Guide to Emeralds in Minecraft

Emeralds are the main currency in Minecraft, however, they are also the rarest ore block in the Overworld. You will need to get your hands on plenty of the stuff if you want to buy some amazing things in the game. Here is our Guide to Emeralds in Minecraft.

How to find emeralds

To start off with, you need to know that although emeralds themselves are not rare, emerald ore is extremely hard to come by - even more so than diamonds. Here are some of the main places you will be able to discover emeralds.

Mining

As we previously mentioned, emerald ore is difficult to find, but it is possible. You can mine emerald ore but only in the mountains biome, so if emerald ore is what you are after, head straight here. The ore will occur only between levels 4 and 32, with 11 being the most common level. The easiest way to find emerald ore is to explore the cave systems beneath the mountains. Alternatively, you can dig beneath you, but this can be a riskier and more dangerous option. If you opt for this, never dig straight down. If you do, you will more than likely end up falling into lava. As you dig, place torches for light, and search for lava whilst you are seeking the emerald ore. Once you have located the emerald ore, you can mine it using an iron, diamond or netherite pickaxe.

As emerald ore only spawns in veins of 1, it is sensible to use a fortune 3 pickaxe in order to yield the maximum possible amount each time.

Trading with villagers

A popular way to obtain emeralds is to trade. Trading with villagers, however, takes a lot of work for the player. Villagers will sell items in exchange for emeralds and also buy items in exchange for them. Wandering traders will not sell emeralds, so you must bear them in mind and head for the villages instead.

Looting chests

Emeralds can be discovered in a large range of chests. They can be found in buried treasure chests, desert temple chests, End city chests, igloo chests, shipwreck treasure chests, underwater ruin chests, village chests, jungle temple chests and more.

Killing mobs

It is possible for some mobs to drop emeralds, however this can be a rare occurrence. Vindicators and evokers can drop up to one emerald when they die normally.

Bizarrely, foxes can also carry emeralds, however there is only a one in 12 chance that they will drop it when killed. 5% of foxes are actually spawned with an emerald in their mouth. Luring a fox by providing them food can make them drop the emerald in order to eat, giving you a great opportunity to grab the emerald without having to kill them!

How to use emeralds

Currency

As we mentioned before, emeralds are the main source of currency in the world of Minecraft.

Activate Beacons

You can use emerald blocks to build beacons. However, it takes 164 emerald blocks to make one.

Decoration

When 9 emeralds are placed together you can craft a block of emerald that is stunning and can be used for decoration purposes. Emeralds may be valuable in the game, but they can also just be admired.

Quick-fire facts about emeralds

• Emerald ore is 30 times rarer than diamond ore
• When diamonds were added in the alpha stage of the game, they were originally described as emeralds.
• When trading was introduced in 2012, emeralds were not used. Rubies were used instead.
• You can receive an achievement by trading 30 emeralds with a villager and      another achievement for buying 1000 emeralds from one. That’s ALOT of      trading

It doesn’t matter if you have a lot of valuable items in your inventory - if you do not have a lot of emeralds, you will be missing out. It is important to have a regular and large supply throughout the game so that you can afford what you want and succeed at Minecraft. These gems are not only currency, but they also have several other uses in the game and should be something you seek.