How to find diamonds in Minecraft quickly and mine them without dying

• To find diamonds in Minecraft, you'll need to dig down to at least layer 15 with an iron pickaxe or better.
• You can see what layer you're on by opening the debug menu or by changing your settings.
• Diamonds can be used to craft some of the best weapons and armor in all of Minecraft.

In Minecraft, diamonds are a player's best friend.

Once you find these shiny blue gems, they can be crafted into some of the best items in the game, like the formidable diamond axe or tough diamond chestplate. They can also be crafted into enchanting tables, jukeboxes, and more. In some cases, villagers might also offer you emeralds in exchange for diamonds.

That means you probably want to start farming diamonds sooner rather than later. And although you have to dig deep, diamonds aren't hard to find, especially if you know where to look.

How to find diamonds in Minecraft

The tools you'll need to mine for diamonds

Before you set out on your caving or mining adventure, you need the right tools.

• The most important item is an iron pickaxe. Diamond ore can only be mined with an iron pickaxe or better (better meaning gold, diamond, or netherite). If you try to mine diamonds with a stone or wood pickaxe, the block will break but you won't get anything from it.

• Bring along a generous supply of torches. Torches will light your way as you mine, making it harder for enemies to get the drop on you. You can craft torches by placing a piece of coal on top of a stick. Craft coal by burning wood, if you don't find some while digging.
• You'll need food to heal and stave off hunger. Anything edible will do, but if you can cook steaks or chickens before heading off, do it — you never know when you'll need the extra health.
• Extra weapons can help you out in a pinch. While you can use your pickaxe if you need to, having a good sword and shield is always a better option.

You can craft these tools as you dig, but don't break or use them all before you find your diamonds — remember that you'll have to make a return trip.

Where to dig for diamonds

Every Minecraft world is divided into layers — think of it like altitude. Sea level in Minecraft is roughly layer 64, for instance. The world goes down to layer -64.

Diamonds only spawn at layer 15 and lower, and get more common the deeper you go.

Quick tip: If you're not sure what layer you're on, you can check your coordinates. In the Java version of the game, press F3 (or Fn + F3 on a laptop). In the Bedrock version, open the Settings menu and enable the Show Coordinates option.

Your current layer is the Y coordinate — in this image, 12.0000.

To get there, find a cave or start digging diagonally down into the earth. Never dig straight down — if you accidentally dig through the ceiling of a cave, you could find yourself falling into lava or into a massive ravine. Place torches as you go to light the way and track your route.

As you go, you'll likely run into enemies like spiders, skeletons, zombies, and witches. Stay alert and either avoid these enemies — you'll usually be able to see or hear them before they notice you — or carefully take them down.

If you need to run, use your blocks to build a tower and escape to higher ground. Just don't slip and get killed by the fall damage. Or if you're at a dead end, quickly mine into a wall and then place blocks to seal the exit.

Remember that if you die, you'll drop everything in your inventory. And once an item has been dropped, you'll only have a few minutes to retrieve it before it disappears. That is, unless you fall into lava; any item that hits lava is immediately destroyed.

Once you get to layer 15, keep digging

You'll hit diamond territory at layer 15, but go ahead and keep digging. Diamonds only get more common the deeper you go, so go as deep as possible for the best results.

But remember that diamonds are rare, even in low layers. It might take a long time for you to find any. And of course, there's always a chance that you won't find any at all before you need to head back home.

But once you find diamond ore, mine it with the iron pickaxe and collect your prize. Most diamond comes in a "vein," meaning that there will be multiple diamond ore blocks connected to one another. Mine all the diamonds you can see, and then move on.

How to find diamonds without mining

Although mining is the most surefire way to find diamonds, you can find them already mined out in the world.

There's a small chance to find diamonds in village treasure chests. Desert temples and mineshafts might hold diamonds in their treasure chests too.

The most common place to find chests with diamonds is in buried treasure chests. These are chests buried underground, usually on beaches. You can find these chests using explorer maps, which themselves can be found in shipwrecks underwater.