Minecraft’s Ender Dragon is a great challenge for anyone looking for a clear goal in the game. Preparing for the fight naturally teaches you a large part of the game and lets you actively gear up. But afterwards you might be missing concrete objectives to focus on. After all, Minecraft is a sandbox where your own creativity leads the way. Once the fight is over, there’s still plenty to do and many paths open up to you. Minecraft never really ends as long as you’re having fun and finding new ideas. In this guide, we’ll look at what to improve, explore, or upgrade after defeating the Ender Dragon.
1. Collect and secure the Ender Dragon egg in Minecraft
An obvious one, yet some players don’t realize it’s even possible. After your first victory over the dragon, in addition to a shower of experience and the central portal opening, an egg appears near the portal. There is only one egg per world, which makes it very special!
You can’t mine it with conventional tools. As soon as you touch it, it teleports a few blocks away. You can only push it with a piston or collect it using a torch. You can then place the egg as decor in your base as a symbol of your triumph.
2. Explore the End: outer islands, End Cities, and finding Elytra
With the Ender Dragon defeated, you gain access to the outer End islands. These lie around 1,000 blocks from the main island and can only be reached through a gateway on the outer ring. Use an Ender Pearl or crawl through. It’s best not to go alone—explore the area together. You can rent a Minecraft server from us to safely discover the End with friends. That way, you’ll be better prepared for what lies ahead.
The islands themselves are fairly barren—mostly Endermen, End Stone, and not much else. But the farther you go, the more you’ll find. The real highlights are the End Cities with their Elytra, Shulkers, and valuable loot. The chorus plants and fruit are also a curious sight on your End adventure.
3. Use Dragon’s Breath: brewing lingering potions in Minecraft
If you brought some glass bottles to the fight, you could collect the dragon’s breath when it settled on the ground. With this new ingredient, you can apply that effect to any splash potion to brew lingering potions that remain as a cloud on the ground.
4. Spend your XP wisely: enchant your gear
On your first kill, the Ender Dragon drops a whopping 12,000 XP—more than any other mob in the game. Gather it all to gain a huge level boost. Even from level 0, you should reach at least level 60. That gives you lots of freedom to enchant your weapons, armor, and tools as you like. Since each table enchant consumes only 3 levels, you can enchant 10+ different items. Spend levels smartly and also use books to roll or combine strong enchantments.
5. Build an Enderman farm: unlimited Ender Pearls and XP
The End gives you access to a huge number of Endermen, one of the best sources of even more XP and Ender Pearls. We recommend building an Enderman farm. We’ve already covered a design in another post if you want a detailed tutorial (Building an Enderman Farm in Minecraft: Collect Infinite Ender Pearls and XP Quickly) . A farm like this is a fantastic foundation for your world, providing a steady stream of XP for even more enchantments.
6. Summon and defeat the Wither: Nether Star and beacon
Now that you’ve beaten one of the toughest mobs in the game, you can take on another boss. Besides the dragon, there’s the Wither, which is likely even harder than the supposed end boss.
To prepare properly, we’ve put together a guide for you (Defeat the Minecraft Wither – How to Conquer the Strongest Boss!) . Don’t underestimate the fight, especially if you’re playing on the Bedrock Edition. On Java the Wither is a bit easier, but still no pushover.
After a successful fight, you’ll receive a Nether Star, a crucial item for crafting a beacon. Depending on its size, you can use various status effects. You can mine faster, regenerate, or move faster and jump higher. A beacon is a must-have for any advanced player.
7. Respawn the Ender Dragon: unlock more End gateways
If you’re bored and want another go, you can repeat the dragon fight. Craft four End Crystals from glass, Eyes of Ender, and Ghast Tears and place them on the four sides of the exit portal in the center of the obsidian pillars in the End. Once the fourth crystal is placed, an epic animation begins. The dragon respawns, and you can defeat it again.
You’ll get only 500 XP and no new egg, but you can collect more Dragon’s Breath for potions, for example. In addition, each of the first 20 kills spawns an End Gateway on the outer ring of the main island. They grant access to the outer islands in every cardinal direction. And once you’ve activated them all, it just looks cool.
Conclusion: After one fight comes the next!
The Ender Dragon fight is just one of the goals you can achieve in Minecraft. It can be a big challenge for newcomers, but it also unlocks many other aspects of the game. Whether you then explore End Cities to grab the Elytra or use all that XP to enchant everything you can, is up to you. Apart from access to the outer End islands, no feature is locked behind the fight. You don’t have to defeat the dragon if you’re not ready yet.
