Diamonds are cool and all, but they aren’t Netherite cool. Ancient Debris is probably the most sought after ore next to Diamond. It is the only way to create Netherite gear and tools, the Minecraft community has been hard at work at formulating the most efficient strategy to get the most Ancient Debris in the shortest amount of time. Today, we’re going to go over Ancient Debris, what it is, where it’s located, how to acquire it, and why you should. Let’s begin.
Ore of old
Ancient Debris is a rare ore found in the Nether, and is the main source of Netherite Scraps. Its high blast resistance makes it immune to normal explosions. In item form, it floats on lava and cannot be burned by any form of fire.
It generates in the Nether in the form of blobs. Up to two blobs may generate per chunk: one blob of 1-3 ancient debris attempts to generate with a periodic normal distribution from levels 8 to 22, and an additional blob of 0-2 ancient debris attempts to generate randomly from levels 8 to 119. On average, Y-level 15 has the most ancient debris.
There is an average of 1.65 ancient debris blocks per chunk, with a normal maximum of 5. However, it is technically possible for up to 11 ancient debris to be found in a single chunk; adjacent chunks can generate blobs on the border with up to 2 blocks spawning in an adjacent chunk.
Basically, ancient debris is extremely rare and uncommon, but does follow spawn trends like any other ore. With this information, we can formulate the best strategy to acquire it in the most efficient manner.
Mining Strategies
This section will cover some strategies that may be effective when looking for ancient debris. Keep in mind that you need a Diamond pickaxe to mine ancient debris at all, so make sure to craft that.
Strip Mining – Clear a chunk sized area out and then just excavate the area by continuing down. This is extremely inefficient, but it almost guarantees that you will receive some ancient debris eventually, because there is an average of over 1 ancient debris per chunk.
Bed Mining – Since we’re in the Nether, beds explode. As if using TNT to mine in the Overworld, we will be using beds to explode massive amounts of Netherrack in a short amount of time. Craft a large amount of beds, and then attempt to sleep in them underground. This will cause it to explode. To ensure you don’t “go down with the ship” stand 6 blocks away from the bed with half of your hitbox protected by a block. The provided example above visualizes this.
The reason this works is because ancient debris is somewhat explosion-proof, so it survives the blast while the Netherrack is destroyed.
The task at hand! – Ensure that you’re mining at Y-level 15, no matter what strategy you choose. This is the most common level for ancient debris to spawn, so it’d be foolish to mine anywhere else. This isn’t to say that the ore only spawns at this level, but to mine efficiently is to exploit spawn levels.
Trivia
Despite how rare ancient debris is, Emerald is actually rarer. Emerald typically generates as an individual block compared to a blob of blocks, and has a lower spawn chance per chunk.
The texture of ancient debris is supposed to look like pressed metal plates.
Ancient debris is actually what remains of the mining activity of the Piglins, who extracted all the original netherite ore.
It is possible to find blobs of up to 20 contiguous ancient debris – up to five debris can generate in a chunk, so if a blob of five generates in adjacent corners of four different chunks, a blob of 20 debris would be created.
Despite having the same blast resistance as obsidian, ancient debris can be moved by pistons.
Conclusion
That’s all there is to it! I’ve given you the information and tools you need to succeed. You now know everything about ancient debris, how to acquire it, the different strategies you can utilize, and even a little trivia! I hope that I’ve taught you something new, and that you enjoyed this blog. With that being said, I wish you all the best of luck on your mining journeys. Have a great day!
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