How to find an Ancient City in Minecraft: Location, loot, more

Minecraft’s Ancient City is a gigantic structure full of mysteries. While tricky to locate, they’re great for exploration. Here’s everything you need to know to find an Ancient City in Minecraft.

Minecraft’s world contains several structures, each with its own unique aspects and associated loot, blocks, and mobs. These can be a great place to get resources in the early stages of the game, aside from giving players the opportunity to explore a brand-new section of their Minecraft world.

One of the most interesting structures players can find in the game is the Ancient City, which is quite dangerous to explore but yields rewards that are unique and cannot be found anywhere else in the game.

Here’s how you can locate the elusive Ancient City structure in the depths of Minecraft

• Minecraft: How to find an Ancient City
• Best items to loot from an Ancient City in Minecraft
• Things to remember when locating an Ancient City

Minecraft: How to find an Ancient City

Minecraft’s Ancient Cities are found at the deepest levels of the Minecraft world. Introduced as part of the Minecraft 1.19 update, this structure resides inside the Deep Dark biome at or below Y-51. Therefore, to reach an Ancient City, you’ll have to break the most important rule of Minecraft, which is to not dig straight down.

You’ll need to find a nearby cave system and keep heading down until you cross Y-50, since the Deep Dark biome is usually found around this level. After that, you’ll need to be on the lookout for blocks made of or with Sculk on them. Sculk is a blueish substance that covers blocks like cobblestone and tends to spread in its vicinity.

Once you’re in the Deep Dark, start searching for a wide space filled with deepslate structures, soul lanterns, gray carpets, and soul torches. This will indicate that you’ve entered an Ancient City.

Best items to loot from an Ancient City in Minecraft

There are around 29 items that can generate in the form of loot in Minecraft Ancient City chests. However, some of these are more likely to spawn than others and are therefore less valuable than their rarer counterparts.

The most common items to generate as Ancient City chest loot are:

• Coal
• Bones
• Soul torches
• Books
• Potion of Regeneration
• Enchanted Books

Similarly, the rarest items to generate as Ancient City chest loot are:

• Silence Armor Trim Smithing Template
• Ward Armor Trim Smithing Template
• A Music Disc named “Otherside”
• Enchanted Golden Apple

Things to remember when locating an Ancient City

Before you can delve into an Ancient City, there are a few things you need to be prepared for. Minecraft’s underground cave system is filled with hostile mobs, lava pits, and other elements that can end your Minecraft run prematurely. Here are some things to remember before embarking on your journey.

Craft some tools

You’ll need a bunch of different tools in order to make your journey easier. Use tools like a pickaxe and shovel. The former is great for breaking through many layers of stone, granite, and diorite you’ll encounter while heading down. The shovel, in addition, is great for removing blocks like dirt and gravel.

Craft armor, a shield, and weapons

Equip a full set of iron armor, a shield, and a weapon. You’ll be going through several cave systems on your way while searching for an Ancient City. Caves are a hub for dangerous mobs. Swords or axes can be great weapons to deal with them, and a shield will protect you from their attacks. Bows are great as well, assisting in long-range combat.

Move quietly inside the Deep Dark

Sneak when inside the Deep Dark biome, as it is filled with Sculk Sensors and Shriekers. The former can detect the tiniest hint of a sound around it, after which it alerts the latter. If triggered continuously, Sculk Shriekers will cause a Warden to spawn, which is a mob with more HP than the Ender Dragon. Therefore, try to limit the noise you make within an Ancient City.

Clear/Sort your inventory

Ancient Cities contain valuable loot, and leaving the structure without it while a Warden is trying to sniff you out of hiding can be frustrating to deal with. Sort your inventory before leaving and only carry items that are essential.

That’s everything you need to know in order to find and navigate around an Ancient City in Minecraft. For more content on the game, refer to our guides below:

How to get a saddle in Minecraft | How to make a lectern in Minecraft | How to grow mushrooms in Minecraft | How to make a compass in Minecraft | How to change Minecraft username | How to make a bed in Minecraft | How to dye leather armor in Minecraft | How to cure a Zombie villager in Minecraft | How to make and use a beacon in Minecraft