Minecraft Speedrun: Any% Route for Beginners

Why 1.16.1

The classic version for Any% Random Seed: generous piglin bartering (~20 pearls per 64 ingots on average) and predictable generation. Most world records and tutorials are made on this version.

The whole route

1. Wood and crafting table → stone tools (0:00–1:00)
2. Iron/food along the way, a bucket if possible
3. Nether via a lava-and-water portal (~2:00–3:00)
4. Bartering: gold → ender pearls
5. Nether fortress: blaze rods
6. Exit, eye throws, stronghold
7. Dragon (goal: 10–15 minutes total)

Start (Overworld)

• Break wood on the run, 4–5 blocks are enough: crafting table, pickaxe, axe.
• Stone is right under your feet: stone axe + pickaxe, a sword is optional.
• Food: kill animals with the axe as you go. Don't linger.
• Look for a surface lava lake: build the portal by casting water over lava (the "one-bucket" method); you don't need 10 iron ingots, only a bucket (3 iron).

The "kill 3 iron golems" tactic works if there's a village nearby: a golem drops 3–5 iron, enough for a bucket and a shield.

Nether: bartering and fortress

The main goal is gold. Mine it with a stone pickaxe in the lower netherrack layers, or find a bastion remnant: its chests hold gold and obsidian.

• Throw ingots to piglins in stacks; stand in a boat or behind a block to avoid aggro. You need 10–14 pearls (16 to be safe).
• Bartering also gives useful items: obsidian, fire charges, string.
• Nether fortress: search by "corridor direction": fortress bridges stretch along the X/Z axes. You need 6–7 rods (for 5–6 eyes plus spare).

Finding the stronghold

Craft eyes: ender pearl + blaze powder. Then comes triangulation:

1. Throw an eye, note the coordinates and exact view direction (F3).
2. Run 500–800 blocks perpendicular, throw a second eye.
3. The intersection of the two rays is the stronghold. Our coordinate calculator does the math for you.

Dig down to the stronghold basement (the portal room is usually at Y 30–40), guided by an eye thrown directly above the stronghold: it dives downward.

The dragon fight

Before entering: beds (they explode in the End!), some blocks, a water bucket for falls, arrows or snowballs for the crystals.

• Destroy the crystals on the towers: close ones by hand/sword, far ones with a bow.
• The dragon perches on the portal every ~30 seconds. When its head lowers, place a bed by the portal and activate it while shielding behind a block: the explosion deals massive damage to the dragon. 3–4 beds win the fight.
• Without beds: hit the head with a sword while it perches, use the bow in flight.

Practice

• Record splits: leaving the forest, entering the Nether, first barter, fortress, eyes, portal, dragon. Compare between attempts.
• Practice stages separately in creative/practice maps, especially the dragon fight and the lava-pool portal build.
• A realistic beginner goal is sub-hour, then 30 minutes, then 20.