Step 1: ancient debris
Ancient debris generates in the Nether around Y = 8–22 (peak ~Y 15) at roughly one vein per chunk, immune to lava and floating in netherrack. Bed mining with beds (they explode in the Nether) or TNT is the standard harvest — bring fire resistance and never dig the block you stand on.
Step 2: scrap to ingot
Smelt debris into netherite scrap. 4 scrap + 4 gold ingots = 1 netherite ingot at the crafting table — gold is the alloy, which is why piglin bartering and gold farms pair so well with netherite runs.
Step 3: the smithing template
Since 1.20, upgrading diamond gear needs a netherite upgrade smithing template — found in bastion remnant chests (7 diamonds + template + the diamond item + netherite ingot at the smithing table). Templates duplicate: 1 template + 7 diamonds + 1 netherrack copies it, so grab two from your first bastion. Upgrades keep all enchantments and cost nothing in levels.
