Eye of Ender, which is why you’ve been collecting all these items! In your crafting table menu, place the Eye of Ender in the middle space of the 3x3 crafting grid. Then, place 8 blocks of obsidian in each space surrounding the Eye of Ender in the center. From there, your newly-crafted ender chest will appear in the box to the right of the crafting grid!

Drag the ender chest into your inventory.

Once crafted, use ender chests to carry items around the game world. Click and drag it from the righthand box into your inventory below. Then, you can use the ender chest by placing it anywhere you want. Store objects in it like you would in any other chest, and open it back up to retrieve them. The more ender chests you make, the more easy access you’ll have to loot no matter where you go! It’s handy to have some ender chests around when you venture further into the Nether to transport your loot.