End rods are crafted by combining one blaze rod and one popped chorus fruit in a crafting table, which produces four end rods per craft. Getting the ingredients requires visiting both the Nether and the End, so this is a mid-to-late-game recipe.
Crafting Recipe
Place a blaze rod in the center slot of the crafting grid with a popped chorus fruit directly below it. That’s it. Each craft yields four end rods, making them fairly efficient once you have the materials. The recipe hasn’t changed in recent updates.
How to Get Blaze Rods
Blaze rods drop exclusively from blazes, the floating fire-shooting mobs found in Nether fortresses. A blaze has a 50% chance to drop a blaze rod when killed by a player or tamed wolf. If any other source kills the blaze (fall damage, other mobs, lava), it drops nothing.
The Looting enchantment on your sword increases the drop by one rod per enchantment level, up to a maximum of four rods per blaze with Looting III. Since you need blaze rods for other recipes too (brewing stands, eyes of ender), it’s worth farming extras while you’re there. Bring fire resistance potions or golden apples, because blazes hit hard in groups.
How to Get Popped Chorus Fruit
Popped chorus fruit comes from smelting regular chorus fruit in a furnace, smoker, or blast furnace using any fuel source. Chorus fruit grows on chorus plants, the tall purple trees scattered across the outer End islands. You can reach these islands by finding and entering an End gateway portal after defeating the Ender Dragon, or by bridging out roughly 1,000 blocks from the central island.
Breaking any block of a chorus plant causes all blocks above it to break as well, dropping chorus fruit. A single plant typically drops several fruit, so one harvesting trip can supply you with plenty of material. Toss the chorus fruit into a furnace, and each one smelts into one popped chorus fruit.
Placement and Uses
End rods can be placed on any surface of a block, including the top, bottom, and all four sides. They point outward from whatever surface you attach them to. Placing one on the ground makes it stand upright like a pole. Placing one on a ceiling makes it hang downward. Placing one on a wall makes it stick out horizontally.
End rods emit a light level of 14, which is the same brightness as a torch. The visual difference is significant, though. End rods produce a clean white-purple glow with subtle floating particles, making them popular for modern builds, futuristic designs, and elegant lighting setups. Unlike torches, they look intentional on walls and ceilings rather than utilitarian.
They also have no gravity and don’t need a supporting block to stay in place once the block they were attached to is removed. This makes them useful for floating light installations. You can stack them end-to-end to create longer poles or arrange them in patterns for decorative fixtures.
Finding End Rods Without Crafting
End rods generate naturally in End cities, the tower-like structures on the outer End islands. They appear as lighting fixtures throughout these buildings. You can break them instantly with any tool or by hand and pick them up directly. If you’re already exploring End cities for elytra or shulker boxes, grabbing the end rods along the way saves you from crafting them later.