You finally found it. After dodging wardens in a Deep Dark city or getting shot at by piglins in a Bastion Remnant, you have a Smithing Template. It’s small, it looks like a weird piece of stone, and if you aren’t careful, you’re going to lose it the second you use it. Minecraft’s Trails & Tales update changed the endgame aesthetic forever, but honestly, the system is a bit of a resource sink if you don't know the math behind it.
Armor trim is purely cosmetic. It doesn’t make your Netherite chestplate stronger, and it won’t stop a Creeper from blowing up your front porch. But it’s the only way to stop looking like every other player on a multiplayer server.
The Absolute Basics of How to Use Armor Trim
To get started, you need three specific things. You need the Smithing Template, a piece of Armor, and a Color Material.
You can’t just craft these in a 3x3 grid. You have to use a Smithing Table. If you’ve been playing Minecraft for a decade, you probably remember when the Smithing Table was only for turning Diamond gear into Netherite. Now, the interface has three slots. The left slot is for the template, the middle is for your gear, and the right is for the "dye" (which is actually just ores like gold, emerald, or redstone).
Here is the kicker: the template is consumed on use.
If you find a rare Silence Armor Trim—which only has a 1.25% chance of spawning in Ancient City chests—and you click that button, it's gone. To get it on your leggings, boots, and helmet too, you have to find more or, more realistically, duplicate them.
Don't Forget to Duplicate First
Before you even think about how to use armor trim on your favorite set of gear, look at the recipe for duplication. It is expensive. Every single template requires seven diamonds and one specific "support" block to make a copy.
For example, if you want to clone a Sentry Armor Trim, you need seven diamonds and one block of Cobblestone. For the Wayfinder Trim, you need Terracotta. The most painful ones are the Netherite Upgrade templates (which technically function like trims now) and the rare trims like Ward or Spire, because the diamonds add up fast. You’re looking at 28 diamonds just to get a matching set for one suit of armor.
Where to Find the Best Patterns
The game has 16 standard trims, plus the Netherite Upgrade. They aren't all equal. Some are basically "starter" trims, while others are status symbols.
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- Coast Trim: Found in Shipwrecks. These are easy to find and great for early-game customization.
- Vex Trim: This one is in Woodland Mansions. Since Mansions are often thousands of blocks from spawn, this is a bit of a trek.
- Snout Trim: You’ll find this in Bastion Remnants. It has a chunky, piglin-inspired look.
- Eye Trim: Located in Stronghold library chests. It adds a literal "Eye of Ender" look to your chestpiece.
- Silence Trim: The king of trims. It’s found in Ancient Cities and covers almost the entire armor set in a complex, woven pattern.
Kinda wild how the difficulty of the structure usually correlates to how cool the trim looks. Finding a Tide Trim requires killing Elder Guardians in Ocean Monuments. It’s a 20% drop rate, which sounds high, but fighting those laser-shooting fish is never a fun afternoon.
Picking Your Colors
The material you use in the third slot determines the color of the pattern. You can use:
- Iron Ingots (Grey/White)
- Copper Ingots (Orange)
- Gold Ingots (Yellow)
- Netherite Ingots (Black/Dark Grey)
- Emeralds (Green)
- Redstone Dust (Red)
- Lapis Lazuli (Blue)
- Amethyst Shards (Purple)
- Quartz (White/Bright)
- Diamonds (Light Blue)
A major mistake people make is trying to use a material that matches the armor. You can’t put a Diamond trim on Diamond armor and expect it to pop. The game allows it, but it’s subtle—sorta like a matte finish on a glossy car. If you want high contrast, put Gold or Amethyst on Netherite. It looks incredible. Redstone on Iron armor gives a "blood-stained" or high-tech vibe that is popular on PvP servers.
The Netherite Problem
Since version 1.20, you cannot just put a Netherite Ingot and a Diamond Pickaxe in a table to upgrade it. You now need a Netherite Upgrade Smithing Template.
These only spawn in Bastions. This was a controversial move by Mojang because it makes getting the best gear in the game significantly harder. You have to raid a dangerous structure just to unlock the ability to use your ingots. If you find one, do not use it immediately. Use seven diamonds to copy it. If you lose your Netherite gear in lava and don't have a backup template, you’re heading back to the Nether for a very stressful treasure hunt.
Style Strategies and Visual Nuance
Most players just slap the same trim on every piece. That’s fine. But if you want to actually look like an expert, mix and match the templates while keeping the color consistent.
Try using the Ward Trim (from Ancient Cities) on the chestplate for a bulky, armored look, but use the Vex Trim on the boots for something sleeker. As long as you use the same material—let’s say, Emerald—across all four pieces, the set will look unified rather than messy.
Also, consider the "trim logic" of your specific world. If you live in a desert biome, using Copper (which turns green over time? No, wait—in the Smithing Table, the copper stays orange on the armor) gives a warm, rustic feel. If you’re a technical player living in a futuristic base, Quartz on Netherite is the cleanest look you can get.
Technical Limitations to Keep in Mind
You cannot trim horse armor. It’s a bummer, I know. You also can’t trim leather armor, because leather is already dyeable in millions of colors. The system is strictly for Chainmail, Iron, Gold, Diamond, and Netherite.
Interestingly, you can trim Turtle Shells. Putting a Gold trim on a Turtle Shell makes you look like some kind of swamp king.
If you change your mind, you can’t "wash" the trim off in a cauldron like you can with leather dye. To change a trim, you just overlay a new one. However, this consumes the new template and the new material, so mistakes are expensive. Diamonds don't grow on trees, unless you're playing with specific mods, but in vanilla, you're going to be mining for hours to fix a bad fashion choice.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Session
If you’re sitting on a pile of ores and want to optimize your look, follow this specific workflow to avoid losing resources:
- Step 1: Secure the Template. Don't go looking for Silence or Ward until you have maxed-out gear. Go for Coast (Shipwrecks) or Wild (Jungle Temples) first to practice the mechanic.
- Step 2: The 7-Diamond Rule. Never use your last template. Ever. Always keep one in a chest at your base and only use the copies you’ve crafted.
- Step 3: Test in Creative. If you are playing on a world where resources are scarce, open a creative testing world. Check how "Amethyst on Netherite" actually looks in different lighting before you spend the Shards and Diamonds in your main survival world.
- Step 4: The Netherite Exception. If you are raiding a Bastion, specifically look for the "Treasure Room" variant. It has a 100% chance to house a Netherite Upgrade template in the central chest. Other Bastion types only have a roughly 10% chance.
- Step 5: Resource Management. Start an Amethyst farm (Geodes) and a Gold farm (Nether roof) early. Trimming a full collection of armor sets is the ultimate late-game goal, and you’ll burn through stacks of materials faster than you think.
Armor trimming is the first time Minecraft has given us a true "gold sink"—a way to use up all those late-game riches. It turns a standard suit of protection into something personal. Just remember: duplicate before you decorate.