How to beat Minecraft quickly

How can players beat Minecraft quickly? How can they start in a Survival Mode world and expediently reach the end credits? There are several ways to beat a Survival Mode run quickly, but most fast-paced attempts tend to follow the same conventions to a degree. Certain factors at play can make things more or less difficult, but you can at least have objectives to guide them.

By cutting out excess objectives, Minecraft players can reduce time spent carrying out excess tasks like building bases, farming, etc. In doing so, you can focus on the main progression of reaching the Nether and the End before taking on the Ender Dragon to beat the story of Survival Mode. It takes practice, but the process can be preferable to traditional long-term gameplay methods.

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How to beat Minecraft's Survival Mode quickly

Beating Minecraft's Survival Mode can be accomplished quickly with the right tasks. (Image via Mojang)

Before beginning the Survival Mode run in earnest, one of the most vital ways to help yourself, in the long run, is by using a specific Minecraft world seed. Ideally, finding a seed that offers a village with blacksmith shops and a stronghold close to the spawn point is ideal. If that doesn't pan out well, finding a village near a ruined Nether portal can be a great substitute.

With the right Minecraft seed and by knowing the coordinates of where the village/stronghold is located, you can substantially cut down on time spent on tasks and instead get to the Nether and End as quickly as possible. However, if you're running the game on a random seed, things get a bit more complex, and you may take a bit longer to get your feet under you.

Finding a blacksmith village can be crucial for finishing Minecraft quickly. (Image via Mojang)

If you're using a set seed to beat Minecraft, you can give these steps a try to complete the game without spending unnecessary time:

1. From the spawn point of your world, hunt down the nearest blacksmith village. Loot the blacksmith shops for iron ingots and/or obsidian blocks. You'll need at least three ingots to make a bucket, though ideally an iron pickaxe and sword as well, if possible. If you don't find enough iron ingots, you may need to kill a few iron golems around the village to shore up your supply. You also might want to collect some beds, as they'll be useful for the Ender Dragon fight.
2. Craft a bucket and an iron pickaxe if at all possible. From here, if you know where your stronghold is, fill your bucket with water, head to it, and find the End portal room. If you don't know where the End portal is, find the nearest source of lava and use your water bucket to create enough obsidian to build a Nether portal frame. Ruined portals can be a great location for this in Minecraft since they can sometimes spawn lava pools and already have obsidian placed.
3. Regardless of whether you're in the End portal room or at a ruined portal, complete a Nether portal frame. This is tougher in an End portal room, as you'll need to place your water flush with a wall, collect the lava from the nearby trench, and place it underneath the water until you have enough obsidian to make a frame. Regardless, once you're in the Nether, head to the nearest piglin bastion you can find and mine any gold blocks you find.
4. Once you've got some gold ingots, toss them to the nearest piglins. Ideally, the piglins will provide several ender pearls; otherwise, you may need to keep mining until you have more ingots. Regardless, once you have at least 12 ender pearls (or fewer if you know the End portal already has some slots filled), navigate to the nearest Nether fortress. Kill enemy blazes to collect blaze rods, then use them to craft Eyes of Ender.
5. Leave the Nether. If you're in the End portal room when you depart, slot the Eyes of Ender into the End portal and enter the End. Otherwise, use your Eyes of Ender to lead you to the nearest Minecraft stronghold, find the End portal room, and then slot the eyes.
6. For an expedited battle with the Ender Dragon, wait for her to hover over the exit portal, then place beds as close as you can to her and detonate them by using them. There are other ways to beat the Ender Dragon, but doing so with beds will save an immense amount of time in a Minecraft run.

When the Ender Dragon hovers over the exit portal in Minecraft, it's an easy target for explosive beds. (Image via Kiwiest Birb/YouTube)

Obviously, a given Minecraft run can be heavily influenced based on which order you carry out the steps above and what resources you can collect, particularly in the Nether. Still, compared to doing other tasks like building, extensive crafting, and trading with villagers, serving up piglins their own gold is a much faster method that cuts down the process of beating the game by hours.

Countless Minecraft speedrunners have made a habit out of perfecting their movement skills and seed knowledge specifically to optimize their fastest Survival Mode clears. It might not be a bad idea to check out some archives of speedruns to get an idea of how to beat the game quickly yourself. Even if you don't follow all the speedrunner's steps, you can still reduce your completion time.