How To Find Ancient Debris

Mining for ancient debris has been perfected as a science by many Minecraft players far smarter than I, and they have apparently all come to the conclusion that the best way to find ancient debris is to Explode Yourself On Purpose. Trying to use a bed in the Nether will explode the bed, so why not use that to your advantage?

You'll want to dig a series of tunnels at Y=11, 12, or 15, each one with a bed at the end, and try to "use" the bed while sheltering behind a block for protection. It will explode you a little, so make sure you have full health, plenty of food, and diamond armor, or your ancient debris adventure will be over before it's begun.

Here's a massive disclaimer, though: ancient debris is really, really, really rare. The bedsplosion trick is costly in terms of wool and wood, but way faster and more efficient than breaking fifty diamond pickaxes. There's a lot of mindless, tedious, repetitive stuff involved – but a lot of Minecraft is mindless, tedious, repetitive stuff... and that's part of the reason we love it. Just set aside a few hours on a Saturday and mine mine mine mine until you're all kitted out, and all your friends finally look like peasants in comparison. Nyahaha!