How to Make Netherite Armor in Minecraft 1.21 Guide

If you’ve spent hours digging for diamonds and decking out your character, upgrading to netherite armor is the obvious next move—and it requires a completely different supply chain than anything you’ve gathered so far.

Netherite ingots for full set: 4 · Ancient debris per ingot: 4 (smelted to scrap) · Gold ingots per ingot: 4 · Upgrade base: Diamond armor · Required template: Netherite Upgrade Smithing Template

How do I find ancient debris?

Ancient debris is the raw material that everything else depends on—and it’s nowhere near as common as diamond ore. It spawns exclusively in the Nether, always embedded in netherrack, and never generates exposed to air.

Best Y-levels for mining

Optimal Y-levels for mining ancient debris are 8 to 22, with Y=15 being the most consistent spawn layer (Godlike Host). Strip mining at this depth gives you the best odds per block broken. Branch mining with 2-block-high tunnels maximizes exposure without wasting effort on empty stone.

Tools and enchantments needed

You need a diamond or netherite pickaxe to mine ancient debris—anything weaker won’t drop the ore (Godlike Host). Enchanted with Unbreaking and Efficiency to reduce tool damage and speed up digging. Ancient debris is blast-resistant, but you can use beds or TNT strategically to explode away surrounding netherrack and expose hidden veins faster (Godlike Host). Fair warning: detonating beds inside a piglin farm is a quick way to lose your valuables.

How do I make netherite ingot?

Once you have ancient debris, converting it into usable ingots requires two steps: smelting and crafting. The math adds up quickly—a full armor set demands more resources than most players expect.

Smelt ancient debris to scrap

Smelt ancient debris in a furnace or blast furnace to obtain netherite scraps at a 1:1 ratio (Shockbyte). The blast furnace is twice as fast as a regular furnace, so running multiple blast furnaces simultaneously cuts your smelting time dramatically. Each netherite ingot requires 4 netherite scraps (Godlike Host).

Craft scrap with gold

Combine 4 netherite scraps with 4 gold ingots in a crafting table to produce 1 netherite ingot (Godlike Host). For a full armor set, you’ll need 4 ingots total, which means 16 scraps and 16 gold ingots. Running low on gold? A single gold farm can generate ingots passively while you’re off gathering debris.

Do I need a smithing template to make netherite armor?

Yes—the netherite upgrade smithing template is required for all netherite upgrades, a requirement that began with Minecraft 1.20 (Shockbyte). Without it, the upgrade interface simply won’t accept your materials.

Where to find Netherite Upgrade template

Netherite upgrade templates spawn in bastion remnant treasure room chests in the Nether (Minecraft Wiki). These chests are guaranteed to contain one template per bastion, but not every chest in a bastion qualifies—stick to the treasure rooms in the bridged sections with gilded blackstone. Templates are not consumed when upgrading armor, so once you have one, you can reuse it indefinitely (YouTube Guide).

Bastion remnant locations

Bastion remnants generate in four variants: bridge, treasure room, Hoglin stable, and lesser treasure room. The treasure room variant is your best bet—its central loot chest has the highest template spawn rate (YouTube Guide). Bring fire resistance potions and a backup plan; piglins in unmodified bastions will attack if you mine their gold blocks.

How do I upgrade my diamond armor to netherite?

With your diamond armor, netherite ingot, and template in hand, the actual upgrade takes seconds at a smithing table. The interface handles everything—you just need to slot materials in the right places.

Smithing table setup

Place the netherite upgrade template in the left slot, your diamond armor piece in the middle, and the netherite ingot in the right slot (Godlike Host). A smithing table is crafted from 2 iron ingots and 4 planks—any wood type works. You don’t need to be near a crafting table after it’s placed.

Piece-by-piece process

Upgrade each armor piece individually: helmet, chestplate, leggings, and boots. Each piece consumes exactly 1 netherite ingot. The upgraded armor inherits all enchantments from the diamond base, including Protection, Blast Protection, and Thorns (Shockbyte). Mending works as expected—your netherite gear repairs at an anvil with Experience or mob XP orbs.

How many pieces of netherite do you need to make a full set?

A full set of netherite armor requires 4 netherite ingots total—1 per piece (Godlike Host). The math is straightforward, but the upfront cost is steep: 36 ancient debris, 16 gold ingots, and a full diamond armor set (24 diamonds) before you can upgrade even one piece.

Total materials breakdown

The table below summarizes every resource needed for a complete netherite armor set, from raw ore to finished equipment.

Bedrock Edition notes

The netherite upgrade process is identical on Java and Bedrock editions for Minecraft 1.21+ (YouTube Tutorial). Material costs, spawn rates, and smithing table mechanics all match. One edge case: Bedrock worlds with experimental features enabled may behave differently in snapshot versions, so check your version settings before starting a fresh project.

How do I duplicate the netherite upgrade template?

Once you have your first netherite upgrade template, you can duplicate it to avoid multiple dangerous bastion runs. The duplication recipe costs diamonds but saves hours of Nether exploration.

• Place original template in the left slot of a smithing table
• Add 7 diamonds and 1 netherrack to the remaining slots
• Receive a copy of the template as output (Godlike Host)
• Original template remains in the slot for future use

Netherite armor vs. diamond armor: what’s the actual difference?

Netherite armor provides higher durability and better protection ratings than diamond armor. The enchantment transfer on upgrade means your Protection IV diamond chestplate becomes Protection IV netherite with no loss. Beyond stats, the real advantage is lava resistance—netherite armor won’t burn or sink in lava, which fundamentally changes how you navigate the Nether.

Mine ancient debris. Smelt ancient debris in a blast furnace to make netherite scrap, then combine with gold ingots to create netherite ingots for the upgrade process.

— Minecraft Guide Tutorial (YouTube Tutorial)

Netherite upgrade smithing templates are required to upgrade diamond equipment with a netherite ingot, and these templates can be found in bastion remnant treasure rooms or duplicated using diamonds and netherrack.

— Minecraft Wiki (Minecraft Wiki)

Related reading: How to Make Netherite Armor · Netherite Upgrade Smithing Template

Upgrading diamond armor to netherite in Minecraft 1.21 involves ancient debris and bastion templates, as this 1.21 upgrade guide thoroughly explains alongside ingot crafting steps.

Frequently asked questions

For Minecraft players who’ve already mastered diamond-tier gear, upgrading to netherite is the natural progression—but the resource chain catches many off guard. The process takes hours of Nether mining, gold farming, and bastion exploration before you ever touch the smithing table. Once the materials are assembled, the actual upgrade takes seconds per piece.