Emerald ore is a rare mineral block that generates only in mountains and windswept hills biomes. It drops emeralds when mined, or itself if mined with a pickaxe with the Silk Touch enchantment.
Deepslate emerald ore is a variant of emerald ore that can generate in deepslate and tuff blobs.
Obtaining
Breaking
Emerald ore can be mined with a pickaxe made from iron or better, otherwise it drops nothing. If mined without Silk Touch, the block drops 1 emerald (or up to 4 with Fortune). It also drops 3–7 when broken.
| Block | Emerald Ore | Deepslate Emerald Ore | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 3 | 4.5 | |
| Tool | |||
| Breaking time[A] | |||
| Default | 15 | 22.5 | |
| Wooden | 7.5 | 11.25 | |
| Stone | 3.75 | 5.65 | |
| Iron | 0.75 | 1.15 | |
| Diamond | 0.6 | 0.85 | |
| Netherite | 0.5 | 0.75 | |
| Golden | 1.25 | 1.9 | |
- ↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.
Natural generation
Reason: Deepslate emerald ore generation as of 21w16a
Emerald ore can generate in Overworld in the form of blobs. Emerald ore attempts to generate 50 times per chunk in blobs of 1, from levels -16 to 320, being most common at level 256, and becoming less common toward either end of the range. Emerald ore can be exposed to the sky, which is intended.[1] In Bedrock Edition, emerald ore attempts to generate 100 times per chunk in all types of windswept hills or mountains biomes in blobs of 0-3 ores, from levels -16 to 320, being most common at level 256, and becoming less common toward either end of the range. Emerald ore can replace stone, andesite, granite, diorite, and deepslate. Emerald ore that replaces deepslate will become deepslate emerald ore.
Deepslate emerald ore is the rarest ore in Minecraft, rarer than normal emerald ore and ancient debris.
Usage
Smelting ingredient
| Name | Ingredients | Smelting recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Emerald | Emerald Ore or Deepslate Emerald Ore + Any fuel |
Note blocks
Emerald ore can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sounds.
Sounds
Emerald ore
| Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Block broken | Blocks | Once the block has broken | block.stone.break | subtitles.block.generic.break | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
| Block placed | Blocks | When the block is placed | block.stone.place | subtitles.block.generic.place | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
| Block breaking | Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | block.stone.hit | subtitles.block.generic.hit | 0.25 | 0.5 | 16 | |
| None[sound 1] | Entity-Dependent | Falling on the block with fall damage | block.stone.fall | None[sound 1] | 0.5 | 0.75 | 16 | |
| Footsteps | Entity-Dependent | Walking on the block | block.stone.step | subtitles.block.generic.footsteps | 0.15 | 1.0 | 16 |
| Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blocks | Once the block has broken | dig.stone | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
| Blocks | When the block is placed | dig.stone | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
| Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | hit.stone | 0.37 | 0.5 | |
| Players | Falling on the block with fall damage | fall.stone | 0.4 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Walking on the block | step.stone | 0.3 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Jumping from the block | jump.stone | 0.12 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Falling on the block without fall damage | land.stone | 0.22 | 1.0 |
Deepslate emerald ore
| Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Block broken | Blocks | Once the block has broken | block.deepslate.break | subtitles.block.generic.break | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
| Block placed | Blocks | When the block is placed | block.deepslate.place | subtitles.block.generic.place | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
| Block breaking | Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | block.deepslate.hit | subtitles.block.generic.hit | 0.25 | 0.5 | 16 | |
| None[sound 1] | Entity-Dependent | Falling on the block with fall damage | block.deepslate.fall | None[sound 1] | 0.5 | 0.75 | 16 | |
| Footsteps | Entity-Dependent | Walking on the block | block.deepslate.step | subtitles.block.generic.footsteps | 0.15 | 1.0 | 16 |
| Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blocks | Once the block has broken | dig.deepslate | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
| Blocks | When the block is placed | place.deepslate | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
| Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | hit.deepslate | 0.3 | 0.5 | |
| Players | Falling on the block with fall damage | fall.deepslate | 0.4 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Walking on the block | step.deepslate | 0.3 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Jumping from the block | jump.deepslate | 0.12 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Falling on the block without fall damage | land.deepslate | 0.22 | 1.0 |
Data values
ID
| Name | Identifier | Form | Block tags | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emerald Ore | emerald_ore | Block & Item | emerald_ores mineable/pickaxe needs_iron_tool | block.minecraft.emerald_ore |
| Deepslate Emerald Ore | deepslate_emerald_ore | Block & Item | emerald_ores mineable/pickaxe needs_iron_tool | block.minecraft.deepslate_emerald_ore |
| Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Form | Item ID[i 1] | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emerald Ore | emerald_ore | 129 | Block & Giveable Item[i 2] | Identical[i 3] | tile.emerald_ore.name |
| Deepslate Emerald Ore | deepslate_emerald_ore | 662 | Block & Giveable Item[i 2] | Identical[i 3] | tile.deepslate_emerald_ore.name |
History
| Java Edition | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 21, 2012 |  The week before the release of 12w21a, Jeb released a screenshot of himself testing the trading system.[2] At this time, what would become emerald ore was ruby ore.[3] | ||||
| 1.3.1 | 12w21a | Added emerald ore.
| |||
| The announced ore has been changed to an emerald ore. The texture for emerald ore has remained unchanged, as Jeb forgot to commit the new texture in the snapshot.[4] As this item was not announced before the snapshot was released, most translations call emerald "diamond" (due to "item.emerald" being the previous translation key for Diamonds). | |||||
| Emerald ore generates in blobs of up to 10 blocks. | |||||
| 12w21b |  The texture of emerald ore has been corrected. The previous ruby texture remains as "ruby.png". Translations of emerald as diamond have also been corrected.
| ||||
An analysis of a 500×500 extreme hills biome with MCEdit gives the following ore distributions:
| |||||
| 12w22a | Blob size was reduced to 1 block. | ||||
| 1.13 | 17w47a | Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 129. | |||
| Texture Update | January 4, 2018 |  A new texture for emerald ore has been proposed. | |||
| 1.14 | 18w43a |  The texture of emerald ore has been changed. | |||
| 1.17 | 21w07a | Emerald ore now generates as a spread, generating between Y=32 and Y=320 and peaking at Y=256. | |||
| February 18, 2021 |  JAPPA shows new textures of emerald ore. | ||||
| 21w08a |  The texture of emerald ore has been changed. | ||||
| 21w10a |  Added deepslate variant of emerald ore, which does not generate naturally.
| ||||
Added emerald_ores block tag. | |||||
| The amount of emerald ore that generates has been increased. | |||||
| 21w15a | Most ore generation has been reverted back to the pre-21w07a generation and requires the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack to be seen. However, emerald ore generation was not properly reverted due to a bug.[5] | ||||
| 21w16a | Emerald ore now generates at the correct Y-levels, but it still generates more frequently than it did in 1.16.[6] | ||||
| Deepslate emerald ore variant now generates naturally. | |||||
| 21w17a | Emerald ore can now replace granite, andesite, diorite, tuff, and deepslate upon generating. | ||||
| 1.17.1 | Pre-release 2 | The frequency of emerald ore generation has been reverted to pre-1.17 levels. | |||
| 1.18 | Experimental Snapshot 1 | Emerald ore once again generates the way it did in the 1.17 snapshots without the use of a data pack. | |||
| Deepslate Emerald Ore no longer generates naturally. | |||||
| experimental snapshot 2 | Emerald ore now generates in meadows, groves, snowy slopes, lofty peaks, and snow capped peaks. | ||||
| 21w40a | Emerald ore generates more frequently and is now able to generate down to Y=-16. | ||||
| Deepslate Emerald Ore now generates naturally again. | |||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| v0.9.0 | build 1 | Added emerald ore.
| |||
| Emerald ore can be mined with a stone pickaxe instead of an iron one. | |||||
| v0.12.1 | build 1 | Mining emerald ore now drops experience orbs. | |||
| Emerald ore can now be collected with Silk Touch, dropping the block itself. | |||||
| Emerald ore now drops extra emeralds with the Fortune enchantment. | |||||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.2.0 | beta 1.2.0.2 | Mining emerald ore now requires an iron pickaxe. | |||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | The texture of emerald ore has been changed. | |||
| 1.16.220 | beta 1.16.220.50 | The texture of emerald ore has been changed.
| |||
| Emerald ore can now be found exposed and in blobs of size 0-10 on the surface of the new mountain biome variants. | |||||
| 1.17.0 | beta 1.16.230.52 | Added deepslate variant of emerald ore. | |||
| beta 1.16.230.56 | Ore generation has been changed, emerald now generates on higher altitudes in extreme hills rather than lower. | ||||
| Increased blob size to contain more than a single ore. | |||||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU14 | CU1 | 1.04 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | Added emerald ore. |
| 1.90 | The texture of emerald ore texture has been changed. | ||||
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 0.1.0 | Added emerald ore. | ||||
Issues
Issues relating to "Emerald Ore" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia
- Even though emerald ore is rarer than diamond ore, emerald ore is generally found more often in mountains biomes than diamond ore, as the emerald ore blocks are generated in a more scattered fashion.
Gallery
An naturally occurring blob of emerald ore.
A naturally occurring blob of emerald ore.
A blob of emerald ore found at layer 18 in a windswept hills biome.
A room with placed emerald ores, including emerald blocks and thrown emeralds.
A comparison of the occurrence of emerald ore to the occurrence of diamond ore.
Two blobs of emerald ores that generated nearly together.
A block of emerald ore found in a plains biome.
A blob of emerald ore found in a mountain biome.
Ravine with multiple ores, water and lava falls, and stronghold bridge over it.
Multiple emerald ores close together.
Ruby
The first image of the trading system released by Jeb. The emerald ore can be seen in the top right-hand corner with the original texture.
An enhanced version of Jeb's screenshot showing the original ore texture more clearly.
The old "ruby" texture of emerald ore.
References
- ↑ MC-237455 — resolved as "Works As Intended".
- ↑ https://twitter.com/jeb_/status/204619936616808451
- ↑ snapshot 12w21a/b lang/en_US.lang: tile.oreRuby.name=Ruby Ore
- ↑ https://twitter.com/jeb_/status/205641953742819328
- ↑ MC-223260 — "Emerald ore does not generate as intended" — resolved as "Fixed".
- ↑ MC-226926 — "Emerald ore generates too often" — resolved as "Fixed".