TL;DR: Ghast fireball puts out your portal. Right-click the frame with flint and steel to relight it. If the frame broke, build a new one. Always carry flint and steel. Always.
Your portal went out. Here is what to do.
Step 1 — Check if the frame is intact
Look at the portal. Are all the obsidian blocks still there? If yes — it just went out. Light it again.
If blocks are missing — the explosion broke the frame. You'll need to repair it.
Step 2 — Relight with flint and steel
Hold flint and steel (crafted from 1 iron ingot + 1 flint). Right-click anywhere inside the obsidian frame.
The portal relights. Step through.
If you don't have flint and steel: look for a flint in your gravel mining drops. Make steel from any iron you have. Or find a ruined portal — they often have a portal chest with flint and steel inside.
Step 3 — If the frame broke
A Ghast fireball does enough damage to destroy netherrack but not obsidian. However, if the portal was built with crying obsidian by accident, or if there was a different block in the frame, it may have broken.
Repair option: build a new portal frame. You need 10-14 obsidian blocks. The minimum is a 4×5 frame (corners optional = 10 blocks). If you have obsidian in your inventory: mine the broken portal's remaining blocks, rearrange them.
If you have no obsidian: check if there's a ruined portal nearby. Ruined portals usually have most of a portal frame already — repair the gaps with obsidian from your inventory or from the ruined portal's chest.
Step 4 — Prevention
Always carry flint and steel. One flint and steel in your hotbar is 10 seconds of crafting and infinite peace of mind.
Cobble around your portal. A 2-block cobblestone wall on the lava-facing side of your portal blocks most Ghast shots. A fireball can't pass through solid blocks.
Don't use crying obsidian in a portal frame. It looks like obsidian but doesn't work as a portal block. It explodes in the Overworld, and it doesn't form portals.
Build multiple portals for long trips. For Nether trips more than 200 blocks from your base portal, light a second portal nearby as a backup.
If you're truly stuck (no materials)
If you have zero obsidian, zero flint and steel, and no ruined portal nearby: mine any materials available. Trade with Piglins (gold ingots from barter occasionally yield fire charges — right-click to light the portal with a fire charge). Alternatively: a trapped chest in a nearby Bastion may have what you need.
Last resort: die intentionally and respawn at your Overworld bed. Then go back through with proper supplies.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting flint and steel. One slot in your inventory. Always.
- Panicking and running away from the portal. The portal can be relit. Stop. Assess. React.
- Building the portal wrong on the repair. The minimum frame is 4 wide × 5 tall on the inside. If you build it too small, it won't activate.
A closing thought
A Ghast putting out your portal is one of the most startling moments in early Nether play. Then you light it again and realize it was nothing. After the third time, you stop reacting with panic.
Pair with The First Minute in the Nether and The Ghast Problem.
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