Ancient Debris

Ancient debris is an extremely rare ore found in the Nether, and is the main source of netherite scraps. Its high blast resistance makes it immune to normal explosions. In item form, it floats on lava and cannot be burned by any form of fire.

Natural generation
Ancient debris generates in the Nether in the form of mineral veins. Up to two veins may generate per chunk: one vein of 1–3 ancient debris attempts to generate with a periodic (similarly to lapis lazuli ore) from levels 8 to 22, and an additional vein of 1–2 ancient debris attempts to generate randomly from levels 8 to 119. On average, Y-level 15 has the most ancient debris.

There is an average of 1.65 ancient debris blocks per chunk, with a normal maximum of 5. However, it is technically possible for up to 11 ancient debris to be found in a single chunk; adjacent chunks can generate veins on the border with up to 2 blocks spawning in an adjacent chunk. As of Java Edition 1.16.4, on average they generate 1.56 ores per chunk.

Ancient debris never generates naturally exposed to air and can replace only netherrack, basalt, and blackstone. It may also generate alongside smaller pockets of lava.

Breaking
Ancient debris drops as an item if mined by a diamond or netherite pickaxe. If mined by any other tool, it drops nothing.

Smelting ingredient
Ancient Debris can be smelted using a furnace or blast furnace. If a player takes out the netherite scrap, they are rewarded with 2 experience points. This usually takes a while to smelt.

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Trivia

 * Despite ancient debris' rarity, emerald ore is actually rarer; emerald ore has a lower spawn chance per chunk, and while ancient debris can appear in veins as large as five in any Nether biome, emerald ore generates only as individual ore blocks in mountain biomes.
 * The texture of the ancient debris is supposed to look like pressed metal plates.
 * Ancient debris yields the most experience of any item when smelted.
 * Ancient debris is actually what remains of the mining activity of the piglins, who extracted all the original netherite ore.
 * Ancient debris does not generate exposed to air, but can sometimes be seen on the surface when it generates adjacent to a fungus or twisting vines.
 * Ancient debris is the only ore that does not use the same texture on all six sides.
 * It is possible to find veins of up to 20 contiguous ancient debris - up to five debris can generate in a chunk, so if a vein of five generates in adjacent corners of four different chunks, a vein of 20 debris would be created.
 * Beds cannot break ancient debris.