Minecraft wiki entry for Hardcore_mode, associated text: You can one cycle the Ender Dragon with beds. The easiest way to do this is to wait for the dragon to perch (land on the fountain in the middle of the island), then explode beds as the dragon does its swinging animation. This does a lot of damage and could kill the dragon very quickly, but is not recommended for beginning players as it is extremely hard to pull off. (You can watch a YouTube video on one-cycling the dragon.)