Crystals first, then the dragon
The dragon has 200 health and the end crystals heal it, so shoot every crystal off the pillars before anything else. Then bow it in the air, dodge the charge and the breath, and when it perches on the portal, sword it or blow up a bed for burst damage until it dies.
- 1Gear upDiamond or netherite armor, a power bow with arrows, a sword, golden apples, a water bucket and a few beds.
- 2Destroy the end crystalsShoot the caged crystals off the obsidian pillars first, or climb and hit them; each one heals the dragon if left up.
- 3Dodge and shootBow the dragon while it circles, and sprint-strafe out of its charge and the purple dragon's breath on the ground.
- 4Burst the perchWhen it lands on the central portal, sword it, or place and blow up a bed next to it for huge damage.
- 5Finish and lootRepeat until its 200 HP is gone, grab the egg and the XP, then take the gateway out.
What you need
The crystals, not the health bar
+1 health every 10 ticks
That is 2 health per second, and it runs the whole time a crystal stands within 32 blocks of her. She only looks that far: the game takes her hitbox and inflates it by 32 blocks, and the nearest crystal inside that box is the one that keeps her alive. With all 10 towers up and her circling between them, that is up to 20 health a second coming back, so a full bar of 200 refills in about 10 seconds while you are still drawing your bow.
This is why every guide says crystals first, and it is also why the fight feels unwinnable if you skip one. You are not racing her health bar. You are racing a refill you cannot out-damage.
Read that number once more, because it is the one the fight turns on. Her 200 health is fixed and public. The 2 health a second she gets back is neither, and it is the reason a player with a full set of netherite still loses this fight if two towers are left standing.
Where the crystals are
Ten obsidian towers stand on a circle of radius 42 around the centre, 76 to 103 blocks tall, each with a crystal on a bedrock slab at the top. Exactly 2 of the ten are caged in iron bars, never more and never fewer. Which two is decided by your world seed, so the caged pair sits somewhere else in every world, and there is no fixed pillar to memorise.
The 8 open ones you can shoot from the ground. For the caged pair you have to get inside the bars or break them, so plan for a climb: bring blocks, or pearl up.
Her health, her size and what her body does
She has 200 health (100 hearts), the number every guide leads with, though it is also the least useful one while a single crystal is still standing. Her hitbox is 13 by 4 blocks: thirteen blocks across, and nothing else in the game is close, which is why she clips you while her head is somewhere else entirely. Flying through you deals 10 damage, before difficulty scaling: that lands softer on Easy and harder on Hard, because the game scales what a player takes. Her follow range is 16 blocks, shorter than a skeleton's leash: she does not hunt you across the island, she flies her circuit and comes past you. The full numbers, with their edition badges, sit in the panel on the right.
The two purple clouds are not the same thing
The stream she pours down while she sits on the portal. It lands as a cloud 5 blocks wide, it stays for 10 seconds, and it hits everything inside it again every 1 second you stand there.
The ball she spits while flying, and it is the worse of the two. It lands as a cloud 3 blocks wide that grows to 7, it stays for 30 seconds, and it hits everything inside it again every 1 second you stand there.
Both clouds do their damage as magic, and magic goes straight past armour. Netherrite does not make the purple safer, so the answer to both is the same and it is not gear: walk out of it. Milk clears nothing here either, because this is damage and not an effect that lingers.
Flying or sitting, and nothing in between
While she flies, your sword never reaches her. This is bow time, and the moment she stops circling and lines up on you is charging player.
Sitting is your window. She scans, she snaps at whatever is close, and she flames the ground under her, and all three of those end when she takes off again.
There are 11 phases and you will only ever notice which of the two groups she is in. That is the whole rhythm of the fight: bow while she is in the air, sword or bed while she sits, and never be under her when she takes off.
Three things that do not work on her
Bedrock gives her knockback resistance 100, which is the cap and not a number you nudge. On Java the number is 0 and it changes nothing, because nothing you swing pushes her anyway: no shield bash, no knockback sword, no bow shove off the perch.
She is fire immune, so lava buckets, fire aspect and flame arrows all read as zero on her.
Fall damage does nothing to her at all, so there is no trick where you bring the ground to her.
How big she actually is
Her collision box is 13 blocks wide and 4 high, drawn here next to a player of 0.6 by 1.8. That is the whole reason the perch phase is dangerous up close: her wing is still over you when her head is twenty degrees away.
It is also why she is easy to hit with a bow and hard to miss with a bed. Both images on this page are our own, made for this page and not taken from anywhere.
What you get for it
The first time, plus the dragon egg on the portal. Both hang on one flag on the fight itself, and killing her once flips it for that world forever.
Every respawn after that, and no second egg. You still get a fresh end gateway each time, which is the real reason to do it again.
It does not drop in one lump either. Her death animation runs 10 seconds, and from tick 151 onward the game pays out 8 percent of the total every 5 ticks, then 20 percent at the end: 11 portions of 960 the first time (40 and 100 after that), adding up to exactly 12,000. So do not walk into the exit portal while she is still exploding, and do not stand in the void hole either: the orbs land where she died.
The fight, step by step
- Gear up. Diamond or netherite armor, a power bow with arrows, a sword, golden apples, a water bucket and a few beds.
- Destroy the end crystals. Shoot the caged crystals off the obsidian pillars first, or climb and hit them; each one heals the dragon if left up.
- Dodge and shoot. Bow the dragon while it circles, and sprint-strafe out of its charge and the purple dragon's breath on the ground.
- Burst the perch. When it lands on the central portal, sword it, or place and blow up a bed next to it for huge damage.
- Finish and loot. Repeat until its 200 HP is gone, grab the egg and the XP, then take the gateway out.
Quick answers
How do you beat the Ender Dragon in Minecraft?
Destroy the healing end crystals on top of the obsidian pillars first, then damage the dragon: bow it while it flies and dodge its charges, and when it perches on the central portal hit it with a sword or set off a bed beside it. Repeat until its 200 health is gone. Every crystal still standing within 32 blocks of her gives her 2 health back per second, which is why the crystals come first.
How much health does the Ender Dragon have?
The Ender Dragon has 200 health, which is 100 hearts. The end crystals on the pillars constantly heal it, so you must destroy them first or you will never out-damage the healing.
How do you destroy the end crystals?
Shoot them with a bow from the ground. Exactly 2 of the 10 pillars have an iron-bar cage around the crystal, never more and never fewer, and which 2 depends on your world seed, so for those you have to break in or climb. Each crystal explodes, so do not be standing next to it. With every crystal gone the dragon stops healing.
Can you use beds to kill the Ender Dragon?
Yes. Beds explode when used in the End, so place a bed when the dragon is perched, stand back behind a block, and right-click it for massive burst damage. A few well-timed bed blasts can end the fight fast.
What gear do you need for the Ender Dragon?
Diamond or netherite armor (Protection, Feather Falling), a Power bow with a big stack of arrows, a decent sword, golden apples, a water bucket for the void edges, an ender pearl or two, and optionally beds for burst damage. A totem of undying is a strong safety net.
Does it work the same on Bedrock?
Yes, the fight is the same on Java and Bedrock: crystals heal the dragon, beds explode in the End, and the dragon has 200 health in both. Two numbers do differ between the editions, and neither changes your plan: Bedrock puts her knockback resistance at 100 where Java has it at 0, and Bedrock gives her a melee value of 3 where Java sets none on her at all. Nothing pushes her either way.
How much XP does the Ender Dragon drop?
12,000 the first time you kill her in a world, and 500 every time after that. The dragon egg follows the same flag: first kill only. The experience does not drop in one lump, it falls in 11 portions over the last seconds of her 10 second death animation, so stay near the middle until the light show is over.
Every number above was checked against Java 26.2 and Bedrock 1.26.30.5, in August 2026. That covers her health, her collision box and her follow range as well as the healing per crystal, the ten towers and their two cages, the two clouds and the experience payout. Where the two editions disagree, both numbers are printed with both badges.
Water Bucket
Ender Pearl
Lava Bucket
Dragon Egg