Ancient Cities are areas that spawn in the Deep Dark biome that’s been added as part of Minecraft’s The Wild update. These are, large, sprawling areas that contain chests and items which cannot be found anywhere else in the world, but they’re also home to the Warden mob, which is incredibly powerful and could spell the end to your adventuring days in Survival Mode. Problem is, actually trying to find an Ancient City in Minecraft can be tricky, especially trying to do so without dying. This guide will help explain the best method for finding an Ancient City in Minecraft.
Minecraft Ancient City Locations
The Ancient City only spawns in the Deep Dark biomes, which is a cave biome. It only generates below the Y-0 coordinates, however, the closer to bedrock you are, the more likely you are to find them, so you’re best mining around Y -52 and then keep going until you come across a Deep Dark biome. With a bit of luck, the Deep Dark biome will have an Ancient City in it.
Ancient Cities are also more likely to spawn under the mountain biomes like Snowy Slopes and Jagged Peaks that were released in the 1.18 update, so if you’ve got one of those nearby, or have the coordinates of one to teleport to in Minecraft, this could save you some time on tracking one down.
It’s worth noting that you need to be careful when mining for an Ancient City, as these are often very tall, cavernous locations. If you come in through the roof of one, you’re probably going to fall to your death, so be extra cautious and maybe carry your Elytra just in case.
Using Cheats to Find Ancient Cities
If you don’t mind using cheats, you can also use the /locate cheat to find an Ancient City. All you need to do is enter the following cheats in the chat box:
- Minecraft Java Edition Ancient City Location Cheat: /locate structure minecraft:ancient_city
- Minecraft Bedrock Edition Ancient City Location Cheat: /locate ancientcity
Once you’ve done this, you can use the /[email protected] cheat in the chat box to teleport to the coordinates of the Ancient City that it provides. Just like that, you’ll be transported over there, so you’re free to explore.
Ancient City Mobs
You need to be careful when exploring Ancient Cities, as if you trigger Sculk Shriekers or Sculk Sensors four times, a Warden will be summoned. It doesn’t have to be the same Shrieker or Sensor, either. This is a cumulative count on each individual player, so if you trigger four different Sculk Shriekers, a Warden will be summoned.
These are creepy-looking mobs that can deal out the most melee and ranged damage of any non-explosive mob in Minecraft.
It has 250 hearts of health points, basically making it an all-powerful killing machine. We’d recommend just running as soon as one of these pops up, as 9 times out of 10, a Warden will win if you try and fight it.
All Items in Ancient City Chests
Each Ancient City chest can contain any of the following items in Minecraft 1.19. It’s worth noting that each chest contains between 5 and 10 item stacks, but the chance of getting certain items like Coal and Books is far higher than they are for getting Enchanted Golden Apples and Diamond Horse Armor.
- Amethyst Shard
- Bone
- Book
- Bottle o’ Enchanting
- Candle
- Coal
- Compass
- Damaged Enchanted Diamond Hoe
- Diamond Horse Armor
- Disc Fragment
- Echo Shard
- Enchanted Book
- Enchanted Book
- Enchanted Diamond Leggings
- Enchanted Golden Apple
- Enchanted Iron Leggings
- Glow Berries
- Lead
- Music Disc 13
- Music Disc Cat
- Music Disc Otherside
- Name Tag
- Potion of Regeneration
- Saddle
- Sculk
- Sculk Catalyst
- Sculk Sensor
- Soul Torch
That’s everything you need to know on how to find Ancient City in Minecraft. For more of our Minecraft coverage, be sure to check out the links below.
