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Minecraft has offered many ore blocks over years of development, but which one is the least useful of the bunch? Which in-game ore has little to offer compared to its counterparts? The answer might depend on the player, but there's no denying that some ores are used much more often than others. They all might have their uses, but some ores could certainly use some work.
As of the Trails & Tales update, Minecraft possesses 11 different mineable ore blocks, and that number rises even higher if deepslate ore block variants are considered. However, out of all of these ores, a strong argument can be made that emerald ore is the least useful of the bunch.
Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's opinions.
Why is emerald ore the least useful in Minecraft?
Although emeralds and emerald ore have their uses in Minecraft, the list of applications is incredibly small compared to other mineral types. Mining emerald ore, as the name implies, yields emeralds, which only have a few uses in the game as of this writing. They can be combined to craft emerald blocks or used as a trading currency with villagers and the Wandering Trader.
Besides those two uses, players could use a Silk Touch tool to mine the ore block itself, which might make for a nice decoration or building block. Emeralds, much like other minerals, can also be used to colorize in-game armor trims in Minecraft at a smithing table, creating an emerald-green coloration. However, that's more or less where the uses of emeralds and emerald ore end.
All things considered, players can farm emeralds from villagers much more efficiently than mining in many situations. Since that's the case, that really just leaves emeralds as a building and decorating material, which isn't exactly ideal for the mineral or its ore block. Mining extra emeralds is nice, but knowledge of Minecraft villager trading mechanics can easily trump the need to mine emeralds at all.
Unfortunately, emeralds aren't particularly useful in the sandbox game beyond trading and armor trimming for the most part, but perhaps Mojang can expand upon them in future updates. There's certainly plenty of potential for emeralds, but it doesn't appear that they're prioritized for the upcoming 1.21 update, as copper ore/ingots are receiving new craftable blocks instead.
Mojang's landmark sandbox/survival game has many years ahead of it, and it isn't inconceivable to think that the developer will eventually revisit many existing ore blocks, emerald included. Copper is receiving additional blocks, so it might only be a matter of time before emeralds become more than a currency with some slight building and customization capabilities.
