Minecraft wiki entry for Nether_survival, associated text: If you have already explored the Nether and gotten some blaze rods, and can thus brew potions, you should do so. Fire Resistance potions are extra valuable in the Nether, as falling into lava is always a possibility. Splash potions of Healing can also save your life if you find yourself low on health in combat, like the suspicious stew (mentioned above). If you planned ahead and brought one or more water buckets, enough iron to make a cauldron (you can put water in a cauldron to put yourself out (Java Edition only), some bottles, and some cobblestone or blackstone (to craft brewing stands), before searching out a nether fortress, you can find everything else you need there to begin brewing potions, putting you in a much stronger position. A few stacks of torches can provide a means of leaving a trail, allowing you to find your portal again if you lose it. (Although, in this case, the use of coordinates is often a more practical solution.) Remember that compasses do not work in the Nether, so do not bring one intending to use it to find your way home unless it has been aligned to a lodestone. Torches are also useful for marking the parts of a nether fortress you have already visited, so less time is wasted exploring areas of the nether fortress you have already exhausted.