3 fastest ways to get emeralds in Minecraft

Obtaining emeralds has been a constant challenge for Minecraft players since it was introduced a few years ago. Emeralds are the most valuable item in the game, they're the key component in villager trading, and also the rarest ore and gem available in Minecraft.

There are not many ways to obtain emeralds in Minecraft, but players have searched long and hard to figure out the absolute best and fastest ways. These methods vary greatly, but end with more emeralds in the player's inventory. Here are the three fastest ways to get emeralds in Minecraft.

The Three fastest ways to get emeralds in Minecraft

Mining

Mining emeralds (Image via wikihow)

The best way to find emeralds in Minecraft is to mine. While this ore is rare, players will still be able to find it in the mountains. Emerald ore only spawns in mountain biomes, which makes it rare and difficult to find. Emerald ore also only ever spawn in veins, making them far and few between.

There are certain seeds that make it easier for the player to find emeralds, such as seeds with large mountain biomes. Players should play on these seeds when hunting for emeralds, as they will be able to find the most.

Players who mine for emeralds should also enchant their pickaxe with fortune. Emeralds mined without a fortune enchantment will only ever drop one emerald. With Fortune 3 on the pickaxe, players can potentially get up to 4 emeralds per emerald ore.

Trading

Each trade in Minecraft will involve emeralds. Either the villager is offering emeralds for a certain amount of goods, or the villager is offering certain goods for an amount of emeralds. This means there are many trades that players can make to collect emeralds from villagers.

A few of the best trades for obtaining emeralds are coal, crops, and other easily attainable items. Often these trades only require about 20 of a certain item for one emerald. These trades are especially lucrative for players with an abundance of easily attainable items like coal and crops.

Treasure

Shipwreck in Minecraft (Image via education.minecraft)

There are several naturally generated structures in Minecraft that have emeralds within their chests. The naturally generated structures that spawn emeralds are buried treasure, desert temples, end cities, igloos, villages, jungle temples, shipwrecks, and underwater ruins. Each of these has different chances of spawning emeralds within their chests.

• In buried treasure, there’s a 59.9% chance of 4-8 emeralds spawning.
• In desert temples, there’s an 18% of 1-3 emeralds spawning.
• In End Cities, there’s an 9% chance of 2-6 emeralds spawning.
• In Igloos, there’s a 7.6% chance of 1 emeralds spawning.
• In jungle temples, there’s an 8.7% chance of 1-3 emeralds spawning.
• In shipwrecks, there’s a 73.7% chance of 1-5 emeralds spawning.
• In underwater ruins, there’s about a 15% of 1 emerald spawning.
• In Villages, there’s a wide variety of chances of emeralds spawning in different villager chests.