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Diamond in Minecraft: how to get it and what to spend it on

The diamond is the most sought-after mineral in the game. The usual way to get one is mining diamond ore with an iron pickaxe or better, which drops one diamond. Fortune can raise that, up to 4 with Fortune III, and Silk Touch gives you the ore block instead. It also turns up in loot chests, suspicious sand and the vaults of trial chambers; since each player can unlock a vault, that makes diamonds somewhat renewable.

Spending them is the big decision. They make diamond tools and armor, which can later be upgraded to netherite, and the enchanting table. They are also used to duplicate smithing templates, which otherwise only turn up in structures.

They also repair any diamond item in an anvil or grindstone, from the helmet to the spear. They can pay for a beacon power, though an iron ingot does the same job there. As an armor trim material they use a darker palette when the piece is already diamond.

In real life a freshly mined diamond is a rough, cloudy stone; only the largest and purest are polished into gems, and the rest go into industry for cutting and grinding.

Sources: minecraft.wiki/Diamond