What is the rarest ore in Minecraft?

Minecraft has several varieties of ores that players can mine to use and make different items. There’s iron, gold, emerald, diamond, and some special ores such as ancient debris used to make netherite armor. But one question usually pops up: what is the rarest ore in the game?

The rarity element in Minecraft can be determined by seeing how often a particular ore is found in the game and how much of it is found. For example, diamond is a rare ore but once found, it is often found in a cluster of three or four, and sometimes even more. So going by that metric, the rarest ore in the game is actually deepslate emerald. Here are all the reasons why.

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Rarest ore in Minecraft

Deepslate emerald is the rarest ore in Minecraft (Image via Mojang Studios)

While many players might claim that diamond ore is the rarest or argue that the relatively recently added ancient debris holds that title, the true rarest ore is deepslate emerald. Do not confuse it with regular emerald which usually spawns near mountains as they are rare, yes, but the deepslate emerald is on another level, quite literally. The heavy core block will soon be added to the game in upcoming updates, and it might take the title for the rarest item in the game.

Deepslate emerald is found in the deepest regions of the game. Unlike other ores, which are typically found in veins of three to four, deepslate emeralds usually appear in a vein of just one. This means that after extensive mining, even if someone finds a deepslate emerald, it will likely be just a single emerald.

Compare that with diamonds or ancient debris. While we do not know the exact locations where diamonds can be found, we have some idea about the Y level of their spawn. Finding one diamond ore block means that there must be a few more around as well.

Ancient debris behaves the same way. It can be found in the Nether, most commonly at the Y-15 (minus fifteen) level. They usually occur in clusters of three to four. They are rare but not as rare as deepslate emeralds.

While not an ore, another contender for being the rarest item in the game that can be found is deepslate coal. Deepslate coal is found a few levels above deepslate emerald and usually spawns in a cluster of three to four. This might sound like a lot, but considering how coal usually spawns in a cluster of six to eight, deepslate coal is quite rare. So until Minecraft 1.21 update is released, deepslate emerald remains the rarest item in the game.