Netherite is Minecraft’s valuable endgame material. It takes a diamond gear and pushes it beyond every other tier in the game. Netherite items are highly durable, last longer, float in lava instead of burning, and shrug off explosions that would destroy most blocks. This guide explains everything you need to know about Netherite, including where to find it and how you can use it for gear or weapon upgrades.
What is Netherite in Minecraft
Netherite is a craftable material that starts from Ancient Debris, gets refined into Netherite Scrap, and finally becomes Netherite Ingots. These ingots upgrade diamond gear through the smithing system, and beyond that, Netherite has some great benefits. Items made from it won’t burn in lava or fire, Netherite blocks resist almost every explosion in the normal game, and Netherite Ingots can power beacons and craft lodestones. When you pair Netherite on any diamond Tool, Weapon, or Armor, their stats will largely increase.
How to Get Netherite in Minecraft
To craft Netherite, you need Ancient Debris, and the only place to find it is the Nether. You’ll never see it in the Overworld. For the higher odds, mine in the Warped Forest and Nether Wastes areas. Ancient Debris spawns around Y-level 7 and Y-level 23, with Y-level 15 the best layer to mine, especially to break the two combined border chunks. The items appear in small veins, mostly one to three blocks at once, and it’s easy to miss them if you don’t pay attention. Look for a brown-red ore block with a minor spiral pattern on its faces.
To mine Ancient Debris, you need either a diamond pickaxe or a netherite pickaxe. Any weak axe won’t drop the block or even destroy it. To make it fast, use a diamond pickaxe with Efficiency II Enchantments. Further, equip Mending Enchantment on your axe to avoid it being degraded fast due to mining.
Ancient Debris is blast-resistant, so explosions won’t damage it, which makes controlled TNT or bed explosions the quickest ways to expose the item by clearing large areas of netherrack. You can also find Ancient Debris, Netherite Scrap, and Netherite Ingots in Bastion Remnant chests, though it’s supplemental than reliable, so mining is the best way.
We recommend bringing fire resistance potions when you visit Nether because they will save your life if you accidentally fall into lava or run into a lava bucket. If you don’t have potions, you can keep building blocks in your off hand and use them instantly to block lava but be carefull as lava moves very fast in Nether than other Minecraft world.
- Related: How to Get Honeycomb in Minecraft
How to Craft Netherite Ingot in Minecraft
Once you have mined Ancient Debris, smelt it in a Furnace or Blast Furnace using any fuel to yield Netherite Scrap. You need to produce 4 Netherite Scraps to get one Netherite Ingot.
To craft a Netherite Ingot, open a 3×3 grid crafting table and insert 4 Netherite Scraps and 4 Gold Ingots into it to produce an Ingot. At this point, you will finally have something valuable but not up to par with diamonds.
How to Use Netherite and Upgrade Gear
Netherite tools and armor can’t be crafted directly with Netherite Ingots. Instead, they upgrade diamond gear using a Smithing Table. In the latest Minecraft versions, the upgrade process also requires a Netherite Upgrade Smithing Template, which is found in Bastion Remnant chests, mostly in treasure rooms. Once you collect one, it can be duplicated, but your first upgrade needs that template.
Open the Smithing Table, add the upgrade template, the diamond item to upgrade, and a Netherite Ingot. It will generate the Netherite version of that Diamond Tool, Gear, or Weapon, with all enchantments intact. You can upgrade any main diamond item this way.
Beyond gear upgrades, you can use Netherite Ingots to power beacons, which replace iron, gold, emeralds, or diamonds. They’re also required to craft a lodestone, which lets compasses point to a fixed location instead of world spawn, useful for long-term bases or navigation routes. Netherite blocks are extremely blast-resistant and can be moved by pistons, so they also work as explosion shields in redstone builds where obsidian won’t work.