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The Nether has gone through some drastic changes since it's creation in Minecraft. Over time, we've received new biomes, mobs, and resources to gather. At the same time, the Nether has gotten a bit more dangerous.
One valuable material that you can find in the Nether is netherite. This is the strongest material in the game but can be difficult to find. Netherite comes from ancient debris, a rare ore that takes a while to find. In this guide, we are going to go over the best ways to mine for ancient debris and get your own netherite.
Updated July 9, 2023 by Jacqueline Zalace: Netherite can be a pain to farm sometimes. We've updated this guide with even more information on finding ancient debris and making your own netherite ingots in Minecraft.
Where Can You Find Ancient Debris?
Ancient debris can generate in any Nether biome, and is most common between Y=8 and Y=22. The sweet spot for ancient debris generation is Y=14.
Although you can find ancient debris close to the roof of the Nether, it is the most common here. Between these levels, you can find chunks of between one and three ancient debris.
Getting Low In The Nether
To get to this depth, mine a staircase downwards until you are at the correct level. While doing this, be cautious of any lava lakes that may be below you. Do not mine directly down; instead, go downwards at an angle, so you can control where you step.
This ore will replace blocks of netherrack, basalt, and blackstone that are not exposed to the surface. This means that you will never find ancient debris while just passing by; it requires a bit of mining to get to. If you do find some ancient debris, it can only be mined with diamond or netherite tools.
Using TNT To Find Ancient Debris
Using TNT is the most efficient way to mine ancient debris. Unlike every other block in the Nether, ancient debris is blast resistant. This means that the block will not be destroyed when TNT explodes near it.
To mine using TNT, create a strip mining tunnel in the Nether between Y=8 and Y=22; TNT creates a huge explosion, so aim for a mining tunnel around Y=14 to cover the area above and below the tunnel.
With your strip mining tunnel complete, place TNT on every other block. In the image above, you can see TNT placed in the tunnel. After you have placed all the TNT, make sure there is room for you to run. As mentioned above, TNT creates a huge explosion that can easily kill you. If you have room to run away from the explosion, it's time to get started!
Using a flint and steel, ignite the TNT closest to you and run away. After a few seconds have passed, the TNT will explode, causing a chain reaction down the strip mining tunnel. Wait for all the TNT to finish and head back towards the tunnel. Now, you should see a giant cavern in place of the small strip mining tunnel; if any ancient debris is in the area, it will be exposed.
Remember, the Nether is full of lava; there is a chance that your explosions created lava waterfalls. Try to avoid these areas when you are navigating in the area. If there is ancient debris near lava, try to carefully mine it. Ancient debris does not burn in lava, so if it drops in, don't worry.
Ideally, you should try to collect it without touching the lava. If you have good armor with full health, it's okay to dip into the lava to grab the debris. You will be on fire for a little, but it shouldn't kill you.
How To Craft TNT
To mine for ancient debris using TNT, you will need to have a supply of gunpowder and sand. Crafting one block of TNT requires five gunpowder and four blocks of sand, assembled as seen in the image above.
Sand is fairly simple to get; you can find it near any shore or in a desert biome. Gunpowder is a little more difficult to obtain. It drops from creepers, ghasts, and witches. To increase the amount of gunpowder dropped from these mobs, you should use a sword enchanted with Looting.
Making a creeper farm will provide a steady supply of gunpowder. Creeper farms are large and take a lot of material to make, but are definitely worth it. There are several creeper farm designs online, including this design from Shulkercraft, which is extremely productive.
Tools Enchanted With Efficiency
If you don't have TNT, you can still mine for ancient debris. Using a pickaxe enchanted with Efficiency, you can quickly mine through netherrack to find ancient debris.
In general, netherrack mines very quickly. With a diamond pickaxe, it will take 0.1 seconds to mine. If your pickaxe is enchanted with Efficiency, then you can completely destroy entire walls of netherrack in less than a second.
Although this isn't as quick as using TNT, it is still a good way to clear entire areas in search of ancient debris.
Mining With Beds
Lastly, you can mine for netherite using beds. This is dangerous, but it is a great way to find ancient debris if you do not have access to gunpowder.
To mine with beds, you will need to manually mine out a 4x1 tunnel, placing a bed in the last two spots, as shown in the image above. In the fifth space, place two blocks stacked on top of each other, that 'closes' off the tunnel with the bed. Now, from the side, mine until you can see just the corner of the bed.
Your view of the bed should appear similar to the left side of the image above. Crouch down, and then click on the corner of the bed; this will cause it to immediately blow up. There will be a bit of knockback, but with basic armor, you should take little to no damage from the explosion; we tested this setup with no armor, and no damage was taken.
Do not click on the bed prior to positioning yourself at a safe distance. The bed will blow up and you will die.
Making A Netherite Ingot
Now that you have ancient debris, it's time to craft netherite. Prior to making a netherite ingot, you will need to smelt the ancient debris in a furnace. To do this, simply place your ancient debris into the furnace with some coal; after a few seconds, netherite scraps will be produced. With these scraps, you can craft netherite ingots.
To craft a netherite ingot, you will need the following materials.
- 4x Gold Ingots
- 4x Netherite Scraps
What To Do With Netherite
Armor And Tool Upgrading
After you have an ingot, you can upgrade your tools. To upgrade tools and armor, you will just need one netherite ingot. Head to a smithing table, combine your diamond tool or armor with the netherite ingot, and you're done.
Remember, netherite ingots can only upgrade items that are diamond quality.
You can also use a netherite ingot to repair netherite tools and armor, but this is quite expensive. We suggest using the Mending enchantment, so you don't have to find more ancient debris.
Crafting With Netherite
Netherite can also be crafted into a lodestone. This is a unique block that serves as an 'anchor' for compasses.
To make a lodestone, you will need the following materials.
- 8x Chiseled Stone Bricks
- 1x Netherite Ingot
Constructing A Netherite Beacon
Netherite can also be used to make a beacon, but this is quite expensive. As mentioned above, one netherite ingot requires four netherite scraps. To make a block of netherite, you will need nine ingots, which means you need to find 36 ancient debris.
There are different levels of beacons depending on how many layers you build. A full beacon requires 244 blocks; if made out of netherite, this will be 2,196 netherite ingots. This is a lot, so we don't recommend building your beacon out of netherite if you don't have an abundance of the material.