Minecraft guide: How to ride and control striders in 'the Nether Update' (2024)

Horses aren't very good rides when they're on fire. That's probably pretty obvious, but for years now if you wanted to get around in the Nether it was either by your two feet, or a complicated rail system that took ages to set up, and could still be ruined by an angry ghast. That's changing now, with the upcoming Nether Update for Minecraft, which adds a brand new mob that you can actually ride...and doesn't have to worry about lava. Here's how to ride and control the new strider mob:

How can I ride and control striders in the Nether Update?

Before we get too ahead of ourselves, let's cover what striders are. These are bipedal passive mobs (a first for the Nether) that can wear a saddle and traverse lava seas in Minecraft. We have the full scoop on striders and how you can find them if you want to catch yourself up. As far as riding striders is concerned, it's unfortunately not as seamless as taming and controlling a horse. Striders are closer to pigs in this regard, meaning they are useful, but can be annoying as well.

To ride and controls striders in the Nether Update, you're going to need four things first:

• A saddle. Just like with pigs, horses, donkeys, or anything else you can ride in Minecraft, you need to find a saddle first. Yes, find. For whatever reason, you're not able to craft saddles in Minecraft. They're not terribly difficult to find, but you will have to tackle some dungeons, temples, or fortresses to get your hands on some. Saddles can be found in the chests of most strongholds in the game, including nether fortresses.
• Some sticks. You should be pretty familiar with how to make sticks at this point. You'll need three sticks for this, so go punch some trees and get back to us.
• String. String can be found by killing spiders, looting desert temples, searching villages, and a few other means. You're probably best off just staying up a bit late and knocking out some spiders, but the choice is yours. You'll need two pieces of string.
• Warped fungus. Warped fungi can be found in warped forests, and is the favorite food of striders. It can be used to breed striders, but it's all necessary to control them. You'll need one warped fungus.

Once you've collected everything you need to do, here's how to ride and control striders in the Nether Update:

1. Build or travel to the nearest crafting table. We have some crafting we need to do.

2. Craft a fishing rod using your sticks and string. Yes, this can be used for fishing, but not this time around.

3. Combine your fishing rod with your warped fungus and craft a warped fungus on a stick. This is how you'll control the strider once you're riding it.
4. The next step is to find a strider. You can refer to our guide for direction.

5. Once you have your strider picked out, hold the saddle and press or tap the "use" button to place the saddle on the strider.
6. Press or tap the "use" button again to ride the strider. The strider will continue to do his own thing, and you will have no control over him at this point.

7. Start holding the warped fungus on a stick in your hand. The strider will begin to follow the warped fungus on a stick, walking in the direction you're pointing.
8. Now that you can control the strider, enjoy the ride!

I'd walk over oceans (of lava) for you

Needing to use a warped fungus on a stick is annoying and unintuitive, but it's the price to pay for a lava-proof mount. Now no body of lava is too large for you to cross, as long as you're delicately perched on top of a wild animal, hoping it doesn't decide it's not hungry anymore and stops following the warped fungus on a stick. It's too bad horses are still very much flammable in Minecraft.

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