Diamond

Overview

Diamonds are the material every progression step in Minecraft is measured against, and the reason is not the tools — it is that nothing else opens the same doors. A diamond pickaxe is the only tier below netherite that mines obsidian, and obsidian means a Nether portal and an enchanting table; diamond armour is the first set that makes a creeper survivable; and diamond gear is the base every netherite upgrade starts from. Twenty-nine diamonds buys a full set of armour at 24, a sword at 2 and a pickaxe at 3, which is the realistic target of a first serious mining trip. Finding them is a solved problem: the distribution rises steadily as you descend and peaks at Y -59, so a strip mine on that layer with tunnels three blocks apart finds far more than cave-diving does. Below Y -59 there is progressively more bedrock and less stone, which is why digging on the very bottom layer is worse, not better. Bring an iron pickaxe at minimum — a stone one destroys the ore and drops nothing — and a water bucket, because lava at that depth destroys the drops.

Tools that mine obsidian and ancient debris, armour that survives a creeper, and the enchanting table, jukebox and smithing upgrades that everything else in the late game depends on.

In Minecraft, Diamond is a crafting material item. A full stack holds 64. It also turns up in chests in Desert Pyramid, Jungle Pyramid, Shipwreck, Buried Treasure and 7 more.

Diamond Ore is where it comes from, densest at about Y -59. The recipe calls for Block of Diamond. It is smelted from Deepslate Diamond Ore.

Its main value is as a crafting ingredient: 30 recipes need it, Bolt Armor Trim, Coast Armor Trim, Diamond Axe and 27 more among them.

How to get it

Mine diamond ore with an iron pickaxe or better; each block drops 1 diamond, or 2 to 4 with Fortune III. The distribution peaks at Y -59, and the ore Y-levels tool shows the full curve.

Tips

Strip mine at Y -59 with tunnels 3 blocks apart; every blob worth finding is exposed by that spacing.
Fortune III roughly doubles the yield, so enchant the pickaxe before the big trip rather than after it.
Carry a water bucket: lava at that depth burns dropped diamonds instantly if you break into a pocket.
Read how to find diamonds — the Y 11 advice you have heard is from an old version.

Properties

One inventory slot holds 64, so a double chest holds 3,456.

Stack size: 64
Renewable: Yes
Category: Materials

How to get it

Crafting Table

Shapeless recipe

Diamond ×9

Furnace · 10s · 1 XP

Deepslate Diamond Ore

Diamond

Also works in: Blast Furnace

Furnace · 10s · 1 XP

Diamond Ore

Diamond

Also works in: Blast Furnace

Found in

Diamond is in the loot tables of Desert Pyramid, Jungle Pyramid, Shipwreck, Buried Treasure, Stronghold, Abandoned Mineshaft and 2 more.

Desert Pyramid — A sandstone temple with an orange-and-blue terracotta motif on its floor, always with a hidden shaft under the centre tile.
Jungle Pyramid — A mossy cobblestone temple buried in jungle canopy, and the only structure in the game built around an actual redstone puzzle.
Shipwreck — A wrecked sailing ship, generated upright, capsized, or broken in two, on the sea floor or beached on the sand.
Buried Treasure — A single chest buried beneath a beach or shallow sea bed, findable only with a buried treasure map from a shipwreck or ocean ruin.
Stronghold — A sprawling underground maze of stone brick corridors, spiral staircases, storerooms, prison cells and libraries, and the only place the End portal exists.
Abandoned Mineshaft — Long branching wooden corridors with rails, minecarts, support beams and floating sections over ravines and caves.
Ancient City — A vast deepslate ruin buried in the deep dark, built around a central sculk-covered structure and a frame of reinforced deepslate that leads nowhere.
Trial Chambers — A copper and tuff complex of interconnected combat rooms, corridors and reward vaults, generating throughout the Overworld underground.

Dropped by blocks

Mining Diamond Ore and Deepslate Diamond Ore drops Diamond.

Diamond Ore

Deepslate Diamond Ore

Used to craft

Diamond is an ingredient in 31 recipes, producing Bolt Armor Trim, Coast Armor Trim, Diamond Axe, Block of Diamond, Diamond Boots, Diamond Chestplate, Diamond Helmet, Diamond Hoe, Diamond Leggings, Diamond Pickaxe, Diamond Shovel, Diamond Sword, Dune Armor Trim, Enchanting Table, Eye Armor Trim, Flow Armor Trim and 15 more.