Fireworks and rockets for elytra in Minecraft

Craft rockets from 1 Paper and 1 to 3 Gunpowder, open your elytra in mid-air and use a rocket: it pushes you where you look for 1 to 2.5 seconds. All numbers below come from the Java Edition 26.3 code; the recipes are the same on Bedrock Edition.

Paper is easy: 3 Sugar Cane in a row give 3 Paper. Gunpowder takes more work:

• Creepers drop 0 to 2, plus up to 1 more per level of Looting.
• Ghasts drop 0 to 2 as well, and Witches sometimes do.
• The Wandering Trader sometimes offers 4 Gunpowder for 1 Emerald, twice.
• Chests in dungeons, desert pyramids, woodland mansions, shipwreck supply rooms and abandoned camps hold some.

A stack of 64 rockets with Flight Duration 1 needs 22 Paper and 22 Gunpowder.

Put 1 Paper and 1 to 3 Gunpowder anywhere in a crafting grid. You always get 3 rockets, and their Flight Duration equals the number of Gunpowder. The tooltip shows it as "Flight Duration: 1", "2" or "3".

In creative or with cheats, this gives a full stack of the longest rockets:

/give @s minecraft:firework_rocket[minecraft:fireworks={flight_duration:3}] 64

A rocket lives 10 × (1 + Flight Duration) ticks, plus a random 0 to 11 ticks. The boost lasts exactly that long:

Flight Duration 1 stretches your Gunpowder furthest: a stack gives about 82 seconds of boost. Flight Duration 3 gives about 146 seconds per stack, so it saves Paper, inventory space and clicks. Carry Flight Duration 1 for long trips and a few Flight Duration 3 rockets to climb out of trouble.

1. Wear the Elytra in the chest slot. It replaces your chestplate.
2. Jump, then press Jump (Space) again while you are in the air. The wings open and you start gliding.
3. Take off from a hill or a tower the first few times: the higher you start, the more time you have to react.

An elytra is found on the ships next to some End Cities, in an item frame. A rocket used on the ground does not lift you: it just flies off as a firework.

Hold the rockets in your hand and press Use (right click) while gliding. Every tick, the rocket pulls you toward the direction you look, for its whole lifetime. To climb, look up about 45 degrees before you use it; to cover distance, look slightly above the horizon and use a new rocket when you start to slow down.

• Keep rockets in your off hand to boost while holding a weapon or a block.
• Land by gliding down at a shallow angle. A steep dive builds up fall damage: level out before you touch the ground.
• Flying straight into a wall at speed also hurts: slow down before tunnels and narrow gaps.

A Firework Star in the recipe turns the rocket into a firework that explodes. When it boosts you, it explodes on you at the end: 5 damage plus 2 per star, so 7 damage (3.5 hearts) with a single star. Players and mobs within 5 blocks are hurt too. Keep star rockets for shows and for a Crossbow, and stack only plain rockets in your flight hotbar.

The elytra has 432 durability and loses 1 every second you glide, so about 7 minutes and 12 seconds of flight. It stops opening at 1 durability instead of breaking, so you do not lose it in the air but you fall.

• Mending repairs it with experience: the best option for daily flights.
• Unbreaking makes it last longer.
• On an Anvil, each Phantom Membrane restores 108 durability, a quarter of the total. Phantoms drop them.