Hey! I think I just found an awesome way to mine for ancient debris efficiently. My strategy is to get below the lava and give yourself fire resistance. After that, you need at least protection 4 diamond armor or at best blast protection 4. Next, you place a bed and place a block in front of it. Stand in front of the block you just placed and explode the bed. This clears out a large area so you can look for ancient debris. (Yes, ancient debris is blast-proof.) Repeat this process over and over and you should find ancient debris quicker than strip mining for it. Thanks for reading!
it's not like we're facing a sand shortage, and if you really wanted to you could use a tnt-duper. Aside from the sand, tnt would be renewable like the beds and you wouldn't have to deal with repeatedly damaging your armor.
From what I've seen, ancient debris actually isn't that rare if you mine on the proper layers; it appears to have a main distribution which is similar to lapis but with a narrower range and results in a peak concentration of 0.16% on layer 14, which is higher than diamond in the Overworld, around 0.12%, so even though it is half as common overall you can find it more often (you do need 4 ore per ingot and Fortune doesn't work on it but you only need enough to make a full set of gear, thanks to Mending, and even if you die it is less likely to be lost since the items do not burn; IMO, if you want a really rare ore TMCW's amethyst is much rarer on any layer and rarer overall, and you need to keep finding more to maintain your gear - Mending will continue to be severely broken until it is made to work like renaming an item used to, with repair costs based on item quality instead of a flat cost):
For comparison, this is an analysis of ores I made for TMCW; amethyst peaks at about 0.05% on layer 1 and is about 0.0125% above that, or about 3-13 times rarer than the peak for ancient debris and 8 times rarer than diamond in caves, which is also rarer than it is in modern versions since they made the size of veins larger in 1.8 (I still find a surplus while caving despite not using Fortune, which does work on it in the same way as most ores):
This is a branch-mine I made, which yielded 27 amethyst ore, mined with Fortune II (I didn't bother getting Fortune III; you need a diamond pickaxe to mine it since it is actually a variant of obsidian), and 91 diamond ore, the latter more than twice what I'd need without Fortune (I do no branch-mining after getting what I need to make my gear so this isn't unlike 1.9+ and Mending, except my caving playstyle guarantees a steady income):
Otherwise, the only thing that is really different is that you'll want Fire Resistance since lava floes much faster in the Nether (many people don't even want to mine below y=11 in the Overworld because of lava but it is very easy to avoid; the main issue in the Nether is also from hidden lava pockets, not the lava seas, which do not get much deeper than y=20, assuming they haven't changed the way terrain generates from older versions).
From what I've seen, ancient debris actually isn't that rare if you mine on the proper layers; it appears to have a main distribution which is similar to lapis but with a narrower range and results in a peak concentration of 0.16% on layer 14, which is higher than diamond in the Overworld, around 0.12%, so even though it is half as common overall you can find it more often (you do need 4 ore per ingot and Fortune doesn't work on it but you only need enough to make a full set of gear, thanks to Mending, and even if you die it is less likely to be lost since the items do not burn; IMO, if you want a really rare ore TMCW's amethyst is much rarer on any layer and rarer overall, and you need to keep finding more to maintain your gear - Mending will continue to be severely broken until it is made to work like renaming an item used to, with repair costs based on item quality instead of a flat cost):
For comparison, this is an analysis of ores I made for TMCW; amethyst peaks at about 0.05% on layer 1 and is about 0.0125% above that, or about 3-13 times rarer than the peak for ancient debris and 8 times rarer than diamond in caves, which is also rarer than it is in modern versions since they made the size of veins larger in 1.8 (I still find a surplus while caving despite not using Fortune, which does work on it in the same way as most ores):
This is a branch-mine I made, which yielded 27 amethyst ore, mined with Fortune II (I didn't bother getting Fortune III; you need a diamond pickaxe to mine it since it is actually a variant of obsidian), and 91 diamond ore, the latter more than twice what I'd need without Fortune (I do no branch-mining after getting what I need to make my gear so this isn't unlike 1.9+ and Mending, except my caving playstyle guarantees a steady income):
Otherwise, the only thing that is really different is that you'll want Fire Resistance since lava floes much faster in the Nether (many people don't even want to mine below y=11 in the Overworld because of lava but it is very easy to avoid; the main issue in the Nether is also from hidden lava pockets, not the lava seas, which do not get much deeper than y=20, assuming they haven't changed the way terrain generates from older versions).
Couldn't agree more, it just means that strip mining in the nether is going to become more popular, just strip mine with a fire resistance potion in-case of lava. After all, with a good pickaxe, you are gonna fly through the netherrack and etc. With quartz and netherite being the only ores, you are more likely to find either one.
I found the best way to mine the Ancient Debris is to mine down to lvl 9 or 10. Its best to have a diamond with with eff 5, unbreaking 3 and Mending. Mending is essential!
I just hold down left click and point the pickaxe so it breaks the 2 closest blocks infront of me, and walk. Of course because of the awesome stats on the diamond pick you will never have to stop walking, it mines just fast enough so that you dont bump into stuff infront of you (you can also sprint and it will also not bump you into anything, but you burn through alot of food).
Also lava is pretty rare at these depths and i always find i have more than enough time to react and stop should i mine into the lava. also you at this lvl you dont have to worry about breaking through the floor and falling to your death, if you do fall in lava easy to just jump out.
The thing that makes mending super important is that you will burn through durability on your pickaxe even with unbreaking 3. But i found that you will always run into enough quartz veins to constantly get exp and be able to recharge your pickaxe back to full!.
I did this for about 40mins the other day and found 15 ancient debris. Also the debris are super easy to spot so you dont mine past them.
I found the best way to mine the Ancient Debris is to mine down to lvl 9 or 10. Its best to have a diamond with with eff 5, unbreaking 3 and Mending. Mending is essential!
According to the Wiki the peak layer is 14, which has more than twice as much as layers 9-10 - unlike most other ores there is a very sharp peak (at which the concentration actually exceeds that of diamond, about 0.16% vs 0.12%, while layers 9-10 are around 0.07%; for layers 13-15 the concentration is around 0.15%, which I use in calculations since you expose more than one layer):
Note that since the y-coordinate in F3 is measured at feet level you'll want to stand at layer 13 (floor is 12, ceiling is 15); this is still below the deepest lava seas if they haven't made any changes to Nether terrain generation since 1.6.4, where layer 24 is around the deepest they generally go with deeper areas being very limited (by layer 20 the concentration of lava has decreased by 25-fold).
Also, this guide for efficiently finding diamond may apply; it claims that with an optimal tunnel spacing as much as 1.7% of all mined blocks can be diamond ore, which translates to a stack per hour if you average one block mined per second (which is much easier to reach in the Nether due to how easy it is to mine Netherrack - you don't even need Efficiency V to instant-mine - Efficiency III is enough, with walking speed averaging 8.6 blocks mined per second, compared to only 2.5 per second for Efficiency V on stone unless you've gone through the trouble to get a level 4 beacon):
A maximum efficiency is reached at a spacing of around 6 blocks (that is, 6 solid blocks left in-between the tunnels). At this spacing, efficiency is about 0.017, corresponding to 1.7% of blocks removed being a diamond. At this spacing, the tunnels effectively become independent of each other and so, statistically speaking, the chance of encountering an ore are maximized because there is no chance the ore has been removed by an adjacent tunnel. Above a spacing of 6, efficiency does not increase greatly because ore collection rate is simply a function of the distribution of ores within the level.
For comparison, if applied to ancient debris at layer 9-10 I get around 36 per hour if one block is mined per second (3600 * 1.7% * (0.7% / 0.12%), while at layer 14 you could find around 75 per hour.
Hey! I think I just found an awesome way to mine for ancient debris efficiently. My strategy is to get below the lava and give yourself fire resistance. After that, you need at least protection 4 diamond armor or at best blast protection 4. Next, you place a bed and place a block in front of it. Stand in front of the block you just placed and explode the bed. This clears out a large area so you can look for ancient debris. (Yes, ancient debris is blast-proof.) Repeat this process over and over and you should find ancient debris quicker than strip mining for it. Thanks for reading!
it's not like we're facing a sand shortage, and if you really wanted to you could use a tnt-duper. Aside from the sand, tnt would be renewable like the beds and you wouldn't have to deal with repeatedly damaging your armor.
That is true. Thanks for the reply.
giving this and DuhDerps comment a try
Link Removed
won't exploding the bed reset your spawn??? do u die when doing this? if not this is a great way to mine
From what I've seen, ancient debris actually isn't that rare if you mine on the proper layers; it appears to have a main distribution which is similar to lapis but with a narrower range and results in a peak concentration of 0.16% on layer 14, which is higher than diamond in the Overworld, around 0.12%, so even though it is half as common overall you can find it more often (you do need 4 ore per ingot and Fortune doesn't work on it but you only need enough to make a full set of gear, thanks to Mending, and even if you die it is less likely to be lost since the items do not burn; IMO, if you want a really rare ore TMCW's amethyst is much rarer on any layer and rarer overall, and you need to keep finding more to maintain your gear - Mending will continue to be severely broken until it is made to work like renaming an item used to, with repair costs based on item quality instead of a flat cost):
For comparison, this is an analysis of ores I made for TMCW; amethyst peaks at about 0.05% on layer 1 and is about 0.0125% above that, or about 3-13 times rarer than the peak for ancient debris and 8 times rarer than diamond in caves, which is also rarer than it is in modern versions since they made the size of veins larger in 1.8 (I still find a surplus while caving despite not using Fortune, which does work on it in the same way as most ores):
This is a branch-mine I made, which yielded 27 amethyst ore, mined with Fortune II (I didn't bother getting Fortune III; you need a diamond pickaxe to mine it since it is actually a variant of obsidian), and 91 diamond ore, the latter more than twice what I'd need without Fortune (I do no branch-mining after getting what I need to make my gear so this isn't unlike 1.9+ and Mending, except my caving playstyle guarantees a steady income):
Otherwise, the only thing that is really different is that you'll want Fire Resistance since lava floes much faster in the Nether (many people don't even want to mine below y=11 in the Overworld because of lava but it is very easy to avoid; the main issue in the Nether is also from hidden lava pockets, not the lava seas, which do not get much deeper than y=20, assuming they haven't changed the way terrain generates from older versions).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
Couldn't agree more, it just means that strip mining in the nether is going to become more popular, just strip mine with a fire resistance potion in-case of lava. After all, with a good pickaxe, you are gonna fly through the netherrack and etc. With quartz and netherite being the only ores, you are more likely to find either one.
I found the best way to mine the Ancient Debris is to mine down to lvl 9 or 10. Its best to have a diamond with with eff 5, unbreaking 3 and Mending. Mending is essential!
I just hold down left click and point the pickaxe so it breaks the 2 closest blocks infront of me, and walk. Of course because of the awesome stats on the diamond pick you will never have to stop walking, it mines just fast enough so that you dont bump into stuff infront of you (you can also sprint and it will also not bump you into anything, but you burn through alot of food).
Also lava is pretty rare at these depths and i always find i have more than enough time to react and stop should i mine into the lava. also you at this lvl you dont have to worry about breaking through the floor and falling to your death, if you do fall in lava easy to just jump out.
The thing that makes mending super important is that you will burn through durability on your pickaxe even with unbreaking 3. But i found that you will always run into enough quartz veins to constantly get exp and be able to recharge your pickaxe back to full!.
I did this for about 40mins the other day and found 15 ancient debris. Also the debris are super easy to spot so you dont mine past them.
According to the Wiki the peak layer is 14, which has more than twice as much as layers 9-10 - unlike most other ores there is a very sharp peak (at which the concentration actually exceeds that of diamond, about 0.16% vs 0.12%, while layers 9-10 are around 0.07%; for layers 13-15 the concentration is around 0.15%, which I use in calculations since you expose more than one layer):
https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Ancient_Debris_Spawn_Rate_Per_Layer.png
Note that since the y-coordinate in F3 is measured at feet level you'll want to stand at layer 13 (floor is 12, ceiling is 15); this is still below the deepest lava seas if they haven't made any changes to Nether terrain generation since 1.6.4, where layer 24 is around the deepest they generally go with deeper areas being very limited (by layer 20 the concentration of lava has decreased by 25-fold).
Also, this guide for efficiently finding diamond may apply; it claims that with an optimal tunnel spacing as much as 1.7% of all mined blocks can be diamond ore, which translates to a stack per hour if you average one block mined per second (which is much easier to reach in the Nether due to how easy it is to mine Netherrack - you don't even need Efficiency V to instant-mine - Efficiency III is enough, with walking speed averaging 8.6 blocks mined per second, compared to only 2.5 per second for Efficiency V on stone unless you've gone through the trouble to get a level 4 beacon):
For comparison, if applied to ancient debris at layer 9-10 I get around 36 per hour if one block is mined per second (3600 * 1.7% * (0.7% / 0.12%), while at layer 14 you could find around 75 per hour.
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
Haven’t messed with snapshots or anything. Ancient debris doesn’t burn? It makes sense but I was just curious. Ty