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I was playing the new 1.16 snapshot and was wondering where the best place to look for ancient debris would be.

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The best Y-coordinate to find Ancient Debris is Y-13, seeing as you are below the lava oceans and the ancient debris seem to spawn more frequently and in larger quantities. Hope this helps!

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    The Wiki says on average, Y=15 yields the most (see the graph). What makes you believe Y=13 is better? Sure it's not far off... but I'm curious.
    – Timmy Jim ♦
    Commented Mar 19, 2020 at 14:29
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    You would be able to see ancient debris spawning at y=15 if you were mining a 2x1 tunnel, and I used command blocks to survey the nether.
    – PaliKai
    Commented Mar 19, 2020 at 14:36
  • very interesting @PaliKai could you share information on the results across all Y levels?
    – Matthew
    Commented Mar 19, 2020 at 14:38
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    Due to the lack of netherack in the mid and high sectors of the nether, it would be more common in the lower portions of the nether, below the lava oceans. I noticed that the debris had larger quantities the lower you went.
    – PaliKai
    Commented Mar 19, 2020 at 14:41
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    I'm going to delete my answer, I based mine of knowledge of the two y levels they appeared, I think this is a much better answer given the work done :)
    – Matthew
    Commented Mar 19, 2020 at 14:46
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To be more specific, Ancient Debris is found most frequently when the player's y-level (as read on F3, for example) is 13 or 14.

In an idealized 1x2 tunnel, the player exposes 8 blocks for every block they move forward That's a block each for the ceiling and floor of the tunnel, and three blocks for each of the y-levels the player is moving through (with one block being mined and two on the sides). So, each of the y-levels that the player is moving through are 3/8ths of the exposed blocks, and the floor and ceiling y-levels are 1/8th each. As @TimmyJim said, surveying y-levels for Ancient Debris shows that Y=15 yields the most, with nearby levels decreasing at similar levels. Minecraft Wiki user Awikhax provides this chart:

Graph of Ancient Debris frequency vs. Y-Level

So, as long as either the lower or upper level that is being mined is at Y=15 (that is, NOT the ceiling or the floor of the tunnel), you should be at maximum efficiency, ignoring lava pools and the like. This means that the player y-level can either be 13 or 14.

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