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This article is about the ore. For the item, see Emerald. For the mineral block, see Block of Emerald.

Emerald ore is a rare mineral block that generates only in mountains and windswept hills biomes. It drops emeralds when mined, or itself if mined with a pickaxe with the Silk Touch enchantment.

Deepslate emerald ore is a variant of emerald ore that can generate in deepslate and tuff blobs.

Obtaining[]

Breaking[]

See also: Fortune § Ore

Emerald ore can be mined with a pickaxe made from iron or better, otherwise it drops nothing. If mined without Silk Touch, the block drops 1 emerald (or up to 4 with Fortune). It also drops 3–7 when broken.

Block Emerald Ore Deepslate Emerald Ore
Hardness 3 4.5
Tool
Breaking time[A]
Default 15 22.5
Wooden 7.5 11.25
Stone 3.75 5.65
Iron 0.75 1.15
Diamond 0.6 0.85
Netherite 0.5 0.75
Golden 1.25 1.9
  1. Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.

Natural generation[]

See also: Ore (feature)

Emerald ore generates in mountains and windswept hills biomes in the form of ore features, from levels -16 to 320, being most common at level 232, and becoming less common toward either end of the range. Emerald ore attempts to generate 100 times per chunk in blobs of 0—4 ores. Emerald ore can be exposed to the sky.[1]

Emerald ore can replace stone, andesite, diorite, granite, tuff[JE only], and deepslate. Emerald ore that replaces tuff or deepslate becomes deepslate emerald ore, which is the rarest ore in Minecraft, rarer than normal emerald ore and ancient debris. It only generates between the altitudes of -16 and 8 where deepslate naturally occurs, which happens to be towards the end of emerald ore distribution where it is extremely rare; its limitation to certain biomes further adds to its rarity.

Usage[]

Smelting ingredient[]

Name Ingredients Smelting recipe
Emerald Emerald Ore or
Deepslate Emerald Ore +
Any fuel


1

Note blocks[]

Emerald ore can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sounds.

Sounds[]

Emerald ore[]

Java Edition:

SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
Block brokenBlocksOnce the block has brokenblock.stone.breaksubtitles.block.generic.break1.00.816
Block placedBlocksWhen the block is placedblock.stone.placesubtitles.block.generic.place1.00.816
Block breakingBlocksWhile the block is in the process of being brokenblock.stone.hitsubtitles.block.generic.hit0.250.516
None[sound 1]Entity-DependentFalling on the block with fall damageblock.stone.fallNone[sound 1]0.50.7516
FootstepsEntity-DependentWalking on the blockblock.stone.stepsubtitles.block.generic.footsteps0.151.016
  1. a b MC-177082

Bedrock Edition:

SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
BlocksOnce the block has brokendig.stone1.00.8-1.0
BlocksWhen the block is placeddig.stone1.00.8-1.0
BlocksWhile the block is in the process of being brokenhit.stone0.370.5
PlayersFalling on the block with fall damagefall.stone0.41.0
PlayersWalking on the blockstep.stone0.31.0
PlayersJumping from the blockjump.stone0.121.0
PlayersFalling on the block without fall damageland.stone0.221.0

Deepslate emerald ore[]

Java Edition:

SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
Block brokenBlocksOnce the block has brokenblock.deepslate.breaksubtitles.block.generic.break1.00.816
Block placedBlocksWhen the block is placedblock.deepslate.placesubtitles.block.generic.place1.00.816
Block breakingBlocksWhile the block is in the process of being brokenblock.deepslate.hitsubtitles.block.generic.hit0.250.516
None[sound 1]Entity-DependentFalling on the block with fall damageblock.deepslate.fallNone[sound 1]0.50.7516
FootstepsEntity-DependentWalking on the blockblock.deepslate.stepsubtitles.block.generic.footsteps0.151.016
  1. a b MC-177082

Bedrock Edition:

SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
BlocksOnce the block has brokendig.deepslate1.00.8-1.0
BlocksWhen the block is placedplace.deepslate1.00.8-1.0
BlocksWhile the block is in the process of being brokenhit.deepslate0.30.5
PlayersFalling on the block with fall damagefall.deepslate0.41.0
PlayersWalking on the blockstep.deepslate0.31.0
PlayersJumping from the blockjump.deepslate0.121.0
PlayersFalling on the block without fall damageland.deepslate0.221.0

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierFormBlock tagsTranslation key
Emerald Oreemerald_oreBlock & Itememerald_ores
mineable/pickaxe
needs_iron_tool
block.minecraft.emerald_ore
Deepslate Emerald Oredeepslate_emerald_oreBlock & Itememerald_ores
mineable/pickaxe
needs_iron_tool
block.minecraft.deepslate_emerald_ore

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID FormItem ID[i 1]Translation key
Emerald Oreemerald_ore129Block & Giveable Item[i 2]Identical[i 3]tile.emerald_ore.name
Deepslate Emerald Oredeepslate_emerald_ore662Block & Giveable Item[i 2]Identical[i 3]tile.deepslate_emerald_ore.name
  1. ID of block's direct item form, which is used in savegame files and addons.
  2. a b Available with /give command.
  3. a b The block's direct item form has the same id as the block.

History[]

Java Edition
May 21, 2012Emerald Ore JE1 The week before the release of 12w21a, Jeb released a screenshot of himself testing the trading system.[2] At this time, what would become emerald ore was ruby ore.[3]
1.3.112w21aEmerald Ore JE1 Added emerald ore.
The announced ore has been changed to an emerald ore. The texture for emerald ore has remained unchanged, as Jeb forgot to commit the new texture in the snapshot.[4] As this item was not announced before the snapshot was released, most translations call emerald "diamond" (due to "item.emerald" being the previous translation key for Diamonds).
Emerald ore generates in blobs of up to 10 blocks.
12w21bEmerald Ore JE2 BE1 The texture of emerald ore has been corrected. The previous ruby texture remains as "ruby.png". Translations of emerald as diamond have also been corrected.
An analysis of a 500×500 extreme hills biome with MCEdit gives the following ore distributions: The graphs show that the distribution of all ores except for lapis lazuli is even in a certain range and falls off sharply at the borders. While the total amount of emerald is with 3386, even higher than the amount of diamonds (2997), the ore is spread out over double the height range, meaning that at a certain level the chance for finding an ore was just about half of the chance of finding a diamond ore, effectively making it twice as rare when tunnel mining.
12w22aBlob size was reduced to 1 block.
1.1317w47aPrior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 129.
Texture UpdateJanuary 4, 2018Emerald Ore Texture Update Revision 1 A new texture for emerald ore has been proposed.
1.1418w43aEmerald Ore JE3 BE2 The texture of emerald ore has been changed.
1.1721w06aThe height limit was expanded down to Y=-64. Emerald ores are temporary generating from Y=-64 instead of Y=0.
21w07aEmerald ore now generates as a triangle spread, generating between Y=32 and Y=320 and peaking at Y=256.
February 18, 2021Emerald Ore (pre-release) JAPPA shows new textures of emerald ore.
21w08aEmerald Ore JE4 BE3 The texture of emerald ore has been changed.
21w10aDeepslate Emerald Ore JE1 Added deepslate variant of emerald ore, which does not generate naturally.
Added emerald_ores block tag.
The amount of emerald ore that generates has been increased.
21w15aMost ore generation has been reverted back to the pre-21w06a generation and requires the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack to be seen. However, emerald ore generation was not properly reverted due to a bug.[5]
21w16aEmerald ore now generates at the correct Y-levels, but it still generates more frequently than it did in 1.16.[6]
Deepslate emerald ore variant now generates naturally.
In the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack, emerald ores now generate in the form of ore blobs instead of single blocks.
21w17aEmerald ore can now replace granite, andesite, diorite, tuff, and deepslate upon generating.
1.17.1Pre-release 2The frequency of emerald ore generation has been reverted to pre-1.17 levels.
1.18Experimental Snapshot 1All previous changes to ore distribution from the prototype data pack have now been implemented into the base game.
Deepslate Emerald Ore no longer generates naturally.
experimental snapshot 2Emerald ore now generates in meadows, groves, snowy slopes, lofty peaks, and snow capped peaks.
21w40aEmerald ore generates more frequently and is now able to generate down to Y=-16.
Deepslate Emerald Ore now generates naturally again.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.9.0build 1Emerald Ore JE2 BE1 Added emerald ore.
Emerald ore can be mined with a stone pickaxe instead of an iron one.
v0.12.1build 1Mining emerald ore now drops experience orbs.
Emerald ore can now be collected with Silk Touch, dropping the block itself.
Emerald ore now drops extra emeralds with the Fortune enchantment.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0beta 1.2.0.2Mining emerald ore now requires an iron pickaxe.
1.10.0beta 1.10.0.3Emerald Ore JE3 BE2 The texture of emerald ore has been changed.
1.16.220beta 1.16.220.50Emerald Ore JE4 BE3 The texture of emerald ore has been changed.
In the Caves and Cliffs experimental gameplay, emerald ore can now be found exposed and in blobs of size 0-10 on the surface of the new mountain biome variants.
1.17.0beta 1.16.230.52Deepslate Emerald Ore JE1 Added deepslate variant of emerald ore behind the Caves and Cliffs experimental gameplay.
beta 1.16.230.56In the Caves and Cliffs experimental gameplay, emerald ore generation has been changed. Emerald now generates on higher altitudes in extreme hills rather than lower.
beta 1.17.0.52Unintentionally readded the single-block emerald ore generation in the Caves and Cliffs experimental gameplay, which was removed in beta 1.16.230.56.
1.18.0beta 1.18.0.20Removed “Caves and Cliffs” experimental toggle. New emerald ore generation are now available through normal gameplay.
Decreased the generation size of emerald ore blobs.
Unintentionally increased the amount of emerald ore blob generation attempts a lot.
beta 1.18.0.21In extreme hills, emerald ore generates more frequently and is now able to generate down to Y=-16.
beta 1.18.0.22Emerald ore generation height has now been tweaked.
beta 1.18.0.24Emerald ore blob now generates correctly.
Emerald ore generation height has now been tweaked to be in parity with Java Edition.
Legacy Console Edition
TU14CU1 1.04 Patch 11.0.1Emerald Ore JE2 BE1 Added emerald ore.
1.90 Emerald Ore JE3 BE2 The texture of emerald ore texture has been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0Emerald Ore JE2 BE1 Added emerald ore.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Emerald Ore" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

  • Even though emerald ore is rarer than diamond ore, emerald ore is generally found more often in mountains biomes than diamond ore, as the emerald ore blocks are generated in a more scattered fashion.

Gallery[]

Screenshots[]

Development images[]

References[]

  1. MC-237455 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  2. https://twitter.com/jeb_/status/204619936616808451
  3. snapshot 12w21a/b lang/en_US.lang: tile.oreRuby.name=Ruby Ore
  4. https://twitter.com/jeb_/status/205641953742819328
  5. MC-223260 — "Emerald ore does not generate as intended" — resolved as "Fixed".
  6. MC-226926 — "Emerald ore generates too often" — resolved as "Fixed".
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