You may be hard-pressed to convince people you successfully defeated the ender dragon unless you have a trophy to show off. The minds behind Minecraft thought about this and made it possible for the most clever of dragon slayers to obtain the incredibly rare ender dragon egg. Of course, acquiring the most valuable decorative piece in Minecraft isn't easy to do, and there's a specific way you have to approach this. We're here to tell you what you need to know.
How do you get the ender dragon egg in Minecraft?
The ender dragon egg is a large black egg with purple spots that has some peculiar characteristics. Besides being a one-of-a-kind object with no practical uses in Minecraft, it's also notoriously difficult to obtain. If one didn't know better, they might assume it was impossible after multiple attempts. That's because the ender dragon egg tends to teleport to a random nearby location anytime anything tries to damage or mine it in any way. Any time you try to pick up the ender dragon egg, it'll vanish and reappear somewhere else. This can become very frustrating if you're determined to add it to your collection. There are ways of beating this, though.
Before we get to the nitty-gritty of adding the ender dragon egg to your collection, there are two teensy tiny little things you have to do first. Both of these require extensive preparation and know-how, so you might want to read up before you go ahead. As might be expected, the ender dragon egg exists only in the End,, which can be likened to Minecraft's shadowy underworld. It's dark, filled with creatures just aching to kill you, and isn't very easy to get to. So why bother? Because it has a ton of treasure just waiting to be found.
To prepare to get the ender dragon egg in Minecraft, you have to:
- Go to the End. That's easier said than done. We have the full guide to help you out and make the journey as effortless as possible.
- Kill the ender dragon. The ender dragon egg is one of your prizes for beating the ender dragon. We also have a full guide to help you properly prepare for the battle.
Once you've fully prepared, there are two ways to get the ender dragon egg in Minecraft:
Pistons
The ender dragon egg doesn't respond well to any attempts to break it or mine it, but it can be broken by forcing it to move. The best way to do that? Pistons. Using a standard piston with a lever or button is a quick and easy method to get you an ender dragon egg without having to chase it down across half the End. It does require a bit of work to make sure the ender dragon egg isn't accidentally rendered unobtainable.
To do this, you'll need:
- Some building blocks. Anything will do, but end stone is the easiest to find here.
- A piston. You can build a piston with three wooden blocks, four pieces of cobblestone, one iron ingot, and one piece of redstone.
- A lever. You can build a lever with one stick and one piece of cobblestone.
To get the ender dragon egg in Minecraft with pistons, follow these steps:
- Find the ender dragon egg by looking for the fountain-like structure in the center of the End's main island. This is the exit portal, and it should be filled with a dark, starry substance.
- Use your building blocks to build up to the ender dragon egg. Be very careful not to fall into the exit portal, or you'll be ejected out of the End.
- Use your building blocks to build a ring around ender dragon egg. Put more blocks opposite your initial platform.
- Place your piston facing the ender dragon egg. Make sure the piston is going to push the ender dragon egg onto your platform.
- Place your lever right next to the piston. It has to be within 1 block of the piston to send a signal.
- Activate the piston to push the ender dragon egg onto your platform. Once the ender dragon egg is pushed, it will break and drop itself.
- Go and pick up the ender dragon egg. Once it's in your inventory, you can treat it like any other item. You can also place it down like any other block. Careful, though, once you place it down, you'll need to repeat this to move it again.
Torches
If you don't want to risk pushing the ender dragon egg into the exit portal and thus losing it forever, you can alternatively use this method. The ender dragon egg is affected by gravity, meaning it falls when nothing is below it to support it, similar to sand or gravel. Using this trait, we can force the ender dragon egg to break by dropping it onto something it can't sit on: torches.
To do this, you'll need:
- A pickaxe. Anything will do. You'll just need something to break end stone.
- Torches. Just one torch will do, really, but this is the core ingredient to this plan.
To get the ender dragon egg in Minecraft with torches, follow these steps:
- Find the ender dragon egg by looking for the fountain-like structure in the center of the End's main island. This is the exit portal, and it should be filled with a dark, starry substance.
- Using any tool or even your bare hands, hit the ender dragon egg until it breaks. It'll disappear and leave a faint purple trail behind.
- Follow the purple trail until you find the ender dragon egg's new home. It should be relatively close to the exit portal.
- Carefully mine a hole 3 blocks deep right next to the ender dragon egg. Be careful not to mine or touch the ender dragon egg.
- Without mining the end stone block that egg is sitting on, mine the 2 end stone blocks below that point.
- Take a torch and place it on the ground directly beneath the ender dragon egg.
- When the torch is in place, mine the block the ender dragon egg is sitting on. It should fall onto the torch below and break. When it breaks, it will drop itself.
- Go and pick up the ender dragon egg. Once it's in your inventory, you can treat it like any other item. You can also place it down like any other block. Careful, though, once you place it down, you'll need to repeat this to move it again.
A balanced breakfast
Stashing the ender dragon egg above the mantle in your carefully constructed mansion is sure to get you some Minecraft fame if you accomplish it in Survival. Mojang didn't make it easy to find out how to do it, but I guess that means you can call this one of Minecraft's many...Easter eggs. However you feel about it (and that bad joke), the ender dragon egg is a good way to commemorate your victory over the game's final boss.
Have you gotten the ender dragon egg? How did you do it? Sound off in the comments below!
Zachary Boddy
Staff Writer
Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer primarily focused on covering the latest news, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life, and have been with Windows Central and its sister sites since 2019. While originally brought on to write about all things Minecraft, Zachary has since expanded to write about practically everything that Windows Central covers. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary.
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Before even attempting to teleport the egg... cover the portal. Friend and I fought the dragon too early but still killed it and lost the egg because it teleported and fell into the portal. And so it became un obtainable.
