What is a strider?
A strider is a passive mob that lives in the lava seas of the Nether. It walks on top of lava the way you walk across grass, which makes it the one dependable way to cross a wide lava ocean without a bridge or a fire resistance potion.
Striders are tall, one-eyed creatures with long stilt legs and a warm glow. An adult stands about two blocks high. Their look changes with where they are: a bright red when they are on lava, and a pale purple shiver when they step onto solid ground.
They never attack you. Left alone, a strider just drifts across the lava. Your interest in one usually starts the moment you need to reach the other side of a burning lake and there is no land in sight.
Where striders spawn
Striders spawn on the surface of lava anywhere in the Nether, at any light level. You will see them in the nether wastes, the crimson and warped forests, soul sand valleys, and basalt deltas, as long as there is open lava for them to stand on. They do not spawn on solid ground and they do not spawn in the Overworld or the End.
They tend to appear in small groups. Some adults spawn with a baby strider riding on their back, and about one in ten spawns already saddled with a rider.
The zombified piglin jockey
That saddled rider is a zombified piglin holding a warped fungus on a stick, steering the strider across the lava. This pairing is called a jockey. The piglin will not start a fight, but it hits back hard if you attack it, and killing the strider it rides drops the piglin into the lava. If you can deal with the piglin safely, that saddle is already on the strider, which saves you a hunt for one.
How to catch and ride a strider
Riding a strider takes two things: a saddle and a warped fungus on a stick.
You cannot craft a saddle in Minecraft. You have to find one in a chest, fish one up, trade for it with a leatherworker villager, or take the one a jockey is already using. Once you have a saddle, walk up to a strider and use the saddle on it the same way you would saddle a pig or a horse. The saddle stays on the animal until the strider dies.
To steer, you need a warped fungus on a stick. Craft it from a fishing rod and a warped fungus placed diagonally in the crafting grid. Hold it while you sit on a saddled strider and the strider walks wherever you point the camera. Right-clicking with the item gives a short burst of speed and wears it down a little, exactly like a carrot on a stick controls a pig. When the durability runs out, combine a fresh warped fungus with the worn stick on an anvil to recharge it.
Getting a wild strider to your crossing point is the fiddly part. A strider follows any player holding a warped fungus, so you can walk it to the edge of the lava by dangling the fungus in front of it. A lead also attaches to a strider, so you can pull one along or tie it to a fence post near your lava dock.
Warm and cold: why striders shiver
A strider’s color is a live readout of its temperature. On lava it stays warm, bright red, and moves at full speed. The instant it steps onto solid ground, into rain, or into water, it turns cold: the skin fades to pale purple, the body shivers, and the walk slows to a crawl.
A cold strider is not going to die from the cold on its own, but the slow speed makes it close to useless for travel. Put it back on lava and the red color and full speed come back within a second or two.
Rain is the trap most people forget. It never rains in the Nether, so a strider is always warm there. Bring one to the Overworld, though, and an open-sky rainstorm will leave it shivering. Water is worse than cold air: standing in water actually hurts a strider over time, and most of them will walk away from water on their own if they can.
Breeding striders
Striders breed with warped fungus. Hold the fungus and use it on two adult striders standing close together, and both enter love mode and produce a baby. That same warped fungus, fed to a baby, shortens the time it takes to grow up.
Warped fungus grows in the warped forest, so one trip to gather a stack gives you plenty to start a small herd and keep your fungus on a stick topped up. Breeding your own is worth it when you want a few reliable striders parked next to a lava highway instead of chasing down a wild one every time you make the trip.
What a strider drops
When a strider dies it drops 2 to 5 string, and each level of the Looting enchantment can add one more. An adult killed by a player also gives a small amount of experience. Baby striders drop nothing at all.
String from striders is quietly useful because there are no spiders in the Nether. If you have built a base far from the Overworld and you are out of string for fishing rods, leads, or wool, a small strider farm over lava is one of the only local ways to make more.
Using a strider to cross the Nether
The whole point of a strider is travel. Lava oceans in the Nether can stretch for hundreds of blocks, and bridging across them by hand is slow and dangerous. A saddled strider turns that same lava into an open road.
A good setup is a small dock: a patch of netherrack at the lava’s edge with a fence to tie your strider to, so it is waiting when you come back. Keep a saddle on it permanently, keep a warped fungus on a stick in your hotbar, and keep a backup fungus in your inventory. With that, a lava sea between you and a fortress or a bastion stops being a wall and becomes a shortcut.
Tips and common mistakes
- Saddle the strider before you plan your route, not after. Chasing an unsaddled strider across a shifting lava ocean is how most first attempts fall apart.
- Carry a spare warped fungus. Your fungus on a stick wears out, and being stuck in the middle of a lava lake with a dead controller is a rough spot.
- Do not ride a strider onto land or over water for long trips. It will go cold, slow to a crawl, and leave you exposed for far longer than you planned.
- Lead a strider with warped fungus rather than trying to shove it. They follow the fungus reliably and fight you the whole way if you push.
- Watch the sky for ghasts while you ride. You are slow, out in the open, and floating over instant death, so a fireball that knocks you off the saddle can drop you straight into the lava.
Frequently asked questions
Can you tame a strider?
No. A strider is not tamed the way a wolf or a cat is. You saddle it and steer with a warped fungus on a stick, but there is no taming and no ownership. Any player can climb onto a saddled strider and ride it.
Do striders take lava or fire damage?
No. Striders are fully immune to fire and lava, which is exactly why they can walk on a lava ocean. They can still be hurt by water and by normal attacks from mobs or players.
Why is my strider purple and moving slowly?
It is cold. A strider turns purple and shivers whenever it leaves lava, stands in the rain, or touches water, and its speed drops while it is cold. Move it back onto lava and it warms up and speeds back up.
What do you feed a strider?
Warped fungus. It puts two adults into love mode, speeds up a baby’s growth, and, mounted on a stick, steers a saddled strider. Warped fungus is the only food a strider responds to.
Can striders live in the Overworld?
They can survive there, but they stay cold and slow away from lava, and rain or water will shiver or hurt them. You can keep one over a small lava pool at your base for looks, though most players leave striders in the Nether where they are useful.
Do baby striders grow up?
Yes. A baby strider grows into an adult on its own over time, and feeding it warped fungus makes that happen faster. Until it is grown, a baby rides on the back of an adult.
The strider earns its keep in one specific moment. Most of your game will pass without a single thought about them, and then you reach a fortress on the far side of a huge lava sea and there is no way across. Saddle one, keep a warped fungus on a stick ready, and that wall of lava becomes the fastest road in the Nether.