How to get Netherite in Minecraft: steps for scrap, ingots, armor and tools

Outlines how to get Netherite in Minecraft, with step-by-step instructions to find it, mine it, and turn it into scrap, ingots, armor and tools.

Find more technology and software guides, tips and advice

With the “Nether Update”, the so-called “Netherite” found its way into Minecraft. It is a new material that you can use to make special weapons, tools and armor. We’ll show you how to get Netherite scap and craft ingots of the new material so that new items will be in your possession.

How to get Netherite in Minecraft

In June 2020, the Swedish game developer Mojang released version update 1.16 for Minecraft. A novelty of the update is the new material.

Getting the material unfortunately isn’t as simple as finding the ore and mining it. While that’s the case for most other minerals in the game, Netherite requires some extra steps, including mining something completely different, putting that in a furnace, then combining it with a completely different item, which you can then turn into armor and tools. Here’s what you need to do before hunting it down:

• Acquire a Diamond Pickaxe
• Mine 12 Obsidian and create a Nether Portal
• Remember the location of your portal in the Nether so you can get home again!

Extracting Netherite from Ancient Debris

Netherite is extracted from  Ancient Debris that you can remove in the Nether with the diamond pickaxe. You can find it in small size 1.5 ore veins.

When mining it, you can only pick it up as one item / block at a time. Only a diamond pickaxe can be used for mining Ancient Debris — everything else is too weak. Pickaxes made of netherite can of course mine Ancient Debris later without any problems.

Where do you find Ancient Debris? 

The ore is extremely rare and veins consist of a maximum of three blocks, which you can only find in the Nether. In a chunk (16x16x256 blocks) you will find such veins between heights 8 to 22. Additional veins are randomly placed between heights 7 and 119. On average you will only find 5 blocks of Ancient Debris per chunk!  Veins made from Ancient Debris are always completely enclosed by other blocks or lava.

Using the co-ordinates

Ancient Debris is the first thing you need to find and as explained above, you need to find it in the Nether. When you go through your Nether portal, you need to dig down in order to find it. This is because the chance of finding more Ancient Debris is higher depending on how many blocks above the bottom of the world you are.

Unfortunately, because your Nether portal can be generated at any random level in the Nether, it’s impossible to say how far you need to dig down. You need to know your starting position and the way you do that is by pressing F3. This will show you a lot of debug information but on the left-hand side of the screen will be three co-ordinates: X, Y, and Z. While all three are crucial to remember for your Nether portal location (I recommend noting them down in a Notepad document!), you need to pay attention to the Y-axis to increase your chance of finding Ancient Debris.

The Y-axis tells you how many blocks you are above the bottom layer of the entire world. Ancient Debris can spawn in veins of 1-3 blocks at Y-axis 8-22, and it can spawn in veins of 1-2 blocks at Y-axis 8-119. This means that the maximum number of Ancient Debris blocks you can find in one chunk (64×64 block section of the world) is five.

Ancient Debris can also only spawn completely covered by other blocks or lava. This means that you’ll need to start a Nether mineshaft – you won’t run into any while sauntering across the Nether surface!

Crafting the Netherite from Ancient Debris

Ancient Debris and Netherite are so durable that they can withstand even extreme heat without damage. That is why netherite scraps or plates often float on lava. You can also collect these. If you throw objects made of Netherite into the lava, they will not burn, but float on the surface and can be collected again.

How to get Netherite scrap

You can also get Netherite scrap from Ancient Debris in a furnace with wood, charcoal, carbon block or wooden boards as fuel. If you use a furnace, the process is faster. When you’ve got your Ancient Debris, start smelting it in a furnace with any fuel source, which is how to make Netherite scrap.

How to make Netherite ingot

The scraps form the basis for the  Netherite ingots. These, in turn, are also characterized by their heat resistance — neither fire nor lava can harm them.

There are two ways of crafting the ingots: You combine four netherite scraps and four gold ingots in the crafting table. But, given how rare Ancient Debris is, this can be a lengthy affair. Or you can place a Netherite block in the craft space and receive nine ingots of the new material.

Conversely, you can use a Netherite block as a storage facility for ingots by connecting nine Netherite bars. 

How to make Netherite tools, weapons and armor

How to get Netherite armor

It is a very robust material with which you can upgrade the diamond armor.

This includes helmet, harness, pants and boots. You can upgrade one piece of armor made of diamonds in conjunction with a Netherite ingot to craft the corresponding netherite equipment.

Tools and weapons can also be upgraded with an ingot of the new material: pickaxe, shovel, ax and sword made of diamond are upgraded in combination with a netherite ingot. The tools and weapons made from the material are even more robust and durable than those made from diamonds.

The Netherite armor parts give you a bonus of +3 on armor toughness and +1 on knockback resistance. The damage and armor values ​​are also slightly higher than those of diamond equipment.

Your new armor has +1 Armor Toughness and +1 Knockback Resistance compared to Diamond armor, along with a considerably higher durability. One of the biggest bonuses to everything made of the new material is that it floats in lava too! So if you die in the Nether or in a sneaky lava pool in a cave, your equipment will be safe, as long as you get back before it despawns. It’ll take a while to acquire a full set of armor but when you do, you’ll be sorted for a long time.

For tools and weapons, firstly, you need to ensure you have the tool you desire, but in Diamond form. Want a Netherite Sword? Make a Diamond Sword first. Simple.

To upgrade it, you need to get your hands on a Smithing Table. This is a block that has been in the game for over a year, but until now has had no functionality except to provide a job for a Villager. Now however, Smithing Tables are crucial to create Netherite equipment.

You can craft a Smithing Table with two Iron Ingots at the top of a 3×3 crafting grid, with four wooden planks below them, taking up a 2×3 space in total. Alternatively, you can take them from villages.

To use the Smithing Table, put your Diamond tool on the left-most square, and the ingot on the next. This will create a Netherite tool, which is stronger, faster, and more durable than anything Diamond. What’s interesting is that in the pre-release of the Nether Update, creating such a tool would repair all durability but not carry over enchantments, but now it works in the opposite way. Enchantments will carry over, but you’ll need to repair it with an anvil to fix the durability.

This is the first time Minecraft has introduced an upgrade system rather than having to craft an entirely new item.  Perhaps the most interesting thing about the new material is that it floats when in lava, which means that you can’t accidentally throw it away or lose it when you die to the fiery pits of hell. As long as you pick it up within the five minute timeframe, you’ll be able to rescue all your Netherite items.

Other uses

Alongside tools and armor, it can also be used for two other things. The first is to power beacons. Simply insert an ingot of the new material in the same way you would any other power source and it will work. The issue here is that since the ingots are such a pain to obtain, this isn’t an effective use when you can use a stack of Iron ingots instead.

Of course, you can also combine nine Netherite ingots together to make a block of the new material. This is solely a decorative item to show off the fact you have more of the new material than you need, to flex your wealth on any visitors you may have.