Ancient Debris

Ancient Debris

Renewable	No
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	1,200
Hardness	30
Luminous	No
Transparent	No
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No
Map color	29 COLOR_BLACK
Note block instrument	JE: Default (Harp) BE: Bass Drum
Sulfur cube archetype	Slow Flat

Ancient debris is a rare ore found in the Nether. It is the main source of netherite scraps, which can then be used to craft netherite ingots. Its high blast resistance makes it immune to normal explosions. In item form, it floats on lava and is completely immune to any form of fire.

Obtaining

Breaking

Ancient debris drops itself if mined by a diamond pickaxe or netherite pickaxe. If mined by any other tool, it drops nothing.

Block	Ancient Debris
Hardness	30
Tool
Breaking time (sec)[A]
Default	1150 (JE) 150 (BE)
Wooden	175 (JE) 75 (BE)
Stone	137.5 (JE) 37.5 (BE)
Copper	130 (JE) 30 (BE)
Iron	125 (JE) 25 (BE)
Diamond	15.65 (JE) 5.65 (BE)
Netherite	15 (JE) 5 (BE)
Golden	112.5 (JE) 12.5 (BE)
Options
Efficiency	000
Haste	001 1JEBE

Legend

• incorrect tool, drops nothing
• correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
• correct tool, drops the block itself
• italicized can be instant mined

Natural generation

Ancient debris generates in the Nether in the form of scatter ores which are never naturally exposed to air.^{[note 1]} They can only replace netherrack, basalt‌^{[Java Edition only]}, and blackstone‌^{[Java Edition only]}.

On average, Y-level 16 has the most ancient debris.

Generation of ancient debris varies by edition.

• In Java Edition, up to two clusters may generate per chunk:
  • One cluster of 0–3 ancient debris attempts to generate with a triangle distribution from levels 8 to 24.
  • An additional cluster of 0–2 ancient debris attempts to generate evenly from levels 8 to 119.
• In Bedrock Edition, up to five clusters may generate per chunk:
  • Two clusters of 0–3 ancient debris attempt to generate evenly from levels 8 to 23.
  • An additional three clusters of 0–2 ancient debris attempt to generate evenly from levels 8 to 119.

In Java Edition, there is an average of 1.65 ancient debris blocks per chunk, with a normal maximum of 5.^{[note 2]} As of Java Edition 1.16.5, on average they generate 1.56 ores per chunk. Given this number, and that there are 32768 blocks in a chunk (16×128×16), there is approximately a 0.004% chance that any randomly selected block will be an ancient debris block.

Generated loot

Ancient debris can appear in bastion chests, either as a singular item or as a stack of two items. These two options are rolled separately from each other.

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Java Edition
Ancient Debris	Bastion Remnant	Hoglin stable chest	1	12% { "item": "Ancient Debris", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.12, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Hoglin stable chest" }
		Treasure chest	1	24.5% { "item": "Ancient Debris", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.24465310677842567, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Treasure chest" }
		Generic chest	1	13.5% { "item": "Ancient Debris", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.1348314606741573, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Generic chest" }
Ancient Debris	Bastion Remnant	Hoglin stable chest	2	5% { "item": "Ancient Debris", "stacksize": 2, "chance": 0.050000000000000044, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Hoglin stable chest" }
		Treasure chest	2	10.3% { "item": "Ancient Debris", "stacksize": 2, "chance": 0.10336188046647232, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Treasure chest" }
Bedrock Edition
Ancient Debris	Bastion Remnant	Hoglin stable chest	1	5.7% { "item": "Ancient Debris", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.05681818181818177, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Hoglin stable chest" }
		Generic chest	1	13.5% { "item": "Ancient Debris", "stacksize": 1, "chance": 0.1348314606741573, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Generic chest" }
		Treasure chest	2	11.3% { "item": "Ancient Debris", "stacksize": 2, "chance": 0.11309375730299809, "structure": "Bastion Remnant", "container": "Treasure chest" }

Usage

Smelting ingredient

Ancient debris can be smelted using a furnace or blast furnace, which gives the player netherite scrap. If a player takes out the netherite scrap, they are rewarded with 2 experience points.

Name	Ingredients	Smelting recipe
Netherite Scrap	Ancient Debris + Any fuel	2

Redstone component

Because of its unique combination of being both blast resistant enough to withstand TNT and being movable with a piston, ancient debris is sometimes used as a redstone component, usually in tunnel bores.

Sounds

Java Edition:

ancient_debris sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.ancient_debris.break	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block placed​[until: JE 26.4]	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.ancient_debris.place	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.ancient_debris.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.25	0.5	16
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.ancient_debris.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	0.5	0.75	16
	​Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.ancient_debris.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

ancient_debris sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.ancient_debris	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	place.ancient_debris	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.ancient_debris	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.23	0.5
	​Footsteps	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.ancient_debris	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.4	1.0
	​Footsteps	Players	Walking on the block	step.ancient_debris	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.17	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.ancient_debris	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.12	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.ancient_debris	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.14	1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Translation key
Ancient Debris	ancient_debris	Block & Item	mineable/pickaxe needs_diamond_tool	block.minecraft.ancient_debris

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Translation key
Ancient Debris	ancient_debris	526	Block & Giveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3] (Numeric: -271)	tile.ancient_debris.name

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Hidden in the Depths	Obtain Ancient Debris	Have ancient debris in the inventory.

Videos

History

Java Edition

Java Edition
1.16			20w06a				Added ancient debris.
			20w16a				Ancient debris now generates in bastion remnants chests.
1.16.2			20w30a				Increased the chance of ancient debris generating in bastion remnants chests.
26.2			snap1				Added sulfur cubes, which have the ability to absorb ancient debris, providing the medicine ball/slow flat effect to the mob.

Bedrock Edition

Bedrock Edition
1.16.0			beta 1.16.0.51				Added ancient debris.
			beta 1.16.0.57				Ancient debris now generates in bastion remnants chests.
			beta 1.16.0.59				Smelting ancient debris now gives experience.
1.20.30			Preview 1.20.20.21				Increased the blast resistance of ancient debris from 720 to 1,200.
26.20 Experiment Drop 2 of 2026			Preview 26.20.23				Added sulfur cubes, which have the ability to absorb ancient debris, providing the football/regular effect to the mob.
26.30			Preview 26.30.20				Implemented all features from the "Drop 2 of 2026" experiment in vanilla gameplay.
			Preview 26.30.27				Ancient debris' sulfur cube archetype has been changed from regular to slow flat.

Issues

Issues relating to "Ancient Debris" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• The texture of the ancient debris is supposed to look like pressed metal plates.^[1]
• Ancient debris is actually what remains of the mining activity of the piglins, who extracted all the original netherite ore.^[2]
• It is possible to find blobs of up to 20 contiguous ancient debris - up to five debris can generate in a chunk, so if a blob of five generates in adjacent corners of four different chunks, a blob of 20 debris would be created.

Gallery

Screenshots

• 
  Ancient debris being discovered
• 
  Blast mining for ancient debris

Mojang screenshots

• 
  Ancient debris without color

In other media

• 
  Render of ancient debris used for Block of the Week

Notes

References

See also

• Netherite
• Block of Netherite
• Netherite Ingot
• Netherite Scrap
• Nether Update
• Tutorial:Ancient Debris

External links

• "Block of the Week: Ancient Debris" by Duncan Geere – Minecraft.net, November 11, 2021.