They are usually around lava lakes. If you be very careful and mine around that, you can find from coal to obsidian. One time I was in this HUGE cave system, stretching from a mushroom island to like 1000 blocks over. I didn't get to finish because they reset the server (loosing all my diamonds URG >O) Then I found 8 diamonds by a lava lake o-o That's the most luck I've ever gotten.
Go to some low layers, and do branch mining. This was the most efficient way for me to mine, before I found TooManyItems, and became a lazy bum. Happy Mining!
i think the only way is to keep on branch mining. so far it is the best way to find diamonds. it may be tiring to keep on doing it but you never know when you will find it. just like to day i was already tired of doing it but after a while i finally managed to get 6 diamonds. good luck to everyone out there finding their !
Branch mines work, but slowly. Something I recently did that netted me a TON of diamonds (with a Fortune III pick, think I wound up with about 4 stacks of diamonds over 3-4 days of casual mining for a couple hrs each day between projects):
1) Dig a 1km long minecart tunnel at y=12 (just doing this alone probably found about a half a stack of diamonds). Boring, and was the most time consuming part, but no more boring and time consuming than branch mining - it was just branch mining with a single branch in a single direction. Wall off and put a door in every cave system you cross (assuming you aren't playing peaceful).
2) Go back along the minecart tunnel exploring & lighting the dozen separate y=12 cave systems and ravines you crossed while digging the minecart tunnel.
Basically spelunking, so you don't have to spend all the time branch mining, but using the mine railway digging to find a lot of cave systems that you already know run at diamond level. And the railway makes it easy to pop down a minecart and head on back to your base to store/smelt all of your findings. I was actually after emeralds (and I found about 20 of them), but my base was nowhere near any extreme hills areas, so I dug the minecart tunnel to the nearest extreme hills area to go find them, and wound up realizing that I basically doubled my diamond supply over a couple of days of using this approach.
I go down to layer 10 (feet) 11.6 (eyes), and make a really long 3x3 tunnel. If i run into a cave, I will explore it, then go back and dig a new 3x3 tunnel in a different direction. Eventually, I seal off the entire shaft, and dig the opposite direction. In the end, you may move your mining somewhere else.
Hold your pick in your hand....And mine. Works like magic.
jk jk xD I recommend you mine at layer 12, lava level. Now, a lot of people like to mine ABOVE lava level, but that's actually a lot less unsafe, let me say why; lava is usually in small room, right, so if you mine above lava level, you'd fall into the lava. Here's why lava level is better, if you fall into lava while mining on lava level, chances are you'll be able to quickly climb back onto the ground. If you fall from a higher level, you'll fall from the ceiling and obviously won't be able to climb back up there. Lower isn't good either, every miner's worst nightmare is lava falling on their head...so yeah, stick to 12 for a safe trip.
I find diamonds most successfully caving. So, a certain amount of diamonds spawn per chunk, right? Well, if you're just digging a straight line, your line won't always cut through those diamonds. And they could easily be a block or two above or below you and you'd never know. Now, onto caving, caves usually have high ceilings and are quite large, so it's easy to spot diamonds and you don't have to waste your pick digging through all that stone. Another reason why I like caving, your inv won't fill up with cobble.
Now, If you're worried about getting lost in caves, I recommend the "Rei's Minimap" Mod. You've probably heard about it, but I'm going to explain anyway. It adds a minimap, yes, but the feature I find most useful are waypoints. You can mark off certain coords on your map and from then on, it will tell you where it is and how far away from it you are. I suck at explaining things but you should try it out sometime. If you find mods cheating like a lot of people do, other ways you could prevent getting lost are: Putting torches always on a certain side of the wall, so you know if they're on the side you didn't place them on, you're walking towards the exit. Another way is to make signs and write either "Exit <---" "Exit --->" or "Exit ahead" So when it's time to leave, you can just follow the signs.
If you hate cave mining, then branch mining is good. As I said earlier, keep to twelve. Also, the tunnel the mines are branching off should be one or two blocks wider than the others. Not just because it looks nice, but I find that if it's only one wide, I'll run right from the tunnel I was in to the one across from it and get really confused when I end up at a wall. So, to prevent confusion, make your main tunnel wider than the branches.
A weird mining technique you could try is one I call "Digging my own quarry (I first did it on the technic pack)" You basically dig a 3x3 hole in the ground until you reach lava or bedrock. It takes a long time to dig, yes, but it's mainly useful for if you're harvesting cobble to build a castle or something. I've found diamonds a few times too of course.
Also, If you have a lot of wood to spare, I suggest the safer way of digging down, dig a hole, 1x2. Stand on whichever block you are NOT mining, and switch over. Use the wood to make ladders to the surface.
WHOA! That's a lot of writing! But it actually is worth trying what he says... It's good advice! What i do is just go down to right above bedrock and dig a two by two tunnel for a while. Then i go back and at head height mine into the wall with a one by one shaft. If i hit something with the shaft, I collect it, other wise I move three blocks down and repeat on both side of the passage.
Dig down to bedrock, and then press F3. Look at the Y cordinate and you will see 3.XXXX etc. Look at the first digit and when you will dig up and go the the stone, the digit will change to 4. You will find diamonds in 6 to 14. I found 67 diamonds in the 6. I always branch mine
dig a 1x2 hole down to y level 11. then on one side place water at the bottom, on the other side place ladders soou can climb back up. then mine a tunnel 1 block wide and 2 blocks tall and 30 blocks long. then at the end of the tunnel dig 10 blocks to either side so they intersect with the main tunnel.go back to main and move 3 blocks closer to the ladder repeat until desired amount of diamond is found.Also dont forget to place a torch every 11 blocks to keep mobs from spawning.
My strategy for finding diamonds is to look for rare minerals and obsidian. And the only way to find obsidian is with water and lava. then I see iron,redstone,gold,sometimes lapis lazuli and then I find the diamonds quickly. the amount of diamonds that you will usually find is 4 or 6
They are usually around lava lakes. If you be very careful and mine around that, you can find from coal to obsidian. One time I was in this HUGE cave system, stretching from a mushroom island to like 1000 blocks over. I didn't get to finish because they reset the server (loosing all my diamonds URG >O) Then I found 8 diamonds by a lava lake o-o That's the most luck I've ever gotten.
http://mag.racked.eu/cimage/i9002/Achivement get!/404/mca.pnghttp://mag.racked.eu/cimage/i364/Achivement get!/I Can Has Cheeseburger?/mca.png
1) Dig a 1km long minecart tunnel at y=12 (just doing this alone probably found about a half a stack of diamonds). Boring, and was the most time consuming part, but no more boring and time consuming than branch mining - it was just branch mining with a single branch in a single direction. Wall off and put a door in every cave system you cross (assuming you aren't playing peaceful).
2) Go back along the minecart tunnel exploring & lighting the dozen separate y=12 cave systems and ravines you crossed while digging the minecart tunnel.
Basically spelunking, so you don't have to spend all the time branch mining, but using the mine railway digging to find a lot of cave systems that you already know run at diamond level. And the railway makes it easy to pop down a minecart and head on back to your base to store/smelt all of your findings. I was actually after emeralds (and I found about 20 of them), but my base was nowhere near any extreme hills areas, so I dug the minecart tunnel to the nearest extreme hills area to go find them, and wound up realizing that I basically doubled my diamond supply over a couple of days of using this approach.
WHOA! That's a lot of writing! But it actually is worth trying what he says... It's good advice! What i do is just go down to right above bedrock and dig a two by two tunnel for a while. Then i go back and at head height mine into the wall with a one by one shaft. If i hit something with the shaft, I collect it, other wise I move three blocks down and repeat on both side of the passage.
You can mine them with TNT with MCMMO. It's pretty easy but I prefer branch mining.
I get my first diamonds by spelunking, though.
Then when that doesn't work I branch mine
Then when that doesn't work I get an X-Ray texture pack
Then when that doesn't work I switch to creative
Then when I realize cheats are off I install SinglePlayerCommands
Then when it doesn't install right I rage quit
When I come back to the world I realize I had diamonds in my chest
Smiles everyone! Love Beemo
I usually carry, a pick, a sword, some cobble(in case you need to get to the other side of lava or something) and torches and a bucket of water.
dig a 1x2 hole down to y level 11. then on one side place water at the bottom, on the other side place ladders soou can climb back up. then mine a tunnel 1 block wide and 2 blocks tall and 30 blocks long. then at the end of the tunnel dig 10 blocks to either side so they intersect with the main tunnel.go back to main and move 3 blocks closer to the ladder repeat until desired amount of diamond is found.Also dont forget to place a torch every 11 blocks to keep mobs from spawning.
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My strategy for finding diamonds is to look for rare minerals and obsidian. And the only way to find obsidian is with water and lava. then I see iron,redstone,gold,sometimes lapis lazuli and then I find the diamonds quickly. the amount of diamonds that you will usually find is 4 or 6
X RAY FTW
no just kidding!
level 12 - 15 seems to be the best to mine to find diamonds!
walk on
y 12
mine
y 13 and 14