After the Minecraft 1.20 update dropped, Mojang made getting netherite significantly more challenging. The process now makes the transition from diamond to netherite armor feel much more rewarding and meaningful. Making the Minecraft Netherite armor takes a few more steps now. In this post, you’ll learn every step on how to make a netherite armor set in Minecraft 1.21.

Exploring for Netherite Upgrade Smithing Templates

Sadly, in order to craft and get a netherite armor set in Minecraft is not as easy as just finding ancient debris and turning it into netherite ingots anymore. You’ll need to find a smithing template.

To do so, you’ll need to explore a Bastion Remnant in the Nether. These structures have a chance of spawning in every 432×432 block region of the Nether, with a 60% chance in Java Edition and a 66% chance in Bedrock Edition. However, finding one still requires some luck and a good bit of exploration.

Once you locate a Bastion, you’ll need to search its chests. Different types of chests have varying chances of containing the template:

• Hoglin Stable Chest: 10% chance
• Generic Chest: 10% chance
• Bridge Chest: 10% chance
• Treasure Chest: 100% guaranteed

If you’re using cheats, you can simplify the process by typing /locate structure bastion_remnant to find the nearest Bastion Remnant. This can save you a lot of time, especially if you’re struggling to locate one naturally.

Mining Ancient Debris for Netherite Scraps

Once you’ve looted the smithing template, it’s time to gather ancient debris, the material needed to craft netherite scraps. Ancient debris is most commonly found at Y-level 15 in the Nether.

There are three typical methods for mining it:

1. Strip Mining:
   This is the most straightforward and cost-effective method. Simply mine long tunnels at Y-level 15 until you find ancient debris. It’s slower but doesn’t require any special resources.
2. TNT Mining:
   Use TNT to clear out large areas. Place TNT in a line, ignite it, and let the explosions reveal ancient debris. While effective, this method can be expensive due to the cost of TNT.
3. Bed Mining:
   Beds explode when you try to sleep in the Nether. Use this to your advantage by placing a bed, standing at a safe distance, right-clicking it and triggering the explosion. This method is cheaper than TNT mining but riskier, as the explosion can cause significant damage to you and even kill you.

Crafting Netherite Ingots

Once you’ve collected enough ancient debris, smelt it in a furnace to create netherite scraps. To craft netherite ingots, combine 4 netherite scraps with 4 gold ingots in a crafting table. For a full netherite armor set, you’ll need 4 netherite ingots, which means gathering 16 ancient debris and 16 gold ingots.

Duplicating Netherite Upgrade Smithing Templates

To upgrade your armor, you’ll need one smithing template per piece of armor. Fortunately, you can duplicate these templates using 7 diamonds and 1 Netherrack. Surround the template with diamonds on a crafting table and place a piece of Netherrack in the middle slot to duplicate it. This ensures that you don’t need to find a new template for each piece of armor.

I would recommend you duplicate at least 5 smithing templates. One for each piece of armor and one extra so you don’t have to go looking for one again. Simply duplicate it to get more of it.

How to Make Netherite Armor in Minecraft

With your full set of diamond armor, netherite ingots, and smithing templates ready, head to a smithing table. Place the smithing template in the first slot, a piece of diamond armor set in the second slot, and the netherite ingot in the third slot to upgrade your armor to netherite gear. Repeat this process for each diamond armor piece to complete your full set of netherite.

You now know the materials and steps for creating the most durable armor in Minecraft! If you would like to know what are the best enchantments for the armor, check out our ‘Minecraft Best Armor Enchantments 1.21‘ post.