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Duncan Geere Mojang avatar

Check you out – diamond armor, an enchanted diamond sword, an elytra on your back, and a full stack of golden apples in your hotbar. You’ve been places and defeated mobs that new players couldn’t even dream of. There’s nothing left in the game for you to collect.

Ore is there?

Duncan Geere[1]

Ancient debris is a rare ore found in the bottom layers of the Nether, and is the main source of netherite scrap. It floats on lava in item form and it cannot be burned by any other forms of fire. It also has an extremely high blast resistance, meaning it cannot be blown up under normal circumstances. It is more common in the soul sand valley biome.

Obtaining

Generation

Ancient Debris Spawn Rate Per Layer

Ancient debris spawn rate per layer; Y=15 has the most ancient debris. Average only.

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 normal distribution (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. There is an average of 1.7 ancient debris blocks per chunk, with a maximum of 5. Ancient debris never generates naturally exposed to air and can only replace netherrack, basalt, and blackstone. On average, y-level 15 has the most ancient debris.

Breaking

Ancient debris drops as an item if mined by a diamond or netherite pickaxe . If mined by any other tool, it doesn't drop anything.

Block Ancient Debris
Hardness 30
Tool
Breaking time[A]
Default 150
Wooden 75
Stone 37.5
Iron 25
Diamond 5.65
Netherite 5
Golden 12.5
  1. Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Chest Loot

Item Structure Container Quantity Chance
Java Edition
Ancient Debris Bastion remnant Generic chest 1 13.5%
Hoglin stable chest 2 5.7%
Treasure chest 2 12.7%
Bedrock Edition
Ancient Debris Bastion remnant Hoglin stable chest 1 5.7%
Generic chest 1 13.5%
Treasure chest 2 12.7%

Usage

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 orbs.

Name Ingredients Smelting recipe
Netherite Scrap Ancient Debris +
Any fuel


2

Sounds

SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
Block brokenBlocksBreaking the blockblock.ancient_debris.breaksubtitles.block.generic.break1.0?16
None[[#cite_note-bug''None'''"`UNIQ--ref-00000005-QINU`"'-4|[sound 2]]]BlocksFalling on the block with fall damageblock.ancient_debris.fallNone[[#cite_note-bug''None'''"`UNIQ--ref-00000005-QINU`"'-4|[sound 2]]]0.5?16
Block breakingBlocksMining the blockblock.ancient_debris.hitsubtitles.block.generic.hit0.25?16
Block placedBlocksPlacing the blockblock.ancient_debris.placesubtitles.block.generic.place1.0?16
FootstepsBlocksWalking on the blockblock.ancient_debris.stepsubtitles.block.generic.footsteps0.15?16
  1. MC-177082
  2. [[#cite_ref-bug''None'''"`UNIQ--ref-00000005-QINU`"'_4-0|a]] [[#cite_ref-bug''None'''"`UNIQ--ref-00000005-QINU`"'_4-1|b]] NONE[sound 1]

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierTranslation key
Ancient Debrisancient_debrisblock.minecraft.ancient_debris

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID Translation key
Ancient Debrisancient_debris?tile.ancient_debris.name

Advancements

Icon Advancement In-game description Parent Actual requirements (if different) Resource location
Advancement-plain-rawHidden in the Depths
Obtain Ancient Debris NetherHave an ancient debris in your inventory.nether/obtain_ancient_debris

History

Java Edition
1.1620w06aAncient Debris JE1 BE1 Added ancient debris.
20w16aAncient debris now generates in bastion remnants chests.
Bedrock Edition
1.16.0beta 1.16.0.51Ancient Debris JE1 BE1 Added ancient debris.
beta 1.16.0.57Ancient debris now generates in bastion remnants chests.
beta 1.16.0.59Smelting ancient debris now gives experience.

Issues

Issues relating to "Ancient Debris" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia

  • Despite ancient debris' rarity, emerald ore is actually rarer due to its vein size, specific biomes, and chance per chunk.
    • As a bonus, since netherrack can be broken much more quickly compared to stone or cobblestone, strip mining for Ancient Debris is a lot faster than strip mining for emeralds.
  • It is recommended to use beds to mine ancient debris, due to the bed causing large explosions in the nether. Still, be careful not to blow yourself up or die from lava flooding on you.
  • The texture of the ancient debris is supposed to look like pressed metal plates.[2]
  • Ancient debris yields the most experience of any item when smelted.
  • According to the description on the Minecraft site, ancient debris is actually what remains of the mining activity of the piglins, who extracted all the original netherite ore.

See also

References

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