Ancient cities are huge ruins deep underground in the deep dark. They have some of the best loot in the game, but they are also home of the Warden, a mob strong enough to kill you in a few hits. The trick is to stay quiet.
You will need
- White wool
- Snowball
- Echo shard
- Recovery compass
- Golden apple
- Sculk shrieker
- Sculk sensor
Where to find them
- Ancient cities only spawn in the deep dark biome, and the floor is always at Y -51.
- The deep dark is usually under mountains. Look for black sculk blocks on cave floors.
- Explorer maps from abandoned camps can point to one.
How the Warden wakes up
- Sculk sensors hear noise like walking, mining and placing blocks.
- Sculk shriekers scream when they hear you. Every scream raises the warning level.
- After a few warnings, the Warden digs out of the ground and hunts you by sound and smell.
How to stay quiet
- Sneak all the time. Sneaking does not set off sensors.
- Walk on wool or carpet. Sound does not travel through wool. The city already has gray wool on many floors.
- Breaking blocks makes noise too. Cover nearby sensors with wool before you break a shrieker, and use a hoe so it breaks fast.
- Throw snowballs or arrows to make noise somewhere else and distract the Warden.
- Do not open chests near sensors you have not dealt with.
The best loot
- Swift Sneak books: lets you walk fast while sneaking. Only found here.
- Echo shards: craft 8 of them with a compass for a recovery compass, which points to where you last died.
- Enchanted golden apples, diamond gear, Mending books.
- Ward and Silence armor trims. Silence is one of the rarest trims in the game.
- Music disc fragments and the disc "5".
If the Warden comes out
Run. The Warden has huge health and hits through shields. It can also shoot a sonic boom through walls. Pillar up, run far away, or block yourself in with wool and wait. It digs back into the ground after a minute without hearing you.
Want to know more? See our boss mobs guide.
