Nether is the dimension you need to visit in order to beat Minecraft. But, why is that? Well, that’s because of blaze rods, special items that you will need to activate the End portal to fight the Ender Dragon. Though, this item is valuable for a few more reasons. So, in this tutorial, we’ve discussed the steps to get blaze rods in Minecraft and how to use them.
How to Get Blaze Rods in Minecraft
The Blaze rods are dropped by Blazes, fiery hostile mobs that spawn in the bounds of the Nether fortress structure. So, you’ll need to collect obsidian, make a Nether portal frame and light it to even enter this dimension. However, keep in mind that it is very spicy as it is filled with various powerful mobs, lava pools, and solitary lava sources.
Once you’re there, you should look for the Nether fortress. It’s a structure made of nether bricks and is pretty large and tall. There you’ll find Blazes probably immediately, as they are common residents of this structure, in addition to wither skeletons, zombified piglins, magma cubes, and skeletons.
Blazes are bright yellow mobs that have rotating rods around them and they emit smoke particles.
These fire mobs also spawn from blaze spawners, which are the only type of spawners you will find in a Nether fortress. They shoot fireballs at you and rise into the air when agroed. You can use a Minecraft shield to block their attacks.
The potion of fire resistance could save your life in this hostile environment, as water evaporates instantly. Besides brewing it yourself (check the process in our linked guide on Minecraft potions), you can also get it from bartering with piglins.
By default, Blaze has a 50% chance of dropping one blaze rod. However, if you have looting III, one of the best sword enchantments applied, you can get up to four rods per kill. Also, the way a Blaze dies is important. They will only drop blaze rods if the kill counts as a player kill, so either you or your tamed wolf can kill the Blaze. If they die in any other way, you won’t receive blaze rods.
How to Use Blaze Rods in Minecraft
Now that you’ve got blaze rods, it’s time to learn how to use them. They are a part of several crafting recipes as well as a fuel source.
1. Crafting Ingredient
With blaze rods, you can make blaze powder, brewing stands, copper bulbs, and end rods, one of the light source blocks in the game.
With blaze powder, you can make eyes of ender, fire charges (substitutes for flint and steel), and magma cream (an ingredient for potion of fire resistance). Apart from that, you can also use it to fuel the brewing stand in order to produce some of the best Minecraft potions.
2. Fuel Source
Blaze rods are a popular Minecraft fuel source in a furnace, blast furnace, and a smoker, just like coal, charcoal, or lava buckets. One blaze rod can smelt or cook a total of 12 items.
With that said, you now fully understand the importance of blaze rods and how you can get them in Minecraft. Thanks to the blaze spawners inside Nether fortresses, it’s also possible to make a blaze rod farm, which will automatically gather these useful items for you. That said, gear up and head to the Nether to show Blazes who’s the real champion.
In Minecraft, you cannot get blaze rods anywhere else but the Nether dimension. So, although it is terrible, you must go into the Nether to get blaze rods.
It is not at all rare to get blaze rods. Every one in two Blazes should drop this item, so you don’t need to worry about the chances. However, they only drop one rod when killed so to make your Nether visit as efficient as possible, looting III enchantments will help you get many blaze rods quickly.
If you want to beat the game, you will need 6 blaze rods at most for the portal only, so getting 8-10 should be enough for locating the stronghold as well. Furthermore, if you also want to make potions, then a couple more blaze rods should do the trick. So, 10-15 blaze rods should keep you busy for a while.
No, blaze rods, just like most items in the game, burn if they come into contact with fire or lava.
