How to Get Elytra in Minecraft: Find an End City and Its End Ship

Elytra let you glide anywhere in Minecraft, but there's only one place to find them. Here's how to reach the outer End, find an End ship and keep your wings flying.

Few items change Minecraft as much as Elytra. Once you have a pair, the map shrinks: you glide over mountains, cross oceans in minutes and rocket around your base like a superhero. But Elytra can't be crafted or traded. There is exactly one way to get them in survival – and it takes you to the far edge of the End.

Where Elytra come from

Elytra are found only on End ships – the floating ships sometimes generated next to End cities on the outer islands of the End. Inside the ship's treasure room, a pair of Elytra hangs in an item frame, guarded by a shulker. Not every End city has a ship, so you may need to visit a few.

What to bring

• Ender pearls – lots of them. They're how you cross the gaps between islands.
• Building blocks – for bridging and for quick shelter.
• Good armor and a weapon – End cities are full of shulkers and endermen.
• Food and milk buckets – milk clears levitation from shulker bullets.
• A carved pumpkin or careful eyes – staring at endermen is a bad idea.
• A few slow falling potions – a lifesaver if a shulker launches you into the air.

Step-by-step

1. Defeat the Ender Dragon. Killing the dragon creates an End gateway portal near the edge of the main island.
2. Use the End gateway. It's a small floating portal. Throw an ender pearl into it (or build up to it and step in) to be teleported to the outer islands, far from the main island.
3. Explore the outer islands. Look for tall purple towers – that's an End city. Elytra can't be on just any island; you're looking specifically for a city.
4. Check for an End ship. Many End cities have a ship floating nearby, often reached from the top of a tower or by bridging across.
5. Board the ship carefully. Deal with the shulker in the treasure room first.
6. Take the Elytra from the item frame. Break the frame or interact with it to drop them, then pick them up. The ship also usually holds a dragon head on its bow – a nice trophy.

How to fly

1. Equip the Elytra in your chestplate slot (they replace your chestplate).
2. Jump from a height, then press jump again in mid-air to open the wings.
3. Steer with your view. Look down to gain speed, up to slow down and climb a little.
4. Use firework rockets for propulsion: hold a rocket and use it while gliding for a burst of speed. Rockets don't cost Elytra durability.

Durability and repairs

Elytra wear out as you fly. In Java Edition they have 432 durability (433 in Bedrock), and each second of gliding uses one point – about seven minutes of flight. When they hit 1 durability they stop working, but they don't break, so you won't lose them.

Ways to repair:

• Phantom membranes on an anvil – each restores 25% durability.
• Combine two damaged pairs in a crafting grid.
• Mending enchantment – repairs them from experience you collect. This is the best long-term solution.
• Unbreaking – reduces how quickly durability drops.

Common mistakes

• Running out of ender pearls in the void. Bring more than you think you need.
• Fighting shulkers in the open. Levitation over the void is deadly – keep slow falling potions and milk ready.
• Assuming every End city has a ship. Keep exploring until you find one.
• Forgetting firework rockets. Without them, Elytra are gliders, not jets.

Quick checklist

Getting Elytra is the moment many survival worlds really open up. Stock up on pearls, find that ship and take to the skies.

This article was written by AI (Claude) and checked against the sources above. Games are updated regularly, so details may change.