You're standing on the edge of a floating island in the End, staring into a purple-black void that goes on forever. One wrong tap of the 'W' key and everything you’ve spent the last forty hours grinding for is gone. Poof. To survive that, you need wings. But here’s the thing: you can't actually "make" wings on Minecraft in the way you make a wooden pickaxe or a diamond chestplate. You don't just toss some feathers and leather onto a crafting table and call it a day.
If you see a guide telling you there’s a secret recipe for wings involving Phantom Membranes and String, they're lying. Honestly, it’s a bit of a letdown when you first realize it. To get the Elytra—the official name for those grey, moth-like wings—you have to earn them through a mix of high-level combat and frustratingly precise platforming. It’s a rite of passage.
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Most people think "making wings" is the end of the journey. It's not. Getting the wings is just the start of a very expensive relationship with mending books and gunpowder.
The Brutal Reality of Finding Your First Pair
Forget the crafting table. To get your hands on wings, you have to kill the Ender Dragon first. There’s no way around it in a standard survival world. Once the dragon is a pile of XP orbs, a tiny one-block portal surrounded by bedrock spawns on the edge of the main island. You have to throw an Ender Pearl into it—which is terrifying because if you miss, you’re falling into the void—to warp to the outer End islands.
This is where the real search begins. You are looking for an End City. Not just any city, though. You need one with a floating End Ship docked nearby. These ships look like they’re made of purpur and obsidian, and inside the hull, hanging in an item frame, is the Elytra.
It’s guarded by Shulkers. These little box-monsters shoot homing projectiles that make you float. If you’re not careful, they’ll float you 50 blocks into the air and then let you drop to your death right as you’re reaching for the wings. Tip: bring a shield. It blocks the levitation effect entirely.
Why You Can't Just Craft Them
Mojang has been pretty firm about keeping the Elytra as a "treasure item." If everyone could just craft wings out of a few chickens, the entire progression of the game would break. The wings are a reward for conquering the "end" of the game. However, once you have them, you do have to maintain them. This is where the "making" part comes in—not making the wings themselves, but making them functional and permanent.
Turning Gliding Into Actual Flight
When you first put on the Elytra, you’ll probably be disappointed. You don't fly; you glide. You’re basically a giant flying squirrel. If you jump off a mountain, you’ll slowly descend until you hit the ground. It’s cool, but it’s not flight.
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To truly fly, you have to "make" propulsion. This is done with Firework Rockets.
But wait. Don't go using the fancy fireworks with the "Star" effects. If you put a Firework Star in your rocket, it’ll explode and kill you while you’re mid-air. You need "Flight Duration 1" or "Flight Duration 3" rockets made simply with Paper and Gunpowder. When you right-click with a rocket while gliding, you get a massive speed boost. That is how you "make" wings work like a jetpack.
The Enchantments That Actually Matter
If you take your wings out for a spin without enchanting them, you’re going to lose them. Fast. Every second of flight eats away at the Elytra’s durability. When the durability hits 1, the wings turn into a "Broken Elytra" item. They won't disappear, but they stop working.
You need two specific books:
- Unbreaking III: This is obvious. It makes the wings last way longer.
- Mending: This is the non-negotiable one. With Mending, the XP you get from killing mobs or smelting ore automatically repairs your wings.
Without Mending, you have to repair wings at an anvil using Phantom Membranes. This is a huge pain because every time you repair something at an anvil, the "prior work penalty" increases. Eventually, the game will just tell you it’s "Too Expensive" to repair, and your hard-earned wings will be useless forever. Get Mending. Seriously.
Don't Fall for the "Dragon Wing" Mod Traps
If you've watched YouTubers flying around with massive, glowing dragon wings or feathered angel wings, you're looking at mods or resource packs. In vanilla Minecraft (the version most of us play), the wings are always those greyish capes.
If you're on Java Edition, you can install something like the "Wings Mod" or "Better Flying", which actually does let you craft wings using materials like leather, diamonds, and feathers. But for 99% of players on Bedrock, consoles, or standard servers, the Elytra is the only game in town.
Customizing the Look
You can't change the shape of vanilla wings, but you can change the design. If you wear a Cape (like the ones from Minecon or special events), your Elytra will actually take on the texture of that cape. It’s the only way to stand out in a crowd of flyers. If you don't have a cape, you're stuck with the moth-grey. Honestly, it’s a bit of a status symbol—if you have the wings, people know you’ve been to the End and back.
Physics and Survival: How Not to Splat
Minecraft physics are weird. When you're flying with an Elytra, you aren't a ghost. You still have momentum. If you fly full-speed into a wall, the game calculates that as fall damage. You will die instantly, even with full Netherite armor.
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The trick is to "land like a plane." Approach the ground at a shallow angle and circle around until your speed drops. Or, if you're feeling fancy, do a quick 360-degree turn right before you hit the ground to bleed off your velocity.
Also, watch your height. If you're using rockets to go high, remember that the "chunks" below you might not load fast enough. I’ve seen players fly so fast they outrun the game’s rendering, essentially flying into an empty void until the game catches up and realizes they’ve crashed into a mountain that hadn't appeared yet.
Practical Steps to Master Flight
Now that you know the score, here is exactly what you should do to go from a ground-dweller to an ace pilot:
- Farm Gunpowder and Sugar Cane immediately. You’re going to need thousands of rockets. Build a basic creeper farm and a sugar cane circuit. You can't fly if you're out of fuel.
- Bridge, don't jump. In the End, don't try to be a hero. Use cobblestone to bridge between islands until you find the ship. One lag spike while jumping can end your run.
- Carry a Water Bucket. If your wings break mid-air or you run out of rockets, a "MLG water bucket" save is the only thing that will keep you from losing your inventory.
- Check your Chestplate. Remember, you can't wear a chestplate and wings at the same time (unless you're using specific mods). This means your armor rating drops significantly when you're flying. Don't go into a Wither fight wearing wings unless you're very, very confident in your movement.
Once you have your Elytra and a steady supply of rockets, the game changes. Distances that took twenty minutes to walk now take thirty seconds. You can build bases in the sky, travel thousands of blocks to find rare biomes, and finally see your world from the perspective it was meant to be seen from. It’s the ultimate upgrade.