How to Find Ancient Debris: Best Y Level and Mining Methods

Ancient debris is a rare Nether ore, most common around Y 15, and it’s the only source of netherite. Mine it with a diamond pickaxe, smelt it into netherite scrap, and combine 4 scrap with 4 gold ingots to get one netherite ingot. It almost never sits out in the open, so you’ll be digging through netherrack to find it, and the fastest way to dig that much netherrack is to blow it up.

Best Y level

Debris is spread through the Nether from Y 8 to Y 119, but most of it is concentrated low down. On Java, the main cluster per chunk is centered on Y 16, between Y 8 and Y 24. On Bedrock, the main clusters are spread evenly from Y 8 to Y 23.

Mine at Y 15. A two-tall tunnel at that height covers Y 15 and 16, right in the richest band. It’s also well below the Nether’s lava sea at Y 31, so you’ll run into lava pockets often. Bring plenty of blocks to plug them.

Expect roughly one or two debris per chunk on average. It’s rare. A single netherite ingot needs four debris, so plan for a long session.

How to mine for it

Strip mining

The plain method. Dig a long 1×2 tunnel at Y 15 and look at both walls. Ancient debris has a dark brown texture with swirled rings on the side, which is easy to miss in the red netherrack. It’s slow, but safe and needs nothing special. An Efficiency V diamond pickaxe and Haste from a beacon help a lot.

Bed mining

This is the method most players use. Beds explode when you try to sleep in the Nether, and the blast is stronger than TNT. Ancient debris survives explosions, so a bed blast clears netherrack and reveals any debris inside.

1. Dig a 1×2 tunnel at Y 15.
2. Every few blocks, dig a short side hole, place a bed in it, and step back so a block is between you and the bed.
3. Use the bed. It explodes, opening a big pocket.
4. Look over the blast area for debris, then move on.

Wear armor (Blast Protection helps), keep your health full, and keep a Fire Resistance potion handy, since explosions set fires and open lava. Beds are cheap once you have a sheep farm: 3 wool and 3 planks each.

TNT mining

TNT works the same way and is a bit easier to control: dig a long tunnel, place a line of TNT along it, light one end and stand back. It needs gunpowder, so it’s best once you have a creeper farm.

Other sources

Bastion remnants sometimes have ancient debris in their chests, along with netherite scrap and the netherite upgrade template. The treasure room bastion is the best for this, but it’s also the most dangerous one.

From debris to netherite gear

1. Smelt ancient debris in a furnace or blast furnace. Each block gives one netherite scrap.
2. Craft 4 netherite scrap and 4 gold ingots into 1 netherite ingot.
3. At a smithing table, combine a diamond item, a netherite ingot and a netherite upgrade template to upgrade it. The item keeps its enchantments.

The upgrade template only comes from bastion chests, but you can copy one with 7 diamonds and a block of netherrack. A full set of netherite armor and tools takes a lot of debris, so most players upgrade their sword and pickaxe first.

Diamonds come before any of this, so if you still need a diamond pickaxe, read how to find diamonds first. The mining guide covers techniques for both dimensions.