Emeralds are rare minerals that are used primarily as the currency for trading with villagers and wandering traders. Naturally-occurring emeralds are rarer than diamonds.
Obtaining
Trading
Emeralds can be obtained by trading with villagers, since they are the currency that villagers use for trading. Villagers either buy or sell specific goods for emeralds.
Mining
Emerald ore drops one emerald when mined using an iron or better pickaxe. If the pickaxe is enchanted with Fortune, it may drop an extra emerald per level of Fortune, up to a maximum of 4 emeralds with Fortune III. If the ore is mined using a pickaxe enchanted with Silk Touch, it drops itself in ore form instead of an emerald.
Crafting
Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
---|---|
Block of Emerald |
Smelting
Ingredients | Smelting recipe |
---|---|
Emerald Ore or Deepslate Emerald Ore + Any fuel |
Natural generation
Emeralds can generate in chests in some village houses or other generated structures.
Item | Structure | Container | Quantity | Chance |
---|---|---|---|---|
Java Edition | ||||
Emerald | Buried treasure | Chest | 4–8 | 59.9% |
Desert temple | Chest | 1–3 | 18% | |
End city | Chest | 2–6 | 9% | |
Igloo | Chest | 1 | 7.6% | |
Jungle temple | Chest | 1–3 | 8.7% | |
Shipwreck | Treasure chest | 1–5 | 73.7% | |
Underwater ruins | Big ruins chest | 1 | 14.9% | |
Small ruins chest | 1 | 16.4% | ||
Village | Shepherd's chest | 1 | 12.3% | |
Tanner's chest | 1–4 | 17.3% | ||
Armorer's chest | 1 | 31.8% | ||
Fisherman's chest | 1 | 24.2% | ||
Desert house chest | 1–3 | 14.3% | ||
Fletcher's chest | 1 | 12.3% | ||
Plains house chest | 1–4 | 22.8% | ||
Savanna house chest | 1–4 | 21.5% | ||
Mason's chest | 1 | 20.8% | ||
Taiga house chest | 1–4 | 18.6% | ||
Temple chest | 1–4 | 25.4% | ||
Butcher's chest | 1 | 10.2% | ||
Snowy house chest | 1–4 | 9.9% | ||
Java Edition 1.20[upcoming] | ||||
Emerald | Desert temple | Suspicious sand | 1 | 12.5% |
Desert well | Suspicious sand | 1 | 12.5% | |
Cold Ocean ruins | Cold ruins suspicious gravel | 1 | 13.3% | |
Warm ruins suspicious sand | 1 | 13.3% | ||
Trail ruins | Suspicious sand or gravel | 1 | 3.6% | |
Bedrock Edition | ||||
Emerald | Desert temple | Chest | 1–3 | 18% |
End city | Chest | 2–6 | 9% | |
Igloo | Chest | 1 | 7.6% | |
Jungle temple | Chest | 1–3 | 8.7% | |
Shipwreck | Treasure chest | 1–5 | 73.7% | |
Stronghold | Altar chest | 1–3 | 7.1% | |
Underwater ruins | Big ruins chest | 1 | 14.9% | |
Small ruins chest | 1 | 16.4% | ||
Village | Snowy house chest | 1–4 | 9.9% | |
Taiga house chest | 1–4 | 20.3% | ||
Savanna house chest | 1–4 | 21.5% | ||
Temple chest | 1–4 | 25.4% | ||
Desert house chest | 1–3 | 14.3% | ||
Mason's chest | 1 | 20.8% | ||
Armorer's chest | 1 | 31.8% | ||
Plains house chest | 1–4 | 22.8% | ||
Shepherd's chest | 1 | 12.3% | ||
Fletcher's chest | 1 | 12.3% | ||
Butcher's chest | 1 | 10.2% | ||
Tanner's chest | 1–4 | 17.3% | ||
Bedrock Edition 1.20.0[upcoming] | ||||
Emerald | Desert temple | Suspicious sand | 1 | 14.3% |
Desert well | Suspicious sand | 1 | 12.5% | |
Cold Ocean ruins | Cold ruins suspicious gravel | 1 | 13.3% | |
Warm ruins suspicious sand | 1 | 14.3% | ||
Trail ruins | Suspicious sand or gravel | 1 | 3.5% |
Suspicious sand
When brushing suspicious sand in desert pyramids or desert wells, they have a 1⁄7 chance to drop an emerald.[upcoming: JE 1.20 & BE 1.20.0]
Drops
Vindicators and evokers drop 0–1 emeralds upon death. Looting increases the maximum emerald drop by one per level, for a maximum of 4 emeralds with Looting III.
Foxes that are holding emeralds also have a chance of 100% to drop the emerald they are holding upon death. Alternatively, the player can drop a food item to entice the fox to drop the emerald without killing it.
In Bedrock Edition, vindicators and pillagers spawned from raids can drop 0–1 emeralds. Depending on difficulty, vindicators and pillagers spawned from raids also have a chance of dropping additional emeralds. There is a 65% chance of dropping on easy and normal, and an 80% chance of dropping on hard. If this additional drop condition is met, different emerald counts can drop with different chances. There is a 10⁄39 chance to drop an additional 0–1 emeralds, a 5⁄39 chance to drop an additional 2–3, and a 2⁄39 chance to drop an additional 4–5.
In Bedrock Edition, with Looting III, it is possible for a vindicator in a raid to drop up to 16 emeralds upon death (vindicator drops + raid drops + an additional drop).
Usage
Trading
Emeralds are primarily used as currency for trading with villagers and wandering traders. Trading is typically a faster way to obtain emeralds than by mining, as an emerald ore is rarer than a diamond ore.
Crafting ingredient
Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
---|---|---|
Block of Emerald | Emerald |
Beacons
Emeralds can be used to select powers from a beacon. The player must select one of the available powers and then insert an emerald into the item slot.
An emerald can be substituted for an iron ingot, a gold ingot, a diamond or a netherite ingot in a beacon.
Smithing ingredient
Ingredients | Smithing recipe | Description |
---|---|---|
Any Armor Trim + Any Armor Piece + Emerald | All armor types can be used in this recipe, a netherite chestplate is shown as an example. [upcoming: JE 1.20] |
Achievements
Icon | Achievement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) | Gamerscore earned | Trophy type (PS4) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PS4 | Other | |||||
The Haggler | Acquire or spend 30 Emeralds by trading with villagers or with wandering trader. [sic] | — | 30G | Silver | ||
Buy Low, Sell High | Trade for the best possible price. | Buy something for 1 emerald, or when the Hero of the Village effect is applied. | 50G | Gold | ||
Master Trader | Trade for 1,000 emeralds. | Obtain 1,000 emeralds from trading with villagers. | 30G | Silver |
Advancements
Icon | Advancement | In-game description | Parent | Actual requirements (if different) | Resource location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | What a Deal! | Successfully trade with a Villager | Adventure | Take an item from a villager or wandering trader's trading output slot, and put it in your inventory. | adventure/trade
|
Data values
ID
Name | Identifier | Form | Item tags | Translation key |
---|---|---|---|---|
Emerald | emerald | Item | beacon_payment_items | item.minecraft.emerald |
Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Form | Translation key |
---|---|---|---|---|
Emerald | emerald | 512 | Item | item.emerald.name |
History
Java Edition Indev | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
0.31 | 20100129 | Added diamonds, referred to as emeralds in the code. | |||
Java Edition | |||||
May 21, 2012 | ![]() | ||||
1.3.1 | 12w21a | ![]() | |||
Emeralds can be traded with villagers in exchange for different items. | |||||
Added desert temples, with a hidden chest room and loot containing emeralds. | |||||
![]() items.png .[2] | |||||
12w22a | Block of emerald has now been added, which is crafted from nine emeralds and can be placed as a decorative block. | ||||
Added jungle temples, which contain loot chests with emeralds. | |||||
1.4.2 | 12w32a | As zombie villagers can now spawn and be cured, emeralds can now still be obtained in trades even if generated structures are disabled. | |||
1.9 | 15w31a | Emeralds now generate in end city ship chests. | |||
15w43a | Emeralds now generate in igloo basement chests. | ||||
15w44a | The average yield of emeralds in desert temple chests has now been increased. | ||||
1.11 | 16w39a | Added vindicators and evokers, which drop emeralds if killed by a player. | |||
1.13 | 17w47a | Prior to The Flattening, this item's numeral ID was 388. | |||
18w09a | Emeralds can now generate in the loot chests of underwater ruins. | ||||
18w10a | Emeralds can now generate in buried treasure chests. | ||||
18w11a | Emeralds can now generate in the chests of shipwrecks. | ||||
1.14 | 18w43a | ![]() | |||
Added pillagers, which can drop emeralds. | |||||
18w46a | Pillagers no longer drop emeralds. | ||||
18w48a | Emeralds now generate in chests in village tanneries, fisher cottages and plains village houses. | ||||
18w49a | Emeralds now generate in chests in village shepherd houses, mason houses, butcher shops, and savanna and snowy village houses. | ||||
18w50a | Emeralds now generate in chests in village fletcher houses, temples, and desert and taiga village houses. | ||||
19w07a | Added foxes, which sometimes spawn with emeralds in their mouths. | ||||
19w08a | ![]() | ||||
1.17 | 21w13a | The unused rubies texture was removed. | |||
1.20 (Experimental) | 23w04a | Emeralds can now be used as an armor trim material. | |||
23w07a | Emeralds now drop when brushing suspicious sand in desert pyramids or desert wells. | ||||
Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
v0.9.0 | build 1 | ![]() | |||
build 5 | Emeralds can now be used to craft blocks of emerald. | ||||
v0.13.0 | build 1 | Emeralds can now be found inside desert temple chests. | |||
v0.15.0 | build 1 | Added jungle temples, which contain loot chests with emeralds. | |||
v0.16.0 | build 1 | Emeralds can now be used to power beacons. | |||
Pocket Edition | |||||
1.0.0 | alpha 0.17.0.1 | Emeralds can now be found in end city ship chests. | |||
Emeralds can now be found in igloo basement chests. | |||||
1.0.4 | alpha 1.0.4.0 | Emeralds are now used as "currency" for villager trading. | |||
1.1.0 | alpha 1.1.0.0 | Added evokers and vindicators, which drop emeralds when killed. | |||
Bedrock Edition | |||||
1.4.0 | beta 1.2.14.2 | Emeralds can now be found in some shipwreck chests. | |||
beta 1.2.20.1 | Emeralds can now be found inside underwater ruins chests. | ||||
1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | Emeralds can now be used to buy items from wandering traders. | |||
Emeralds can now be found in plains village house and tannery chests. | |||||
![]() | |||||
1.11.0 | beta 1.11.0.1 | Emeralds can now be found in village chests other than plains. | |||
beta 1.11.0.4 | Vindicators and pillagers that spawn from raids can now drop bonus emeralds. | ||||
beta 1.11.0.5 | ![]() | ||||
1.13.0 | beta 1.13.0.1 | Added foxes, which can drop emeralds. | |||
Upcoming Bedrock Edition | |||||
Next Major Update (Experimental) | beta 1.19.70.23 | Emeralds now drop when brushing suspicious sand in desert pyramids or desert wells. | |||
beta 1.19.80.21 | Emeralds can now be used as an armor trim material. | ||||
Legacy Console Edition | |||||
TU14 | CU1 | 1.04 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | ![]() |
PlayStation 4 Edition | |||||
1.90 | ![]() | ||||
New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
0.1.0 | ![]() |
Issues
Issues relating to "Emerald" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Gallery
A wall of emerald ore utilizing a previous texture in snapshot 12w21a.
Trivia
- The ruby was going to be the villager currency but was changed to emeralds before the update's release.
References
- ↑ http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1621716-15-new-blocksitems/#entry19977082
- ↑ Snapshot 12w21a/b lang/en_US.lang: item.ruby.name=Ruby