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Where are diamonds in Minecraft?

Jon Bitner
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Discovering a vein of diamonds in Minecraft is one of the most rewarding experiences in the game. The mineral is among the rarest available, and finding some can be an incredibly time-consuming process. If you’re hoping to speed up your diamond-mining operation and want to maximize your time playing, you’ll need to know exactly where to find the precious stones. Here are the two best ways to find diamonds in Minecraft.

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Explore cave systems

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Finding a massive cave in Minecraft is a fairly common occurrence, and deep within these caverns you’ll typically find a few diamond deposits. Diamonds can be found in groups of up to eight blocks, meaning just one vein is worth all the time and effort you’ll put into finding it. Thoroughly exploring natural caves is a great way to build up a stockpile of diamonds if you’re not interested in setting up your own diamond mine.

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With some luck, you may even stumble upon treasure chests that contain a few diamonds. Chests can be found in some of the larger caves in Minecraft; however, there’s no guarantee that you’ll find diamonds in them. That said, it’s worth going out of your way to open one up if you see it in the wild — just don’t expect to amass a large number of diamonds with this technique.

Look for save lava zones

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When exploring or digging, look for areas with lava pools. Lava tends to occur in more open underground spaces, essentially creating handy caves you can use to explore a lot of deposits all at the same time. This allows you to quickly scan for diamonds without needing to put a lot of work into mining. It’s especially effective if you are at the level where diamonds are most likely to appear, which combines nicely with the odds of lava showing up (this happens around levels 40 to 10).

For this reason, it’s usually effective to explore any spacious caves, especially caves that lead to lava. Of course, if lava becomes a danger to you, you’ll want to keep a bucket of water on hand to throw down as you make your escape. Fortunately, naturally occurring lava zones tend to be safer in this regard than mining directly into lava. Keep food on hand if you are going to be exploring for some time!

Dig down to diamond levels

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While exploring caves and opening treasure chests might net you a few diamonds, the best way to obtain them is by creating your own diamond mine. Doing so is a simple — albeit time-consuming — process.

Diamonds naturally occur between layers 1 and 16 but are more likely to be seen in layers 5 to 12. Bedrock is considered layer 0, so you’ll need to dig pretty deep before you start seeing the shiny blue rocks. If you need help figuring out what layer you’re currently digging at, PC players can press F3 to display their current location. Console players will instead have to dig down to bedrock and then work back up through the layers until they hit the desired height.

There are several different mining techniques you can employ, but we recommend digging out a staircase until you hit layer 12. Once that’s complete, dig a long horizontal hallway. From this main hallway, you can now dig perpendicular paths to maximize your diamond-finding potential.

When you find diamonds, make sure to clear all the surrounding blocks to check if others are nearby. Diamond veins typically spawn in diagonal patterns, meaning there’s usually a bit more hiding just out of sight.

Prepare the right tools

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To extract diamonds, you will use an Iron or Diamond Pickaxe. You’ll also want to carry extra in your inventory, so you don’t have to stop mining when the first one breaks. Once you have a store of diamonds collected, we suggest creating an Enchanting Table and making a Fortune pickaxe. You can upgrade the Fortune enchantment so you get more resources when mining. The Mending enchantment is also very useful as it helps your pickaxe last longer.

Finding diamond loot

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You can find diamond loot hidden inside various chests throughout Minecraft. It’s a crapshoot to see which ones actually have them, but you can increase your chances. To maximize your odds, focus on blacksmith village chests, shipwreck treasures, stronghold altar chests, temple chests, and end city chests. You can also find forged diamond equipment in chests like these.

You aren’t guaranteed diamonds at every turn during your exploration, so if you’re in a hurry to get them, you might want to try a different strategy. Still, it’s a great back-up plan for those who enjoy searching through dungeons and discovering valuable loot.

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Jon Bitner
Jon Bitner
Jon Bitner is a writer covering consumer electronics, technology, and gaming. His work has been published on various websites…
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