Minecraft guide: Where to find Ancient Debris and Netherite Ingots

With the new Nether update for Minecraft, the strongest material in the game has shifted from Diamond to Netherite.

To find Netherite, you have to go into the Nether, as the name suggests. To get Netherite gear, you’ll have to find and smelt Ancient Debris. This will turn it into Netherite Scraps. You’ll then craft four Netherite Scraps with four Gold Ingots, which will give you Netherite Ingots. You can use these to upgrade your tools.

To find Ancient Debris, first you’ll need a Diamond Pickaxe. If you mine the Ancient Debris block with anything less, it won’t drop anything. The blocks can be found at level 8 through 22 (and only in the Nether), so you’ll have to carefully mine in the Nether to find it. To see what depth you’re at, Bedrock players will have to enable the “show coordinates” option in game settings. PC Java players can press F3 to toggle an interface that says where they are. The second of the three numbers listed is your Y-coordinate, so you’ll have to aim for it to be between 8 and 22.

Because the Nether has random holes and drops, you’ll want to be careful that you don’t fall into lava. We recommend building a staircase-like mine entrance, rather that one that drops straight down.

Image: Microsoft/Mojang via Polygon

Once you arrive in the right levels, you should be able to eventually find Ancient Debris just from mining in various directions. Like mining in Overworld, beware of lava and make sure to keep tabs of where you are so you don’t get lost. Ancient Debris doesn’t show up very often, but if you keep at it, you’ll find it soon enough.

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