Ancient Cores

What it does

This mod adds a collection of mid- and late-game content designed to offer alternatives to Minecraft’s usual stone → iron → diamond → netherite progression.

The early options

The new silver and bronze gear sets sit at the same tier as iron, though both are slightly less durable. Bronze makes up for this with higher enchantability, making it a good middle ground between iron and gold. Silver tools, meanwhile, are naturally effective against undead mobs without any enchantments.

The Preciousss!

Ancient Cores comes with two siblings to diamonds – rubies and sapphires (never been done before). Both differ slightly in damage and efficiency, but honestly, pick your favourite color.

It’s in the Title

Yes, Ancient Cores adds… Ancient Cores! _hush!_
Find powerful ancient essence in the End and crystallize it to fuse Nether Stars into metal, creating some of the strongest gear in the game. On their own, core items aren’t much stronger than netherite, but each piece comes with a unique magic perk. Want to run on lava? Put on some Magma Core boots. There are plenty of fun options, and the system is designed to be expanded later.

Enchantments!!!

Visit a librarian, use an enchanting table, or even go fishing, and you’ll find a heavily expanded selection of enchantments. What might ‘Heating Touch’ do? Are you ready for ‘Dark Curse’?
Just be careful: not all of them are compatible.

Crushing

Similar to smelting, crushing lets you turn one item into another: cobblestone to gravel, gravel to sand, sand to nothing. Use a Crusher or a hammer and experiment with different blocks and items, since some of them help automate resources that are limited in vanilla.