How to find Redstone in Minecraft the Smart Way

The Overworld generates Redstone ore in the form of mineral veins. One can find Redstone between layers 16 to 0. However, this is a large area of 17 layers. Continue reading to find Redstone in Minecraft the Smart way.

Minecraft has many resources, and Redstone is one of the important resources. Hence one must know, Where to find Redstone?. How much Redstone can you expect to spawn?. How to maximize your chances of getting it?. One can use Redstone to automate many things in Minecraft. Such as auto harvesting crops, automating smelting, cooking and many other advanced things that remove the bulk of the hard work.

Details about Redstone

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, Redstone only appears up to 29 times per chunk in blobs size of 0 to 10. One can find Redstone between layers 16 to 0.

In Java Edition 1.18 things are different. Redstone ore attempts to generate in two batches between layers -63 to 15. The first batch generates 4 times per chunk in blobs of 0-10 ores and the second batch generates 8 times per chunk in blobs of 0-10 ores. It is more common in the lower layers.

Now, this is a large area to cover, and not a good idea to run around mining a total of 17 layers to get Redstone. It’s a complete-time waste and not fun. So, how should you mine Redstone?. What strategy should one use to make it fun and progress faster in the game?. To learn more, continue reading.

Strategy to find Redstone in Minecraft the Smart Way

The best way to find Redstone ore is by digging a mine or finding a cave or a ravine. You can locate a vein of Redstone ore at these locations. Players often tend to loot villages, find chests in sunken ships, towers, mineshafts, strongholds for Redstone, but it is not worth it.

Mining everything in layers 16 to 0 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, Emerald, Diamond, Coal, Concrete and Cobblestone while mining for Redstone?.

The smart way to find Redstone 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 Redstone. Just make sure that layer 12 will be your ceiling.

What tools to use to mine Redstone?

Mining Redstone requires an iron pickaxe or better. 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.