How to find Emerald in Minecraft the Smart Way

The Overworld generates Emerald ore in the form of mineral blobs. One can find Emerald between layers 31 to 4. However, this is a large area of 27 layers. Continue reading to find Emerald in Minecraft the Smart way.

Minecraft has many resources, and Emerald is one of the most sought out resources. Hence one must know, Where to find Emerald?. How much Emerald can you expect to spawn?. How to maximize your chances of getting it?. One can use Emerald to trade with villagers. If you are lucky enough you can get really good items from the villager sometimes endgame items or rare items.

Details About Emerald

Like any other game, Minecraft divides itself into chunks. Chunks allow the game to load, save, generate in an optimized manner. Minecraft uses chunks, the size of 16×16 blocks, from Bedrock to the sky. On average, Emerald only appears up to 4 times per chunk in blobs size of 0 to 10. One can find Emerald between layers 31 to 4.

In Java Edition 1.18 things are different. Emerald ore attempts to generate between layers 32 to 320. Emerald ore attempts to generate 50 times per chunk in blobs of 1. It is most common at layer 255 and becoming less common toward either end of the range.

In Bedrock Edition 1.18 things are different. Emerald ore is found between layers 256 to 128 within New Mountains Biomes and Extreme Hill Biomes. In New Mountain Biomes Emerald ore attempts to generate 20 times per chunk whereas in Extreme Hill Biomes Emerald ore attempts to generate 50 times per chunk. Emerald forms blobs of 0-10 ores in both types of Biomes. It is most common at level 255 and becoming less common toward either end of the range.

Now, this is a large area to cover, and not a good idea to run around mining a total of 27 layers to get Emerald. It’s a complete-time waste and not fun. So, how should you mine Emerald?. What strategy should one use to make it fun and progress faster in the game?. To learn more, continue reading.

Strategy to find Emerald in Minecraft the smart way

The reason you never see emeralds whenever you mine is that they only spawn in a specific biome to be more accurate they only spawn in a specific set of biomes. Biomes that have a mountain in their name or look like a tall mountain (not a hill), will be the only biomes to have emeralds.

Mining everything in layers 31 to 4 is not a good strategy as it is time-consuming, exhausting and not fun. Moreover, you will end up with tons of unwanted resources and have no place to store them. Would it not be fun if you could get a good quantity of Iron, Lapis Lazuli, Gold, Redstone, Diamond, Coal, Concrete and Cobblestone while mining for Emerald?.

The smart way to find Emerald in Minecraft is by first digging straight to layer 11 and making a small home/storage room or a Base to keep necessary items like chests, smelter, enchantment table, food etc. Once done, you can start branch mining at layer 11. This layer and layers below have a good concentration of resources, including Emerald. Just make sure that layer 12 will be your ceiling.

What tools do I need to mine Emerald ore?

Emerald ore can be mined with an iron pickaxe or higher. Wood or Stone pickaxe will not work, and you would end up destroying the ore. In other words, you will gain nothing. By enchanting your pickaxe with Fortune, you will get more Redstone from a single node. For maximum results, enchant pickaxe with Fortune 3.

How to Branch Mine?

Dig your way underground to the desired level. Try to avoid digging straight down as you might fall into lava or a pit. Bedrock is the bottom-most layer in Minecraft and is unbreakable. Ores are most commonly located only a few blocks above this layer, so dig until your character’s y-coordinate is 11 or so. (Press F3 to see this value.)

Now you can start digging small tunnels that your character can fit. The tunnel can be as small as one block wide and two blocks tall. Use torches to light the area, or else your tunnel will attract unwanted guests. In other words, if you do not place torches in the tunnel, enemies will spawn.

The next step is to build more tunnels by splitting from the main route. Build more tunnels that branch off from the first one. This way you can look for ores over a large area. You can get the most out of this method by digging tunnels two blocks apart from each other. By doing so, you can now inspect a large surface area and not miss anything.

Tip: If you are uncomfortable with the show coordinates, you could use sea level to calculate how deep you should dig. One could use sea level to know the current layer. As sea level in Minecraft is 62. Therefore one must locate a sea, then dig down 51 blocks (62 – 51 is 11). You should be at layer 11 if you follow the steps.