How to Get Ender Pearls in Minecraft

You cannot craft an ender pearl, and you cannot mine one. Every pearl in your inventory was pried out of the world somehow — from a tall, twitchy enderman, a gold-hungry piglin, or a villager's trade menu. Since pearls become eyes of ender, and eyes of ender are your ticket to the End, stocking up on them is a mandatory step in beating the game. Here is every reliable way to do it.

1. Kill Endermen (the Main Source)

An enderman has a 50% chance to drop one ender pearl, and the Looting enchantment raises both the chance and the count — Looting III can net you up to four pearls from a single kill. Endermen spawn in dark places in the Overworld at night, but two spots are far better: the warped forest in the Nether, where they gather in real numbers, and the End itself, where they are everywhere.

They hit hard and teleport when hurt, so fight smart:

• Use the two-block shelter trick. Stand under a roof exactly two blocks high. An enderman is three blocks tall and cannot reach you, while you can safely swing at its legs.
• Trap one in a boat. An enderman sitting in a boat cannot teleport away, turning a scary fight into a safe one.
• Never stare first without cover. Looking an enderman in the eyes starts the fight on its terms — get positioned, then aggro it deliberately.

2. Loot Stronghold Chests

Stronghold altar chests have roughly a 23% chance to contain an ender pearl. It is a nice bonus while you are exploring the stronghold anyway — especially since you were probably there collecting supplies for the End portal — but it is far too unreliable to be your main supply.

3. Barter with Piglins

Toss gold ingots to piglins in the crimson forest or Nether wastes (wear a piece of gold armour so they stay friendly) and they will occasionally throw back three or four ender pearls at once. The odds on any single barter are low, but if you have a gold farm running, bartering quietly becomes one of the fastest pearl sources in the game.

4. Trade with Cleric Villagers

The calm option: level a cleric villager — the one whose job block is a brewing stand — up to expert level, and it will sell you ender pearls for emeralds. It costs more per pearl than fighting, but it is safe, renewable and available without leaving your base village.

5. Build an Enderman Farm (Endgame)

Once you have beaten the dragon, an enderman farm in the End produces pearls by the chestful. The trick uses endermites: pearls you throw have a small chance to spawn one, and endermen rush to attack it, which lets you funnel them into a killing chamber. Overkill for most players — but essential if you throw pearls like confetti.

Using Ender Pearls Without Dying

Throw a pearl and you teleport to wherever it lands. Brilliant for crossing ravines, escaping lava and scaling cliffs — but each landing costs you a chunk of health, pearls can bury you inside a block if your aim is off, and every throw has a 5% chance of spawning an endermite behind you. Keep food on your hotbar, aim high so the pearl arcs clear, and never pearl at low health.