Stronghold Finder

Strongholds hide the End portal, and knowing where they are saves a stack of eyes of ender. Enter your seed and version to plot them around the world origin. Up to twelve of the closest to spawn are listed under the map with their coordinates; click one to center it, travel to that X and Z, and dig down.

Eight rings around 0, 0 in Java

A Java world has exactly 128 strongholds on eight rings centered on 0, 0, not on spawn. The rings hold 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36 and 9 strongholds. The first sits about 1,300 to 2,800 blocks from the origin, the second about 4,500 to 5,800, and each later ring roughly 3,000 blocks further out. Within a ring they are evenly spaced, so the first three are 120° apart.

The game then nudges each one up to 112 blocks toward a suitable biome, away from oceans, rivers, beaches and swamps. The coordinates shown are the starting staircase.

Bedrock ties the first three to villages

Bedrock has no 128-stronghold rings. It starts at a random angle 640 to 880 blocks from the origin and places a stronghold where it finds a village nearby, then turns and repeats until there are three, so Bedrock strongholds often lie right under a village. Beyond those, the world is cut into 3,200×3,200-block cells, and each cell has a one-in-four chance of an extra stronghold somewhere in its middle 1,600×1,600 blocks.

Before you set off

Bring a dozen eyes of ender: each of the twelve frame blocks in the portal room has only a 10% chance of already holding one. Throwing an eye still helps on the last stretch because it flies toward the nearest stronghold. Inside, the portal room has a silverfish spawner, so break or light it before you fill the frame; some strongholds also have a library with enchanted books. The seed map can draw the Java rings as a layer if you want the whole pattern at once.

Frequently asked questions

Are strongholds placed around spawn or around 0, 0?

Around the world origin, 0, 0, in both editions. This page ranks them by distance from spawn only because that is where you start walking.

How many eyes of ender do I need?

Up to 12. Each frame block has a 10% chance to generate with an eye already in it, so you often need a few less, but a complete portal on arrival is practically impossible.

Can a stronghold end up under the ocean?

Yes. In Java the game looks up to 112 blocks around the ring position for a land biome, and if none is in reach the stronghold stays where it was, even beneath water.

Want a world that already has one close to spawn? Browse the Stronghold seeds in the seed library.