Is netherite armor better than diamond armor?

Yes. It has much higher durability, better toughness, and adds knockback resistance. Dropped netherite items also survive lava instead of burning up.

Where do you find the netherite upgrade template?

Only in bastion remnants in the Nether. Treasure room chests always contain one, and you can duplicate a template with seven diamonds and a netherrack block.

How do you make a netherite ingot?

Smelt ancient debris from the Nether into netherite scraps, then craft four scraps together with four gold ingots to produce one ingot.

Do enchantments stay when you upgrade to netherite?

Yes. Upgrading a diamond piece on the smithing table preserves all of its enchantments and any armor trim, and it costs no experience.

How to Make Netherite Armor in Minecraft

Netherite sits alone at the top of Minecraft's armor ladder: tougher than diamond, resistant to knockback, and completely unfazed by lava. Nobody crafts it directly, though. Every netherite piece begins life as diamond gear and gets promoted, which makes the process a small expedition in itself. Here is the whole journey.

What a Full Set Requires

A complete diamond armor set (helmet, chestplate, leggings, boots)
4 netherite ingots
4 netherite upgrade smithing templates
A smithing table

Step 1: Get Netherite Ingots

Ingots start as ancient debris, buried in the Nether. It generates most reliably in the lowest stretches of the Nether, around Y=15, and it never spawns exposed to air, so you will be tunnelling through netherrack or using beds and TNT to blast chambers open. Smelt each debris block into a netherite scrap, then combine four scraps with four gold ingots in a crafting grid to make one ingot. Sixteen debris blocks stand behind every full armor set, so settle in.

Step 2: Find Upgrade Templates

The netherite upgrade template only generates in bastion remnants in the Nether. Treasure room chests at the heart of a bastion are guaranteed to hold one, and other bastion chests can contain them too. Bring gold armor to keep piglins calm and expect a fight regardless.

Here is the part many players miss: you do not need to raid four bastions. A template can be duplicated on a crafting table using the template itself, seven diamonds and one block of netherrack. Duplicating your first find three times costs 21 diamonds and 3 netherrack, which is far easier than finding three more treasure rooms.

Step 3: Upgrade on the Smithing Table

Place the smithing table and open it.
Put the upgrade template in the left slot.
Put the diamond armor piece in the middle slot.
Put a netherite ingot in the right slot.
Take the finished netherite piece from the output.

The upgrade costs no experience levels, and crucially, enchantments carry over. A Protection IV diamond chestplate becomes a Protection IV netherite chestplate. Repeat the process for all four pieces and the set is complete.

Why Netherite Is Worth It

Each piece has far more durability than diamond, and a full set grants strong knockback resistance, so skeletons and charging hoglins stop shoving you around. Netherite gear also floats in lava instead of burning when dropped, meaning a death in the Nether does not automatically delete your best equipment. It does not make you fireproof, though; you will last longer in lava, not swim in it.

Once the set exists, finish it properly: Mending and Protection IV on everything, Feather Falling IV on the boots, and an armor trim if you find a pattern you love. At that point you are about as prepared for the Ender Dragon, or the Warden, as Minecraft allows.

The same upgrade path works for your tools and weapons, by the way. A diamond pickaxe or sword goes on the smithing table with a template and an ingot in exactly the same way, and most players upgrade their pickaxe first of all, because the netherite version mines faster and survives the long ancient debris tunnels that produced it. A full netherite kit, armor and tools together, is the game's true graduation ceremony.