nocware
Quick answer
- Blazes live in Nether fortresses, often around a blaze spawner.
- Each blaze has a 50% chance to drop a rod on Java. Looting gives more.
- Get at least 6 rods for the End, plus extra for brewing.
You can't beat the game without blaze rods. They make eyes of ender and fuel your brewing stand. Here's how to farm them without dying.
Brewing GuideVisual Minecraft brewing guide→
Finding a fortress
- Look for long dark red brick bridges and towers.
- Fortresses are often in Nether wastes and soul sand valleys, and usually stretch a long way in one direction.
- Look for
nether wart on soul sand inside: grab it for brewing.
Fighting blazes
20health (10 hearts)
3fireballs per volley
3damage from a snowball
- Drink Fire Resistance before you start. It stops fireball and fire damage, but not their punches.
- Fight around corners so they come to you.
- Use a
shield to block fireballs, then hit them when they're close.
Snowballs workBlazes take 3 damage from each snowball. A few stacks of snowballs is a cheap way to kill them from range.
How many rods you need
| Goal | Rods |
|---|---|
| 12 eyes of ender | 6 |
 Brewing stand | 1 |
| Brewing fuel (20 brews per powder) | A couple more |
| Spares for broken eyes | 2–4 |
Looting helps a lotEach blaze averages 0.5 rods normally, but 2 with Looting III. That's a quarter of the fighting.
Camping a spawner
Find the blaze spawner, block off the sides so blazes come at you one way, and wait. Don't break the spawner. It's your farm.
Hardcore warningFortresses also have wither skeletons, which give you Wither. Never fight on a bridge edge with lava below.
Cheat sheet
- Fortress → blaze spawner
- Fire Resistance + shield + snowballs
- 6 rods for the End, more for brewing
- Looting III = 4× the rods
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