Whether you are speedrunning on your own or trying to beat others on Minecraft survival servers, iron serves as the pivotal game-changer. It not only unlocks an entire set of items for the players but, in itself, is reliable for armor, tools, and more. However, without the right spawn point, it can be a hassle to get your hands on the first iron ingot in the game. So, join us as we unveil the secrets of how to find iron in Minecraft 1.20 and unlock the best within no time.

How to Find Iron in Minecraft 1.20

Our guide goes over a variety of methods to obtain and use iron in Minecraft. But, if you want to find other minerals, please refer to our Minecraft 1.20 ore distribution guide. It contains spawn location, tips, and details about all mineral ores in the game.

What is Iron in Minecraft

Iron is one of the most important crafting minerals in the game. It allows you to create a variety of tools, armor, and weapons in the game. Furthermore, obtaining an iron pickaxe is an essential step towards unlocking more potent materials such as gold and diamond.

So, if you want to thrive on the best Minecraft SMP servers, it becomes crucial to learn how to find iron in Minecraft 1.20. Without it, you have to rely upon the mercy of your teammates and their skills.

How to Find Iron in Minecraft 1.20

There are a bunch of ways to obtain iron in Minecraft. Let's go over each of them to find the one that fits your gameplay.

Chest Loot

You can find iron ingots in the chests of the following structures of Minecraft:

• Dungeon
• Mineshaft
• Bastion Remnant
• Buried Treasure
• Desert Temple
• End City
• Jungle Temple
• Nether Fortress
• Pillager Outpost
• Shipwreck
• Stronghold
• Village
• Woodland Mansion
• Trial Chamber

Among these, the shipwreck and buried treasure chests have the highest chance of spawning with iron ingots in them. However, you can try your luck with other locations too. Even if you don't find this amazing mineral, you might end up with a few armor trims.

Mob Loot

While speedrunning, most players tend to search and kill Iron Golems to kill for obtaining iron ingots. This powerful mob drops 3 to 5 iron ingots whenever they dey. Though, make sure to use a sword or a crossbow to kill it as a few hits by the golem as enough to take you down.

Alternatively, you can also get iron ingots by killing husks, zombie villagers, and zombies. But they have less than a 2.5% chance of dropping it. So, instead of chasing these mobs, your best bet would be to learn how to find iron in Minecraft through mining.

Bartering

If you give gold ingots to a Piglin in the Nether dimension, it has a chance of bartering 9–36 iron nuggets. You can combine nine nuggets inside a crafting table to turn them into an iron ingot.

Where Does Iron Ore Spawn

Iron spawns in the form of ore blocks within Minecraft in the caves and underground areas of the overworld. They typically spawn between the world height Y=-32 and Y=256, making iron widely available in various terrains, from mountains to ravines.

However, the most amount of iron ore spawns around the world height of Y=16. But if you are playing on the best Minecraft mountain seeds then the best height to look for is 255 on the Java edition and 232 on the Bedrock edition. Not to forget, if you are extremely lucky, you can also find blocks of raw iron at inside ore veins below Y=0. Though, the rarity of these blocks makes them an unreliable source.

How to Mine Iron Ore in Minecraft

Once you have found the iron ore blocks in your world, follow these steps to obtain iron from them:

1. First, break down a tree's trunk to get logs or wood blocks. Then, place it inside the crafting grid to turn it into planks. You can also use the new bamboo wood for the same.

2. Then, place two planks vertically next to each other to obtain sticks in Minecraft.

3. Next, combine three planks with two sticks to make a wooden pickaxe. You can use any type of plank for this crafting recipe.

4. Then, find and mine stone blocks with your wooden pickaxe to obtain cobblestones. They usually spawn on the side of mountains and in the caves of the overworld.

5. Then, combine two sticks with three cobblestones to craft a stone pickaxe.

6. Finally, use your stone pickaxe to mine iron ore blocks and get raw iron.

7. As you might know, there is no way to use raw iron directly. Instead, you have to smelt it inside a furnace to get iron ingots. For the fuel of the furnace, you can use coal, charcoal, or even wooden planks.

How to Use Iron in Minecraft

Now that you know how to find iron in Minecraft, let's go over its uses and benefits:

• Crafting combat items including iron armor, sword, crossbow, pickaxe, axe, hoe, and shovel
• Trimming pieces of your armor in metallic grey texture using armor trims
• Crafting blocks of iron that can be turned into an Iron Golem
• Making iron bars, iron trapdoors, and iron horse armor
• Building items like an anvil, shears, compass, flint and steel, bucket, cauldron, and chains
• Building functional blocks like blast furnaces, stonecutters, and smithing table
• Making Redstone components like activator rail, rail, tripwire hook, pistons, minecarts, hoppers, and heavy-weighted pressure plate
• Powering a beacon

Furthermore, when you place iron ingots in the crafting grid it gives out 9 iron nuggets. You can use them to craft lanterns and soul lanterns.

Trade With Villagers

Crafting items and blocks isn't the only way to use iron ingots in Minecraft. You can even sell them to Apprentice-level armorer, toolsmith, and weaponsmith villagers in exchange for emeralds. Though, they only offer a single emerald in exchange for four ingots. So, unless you are trying to collect emeralds, it's best to use iron for crafting items.

Find and Use Iron in Minecraft

With access to iron in Minecraft, you are now ready to unlock bigger adventures in this game. One of the first steps would be to collect reliable food sources followed by exploring the caves. As you progress, you can gradually obtain Netherite, the game's most potent mineral. Though, it is advisable to carry a diamond sword or a similar weapon to handle hostile mobs encountered along the way. Moreover, investing in a Potion of Night Vision for cave exploration can be truly beneficial. Having said that, what are you going to use your iron ingots for? Drop your ideas in our Discord server and discover what everyone else is planning!