How to Find the Ancient City in Minecraft – Mobs, Loot, Secret Room, and Portal Explained

The Ancient City in Minecraft is the most dangerous structure in the game. It sits deep underground in the Deep Dark biome, filled with sculk blocks that summon the Warden if you make too much noise. But the reward is worth it. The Ancient City holds exclusive loot you cannot find anywhere else, a hidden redstone room, and a mysterious portal-like structure at its center. This guide tells you everything you need to know before you go in.

• Ancient Cities generate at around Y=-51 in the Deep Dark biome.
• The only mob threat is the Warden — it spawns after 3 Sculk Shrieker activations.
• Exclusive loot includes Swift Sneak books, Echo Shards, and Disc Fragment 5.
• There is a secret redstone room hidden beneath the central portal structure.
• The portal-like frame cannot be activated — it is purely decorative.
• Always sneak and bring wool to silence Sculk Sensors.

Where Is the Ancient City in Minecraft?

Ancient Cities generate exclusively inside the Deep Dark biome. This biome only appears far underground, with cities centered at around Y=-51. The structure extends from roughly Y=-55 at the floor up to Y=-27 at its highest point.

You will recognize the Deep Dark biome by its dark blue-black sculk floor, sculk veins on nearby stone, and the complete absence of normal mob spawns. No skeletons, creepers, or zombies spawn here. The only danger comes from the Warden — and only if you trigger the sculk.

Ancient Cities have a footprint of around 220 blocks on each horizontal axis. They are massive. You may need to explore a large area before finding one, as not every Deep Dark biome contains an Ancient City.

How to Find the Ancient City Fast

What Mobs Are in the Ancient City?

The Ancient City itself has no mob spawners. Regular hostile mobs do not spawn in the Deep Dark biome under normal conditions. There are no zombies, skeletons, or spiders down here.

The only threat is the Warden. And it is a serious one.

The Warden

The Warden has 500 HP (250 hearts) and deals enough damage to kill a fully armored player in two hits. It is not meant to be fought. It is meant to be avoided. The Warden is blind and tracks you through sound and vibration, not sight.

It spawns after 3 Sculk Shrieker activations. Sculk Shriekers are the tall black blocks with white rims. Every time you walk over a Sculk Sensor while it is not silenced, or make noise near it, it sends a signal to nearby Shriekers. After 3 of those activation warnings, the Warden emerges from the ground.

If the Warden spawns, your best option is to run. Do not fight it. It will hunt you by sound for about 60 seconds. If you stay completely still and silent, it will eventually dig back underground and despawn. Read our full guide on how the Warden works in Minecraft for the full breakdown of its mechanics.

How to Survive the Ancient City Without Triggering the Warden

Always Sneak

Sneaking is the most important rule. Walking, running, or falling all create vibrations that Sculk Sensors pick up. Hold shift (or toggle sneak in your settings) the entire time you are in the Ancient City. Swift Sneak enchanted leggings, which you can find in the city’s chests, let you move faster while sneaking — making this much easier on return trips.

Place Wool Around Sculk Sensors

Wool blocks absorb vibrations. Place wool on the ground around Sculk Sensors to silence them. You can also cover Sculk Shriekers with wool to prevent them from activating. Bring at least a full stack of wool before entering.

Destroy Sculk Shriekers

If you plan to loot the city thoroughly, consider silently mining out every Sculk Shrieker you find first. They drop nothing but removing them makes the city permanently safe from Warden spawns. Use a Silk Touch pickaxe if you want to collect them, or just break them with any tool.

Bring the Right Gear

Come prepared with the best armor you can bring. Netherite armor gives you the best protection if the Warden does land a hit. Bring Potions of Healing to recover quickly. Night Vision potions also help a lot since the Ancient City is almost completely dark. Bring multiple potion types on every run.

Ancient City Loot – What Can You Find?

A typical Ancient City contains between 15 and 25 chests spread across alcoves, side rooms, and the central structure. The chests near the center tend to have better loot. Here is what you can find.

Exclusive Items Found Only in Ancient Cities

• Swift Sneak Enchanted Book: This enchantment only drops here. It increases your movement speed while sneaking, which is exactly what you need inside this structure.
• Echo Shard: Used to craft the Recovery Compass. You need 8 Echo Shards and 1 regular Compass. The Recovery Compass points to where you last died — very useful if you die inside the city and need to recover your items before they despawn.
• Disc Fragment 5: Collect 9 of these to craft the music disc called “5”. This disc is the only way to get that track. The sound design is unsettling and atmospheric, fitting the Deep Dark perfectly.
• Ward and Silence Armor Trims: These rare armor trim patterns are exclusive to the Ancient City. The Silence trim is the rarest armor trim in the entire game. Check our guide on all armor trims in Minecraft for the full list.

High-Value Loot You Can Also Find Here

• Enchanted Golden Apple: One of the rarest and most powerful consumables in the game. Ancient City chests have one of the highest drop rates for this item.
• Enchanted Diamond Leggings and Diamond Hoe: Pre-enchanted diamond gear with high-level enchantments.
• Otherside Music Disc: Another rare disc that can appear here.
• Diamond Horse Armor: Rare drop that is also found here.
• Sculk Catalyst and Sculk Sensor: Useful for building sculk farms or redstone contraptions. See our Minecraft redstone guide for ideas.
• Amethyst Shards, Bones, Coal, Books, Candles, Soul Torches: Common drops that still add up over multiple runs.

Is There a Portal in the Ancient City?

Yes and no. There is a large frame structure at the center of every Ancient City that looks like a portal. It has a reinforced deepslate frame with blue ice blocks and sculk decorations. It looks like it should activate.

It cannot be activated. As of 2026, the portal-like structure is purely decorative. There is no way to turn it on. Mojang has not added any functionality to it. It may hint at future content updates, but right now it does nothing.

Do not waste time or resources trying to activate it. The real secret in the center of the Ancient City is underground — not through the frame.

How to Find and Open the Ancient City Secret Room

Beneath the central portal-like structure is a hidden redstone room. This is one of the most interesting Easter eggs in Minecraft. It contains three working redstone circuits that demonstrate game mechanics — it is essentially a built-in redstone tutorial room.

How to Find the Secret Entrance

The secret entrance is located beneath the broken wooden bridge just below the central portal structure. Look for a piston door set into the floor near the base of the city center. It is subtle and easy to miss if you are not looking for it.

How to Open the Secret Room

There are two ways to open the door:

• Method 1 – The Golden Apple Trigger: Open the chest at the very center of the portal structure. It contains a golden apple or golden carrot. Taking the item triggers a Sculk Sensor in the redstone circuit below, which opens the piston door automatically.
• Method 2 – Dig Down: You can mine your way straight down from the center of the portal structure and drop directly into the room below. This bypasses the door entirely.

What Is Inside the Secret Room?

The room contains three separate redstone circuits. Each one demonstrates a different redstone concept: a target block circuit, a lectern block circuit, and a signal transfer demonstration using repeaters. There is no extra loot in the room itself, but it is a fascinating hidden feature. If you want to understand the circuits better, our Minecraft redstone basics guide covers everything you need to know.

What Blocks Are Found in the Ancient City?

The Ancient City is built from materials you cannot easily get elsewhere in the Overworld. Here are the notable block types:

• Reinforced Deepslate: The frame of the portal structure is made of this block. It cannot be mined, moved, or destroyed in survival mode. It is purely a structural block.
• Sculk, Sculk Veins, Sculk Sensors, Sculk Shriekers, Sculk Catalysts: All five sculk block types generate here. You can farm them for XP or collect them with Silk Touch for builds.
• Soul Sand and Soul Soil: Found throughout the city, useful for Nether Wart farming or building.
• Blue Ice: Present around the portal structure. Useful for fast travel builds.
• Deepslate variants and Smooth Basalt: Make up the walls and floors of the structure.

For a full list of Minecraft blocks and their uses, check our Minecraft complete block list guide.

Can You Build a Base in the Ancient City?

Yes, and it is actually a smart idea. Once you remove all the Sculk Shriekers, the Deep Dark biome stops spawning the Warden entirely. Hostile mobs do not spawn naturally in the Deep Dark, so after clearing the Shriekers, the Ancient City becomes one of the safest locations in the game to build a base. It is already a massive structure with rooms, corridors, and open areas. Our Minecraft base builds guide has ideas for how to turn large structures into functional homes.

Tips for Looting the Ancient City Efficiently

• Brew Potions of Healing before every run. They restore health instantly and take up little inventory space.
• Use a Cartography Table to map your route underground before heading in.
• Bring a shield. Even if you avoid the Warden, falling into the city or miscalculating a sneak path can deal fall damage. A shield helps in any emergency.
• Use the Enchanting Table to add Feather Falling to your boots before going underground. Fall damage is a real risk when navigating the city’s vertical structure.
• Bring multiple trips worth of chest space. The Ancient City has 15-25 chests and you will fill your inventory quickly.
• Toggle sneak in your settings so you do not have to hold the button the entire time. It saves a lot of fatigue on long runs.

Is the Ancient City Worth It in Minecraft?

Absolutely. Swift Sneak is only available here, and it makes sneaking through the city itself much safer on every return visit. Echo Shards let you craft a Recovery Compass, which is invaluable for recovering gear after a death deep underground. The Enchanted Golden Apples and pre-enchanted diamond gear make the risk well worth taking.

Plan your trips carefully, bring wool and healing potions, sneak constantly, and do not try to fight the Warden. Once you clear the Sculk Shriekers, the city is yours to explore freely. For your next challenge after the Ancient City, try finding a Woodland Mansion or taking on the Ender Dragon.