Any player that has beaten the final boss of Minecraft has seen an End Crystal before, although they may not have been aware that this was its name. End Crystals are the floating cubes found atop large Obsidian pillars in the End that restore the Ender Dragon's health. In order to defeat the Ender Dragon, they must be destroyed, but there's no way to mine them or anything like that. Instead, players wanting to get their own End Crystal for whatever reason will need to craft them, but the recipe is certainly not easy.
It should be said that End Crystals are highly volatile, so Minecraft players should be careful when using them as decoration. Any source of damage, even a snowball or a single punch, will cause the End Crystal to explode with the same force as a Charged Creeper. This can be devastating not only to the player's health bar but also to structures in the nearby area.
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To craft an End Crystal, players will need a total of seven glass, an Eye of Ender, and a Ghast Tear. The glass can be obtained easily by simply smelting some sand in the furnace, while the Ghast Tear can only be obtained by killing Ghasts in the Nether. Finally, players should be familiar with how to get Eyes of Ender if they've made it to the End, but these can be crafted by combining an Ender Pearl with some Blaze Powder. Astute players will notice that the recipe for these End Crystals requires items from both of the other two dimensions, so players may have to a bit of dimension hopping to get them.
Once the End Crystal is crafted, it has two primary uses. The first use is for decoration, but as was previously mentioned, this can be a bit risky. Alternatively, if players craft four of them and place them on the End Portal in the End, it will actually respawn the Ender Dragon. These four crystals will be destroyed, but the End Crystals atop the obsidian pillars will all respawn, allowing the player to fight the boss once again.
Finally, it is also theoretically possible to use End Crystals in mining, but this is not recommended. For one, the blast is much stronger than that of TNT, meaning it can be more difficult to create controlled explosions. This is particularly risky because End Crystals can easily kill a player in unenchanted Netherite Armor if they are too close. What's more, the resources required to craft each one are much more intensive than TNT, so its best to stick to the other uses above.
Minecraft is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.