TL;DR: There is no netherite ore. You mine ancient debris, smelt it into netherite scrap, craft 4 scrap and 4 gold ingots into one netherite ingot, then take that ingot, a piece of diamond gear, and a netherite upgrade smithing template to a smithing table. One ingot upgrades one piece. This guide follows Java Edition; Bedrock is close but not identical.
What netherite is
Netherite is the top gear tier in the game, one step above diamond. You never find finished netherite gear lying around, and you never craft it from scratch: you upgrade diamond gear into it. That means the road to netherite runs through diamond first, and through a bastion remnant for one special item. Here is the whole road, in order.
Step 1: Mine ancient debris
Ancient debris only generates in the Nether, and it is almost never sitting out in the open, because the game tries to bury it. Most of it is found between Y levels 8 and 24, and it is most common around Y level 16. A few extra blocks can show up anywhere from Y level 8 up to 119, so a lucky find higher up is possible but not something to plan around. It is rare: about 1.6 blocks per chunk on average across every level.
You need a diamond or netherite pickaxe. Break it with anything else and it drops nothing at all. Our Ancient Debris guide covers the hunt in more detail.
Step 2: Smelt it into scrap
Put the ancient debris in a furnace or a blast furnace. Each block becomes one netherite scrap, and you get a little experience when you take it out.
Step 3: Craft the ingot
Combine 4 netherite scrap and 4 gold ingots on a crafting table. The recipe is shapeless, so the layout does not matter. That makes the real price of one ingot four ancient debris and four gold ingots. Plan your gold before you go digging.
Step 4: Upgrade at a smithing table
Open a smithing table and add three things: a netherite upgrade smithing template, one piece of diamond armor or a diamond tool, and one netherite ingot. Out comes the netherite version.
- Enchantments, armor trims, and how much damage the item has already taken all carry over.
- Unlike an anvil, the smithing table costs no experience levels for this upgrade.
- Iron, gold, and leather gear cannot be upgraded straight to netherite. Diamond first.
Where the template comes from
The template is the part that surprises people. It is only found in bastion remnants, in their loot chests. The treasure room is the sure thing: the chests there always contain one, while other bastion chests only have about a 1-in-10 chance. The good news is that you only need to find one: with 7 diamonds, 1 netherrack, and the template itself, you can craft 2 templates, so you get your original back plus a copy. The template is used up each time you upgrade a piece, so duplicate it before you spend it.
Bastion treasure chests can also hold netherite scrap and ingots, which is a big shortcut if you can get to them. Getting there is the hard part: bastions are full of Piglins, and some rooms are guarded by tough Piglin Brutes, so read Piglin Brutes and What's Inside a Bastion first, and see Bastion Remnants for how to find one.
What you actually get for all that work
- Armor: a full netherite set gives 20 armor points, exactly like a full diamond set. The differences are armor toughness (12 instead of 8), which helps against big hits, and 40% knockback resistance (10% per piece), which diamond does not have at all.
- Fireproof: netherite armor does not lose durability to fire or lava damage, and netherite items do not burn up if they land in lava. That takes a lot of the sting out of a lava mishap for your gear. You still take lava damage yourself, so bring fire resistance.
- Tools: a netherite pickaxe has 2,031 durability compared with 1,561 for diamond, about 30% more, and it mines a little faster.
Be honest with yourself about that first bullet: netherite armor is not "twice as protective" as diamond. It is tougher, harder to knock back, and it survives lava. That is worth having, but it is not magic.
Best uses / Best tips
Upgrade the piece you rely on most first. Since enchantments carry over, an enchanted diamond piece keeps all of its enchantments when it becomes netherite, so you do not have to start over. Keep your gold ingots and your template in one chest before a debris trip so you do not have to make an extra run.
Lore color
Ancient debris looks like something the Nether was hiding on purpose: dark, cracked, with a warm gleam inside. Turning it into scrap and then into an ingot takes the patience of a smith, not a fighter. Take that as a story, not a game rule.
Common mistakes
- Looking for netherite ore. It is ancient debris.
- Mining ancient debris with an iron pickaxe or lower and getting nothing back
- Forgetting that one ingot costs 4 debris and 4 gold ingots
- Using up your only template without duplicating it first
- Trying to upgrade iron or gold gear directly instead of diamond gear
Related
Ancient Debris · Bastion Remnants · Piglin Brutes · The Beacon Endgame · Nether Endgame Projects · Complete Nether Guide · Walk the World
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