How to Find Diamonds in Minecraft

Want to find diamonds in Minecraft, but don't know where to search? Suppose you need a diamond pickaxe to help get obsidian and to go to the Nether or create an enchantment table. Diamonds are precious, so your task will be difficult, but definitely possible. The following tips and a little luck will help you maximize your chances of finding diamond ore quickly and mining it efficiently.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Creating an Iron or Diamond Pickaxe

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You cannot mine diamond with other implements, which means that you have to build an iron or diamond pickaxe first.^{[1]XResearch source} If you already have an iron or diamond pickaxe and want tips on finding diamond, skip to the next section.
Crafting tables are made by placing a block of wood in your crafting area, producing 4 wooden planks. These 4 wooden planks are then put in the crafting area again, yielding a crafting table.
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3
Create a wooden pickaxe. In your crafting table, put:
- 3 wooden planks in a horizontal line across the top 1/3 of the grid
- 2 sticks in a vertical line down the middle of the grid
4
Create a stone pickaxe. With your wooden pickaxe, dig four blocks down into the earth until you find smooth stone. Mine only 3 stone while making sure that you still have 2 sticks left over. In your crafting table, put:
- 3 cobblestones in a horizontal line across the top 1/3 of the grid
- 2 sticks in a vertical line down the middle of the grid
For your next step, you'll need a furnace. Furnaces can be found in villages, or made using 8 cobblestone, lined around the outside edges of your crafting table.
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Build an iron pickaxe. With your stone pickaxe, start searching for iron ore. Iron ore can be found above ground and in caves. You only need to mine 3 iron ore.
- In your furnace, smelt together iron ore and coal to create iron ingot. Alternately, craft a block of iron into 9 iron ingots.
7
Make an iron pickaxe by lining up in your crafting table:
- 3 iron ingots in a horizontal line across the top 1/3 of the grid
- 2 sticks in a vertical line down the middle of the grid

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Mining for Diamonds (Post 1.17)

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1
Find diamonds in chests. Diamonds can be found above ground in chests found in villages or abandoned mineshafts. However, diamonds above ground are rarer than diamonds underground. You have to travel thousands of blocks to find diamonds, and you might not find any in a village! It is recommended to mine for diamonds instead.
- Diamonds can only be found in villages with blacksmiths. The blacksmith's house will have a chance of generating with iron ingots, iron armor, and diamonds. This is not guaranteed however.
- Mineshaft chests have a chance of generating with diamonds.
2
Make sure you have enough supplies to mine. Your mission is to find diamonds and get them, but you can't just punch them out with your hands. The following tools are near essentials when you are trying to mine:^{[2]XResearch source}
- Torches. You need at least multiple stack to mine a long distance, but you can place them 15 blocks away and prevent hostile mobs from spawning.
- Food, preferably bread or cooked meat, to keep health and hunger up during mining sessions.
- Iron, Diamond, or Netherite Pickaxe. You can also bring stone pickaxes for clearing out stone and iron.
- Iron, Diamond, or Netherite armor in case mobs ambush you. To see how to fight mobs, check this guide: Fight Mobs in Minecraft
- A shield. A shield blocks nearly all damage, including creeper explosions which can damage a large amount of your health. This can be valuable in life or death situations!
- A water bucket is also useful for if you drop from a long distance or if you have to scale a wall. Water can also save you from lava and fire.
- Diamonds can be found below level 16, and get more common as you get deeper, getting the most common around -56 to -64. Diamonds usually come in veins of 1 to 8, but multiple can generate at the edge of a chunk and can fuse to become larger.
3
Find a cave^{[3]XResearch source} or make a staircase down to the desired level to mine for caves. Level -56 is recommended for being able to mine without constantly being blocked by bedrock. To check which level you are on, press F3 on your keyboard and look for the X, Y, and Z coordinates. The Y coordinate indicates the level you are at in your world heightwise. If you find a cave that goes down deep, good! This allows you to explore a large area of deepslate to hopefully find a lot of diamonds. Just be beware of the mobs and natural terrain.
- If you find an ancient city, crouch and slowly sneak around to not wake the warden. If you are not prepared to face the warden, stay away from ancient cities as struggling to sneak will waste time you can use to find diamonds in safer areas. Ancient cities contain very valuable loot and you can find diamonds and diamond tools when you are more ready to loot them. If you don't find a deep cave however, dig diagonally down with a stone or iron pickaxe until you find one. Repeat this until you find a cave that goes down deep or you hit Y = -56. This makes sure you have the highest chance of diamonds.
- Caves in 1.17 and up are massive and branch off in near never-ending directions. Attempt to find caves that are at Y levels where you are more likely to find diamonds, the -20s to the -60s, and you should be able to find a decent amount of diamonds exposed in walls, ceilings, and floors. As of 1.20, the chance of finding exposed diamonds in cave walls, floors, and ceilings has been increased, making it easier to find diamonds without branch-mining. Use torches to light up dark spots that you might not expect to find diamonds, namely the ceilings and walls. Simply continue spelunking until you find diamonds, while keeping an eye on the Y level to make sure you stay in the required level.
4
Branch mine. If caving is not your preferred method of mining, dig a staircase down to at least level -56 for the most concentration of diamonds. Mine a long hallway, and begin making your way down the hallway and mining to the right and left, creating a branch of mined strips of deepslate. Before the 1.20 increase in diamond spawns, this method may be more effective for you. After the 1.20 increase in diamond spawns, both can be relatively effective depending on which you prefer. Make sure each branch is 2 blocks away from each other to maximize the space you can find diamonds in without mining blocks you don't need to. ^{[4]XResearch source}
- Mine down each branch from the main hall for about 50 blocks or so. Don't spend too much time on one branch. This way, your search will be more spread out across the chunks of deepslate you are in, making it more likely you will find diamonds.
- Keep in mind even with branch-mining, luck plays a part as well. It may take a while before you find any diamonds.
5
Branch mine with a twist. At level -56, create a long hallway that you will continue to extend once you reach the end of it. Similar to creating branches left and right of the main hall, this time mine one-block sized tunnels on either side of the main hallway. Continue doing this as you move down the hallway, similar to how you would if you were branch mining. These one-block sized tunnels should be level with your player entity's head, the upper block that makes up your player entity. Continue this as you go down the hallway. Only mine tunnels as far as your reach is, which should be 5 blocks - the max number of blocks a player can mine directly in front of themselves before being unable to reach is 5. The point of this is to mine across chunks much more quickly. Less blocks are mined in singular chunks, but you will be moving across more chunks, and each chunk generates diamonds differently. This can possible yield you diamonds.
6
Make a small storage room. Once you get to layer -56, you can make a small 5 by 4 by 5 room with chests for food and supplies, and 3 directions to mine with an exit. You can also do this in caves. The directions to mine should be closed by a door so mobs can't wander into the room.
- Have a bed in your room and a water source. A bed allows you to sleep and respawn there if you die. You can place these nearby areas you feel like you may die in.^{[5]XResearch source} A water source allows you to get a bucket with water to save yourself in dangerous situations.
7
Obtain enchantments on your mining tools. Enchanting can help mine quicker or find more ores. You can enchant your pickaxe with Unbreaking to help it mine for longer, or you can enchant it with Fortune to help you get more ores. You can enchant tools at an enchanting table, which can be made with 4 obsidian, 2 diamonds, and a book. You can get obsidian by pouring water over lava source, and you can get a book via leather and paper. The higher the enchantment level, the more powerful it is, so a Fortune I pickaxe will get less ores on average than a Fortune III pickaxe. Here is a list of enchantments and where they are applied when mining: ^{[6]XResearch source}
- Fortune: Increases how many ores you get when you mine an ore block (Pickaxe, Axe, Shovel, Hoe)
- Efficiency: Allows you to mine faster (Pickaxe, Axe, Shovel)
- Unbreaking: Chance to not consume durability when using something (Any tool/armor)
- Mending: Recover durability when you get XP (Any tool/armor)
- Protection: Percentage of damage reduced per level (Armor (Helmet, Chestplate, Leggings, Boots)
- Sharpness: Do more damage to anything (Sword, Axe)
- Smite: Do more damage to just undead mobs, does more damage than sharpness (Sword, Axe)
8
Dig around ores before you mine them. This makes sure there is no lava near the ores that can burn the ore when they are dropped. This also can help find a cave nearby. Diamonds are pretty precious, so make sure to save them as best you can. If near lava, dig around the ores, turn any lava into obsidian or block it up, and then collect the ore.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Mining for Diamonds (Pre 1.17)

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1
Find diamonds in chests. Before you start, know that diamonds can sometimes be found above ground in naturally generated chests. These chests can be found in villages or abandoned mine shafts. Although it's possible to find diamonds without mining them, it's generally less successful. It's recommended to mine for diamonds if you want to collect them efficiently.
- Diamonds have a chance of spawning in blacksmith houses in villages, or chests in mineshafts.
2
Make sure you have adequate supplies before you go diamond mining. Your mission is to get diamonds, but in order to realize that mission, you first need some supplies.^{[7]XResearch source} Be prepared with the following when you dig underground to mine:
- Lots of torches (as much as you can take, but 2 or more stacks will be fine)
- Food
- An iron pickaxe, or a diamond pickaxe if you have one
- Weapons and armor, in case there are mobs in caves
Levels 11 and 12 have the highest likelihood for containing diamond ore. Diamond ore blocks come in small veins of 1 to 8 blocks. There's a chance you could find more than 8 blocks close to one another if the random generation is kind to you.
To make this, make a 3 block high hole, make the same hole that starts at the middle of the hole to one block below the lowest block of the original hole, and repeat. Keep doing this with a pickaxe, and it is advised that you come back every 10 minutes or so to get more food, store goods in chests, and make more picks and swords, etc.
Level 11 is at a nice middle-ground that can yield a decent amount of diamonds. Additionally, 11 is the lowest you can mine without being submerged in lava. Lava pools will spawn at 11, so it is unlikely lava will spill on you from anywhere. Instead, you will spawn at the level that lava also spawns and it will make it easier for you to block up with blocks and water. Create a hallway, and make branches that go about 50 blocks or so separated by 2 blocks each. You should be able to find diamonds after some time.
6
Find caves at around levels 15-11 or close. Caves at these levels can also generate exposed diamonds in the floor and walls. They can branch off in multiple areas that you can explore to find diamonds.
7
Explore ravines. Ravines are large open areas in the ground that are characterized by
Make chests, a crafting table, and a furnace, so you do not have to go all the way above ground to craft more tools.
9
If you can, try using a Fortune enchantment on your pickaxe while mining. Enchanting your pickaxe with a Fortune enchantment will increase the diamond drops you get while mining. There are three Fortune levels you can enchant your items with.
- Level I gives you a 33% chance to multiply drops by 2 (a 33% increase on average), while level II gives you a 25% chance to multiply drops by 2 or 3 (yielding an average 75% increase), while level III gives you a 20% chance each to multiply drops by 2, 3 or 4 (averaging a 120% increase). Fortune level III enchantment is extremely rare, so be prepared to only get a Fortune I or II when you enchant your pickaxe.
10
Dig around a diamond block before mining it. Diamond ore is often around lava; when you mine them, there's a chance that the diamonds could accidentally fall into the lava, destroying them. Because diamonds are precious, it's best to make sure that they fall into your inventory, not the lava, when you mine them.
- Place stone, dirt, or gravel blocks on top of the lava if you happen to encounter a lava lake beneath the diamond ore. That way, if the diamonds fall down, they won't be sucked up into the lava.
- Diamond tools allow the player to mine obsidian and Ancient Debris.^{[8]XResearch source}
- Obsidian allows the player to create a portal to the nether dimension. Ancient Debris provides nephrite scraps that you can make into Netherite ingots that create Netherite tools and armor.^{[9]XResearch source}
- When combined with the diamond version of the tool or piece of armor in a smithing table, they create the most durable and efficient tools and armor in the game.^{[10]XResearch source}
- If a player has diamonds, they can create an enchanting table that allows them to add upgrades to their tools and armor.^{[11]XResearch source}

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Question
Can 10 Diamond Ores generate at all in Minecraft?
Community Answer
It happens very rarely, but yes. If there are more than 10 Diamonds in one vein, it's probably due to a collision between two veins.
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In what Minecraft biome can I find the most diamonds?
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Diamonds are found equally in any biome. It does not matter which one. Diamonds can be hard to find in all biomes.
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If I find diamonds, where should I keep them so they will be safe?
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Try keeping them in a hidden chest somewhere. Maybe under the floor of your house with a block placed on top.
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Tips

Bringing a water bucket is a good idea if you don't have any time to go into your inventory and get blocks. Water buckets will help you if you reach lava. Also,never look an enderman in the face(another reason to bring water buckets). Endermen cannot swim and will get damaged by the water as a result.
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You should also bring a crafting table and some wood so you can craft more tools and torches as you mine for ore.
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If your cave runs into a dead end, you can place a minecart with a block of TNT over it. When you sit in the minecart, you will be able to see all the open spaces around you.
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Warnings

Always listen for mobs in Cave Systems or when you are Mining to avoid surprise attack. Turn up your volume to help with this.
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Be aware of creepers, they'll spawn quite fast and blow you up.
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Never dig straight down with a 1*1 hole, unless your attempting a diamond finding record, as lava may be underneath you. Never dig straight up either unless you have a torch or quick reflexes. If you do decide to dig down, dig a 1*2 hole and stand in the middle so you can spot lava before you fall into it.
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