Minecraft wiki entry for Defeating_the_ender_dragon, associated text: Blocks can be useful for climbing up the towers or to pillar up in order to get a better angle to shoot the end crystals. You might also have to bridge over from the spawn platform if you do not have any ender pearls. Harder blocks, such as cobblestone, are better than softer blocks such as netherrack, which is also commonly used as it is easily obtainable. End stone, which has the additional benefit of being dragon-proof, can also be used for this. It is recommended to use blocks to climb the taller towers and just shoot the end crystals on the short ones from the ground. However, the player might build to the top of the towers that have cages around the end crystals. Alternatively, they can throw an ender pearl to get to the top. The player can choose to use blocks or ender pearls to bridge to the central island if they spawned on an obsidian platform outside of the main island.