How to use the Wither to find ancient debris in Minecraft

The Wither is undoubtedly a dangerous foe in Minecraft, but its immense power can be used to benefit players. Doing so is admittedly pretty dangerous, but it can still be effective.

The explosive skulls that the Wither fires can detonate and reveal ancient debris blocks within the Nether. Considering how rare ancient debris blocks are and their key role in creating netherite, using the Wither to find them is far from the craziest method available to players.

Using the Wither is more dangerous than traditional mining or TNT mining for ancient debris. However, the results can be just as good in some situations if a player is willing to risk it.

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Using the Wither to reveal ancient debris blocks in Minecraft is tricky but worth the effort

Ancient debris is rare, so blasting away netherrack is a great way to find it in Minecraft (Image via Mojang)

Thanks to the high natural blast resistance of ancient debris blocks, Minecraft players won't have to worry about breaking or destroying them with detonations.

This is what makes methods like TNT mining and Wither mining so viable. The explosions created via both methods can devastate and shatter the surrounding blocks while keeping the ancient debris blocks secure and revealing them. This also saves players' tool durability in the long run, especially when it comes to mining.

Here's how you can summon a Wither and find ancient sebris in Minecraft:

1. Collect four pieces of soul sand or soul soil along with three wither skeleton skulls. Soul sand is found in the Nether and in ancient cities in the Overworld. Soul soil is found exclusively in soul sand valleys in the Nether. Meanwhile, wither skeleton skulls can only be obtained by killing wither skeletons in Minecraft. These mobs can be found in Nether fortresses and have a small chance of dropping a skull upon death, though this drop chance can be improved with the Looting enchantment.
2. Head to the Nether and descend down to the height level Y=15. This level has the highest potential possibility to spawn ancient debris.
3. Create a T shape with your soul sand or soul soil, and then line the three wither skeleton skulls atop the T shape. Once you've completed this step, run back as far as you possibly can.
4. When the Wither is "born" into the game world, it will create a large and powerful explosion that will immediately destroy a plethora of Minecraft blocks if they are nearby. Once the explosion is over, you'll be in combat with the Wither. If you stay far enough away from it, it should fire its skulls at you continuously. These skulls explode on impact and can destroy most Nether blocks and reveal the ancient debris underneath them.

This is the basic premise of using the Wither to reveal ancient debris in Minecraft. However, some players and in-game engineers have managed to trap the Wither in a machine where it is harmless but can still destroy surrounding blocks and reveal ancient debris blocks. Granted, this is an incredibly tricky ordeal, but dealing with the Wither in any capacity will always be dangerous.