How to farm Netherite in Minecraft

There is a plethora of resources to be farmed in Minecraft. Getting hands on your first Diamond is always exhilarating, but it’s supplies like Netherite that can truly elevate your character’s growth in the late game.

Making Netherite armor and weapons is necessary if you want to progress in your Minecraft adventure, whether it’s a single-player campaign or a multiplayer journey with your friends. However, it’s not that easy to find and can be extremely time-consuming without using a few tricks. Luckily, we’ve been searching for Netherite in each of our Minecraft playthroughs, and here’s everything we learned about farming the material.

Where to farm Netherite in Minecraft

There are a lot of details regarding farming Netherite, so let’s get the basic information sorted first. The resource itself can be found, like its name suggests, in the Nether. It’s an alternate realm, which can be entered after opening a portal made out of Obsidian. Making the latter is easy, since all it takes is to combine water with lava. However, we strongly advise against going to the Nether without proper equipment.

The Nether is filled with dangerous monsters who can quickly take you down if you don’t own at least a Diamond set. Additionally, it has lava on almost every step, meaning that if you die, you’re likely to lose your items forever. On the other hand, it’s home to a few of the best resources in Minecraft, like Netherite. You don’t actually find it in Nether, but you can come across Ancient Debris, which can be later transformed into Netherite.

Best Nether levels for farming Netherite in Minecraft

All Minecraft players know that to look for a specific material, you need to dig at a certain height, which is called y-level in Minecraft terms. You won’t find Diamonds after digging out seven or eight levels beneath your feet, and the case is no different with Ancient Debris.

The material can be usually found between y-level of eight and 22. To find which one you’re currently on, simply press F3. It will prompt a menu in your upper left corner that details, among many things, your current coordinates, called XYZ. The second one among these three shows your currently y-level.

It’s best to dig deeper into the Nether if you’re above that y-level. You can’t just dig underneath you, since you will eventually fall into lava. Instead, make sure you dig as if you were making a staircase downwards. This means digging one block below in front of you and so on.

Now that we know the best levels to find Ancient Debris, let’s dive into the most efficient ways of doing so.

How to farm Netherite in Minecraft

The more-experienced Minecraft players should be familiar with all the different ways of finding resources in the game, and many of them apply to Ancient Debris.

Dig in with an enchanted Pickaxe

The most basic way of searching for Ancient Debris is with a Diamond Pickaxe. The basic one will do just fine, but if you want to enhance your efficiency, you better modify it by the Enchanting Table first. You might want to have at least Efficiency level three, which will allow you to rush through the Netherrack blocks faster.

Additionally, try enchanting your Diamond Pickaxe with Mending or Unbreaking. The first one repairs your tool once you dig resources, while the latter makes it… well, unbreakable. On top of that, always make sure you have a specific block binded next to your Pickaxe slot. That’s due, once again, to the potential of finding lava. The last thing you’d want is to be drowned in lava during your search for Ancient Debris, so having blocks to block it off can be life-saving.

Finding Ancient Debris with TNT

Using TNT to find materials isn’t often the best idea in Minecraft, but in this case, it fits like a glove. Ancient Debris can’t be destroyed by an explosive, contrary to Netherrack, which will be likely to surround it. Therefore, placing blocks of TNT close to each other and launching a chain reaction should uncover large amounts of Ancient Debris ready for you to farm it.

Once you place enough TNT, you can use Flint and Steel to ignite one block. Its explosion will trigger the others in range, creating a chain reaction. Just make sure you have space to run in the opposite direction to dodge any potential damage.

You need Gunpowder and Sand to craft a block of TNT. The former is quite hard to find, though, so making enough explosives might be tiresome. Luckily, we have another explosive way of looking for Ancient Debris.

Finding Ancient Debris using Beds

I know this suggestion may sound odd for those who have never tried to sleep in the Nether, but hear me out. Doing so is forbidden in Minecraft, and if you try you will make your bed explode, which is not convenient in many scenarios. However, when it comes to searching for Ancient Debris, it’s very useful.

To mine with Beds, make sure to return to y-level 14, and then dig a straightforward tunnel. It should be around 10 blocks long. Once you’re done, make a two-one-one pocket by the end of the tunnel where you’ll place your Bed. Then, step back as far away as you can and right-click on the bed. It will explode and create a new Cave, which you can scan for Ancient Debris before repeating the process if you haven’t found any.

This is an effective and cheap way of searching for Netherite, though it’s not as safe as using TNT. Nevertheless, once you find enough material, you can start crafting a few essential late game items.

How to use Netherite in Minecraft

After collecting enough Ancient Debris, head over to your nearest furnace and smelt it with Coal, similarly to how you smelt Sand into Glass and so on. This will create a Netherite Scrap. Having four of them is enough to create a Netherite Ingot, but they need to be mixed with four Gold Ingots to receive one Netherite Ingot.

There are a few ways of using Netherite Ingots once you stack enough of them. Obviously, the primary one is to upgrade your gear at the Smithing Table. You can combine your Diamond tools and armor with the Netherite Ingot to craft Netherite gear, which is some of the strongest in Minecraft.

Once you have your gear enhanced, you may also make a Lodestone. It’s a block that is used to alter compasses towards it. It’s a great tool if you’re heading out to explore somewhere far away and want to stray away from using the XYZ coordinates.