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There are six levels of armor in Minecraft. Players can make armor out of chain, leather, iron, gold, diamond and Netherite, thanks to the 1.16 update. Each improvement is stronger and more durable, so it makes sense for players to try and upgrade their armor.
The same goes for weapons and tools, which come in wooden, stone, iron, gold, diamond and Netherite. These also improve with each level, so it's extremely beneficial to continue moving up. Here's how to do that.
How to upgrade gear in Minecraft
In technical terms, there is only one type of gear that can be upgraded: Diamond. The 1.16 update introduced Netherite and gave the smithing table a purpose.
Players can now take their diamond armor, weapon or tool and put it into a smithing table with a Netherite ingot to upgrade it to Netherite level. One Netherite ingot will upgrade each item, which is helpful since Netherite is very difficult to find.
Netherite can only be made by finding Ancient Debris in the Nether, which can then be smelted into Netherite Scraps. Four of those and four gold ingots will make one Netherite ingot, which can be used on the smithing table.
This is the opposite of how every other level of gear is made. Diamond is the only upgradeable level in vanilla Minecraft. Everything else is crafted individually.
Unfortunately, that means that the lower levels of items become essentially useless. Once players move up to stone pickaxes, the wooden one has no use anymore. The same can be said when players finally get enough iron to make a full set of armor.
In order to make better versions of each item, it needs to be crafted. A certain number of leather, ingots (gold, iron) and diamonds will make each part of the armor set:
- Helmets require five
- Chestplates require eight
- Leggings require seven
- Boots require four
Tools and weapons require sticks as well as resources:
- Swords need one stick and two resources
- Axes need two sticks and three resources
- Pickaxes need two sticks and three resources
- Hoes need two sticks and two resources
- Shovels need two sticks and one resource
Unfortunately, there's nothing that can be done about the old versions once gamers "upgrade." They can get rid of them by dropping them into lava, but they serve no use once Minecraft players have moved on.
