Minecraft: Best Loot In The Nether

The Overworld in Minecraft may be infinitely generated, but after you upgrade to diamond gear and build your first home, you might be looking for a bigger challenge. The Nether dimension is ready and waiting for you to explore and discover its secrets.

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Since the 1.20 update, finding ancient debris and netherite upgrade smithing template makes traversing the Nether’s dangerous biomes a priority. The main structures that generate in the Nether are Bastion Remnants (sometimes referred to as Bastions) and Nether Fortresses. The Nether is filled with plenty of loot to gather. From mining quartz to trading with piglins, chests and mob drops found there can help bring your gameplay to the next level.

10 Enchanted Golden Apple

Found In Ruined Portal

While enchanted golden apples are common in a Woodland Mansion, you can’t deny that finding an enchanted golden apple as you’re dodging a ghast or skeleton is helpful. An enchanted golden apple grants more powerful effects than a standard golden apple or carrot.

Presumably, you’ve brought food with you to the Nether, but it can’t hurt to have extra protection in case of lava or hoglins. Keep in mind that enchanted golden apples aren’t craftable, so only consume one when it's a dire circumstance.

9 Pigstep Music Disc

Found In Bastion Remnant

Minecraft’s music is known for having one of the best video game soundtracks. From chill tunes like 'cat' to upbeat 'otherside', collecting music discs in Minecraft is a crowd favorite.

If you’re looking for an upbeat, hip-hop-adjacent song to break up the bleak sounds of the Nether, 'Pigstep' is for you. In fact, it’s the most upbeat music disc in the game. In both Java and Bedrock Editions, you can only find this music disc in a Bastion Remnant. Pigstep is also a great disc to play while in a Meadow biome to get the Sound of Music achievement.

'Pigstep' is a portmanteau of 'piglin' and 'dubstep'.

8 Lodestone

Found In Bridge Bastion Remnants

As with other generated structures, Bastion Remnants can spawn in four different types of structures. The bridge version is made of a large ruined rampart structure with a piglin face carved into it.

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A lodestone is an overlooked block, but it has potential for those who love to explore. For those who don’t know, a compass used on a lodestone will always point back to it. The use potential for lodestones can be as simple as a building block (works well with stone and andesite) or to lead other players to points of interest throughout your world.

7 Nether Wart

Found In Nether Fortress And Bastion Remnant

Vital in creating potions, nether wart is one of the top draws to seeking out a Nether Fortress. While usually found in soul sand gardens within a fortress, they’re also part of the looting pool for Nether Fortress chests.

Depending on what type of Bastion Remnant you find, there’s a chance you’ll come across a piglin housing unit bastion, which will contain central courtyards with some nether wart growing. Nether wart is farmable, so it's always a good idea to grab some in your Nether travels (with soul sand blocks).

6 Blaze Rods

Dropped From Blazes In Nether Fortress

One of the most valuable and troublesome mobs in the Nether, blazes are hostile mobs that spawn in Nether Fortresses and the only source of blaze rods. If you’re aiming to get to the End dimension, blaze rods will be at the top of your to-do list while in the Nether.

Not only are they required to craft eyes of ender, but they can craft and be used in brewing stands and as fuel for furnaces. They also can be used to craft end rods, saving you from needing to fill your inventory space while in the End later.

5 Wither Skeleton Skulls

Dropped From Wither Skeletons In Nether Fortress

Edition

Drop Rate

Bedrock

2.5% chance, increase by 2% per Looting level

Java

2.5% chance, increase by 1% per Looting level

The spooky scary mob known as wither skeletons are found exclusively in Nether Fortresses and are the only way to obtain wither skeleton skulls used to spawn a wither. They’re also the only renewable source of coal, for those interested in making a wither skeleton farm.

In Bedrock Edition, the wither spawns three-to-four wither skeletons when it's below half health. It’s highly recommended that you use a weapon enchanted with Looting III when fighting wither skeletons to get skulls quicker.

4 Soul Speed Enchanted Book

Found In Bastion Remnant

This enchantment is perfect for those who want to travel through Soul Sand Valley biomes easier, which is why it's recommended to get it early in your exploration through the Nether dimension.

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While soul speed can be acquired through piglin bartering, it’s easier to just loot its enchanted book from chests in bastion remnants. There’s also a chance to find iron and diamond armor already enchanted with soul speed. Regardless of how you prefer to acquire soul speed, it can’t be obtained from an enchanting table so the Nether is the only place you’ll be able to find it.

3 Smithing Templates

Found In Nether Fortress And Bastion Remnant

Trim Design

Location

Spawn Chance

Rib Armor Trim

Nether Fortress

6.7%

Snout Armor Trim

Bastion Remnant

8.3%

Even though armor trims are just cosmetic and don’t impact gameplay, they can make basic armor look cool. There are 16 armor trim smithing templates found throughout Minecraft’s generated structures, each of which can be customized with certain materials for different coloring.

Some armor trims resemble a mob or block found in their associated structure. The rib armor trim resembles a wither skeleton while the snout armor trim resembles a piglin.

If you’re looking to complete your armor trim collection, the Nether is the only location you’ll be able to find both the rib armor trim and the snout armor trim. They can be duplicated with diamonds and netherrack or blackstone, respectively.

2 Ancient Debris And Netherite Scrap

Found In Bastion Remnant

Material

Spawn Chance

Ancient Debris

13.5%

Netherite Scrap

4.5%

In the end-game of Minecraft, you might begin to feel that your diamond armor is outdated. In order to get netherite armor, you’ll first need to find ancient debris or netherite scrap. While you could craft TNT or a bunch of beds to strip mine, you can also just seek out Bastion Remnants if you’re only looking to craft a couple of netherite ingots at a time.

If you like some Minecraft lore, ancient debris is what remains of piglin mining activities after they’ve extracted all the original netherite ore.

1 Netherite Upgrade Smithing Template

Found In Bastion Remnant

There’s no question that because of the 1.20 update, upgrading to netherite is at least a little harder. Before, all you needed was a netherite ingot to upgrade from diamond. However, now you’re also required to use a smithing template.

If you don’t want to travel to multiple Bastion Remnants, you can duplicate one with netherrack and seven diamonds. Unlike some smithing templates, the netherite upgrade smithing template can be found in all four variants of a Bastion Remnant.

Before you use your only netherite upgrade smithing template, duplicate it! They are a one-use-only type of item.

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