How to Get Elytra in Minecraft: Finding an End Ship

Elytra are found in one place: an item frame inside an End ship, a floating ship that sometimes generates next to an end city in the outer End. To get there you have to beat the Ender Dragon, go through the gateway portal that appears afterward, and search the outer islands until you find a city with a ship beside it. There’s no crafting recipe, and each ship holds exactly one pair.

Step 1: Beat the dragon

The outer End only opens up after the Ender Dragon dies. When it does, a small End gateway portal appears near the edge of the main island, floating in the air. Each time you kill the dragon again, a new gateway opens.

Step 2: Go through the gateway

The gateway is a single block of portal surrounded by bedrock, and you can’t walk into it. Throw an ender pearl into it, and you’ll be teleported about 1,000 blocks out to the outer islands. Bring a few spare pearls, since they’re also your emergency escape if you fall.

Step 3: Find an end city with a ship

End cities are tall purple towers made of purpur. Not every city has a ship. Ships float next to the city at roughly the same height as the top, so you’ll usually spot the tall mast and the dragon head on the front before you reach it.

Bridging between islands is slow and dangerous. A good method: build bridges with plenty of blocks, use ender pearls to cross short gaps, and climb high to scan around. Bring a stack or two of blocks, more than you think.

Step 4: Take the elytra

Inside the ship, go down the stairs to the treasure room at the back. You’ll find:

• the elytra in an item frame on the wall
• two chests, often with enchanted diamond gear
• a dragon head on the bow of the ship, which you can collect too
• a shulker or two guarding it all

Shulkers fire homing bullets that give you Levitation. In a city or over the void that can kill you, because you float up and then fall when it wears off. Kill shulkers quickly, or block their shots with a shield. Drinking milk removes Levitation, and a Slow Falling potion makes the fall afterward harmless.

Break the item frame (or punch the elytra out of it) and pick them up.

Flying

Put the elytra in your chestplate slot. They give no armor, so you’ll be trading your chestplate for them.

1. Jump off something tall.
2. Press jump again while falling to open the wings.
3. Look down to speed up, look up to slow down.
4. Use a firework rocket while gliding to boost forward and gain height. Rockets don’t use up elytra durability.

Fireworks need gunpowder, and you’ll use a lot. A creeper farm pays for itself quickly once you’re flying regularly.

Watch out for walls. Flying into a block at speed deals kinetic damage that armor and Feather Falling don’t stop. On Java, hitting a ladder or scaffolding cancels the glide since 1.21.5. On Bedrock, touching water ends the flight.

Durability and repair

Elytra lose 1 durability per second of gliding, giving about 7 minutes of flight on a new pair (432 durability on Java, 433 on Bedrock). At 1 durability they stop opening, but never break.

To repair them:

• Phantom membranes on an anvil, each restoring a quarter of the durability. They drop from phantoms.
• Combining two pairs on an anvil, if you’ve found a second ship.
• Mending, which is the real long-term answer. Unbreaking III plus Mending means you’ll almost never need to think about durability again. See best elytra enchantments for the full set.