Digging Deeper: Emeralds

Emeralds (while they are not a necessity) are a luxury item for Minecraft survival. Making various things easier to accomplish and more. In this article I will be teaching you about Minecraft’s most uncommon ore, the Emerald. Let’s start digging!
Location and Obtaining

In the upcoming 1.9 update, Emerald ore in Minecraft can be found eighteen percent of Jungle Temple chests and eleven percent of Desert Temple chests in stacks of anywhere from one to three Emeralds. Emeralds can also be found in eight percent of Igloo chests in stacks of one. In End City chests, Emeralds can be found in nine percent of chests with a range of two to six Emeralds in a stack.

Emerald ore is found underground any

where from layer four to thirty-two. The reason that Emerald ore seems so frustratingly rare is because Emeralds will only spawn as little as zero to two times in a chunk. However, an even more frustrating fact about our favorite currency is that it can only be found as an individual block and not in a vein, like any other ore.

When the ore is found naturally apart of a cave, a player will need to use an Iron Pickaxe (or better) to obtain it. When mined, the ore will drop one Emerald and will drop anywhere from three to seven experience. If an Emerald ore is mined with an Iron Pickaxe (or better) with an Enchantment of Fortune, the chance of getting an extra Emerald for one Emerald ore will go up as the level of the Enchantment does. As an example of this, if an Emerald ore is mined with a regular pickaxe, you only have a chance of getting one Emerald. If an Emerald ore is mined with a Fortune I enchanted pickaxe, however, there is a chance of two Emeralds being obtained. If the pickaxe used is a Fortune II, there is a chance of three Emeralds being had, and so on and so forth

Trading

As mentioned in a previous article, players are able to trade with the Villagers in Minecraft using Emeralds as a means of currency. Players may give a Villager an Emerald in return for any of the various objects the Villager is up for trading (ranging anywhere from wheat to DiamondArmor). While a player can give away Emeralds though, they also may receive Emeralds through trading as well. Depending on what a Villager wants, a player may be given an Emerald if he or she can give what the Villager is wanting. If a player mines or purchases 30 Emeralds from a Villager, they will receive The Haggler achievement.

Crafting and Pyramids

While the only thing Emeralds can actually craft is a Block of Emerald, the Emerald Block can actually be part of a very useful structure called a Pyramid. A Pyramid is used to power a Beacon, which gives players various boosts in a specific range (such as Speed, Resistance, Strength, Jump Boost, Haste and Regeneration) and a beam of light that shines where the Beacon is placed, which is visible from far away. This beam of light allows for players to easily find the location they put the Beacon in when adventuring.

In Conclusion

Emeralds help players in many various ways. They may be a very rare ore that not many people seem to have luck finding, but they’re very beneficial when found and obtained. Trading with Villagers, creating Pyramids for beacons and much more would not be possible if Emeralds were not around. This ore has added many new possibilities for Minecraft in terms of obtaining other materials, gaining boosts and hopefully much more in the future.