Emeralds are one of the rarest materials in Minecraft and the currency used in villager trading.
Obtaining
Mining
Emerald ore mined using an iron or diamond pickaxe will drop one emerald. If the pickaxe is enchanted with fortune, it may drop an extra emerald per level of fortune, up to a maximum of 4 with Fortune III. If the ore is mined using a pickaxe enchanted with silk touch, it will drop itself.
Crafting
| Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|
| Block of Emerald |
Smelting
| Ingredients | Smelting recipe |
|---|---|
| Emerald Ore + Any fuel |
Natural generation
| Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Java Edition | ||||
| Emerald | Buried treasure | Chest | 4–8 | 59.9% |
| Desert temple | Chest | 1–3 | 18% | |
| Suspicious sand | 1 | 12.5% | ||
| Desert well | Suspicious sand | 1 | 12.5% | |
| End city | Chest | 2–6 | 9% | |
| Igloo | Chest | 1 | 7.6% | |
| Jungle temple | Chest | 1–3 | 8.7% | |
| Warm Ocean ruins | Warm ruins suspicious sand | 1 | 13.3% | |
| Cold ruins suspicious gravel | 1 | 13.3% | ||
| Shipwreck | Treasure chest | 1–5 | 73.7% | |
| Trail ruins | Suspicious gravel | 1 | 4.4% | |
| Underwater ruins | Big ruins chest | 1 | 14.9% | |
| Small ruins chest | 1 | 16.4% | ||
| Village | Shepherd's chest | 1 | 12.3% | |
| Tanner's chest | 1–4 | 17.3% | ||
| Armorer's chest | 1 | 31.8% | ||
| Fisherman's chest | 1 | 24.2% | ||
| Desert house chest | 1–3 | 14.3% | ||
| Fletcher's chest | 1 | 12.3% | ||
| Plains house chest | 1–4 | 22.8% | ||
| Savanna house chest | 1–4 | 21.5% | ||
| Butcher's chest | 1 | 10.2% | ||
| Taiga house chest | 1–4 | 18.6% | ||
| Temple chest | 1–4 | 25.4% | ||
| Snowy house chest | 1–4 | 9.9% | ||
| Mason's chest | 1 | 20.8% | ||
| Bedrock Edition | ||||
| Emerald | Desert temple | Suspicious sand | 1 | 12.5% |
| Chest | 1–3 | 18% | ||
| Desert well | Suspicious sand | 1 | 12.5% | |
| End city | Chest | 2–6 | 9% | |
| Igloo | Chest | 1 | 7.6% | |
| Jungle temple | Chest | 1–3 | 8.7% | |
| Cold Ocean ruins | Cold ruins suspicious gravel | 1 | 13.3% | |
| Warm ruins suspicious sand | 1 | 13.3% | ||
| Shipwreck | Treasure chest | 1–5 | 73.7% | |
| Stronghold | Altar chest | 1–3 | 7.1% | |
| Trail ruins | Suspicious gravel | 1 | 4.3% | |
| Underwater ruins | Big ruins chest | 1 | 14.9% | |
| Small ruins chest | 1 | 16.4% | ||
| Village | Snowy house chest | 1–4 | 9.9% | |
| Temple chest | 1–4 | 25.4% | ||
| Plains house chest | 1–4 | 22.8% | ||
| Taiga house chest | 1–4 | 20.3% | ||
| Savanna house chest | 1–4 | 21.5% | ||
| Mason's chest | 1 | 20.8% | ||
| Armorer's chest | 1 | 31.8% | ||
| Butcher's chest | 1 | 10.2% | ||
| Shepherd's chest | 1 | 12.3% | ||
| Fletcher's chest | 1 | 12.3% | ||
| Desert house chest | 1–3 | 14.3% | ||
| Tanner's chest | 1–4 | 17.3% | ||
In Pocket Edition they can also be found in blacksmith chests.ffffffffffffff
Usage
Trading
Emeralds are primarily used as currency for trading with villagers. Trading is a much easier and less time consuming way to obtain emeralds than mining is.
Crafting ingredient
| Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Block of Emerald | Emerald |
Achievements
| Icon | Achievement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) | Gamerscore earned | Trophy type (PS4) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS4 | Other | |||||
| The Haggler | Acquire or spend 30 Emeralds by trading with villagers or with wandering trader. [sic] | — | 30G | Silver | ||
Video
Emerald/video
History
| i | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.31 | On January 29th, 2010, Diamonds were added. In the code, they were referred to as emeralds. | ||||
| r | |||||
| May 21, 2012 | Jeb released a screenshot of himself testing the trading system. At this time, what would become Emeralds were Rubies.[1] Rubies can still be found in the (at this time unused) file "items.png", and look like this: .[2] | ||||
| 1.3.1 | 12w21a | Added emeralds and emerald ore. Emeralds could be traded with villagers in exchange for different items. | |||
| 12w22a | Block of Emerald was added, which is crafted from nine emeralds, and can be placed as a decorative block. | ||||
| 1.4.2 | 12w32a | As zombie villagers can now spawn and be cured, emeralds can still be obtained in trades even if generated structures are disabled. | |||
| pocketa | |||||
| 0.9.0 | build 1 | Added emeralds. | |||
| build 5 | Added the recipe to craft emeralds. | ||||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU14 | Added emeralds. | ||||
Issues
Issues relating to "Emerald" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Gallery
The first image of the trading system released by Jeb. What would become Emeralds can be seen in the inventory space.
A wall of emerald ore utilizing a previous texture in snapshot 12w21a.
- Emeralds.png
Emerald block, emerald ore, and emerald.
- Ruby (Item).png
The previous texture of emerald in 12w21a.
References
- ↑ http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1621716-15-new-blocksitems/#entry19977082
- ↑ Snapshot 12w21a/b lang/en_US.lang: item.ruby.name=Ruby

