Minecraft Where to Find Netherite Upgrade (2026 Guide)

In Minecraft, the Netherite Upgrade Smithing Template is found in exactly one place: bastion remnant chests in the Nether. Treasure-room bastions are the most reliable source, where the chests guarded by piglins commonly hold two templates at once, while chests in bridge, hoglin stable and courtyard bastions carry roughly a one-in-ten chance each. You need the template plus a netherite ingot at a smithing table to convert any diamond tool, weapon or armour piece into netherite, and since version 1.20 there is no way to upgrade without one.

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Minecraft: where to find netherite upgrade templates step by step

The template only generates in bastion remnants, so the whole task reduces to finding a bastion and surviving it. Build a nether portal, arrive, and explore — bastions are enormous blackstone structures visible from a long distance and generate in every Nether biome except basalt deltas. If you play with cheats or on a creative test world, /locate structure minecraft:bastion_remnant gives you coordinates immediately, which is a legitimate way to scout seed layouts before a survival run.

Which bastion type gives the netherite upgrade template

Bastion remnants generate in four layouts: the bridge, the hoglin stables, the courtyard or “other” type, and the treasure room. The treasure room is the jackpot — a tall interior with gold blocks in the walls and chests on the upper platform, usually with a magma cube guardian. Those chests are where two netherite upgrade templates commonly appear together. The other three layouts still contain templates in their chests, just at a much lower rate, so a bad bastion is worth looting fully before you move on.

Surviving the piglins

Wear at least one piece of gold armour before you enter. Ordinary piglins ignore players in gold, which lets you walk through a bastion unharmed. Two important caveats: opening any chest angers every piglin who sees you regardless of your armour, and piglin brutes — the ones carrying golden axes — are permanently hostile and completely immune to the gold trick. Bring a shield, blocks to wall yourself in, and fire resistance potions, because bastions sit over lava and the drops are lethal. Reacting to a brute rushing you from off-screen is genuinely input-sensitive, which is why serious Nether runs are easier with the gear compared in a gaming mouse buying guide.

Duplicating the netherite upgrade template

You do not need to raid a second bastion. Place the template in a smithing table with seven diamonds and one netherite ingot and you get your template back plus a copy. This is the standard duplication recipe for smithing templates, with netherite ingot as the material for this particular one. Diamonds are far easier to farm than bastion trips, so most players duplicate a single template until they have enough for a full armour set, a sword, a pickaxe, an axe, a shovel and a hoe.

Getting the netherite ingots you also need

The template is only half the recipe. Each upgrade consumes one netherite ingot, and each ingot requires four netherite scrap plus four gold ingots. Scrap comes from smelting ancient debris in a furnace or blast furnace. Ancient debris generates only in the Nether, is most common around Y level 15, and requires a diamond or netherite pickaxe. It is blast-resistant, will not burn, and floats in lava rather than being consumed, which makes it hard to lose accidentally.

Efficient ancient debris mining

Dig a straight tunnel at Y 15 and branch every two or three blocks, checking with the F3 debug screen that you are on the right level. Bed mining is faster: placing and using a bed in the Nether causes an explosion that clears a large sphere, and because ancient debris is blast-resistant it survives while netherrack does not. TNT works the same way. Always tunnel with a wall of blocks behind you, since striders and ghasts are less dangerous than accidentally breaking into a lava lake. Long mining sessions are the classic case for something from a gaming headset buying guide, because ghast and piglin audio cues arrive before you can see the threat.

Performing the upgrade at a smithing table

A smithing table costs two planks and two iron ingots. Place the netherite upgrade template in the leftmost slot, your diamond item in the middle, and a netherite ingot on the right. The result keeps every enchantment, the item’s custom name and its remaining durability, so upgrade your best-enchanted diamond gear rather than fresh pieces. There is no way to reverse the process and no way to recover the template or ingot afterwards. Hotbar juggling between the table, the furnace and your chests is constant in this phase, and it is exactly the sort of repetitive input a board from a mechanical keyboard buying guide makes less punishing.

Is netherite gear worth the trip?

Yes, though the margin is smaller than newcomers expect. Netherite armour has higher toughness than diamond and adds knockback resistance, netherite tools reach 2,031 durability against diamond’s 1,561, and every netherite item is fire-resistant and survives being dropped in lava. Enchantments matter more than the material tier for raw damage, so an enchanted diamond set beats plain netherite. The real prize is durability and never losing your kit to a lava death. If you are running shaders or a large render distance while exploring the Nether, the tiers in a graphics card buying guide and the panels in a high-refresh gaming monitor buying guide both matter, and world-load stutter on big modded packs is exactly the problem a gaming SSD buying guide exists to solve.

Frequently Asked Questions

In Minecraft, where to find netherite upgrade templates besides bastions?

Nowhere. The netherite upgrade smithing template generates only in bastion remnant chests, and it cannot be traded from villagers, bartered from piglins, fished up or found in fortresses or ancient cities. The only alternative to raiding another bastion is duplicating a template you already own.

How do I duplicate the netherite upgrade smithing template?

Put the template in a smithing table together with seven diamonds and one netherite ingot. You receive the original template back plus one copy. Since diamonds are renewable through mining and far safer to collect than bastion loot, duplication is how most players build a full netherite loadout from a single find.

What Y level is best for finding ancient debris?

Y 15 is the sweet spot, with useful generation roughly between Y 8 and Y 22. Mine with a diamond or netherite pickaxe, branch-tunnel every two to three blocks, and consider bed or TNT blasting — ancient debris is blast-resistant, so explosions clear netherrack around it without destroying the ore.

Do I still need a template if I play an older Minecraft version?

No. Smithing templates were introduced in the 1.20 Trails & Tales update. In versions before that, upgrading diamond gear required only a smithing table, the diamond item and a netherite ingot, so worlds on older releases skip the bastion hunt entirely.