After being announced in Minecraft Live 2020 as part of the new update, these miniature biomes entered the game, bringing with them a selection of new blocks.
In this article, we are going to look at how to find an amethyst geode, how to farm one and explore the items you can craft from the new resources.
How To Find An Amethyst Geode
Amethyst geodes spawn underground in the overworld between Y=30 and Y=-58. Every chunk initially had a 1/24 chance of generating the new biome when Minecraft 1.17 came into effect.
However, amethyst geodes increased in rarity as updates became available and were lowered to a 1/53 chance of generation in any given chunk.
What Can You Expect To Find?
The formation of amethyst geodes is unique to the overworld in minecraft. They are small, spherical biomes that will likely spawn as part of a cave, aquifer or canyon.
The outer layer of the geode is made up of smooth basalt, which is a dark block that can be a giveaway in cave systems at higher Y levels.
The inner layer is formed out of calcite, which is a bright white block that stands out anywhere in the overworld.
Inside the geode, you will find purple amethyst blocks on which amethyst buds will start to grow. From these budding amethysts, full amethyst clusters will grow and be ready for farming.
Finding An Amethyst Geode By Caving
The geode emits a small amount of light from inside, which is a more subtle feature to watch out for when searching in caves.
The blocks that amethyst geodes are generated with also provide an obvious clue when you mine your way into one. Smooth basalt is a block that looks out of place in the overworld, especially when it generates next to smooth stone.
The white calcite and purple amethyst blocks are also an obvious indication of an amethyst geode as their colors are so unusual to find in the overworld.
Finding An Amethyst Geode Using Chunk Base
If you would prefer to skip the exploration part and get straight to finding an amethyst geode, you can use Chunk Base to speed up the process.
Enter your world seed here and Chunk Base will show you a map of every amethyst geode location in your world.
You will receive the full X, Y and Z coordinates of each geode, which makes finding one extremely quick and simple.
If you intend on farming multiple geodes, it is always a good idea for geodes that are within a few chunks of each other. This way, you will be able to keep multiple geode chunks loaded at once and maximize the amount of amethyst shards you can farm.
How To Farm An Amethyst Geode
Most Minecraft players use amethyst geodes to farm amethyst shards. There are multiple methods of farming amethyst shards, but let’s look at how to obtain them first.
Tools
Breaking a fully grown amethyst cluster with any tool will result in 2 amethyst shards being dropped from a cluster. This is true of all tools unless they have a fortune enchantment on them.
Pickaxes are the only tool that will produce a greater drop without the fortune enchantment. A regular pickaxe will produce 4 amethyst shards for every fully grown cluster.
Fortune Pickaxes
Fortune pickaxes will increase the amount of shards that a cluster drops at the same rate as any other ores.
Fortune I provides a 1/3 chance of 8 shards being dropped.
Fortune II provides a 25% chance of 8 or 12 shards being dropped.
Fortune III provides a 20% chance of 8, 12 or 16 shards being dropped.
Be aware that results can vary between amethyst clusters, as with any other ore being mined with the fortune enchantment.
Silk Touch Pickaxe
You can also mine a full amethyst cluster with silk touch, which allows you to take the full purple crystal and use it as decoration or for mining with the fortune enchantment later.
Redstone
Redstone isn’t your most efficient way of farming amethyst crystals, but it is definitely an option to consider.
Pushing an amethyst cluster with a piston will result in 2 shards being dropped every time, which is the same result as mining with any tool other than a pickaxe.
Amethyst Buds
Amethyst buds are growing clusters, so they are not ready for mining during this process. If you mine an amethyst bud before it has completed its growth into a cluster, you will receive no drops from it.
Therefore, allow buds to grow into full clusters before mining them.
Crafting With Resources From Amethyst Geodes
Obtaining some of the amethyst geode’s new blocks gives you the opportunity to craft some unique items.
Spyglass
Crafted using 2 copper ingots and 1 amethyst shard, you can zoom in on faraway land without having to install mods.
Tinted Glass
Crafted using 4 amethyst shards and 1 glass block, you will receive 2 blocks of tinted glass for decoration.
Block Of Amethyst
Crafted with 4 amethyst shards, you can return them to a full amethyst block for decoration or growing more clusters.
Final Thoughts
Using everything in this article, you should have all the information you need to find and farm Minecraft’s amethyst geode.
My name is Ashley Newby and I want to put integrity back into esports and get the hype surrounding them paramount once more. During my teenage years, I happened to stumble across a Street Fighter tournament online and I was hooked.
From that day, I have kept up with and watched many tournaments including Valorant, Super Smash Bros, and League of Legends. I even got to compete in my first one earlier this year!
