How to use the Diamond Finder
The Diamond Finder shows every diamond in your Java seed, block by block. It replays the game's four diamond features for each chunk, drops the blocks the game would discard next to caves, and marks each vein with its size, Y level and whether you will see it from a cave or need to tunnel to it. Enter a seed, zoom in and dig straight down to the coordinates.
- Type or paste your seed, choose Java Edition and the version your world was created in (diamonds moved in 1.18).
- Zoom in until blocks are a pixel wide: every diamond vein appears as a cyan square with its block count, and zooming further shows each block.
- Press a preset below, or set the Y range and pick “Fully buried” for strip mining or “Touching a cave” for caving.
- Open “Nearest deposits” to list the closest diamonds to spawn or your own X Y Z, then copy the coordinates or a /tp command.
Quick presets
- Strip-mining layerBuried diamonds between Y -64 and -54, where branch mines go.
- Visible from cavesDiamonds touching a cave: you can spot them while exploring.
- Big veins onlyHide single blocks: veins of six diamonds or more.
- Exact matches onlyOnly deposits the model is sure of, no cave-wall guesses.
- Old world (before 1.18)The old Y 1–16 diamond layer for worlds made in 1.16 or 1.17.
The four diamond features
Since 1.18 a chunk can get diamonds from four separate features. Small veins are tried several times per chunk on a triangle height curve that gets denser towards bedrock. A medium vein (1.20 and later) adds a few more deep blocks, a large vein of up to about a dozen blocks turns up roughly once every nine chunks, and a buried batch places veins that never touch air.
Each feature gets its own random seed from the world seed, the chunk position and the feature's index, so the same seed always produces the same diamonds. The finder runs exactly that sequence, which is why the coordinates match a fresh world block for block.
Why diamonds vanish next to caves
Every diamond block that would touch air has a chance to be skipped: half the time for the small and medium veins, most of the time for the large one, and always for the buried batch. That is why a cave wall rarely shows a full vein and why the best diamonds are usually one block behind the stone.
The finder rebuilds the terrain the same way the game does, with noise caves, carver caves, ravines and the bedrock floor, and applies the same rule. A deposit next to a flooded cave or a lava lake is labelled Likely rather than Exact, because water and lava are not simulated block for block.
Mining the diamonds you find
Use an iron pickaxe or better: stone or gold pickaxes break diamond ore without dropping anything. Fortune III raises the average to about 2.2 diamonds per ore, so save the big veins for a Fortune pickaxe, or mine them with Silk Touch and place the ore later.
At Y -58 the deepslate is slow to break, so bring Efficiency and a stack of food, and watch for lava below Y -54. Tunnel two blocks high to the exact coordinates instead of strip mining blindly: the map tells you which vein is closest and how many blocks it holds.
Editions and versions
| Dimension | Overworld |
|---|---|
| Java Edition | 1.13 – 26.3, exact block positions (terrain and noise caves modelled) |
| Bedrock Edition | Java only: Bedrock decorates chunks with a different random generator, so nothing is shown rather than wrong ores |
Questions
What is the best Y level for diamonds?
Y -58 or -59 in 1.18 and later: diamonds get more common the deeper you go, and that height stays just above the lava lakes near the bottom. In 1.17 and earlier, mine at Y 11 or 12.
Is the Diamond Finder accurate?
It replays the game's own diamond placement and terrain for your seed. In our block-by-block comparison against worlds generated by the official Java server, 96 to 99% of the diamonds shown were really there and it found nearly all of them. Each vein is labelled Exact or Likely.
Does the Diamond Finder work on Bedrock?
No. Bedrock places ores with a different random number generator that nobody has reproduced, so the map shows Java Edition only instead of guessing wrong positions.
How many diamonds are in a chunk?
It varies a lot: many chunks have none, most have a few, and a chunk with a large vein can hold ten or more. Use the Big veins preset to hide the singles and see the best ones.
Can I use it on a server or realm?
Yes, if you know the world seed (/seed shows it on Java when you have permission). Only chunks generated in the version you pick will match, so pick the version the area was first explored in.
Updated · data for Minecraft Java up to 26.3