Ancient Debris is one of the best additions to Minecraft’s 1.16 The Nether Update. This rare ore allows you to obtain a resource called Netherite, enabling you to upgrade all your gear to the highest level. Hence, we are looking at what you have to do to acquire Ancient Debris in Minecraft.
Ancient Debris is a scarce ore in Minecraft. You could mine for a long while and still not find any Ancient Debris. But the end result—once you’ve acquired one—is worth it. When smelted using a furnace or blast furnace, Ancient Debris will reward the player with two experience points along with a netherite scrap which will be your primary source for making netherite ingots and, ultimately, netherite armor—the strongest armor in Minecraft. As it is one of the rarest ores in Minecraft thus far, you will need to know precisely how to quickly acquire it to craft your very own set of netherite armors and weapons.
What To Bring When Mining For Ancient Debris
Before mining for Ancient Debris in the Nether, you will need to prepare for your expedition into the Nether. Of course, mining for Ancient Debris is not easy, nor can it be done quickly. You will need the right set of tools and equipment when searching and mining for Ancient Debris, mainly because you can only do so in the Nether—a dangerous and hostile dimension in Minecraft.
- You can not mine ancient debris without a diamond pickaxe. This is the most important tool you must bring to start mining this extremely rare resource. You may also use a netherite pickaxe—a higher and stronger pickaxe version. Using a lower type pickaxe when mining ancient debris will destroy the block and drop nothing.
- Wear a full set of iron or diamond armor. The Nether is home to a lot of hostile mobs so being properly geared up is the best option if you want to survive looking for this rare resource.
- Carry at least one weapon with you. Typically, you should bring an iron or diamond sword as well as a bow and some arrows. Bringing a good weapon will increase your chances at survival.
- Bring food for healing and hunger. You are bound to encounter a few hostile mobs in the Nether so it is best to come prepared. You can bring some cooked chicken, steak, cooked porkchop, or any other food item as long as it is edible.
- Do not forget to bring extra pickaxes in case your current diamond pickaxe breaks before you can find any ancient debris.
- Always carry torches with you. Torches will help light your way as you dig deeper. The Nether is relatively dark so having something to light your way will help you navigate better especially when mining. You can also bring lots of potion of night vision as an alternative but torches are much easier to craft.
- Always bring a crafting table. You never know when you may need to craft something along the way. It is always better to be prepared when going on a mining adventure especially when in the Nether.
- Bring a set of extra blocks. You may choose to bring one 64-set of either cobblestone or netherrack when mining for Ancient Debris. As it generates relatively deep underground, you may encounter lava along the way. It is best to bring extra blocks to easily cover lava fountains or lava pools.
- Bring explosives to easily mine ancient debris. Ancient debris is an extremely rare ore that can only be found deep underground. You may run out of pickaxes and still not find a single ancient debris so it can be easier to use TNT or beds to mine it as it is immune to explosions.
- Carry at least one Flint and Steel with you. You can use the flint and steel to open the nether portal as well as trigger the TNT explosion.
Where Can You Find Ancient Debris?
Now that you are appropriately geared up for your mining adventure in the Nether, you will need to know where to start looking for Ancient Debris. Like most ores in Minecraft, inside the Nether or the Overworld, these resources are typically found underground. Ancient Debris generates in the form of chunks. Between layers 8 and 22, one chunk of 1-3 Ancient Debris may attempt to generate, while in between layers 8 and 119, an additional chunk of 0-2 ancient Debris may randomly be generated. This means that Ancient Debris may generate anywhere from layer 8 to 119, but it is most abundant on layer 15. This also means you have to dig deep until you reach at least coordinate Y-15 on your map. To check your exact coordinates, press F3 on your keyboard for PC users or FN + F3 for Mac users. This should give you a menu showing your XYZ coordinates as well as other helpful information.
Always remember when navigating your coordinates, you are looking for the Y coordinate on the map. This tells you if you are on the correct layer to mine for Ancient Debris. Be very careful when mining in these deep levels as they may contain pools of lava or lava fountains.
How To Find Ancient Debris?
You can try and use two methods to look for Ancient Debris more quickly, The branch mining method and the bed method. But before that, you will need to dig down first and get to Y level 15, where Ancient Debris is most abundant.
When digging down, you can do the staircase method, in which you dig down in the form of a staircase, allowing you to climb back out easily whenever you need. Pro tip: Do not dig straight down. You may accidentally fall into a pool of lava.
The Branch Mining Method
Once you have reached layer 15, you can try looking for Ancient Debris by doing the branch mining method. Branch mining will require you to dig out 2×2 tunnels from a center space and then mine on each of those tunnels forming “branches.” When using the branch mining method in the Nether, a diamond pickaxe with at least an Efficiency II, Mending, and Unbreaking III enchantment is highly recommended. This will allow you to mine down netherrack easier and mend the durability of the pickaxe when mining nether quartz that you encounter along the way.
You can then start branch mining by digging in one direction until you hit lava and then mine in another direction. Compared to doing the bed method, branch mining is better and more resource-efficient, with it being limited to using only tools and food.
The Bed Method
The bed method, as its name suggests, utilizes beds. When used in a different dimension—such as the Nether or the end—beds become explosives with a much larger blast radius than TNT. Although this is relatively easy to do, you will use up a lot of beds for this to work and this method could potentially harm or even kill you if you are not careful, so you will need to be fully prepared when performing this method. It is highly recommended that you bring at least one totem of undying, a complete set of iron or diamond armor enchanted with blast protection, and potions of fire resistance to protect against the blast.
- Start doing the bed method after you have mined down all the way to Y-15 as Ancient Debris chunks are more likely to generate in that layer.
- Once you have reached layer 15, start mining a tunnel going forward.
- After every 16th block, mine another 1x2x5 tunnel (1 block wide, 2 blocks high, and 5 blocks long) perpendicular to your main tunnel.
- Then place a bed inside the small tunnel with the head of the bed facing the main tunnel. You will need to be 6 blocks away from the bed once you trigger the explosion in order to be safe from the blast as beds have an explosion power of 5 blocks wide range.
Make sure to cover any exposed lava flow with a netherrack block or cobblestone and put out any fire created by the blast before collecting any resource drops. Doing this method may expose up to 3 Ancient Debris for you to mine. Nearby nether gold ore may also drop, allowing you to collect it easily. Take note that you may also use TNT and Flint and Steel as alternatives to beds, but they will cost you more resources in crafting than utilizing wool and planks to make beds.
