The Ender Dragon was added to Minecraft 1.0’s Adventure Update way back in 2011 as the Mojang title officially released after one of the most historic beta runs in recent memory.
This update, in turn, added a finish line for miners and crafters alike and gave purpose to the Endermen released two snapshots prior. It’s still wild to think the Slenderman hype led to the Enderman parody, which ultimately gave the indie darling its own storybook finish, the good old slaying of the dragon.
Since then, plenty of mobs have been added to the now-Microsoft-owned sandbox, many of which are arguably more unpredictable, therefore harder to beat, like the Wither and the Warden.
But what if instead of growing the mob category horizontally, we do so vertically? Pushing the skill ceiling for experienced players who, after a decade and a half of mining, are definitely the majority of the playerbase.
This can be done by targeting the Ender Dragon, specifically, The End. Minecraft Legends and Minecraft Dungeons have tested the waters when it comes to expanding on the IP’s recognizable mobs and biomes and pushing them to their limits.
For example, Dungeons’ End creates variants of the beloved Enderman, giving it bug-like, man-like, and boss-like versions for similar enemies in the final levels. The boss Enderman, the Endersent, is one of the most demanding mobs in the game, keeping the inspiration’s essence and bringing a breath of fresh dragon air to the decade-old dimension.
With this precedent in mind, we can consider the Ender Dragon touchable, as many believe it is a relic of its time, keeping it out of conversations about enhancement. The current state, however, suggests that change is inevitable.
The current final boss consists of two phases: the flying phase and the perching phase. For those unfamiliar, the battleground for this boss fight consists of a relatively flat End surface surrounded by around 10 obsidian pillars with energy beacons feeding the dragon's HP.
While it circles the player, it will continuously regenerate health, so long-range attacks to defeat it are out of the equation. Instead, these can be used to destroy said beacons to move on to the second phase, perching.
Your only exit from this dimension, besides death, is the bedrock portal in the middle of the map, which activates only after victory and draws players into the fight. After eliminating its power source, the dragon perches on top of the portal and will now be within reach to use melee attacks to defeat it.
The average duration of a successful fight can last between 15-30 minutes to mere seconds for some speedrunning categories, but what if perching was not the conclusion of The End fight?
Imagine its health bar drops to zero and, as it rises ready to explode, the Dragon suddenly goes berserk, commanding all Endermen to build walls and towers to its will. Imagine the beast takes one final stand as all surrounding Endermen get triggered as if you had made eye contact with them. Complete chaos.
Given the current strats, picking up the user with its claws, letting it drop from dozens of blocks in the air, then trying to break the fall, would be a clip farm for unsuspecting players.
This phase could only be activated for Hardcore-difficulty players, or you can make it available for everyone, essentially rewriting the speed-running books into classic and enhanced dragon fights. Even more so, it should finally explain the lore behind the dimension, the battle, and the mysterious egg.
Why is the dragon stranded on its own island? What is it trying to protect? What are the Endermen to her? (Yeah, the dragon is a she). Now that Ghasts can be domesticated, I would lose it at the possibility to hatch the egg awarded at the end of the battle to have a mini dragon at home, canonically making you a worthy opponent and caregiver to the Ender Dragon Egg, truly the last of its kind.
A different, more menacing look and clash would not only light a fire inside current players, but would most certainly make old ones return to give it a swing of their own sword. Starting a world from zero and preparing for the new Ender Dragon would be a trend amongst all gamers, especially if you make it one of the toughest challenges in the game, with one of the best rewards of all time, a pet dragon.
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