Smithing templates in Minecraft are tiny little items with the emotional power of a diamond tax bill. You finally find one, proudly run home, slap it into a smithing table, and thenpoofit is gone. Minecraft does not gently whisper, “Please duplicate this first.” It lets you learn the hard way, like stepping on powdered snow in leather-free boots.
This complete guide explains how to make smithing templates in Minecraft, how to duplicate them, where to find the first one, how to use them for armor trims and netherite upgrades, and which materials you need for every template. The most important thing to know is this: you cannot craft an original smithing template from nothing in vanilla Minecraft. You must find one first, then “make” more by duplicating it at a crafting table.
What Are Smithing Templates in Minecraft?
Smithing templates are special items used in the smithing table to upgrade or customize gear. There are two main types: the Netherite Upgrade Smithing Template and Armor Trim Smithing Templates.
The Netherite Upgrade template is required when turning diamond armor, tools, or weapons into netherite gear. Armor trim templates are cosmetic patterns that decorate helmets, chestplates, leggings, and boots. They do not increase armor strength, durability, protection, toughness, or your ability to look calm while being chased by a baby zombie. They simply make armor look cooler.
Can You Craft Smithing Templates From Scratch?
No. In vanilla Minecraft, you cannot craft a brand-new smithing template without already owning one. The first template must be found through exploration, structure loot, archaeology, vault rewards, or mob drops depending on the template type.
Once you have one template, you can duplicate it. That is what most players mean when they ask how to make smithing templates in Minecraft. The game gives you a way to copy them, but it charges seven diamonds per duplicate craft. Apparently, Minecraft looked at our diamond stash and said, “Nice savings account. Shame if fashion happened to it.”
How to Make More Smithing Templates
Smithing Template Duplication Recipe
To duplicate a smithing template, open a crafting table and combine:
- 1 existing smithing template
- 7 diamonds
- 1 matching base material or block
This recipe produces 2 smithing templates. Since you used one template in the recipe, your real gain is one extra copy. It is expensive, but it saves you from repeatedly raiding dangerous structures just to decorate one more boot.
Basic Crafting Layout
Place the template in the top-middle slot, the matching material in the center slot, and diamonds in the other seven slots. If the recipe does not appear, check that you are using the correct base material for that specific template. A Snout template will not accept sandstone just because you asked nicely.
All Smithing Templates and Duplication Materials
Use this table as your quick cheat sheet for duplicating every major smithing template in Minecraft.
| Smithing Template | Where to Find It | Duplication Material |
|---|---|---|
| Netherite Upgrade | Bastion Remnant chests | Netherrack |
| Sentry Armor Trim | Pillager Outpost | Cobblestone |
| Dune Armor Trim | Desert Pyramid | Sandstone |
| Coast Armor Trim | Shipwreck | Cobblestone |
| Wild Armor Trim | Jungle Temple | Mossy Cobblestone |
| Vex Armor Trim | Woodland Mansion | Cobblestone |
| Ward Armor Trim | Ancient City | Cobbled Deepslate |
| Silence Armor Trim | Ancient City | Cobbled Deepslate |
| Tide Armor Trim | Elder Guardian drop | Prismarine |
| Snout Armor Trim | Bastion Remnant | Blackstone |
| Rib Armor Trim | Nether Fortress | Netherrack |
| Eye Armor Trim | Stronghold | End Stone |
| Spire Armor Trim | End City | Purpur Block |
| Wayfinder Armor Trim | Trail Ruins suspicious gravel | Terracotta |
| Raiser Armor Trim | Trail Ruins suspicious gravel | Terracotta |
| Shaper Armor Trim | Trail Ruins suspicious gravel | Terracotta |
| Host Armor Trim | Trail Ruins suspicious gravel | Terracotta |
| Bolt Armor Trim | Trial Chamber vaults | Copper Block or Waxed Copper |
| Flow Armor Trim | Trial Chamber ominous vaults | Breeze Rod |
How to Use a Smithing Template
Using a Netherite Upgrade Template
To upgrade diamond gear into netherite, open a smithing table and add three things: a Netherite Upgrade Smithing Template, a diamond armor piece or diamond tool, and a netherite ingot. The result is a netherite version of that item.
This works for diamond helmets, chestplates, leggings, boots, swords, pickaxes, axes, shovels, and hoes. The template and netherite ingot are consumed, so do not toss your only upgrade template into the smithing table unless you are prepared to go back to a bastion and negotiate with piglins using panic.
Using an Armor Trim Template
To apply an armor trim, open a smithing table and combine an armor trim template, an armor piece, and a trim material. The template decides the pattern. The material decides the color.
Valid trim materials include iron, copper, gold, lapis lazuli, emerald, diamond, netherite, redstone, amethyst, quartz, and newer versions also support Resin Brick as a trim material. The armor trim is visual only, but let us be honest: looking amazing while doing ordinary Minecraft chores is half the game.
Best Way to Get Your First Netherite Upgrade Template
The Netherite Upgrade Smithing Template is found in bastion remnants in the Nether. Treasure room bastions are especially valuable because they contain guaranteed upgrade templates. However, bastions are not casual vacation homes. They are packed with piglins, piglin brutes, lava hazards, awkward bridges, and the kind of architecture that says, “Yes, falling is part of the tour.”
Before hunting for a Netherite Upgrade template, bring gold armor to avoid angering normal piglins, fire resistance potions, blocks for bridging, strong food, a bow or crossbow, and a shield if you are playing in a version where shields fit your combat style. Piglin brutes do not care about your gold outfit. They are the bouncers of the Nether, and your invitation is not on the list.
Best Way to Get Armor Trim Templates
Armor trims are scattered across Minecraft’s major structures. If you want an efficient collection route, start with easier Overworld structures such as shipwrecks, desert pyramids, pillager outposts, and jungle temples. Then move toward harder locations like ancient cities, ocean monuments, bastions, nether fortresses, strongholds, end cities, and trial chambers.
Trail Ruins are different because their templates come from suspicious gravel. Bring a brush and patience. You are not opening chests here; you are doing archaeology, which is Minecraft’s way of saying, “Please dust this suspicious block and hope it is not another pottery sherd.”
Should You Duplicate Before Using?
Yes. Always duplicate rare templates before using them. This is especially important for Silence, Flow, Netherite Upgrade, and any template you traveled a long distance to find. The first copy should go into storage. The second copy can be used, displayed, traded on a server, or duplicated again later.
A smart system is to keep one “master template” in a labeled chest or item frame near your crafting area. Never use the master copy. Duplicate from it when needed. This habit prevents the classic Minecraft tragedy: using your only rare template and then staring at the empty slot like a creeper just deleted your soul.
How Many Templates Do You Need?
For a full armor trim set, you need four uses of the same armor trim template: one for the helmet, one for the chestplate, one for the leggings, and one for the boots. Since each use consumes a template, you should have at least four copies if you want a complete matching set.
For netherite gear, the number depends on how many diamond items you want to upgrade. A full armor set requires four Netherite Upgrade templates. A full practical tool-and-weapon kit may require several more. If you want a netherite sword, pickaxe, axe, shovel, hoe, and full armor, prepare for a serious diamond and ancient debris grind.
Best Armor Trim Combinations
The best armor trim combination depends on your style, but some pairings consistently look excellent. Gold trims on netherite armor create a royal Nether-warrior look. Redstone trims on black or dark armor look aggressive and dramatic. Amethyst trims create a clean purple glow, while diamond trims look sharp on iron and netherite.
For themed builds, match the trim to your base. Ocean base? Try Tide with prismarine-colored styling. Desert kingdom? Dune with gold or quartz looks perfect. Ancient city survivor? Ward or Silence with echo-shaded blocks nearby creates a mysterious display. Trial chamber fan? Flow and Bolt trims feel fresh, energetic, and slightly like your armor learned parkour.
Common Smithing Template Mistakes
Using the Only Copy
The biggest mistake is using your only template before duplicating it. Because templates are consumed, this can force you to revisit dangerous structures. Always copy first.
Confusing Netherite Upgrade With Armor Trims
The Netherite Upgrade template changes diamond gear into netherite gear. Armor trim templates decorate armor. A trim will not upgrade your sword, and the upgrade template will not give your chestplate a fancy pattern.
Forgetting the Correct Duplication Material
Each template has its own required material. If the recipe fails, the problem is usually the center ingredient. Check the duplication table and try again.
Thinking Trims Add Protection
Armor trims are cosmetic. They do not make armor stronger. They do, however, make you look dramatically more prepared while losing a fight to three skeletons in a cave.
Field-Tested Experience: What Actually Works When Making Smithing Templates
After spending enough time hunting smithing templates, the best advice is simple: treat templates like rare collectibles, not disposable crafting junk. The first time many players find a template, they immediately use it because the smithing table is right there, glowing with possibility. That excitement is understandable. It is also exactly how people accidentally turn a rare discovery into a one-time decoration.
The smoothest experience is to build a small “template station” near your main storage room. Put down a smithing table, crafting table, anvil, grindstone, and labeled chests for diamonds, trim materials, templates, and finished armor. This sounds overly organized until you are holding a Silence template, seven diamonds, and no idea where your cobbled deepslate went. Minecraft storage chaos is real. One minute you are a brave adventurer; the next minute you are opening 28 double chests labeled “misc.”
For survival worlds, duplicate templates in batches. If you plan to trim a full armor set, do not craft one copy, apply it, craft another copy, apply it, and repeat. That approach creates room for mistakes. Instead, gather all materials first, craft enough copies, then apply the trims in one session. It feels cleaner, and it reduces the risk of using your master copy by accident.
On multiplayer servers, templates become surprisingly social. Players often trade rare trims, build armor galleries, or create faction uniforms. A clan wearing matching Snout trims with gold accents looks like it has a whole constitution and possibly a tax system. In that environment, keeping one original template safe is even more important. Store it in an ender chest or a protected base area, not in a random barrel next to the community potato farm.
When hunting templates, prepare based on the structure. For shipwrecks and desert pyramids, basic gear is enough. For ancient cities, bring wool, snowballs, night vision, and the patience of a saint. For ocean monuments, water breathing and respiration are your best friends. For bastions, fire resistance is not optional unless your hobby is becoming barbecue. For trial chambers, bring strong armor, food, blocks, and inventory space because vault runs can shower you with useful loot and clutter at the same time.
The most satisfying strategy is to collect one template from each category before going wild with fashion. Once you have a full template library, armor customization becomes fun instead of stressful. You can experiment with colors, create display sets, decorate armor stands, or design outfits for different activities. Mining set? Maybe copper Coast trim. Nether set? Gold Rib trim. End raider set? Diamond Spire trim. Dramatic main-character set? Silence with resin or redstone on netherite. Subtle? No. Memorable? Absolutely.
In short, the best experience comes from slowing down. Find the template, duplicate it, protect the original, then style your gear. Minecraft rewards planning, even when that planning is mostly about not letting your expensive fashion coupon vanish forever.
Conclusion
Learning how to make smithing templates in Minecraft really means learning how to duplicate them. You cannot craft the first one from raw materials, but once you find a template, you can copy it with seven diamonds and the correct matching material. Use Netherite Upgrade templates for netherite gear, use armor trim templates for cosmetic designs, and always duplicate rare templates before using them.
Smithing templates turn exploration into identity. Your armor can show where you have been, what you survived, and how many diamonds you were willing to spend on drip. Is it practical? Sometimes. Is it stylish? Definitely. Is your friend in plain iron armor going to pretend they are not jealous? Also definitely.
