Are you eager to fight Warden, the strongest hostile mob in Minecraft? Or perhaps, you want to get a bunch of rare loot from one structure? In either case, your quest leads to the rare Ancient Cities. But, finding these structures can be quite challenging, especially in popular Minecraft 1.20 servers. If you're struggling to locate them, you've come to the right place. We have some of the best solutions on how to find Ancient Cities in Minecraft. Let’s dive in!
How to Find Ancient Cities in Minecraft
Our guide covers a variety of reliable methods to find Ancient City in Minecraft. Make sure to explore all of them to find the one that fits your quest.
Where Do Ancient Cities Spawn (Method 1)
There are a variety of facts that affect the spawning of Ancient Cities in Minecraft. These include:
- The Ancient Cities can only spawn inside the Deep Dark biome. True to their names, these biomes have almost no light source other than lava or Sculk catalysts.
- Most cities spawn span across 220 blocks. So, you only need to find a glimpse of it to discover the entire structure.
- The floor of each city structure is exactly at the world height of Y=-51.
Best Biome to Find Ancient City in Minecraft
The deep dark biome generates below the mountainous regions of Minecraft. Because of this mechanic, you should search for mountains and dig below them to find ancient cities. In terms of biomes, these regions include:
- Meadow
- Cherry Grove
- Grove
- Snowy Slopes
- Jagged Peaks
- Frozen Peaks
- Stony Peaks
- Savanna Plateaus
Mountains are usually quite easy to spot even from a long distance. But if you have trouble finding them, you can use our best Minecraft mountain seeds to skip the search. Furthermore, the Ancient Cities can never generate beneath oceans, rivers, or swamps.
Steps to Find Ancient Cities in Minecraft
With all the basics out of the way, follow these steps to find an Ancient City in your Minecraft world:
1. First, climb on a high spot or make a tower by placing blocks beneath you. It should be at least 20-25 blocks tall for the best visibility.
2. Then, adjust your FOV (field of view) and Render Distance settings in the video settings. Doing so allows you to see much farther than your normal view distance. But, unless you are using OptiFine to optimize performance, these settings can slow your game.
3. Next, look in every direction until you see a hill or a mountain. Once you find it, dial down your video settings and head towards the location.
4. Once you reach the mountainous biome, dig downwards until you reach the world height of Y=-51. Keep an eye out for Sculk blocks in the nearby caves.
5. The presence of Sculk blocks indicates that you are in the deep dark biome. Now, it's only a matter of time before you come across the Ancient City.
Use Commands to Find Ancient City (Method 2)
You can use the popular "locate" command to easily find Ancient City in Minecraft. But, keep in mind that activating commands in your world will disable achievements. Plus, most Minecraft SMP servers don't allow players to use commands in general.
With that said, you first have to turn on cheats in your world to use any command. The option for the same is present in the World settings of Bedrock Edition and LAN options of Minecraft Java. Once the cheats are active, use the following command to find the nearest Ancient City:
/locate structure ancient_city
As soon as you activate this command, the game will show you the coordinates of the structure. Then, you just need to travel to the mentioned coordinates, dig down and reap the rewards.
Minecraft Seed Analyzer (Method 3)
If you don't want to get the drawbacks of using commands, it's time to step away from Minecraft. There are various seed analyzers that let you find every structure within your world. Here's how to use one of them:
1. First, find the seed of your world by using the following command on Minecraft Java:
/seed
You don't need to turn on cheats while using this command and it doesn't affect your achievements either.
2. Meanwhile, the Bedrock players can find the seed of their world within the World settings.
3. Then, open Chunkbase's Seed Map (here) and enter your seed in it. You also need to select the edition and version of your game.
4. Then, within the "Features" section, click on the Ancient City toggle to view them on the map. It has a soul lantern icon right next to it. You can also turn on other features to make the map easier to explore.
5. Finally, you can see all the Ancient Cities from that world in the seed map. Click on any of the soul lantern icons to find the coordinates of a particular structure.
Best Ancient City Seeds (Method 4)
Another great way to find an Ancient City in Minecraft is by hopping on a world where it's easy to find. So, let's explore some amazing seeds that spawn you pretty close to this game-changing structure.
10 Ancient Cities Near Spawn
This amazing seed creates a rare world that generates 10 city structures near your spawn point. The best part is that all of these structures are connected with a network of caves. So, all you need to do is dig down and start exploring one Ancient City after another.
- Seed: 5146159088207717555 (Java)
- Closest Ancient City Coordinates: -728 -51 -168
Lush City
Also a part of the best Minecraft lush cave seeds, this seed generates an Ancient City right beneath a lush cave. This unique generation gives a touch of color and plantation that the structure generally lacks. Finding another location like this is nearly impossible.
- Seed: -3293300164596197311 (Java)
- Coordinates: -1153 -51 -440
An Icy Affair
The last seed on our list is a truly special one. It throws you in the middle of a massive snowy landscape. One wrong step can land you in a trap of powder snow which takes no time to kill you. But, if you are skilled enough to avoid that, then an Ancient City is waiting for you to explore it. You just need to brave the snow and dig down to discover it.
- Seed: -2286721987210074127 (Bedrock)
- Coordinates: -168 -51 56
How to Survive Ancient Cities in Minecraft
Now that you know how to find Ancient Cities in Minecraft, it's time to plan your exploration. If you visit one without the right gear, the Warden will take you down as soon as you step inside.
Use Potion of Night Vision
As you can guess from its name, the Deep Dark biome is an area with extremely low light levels. Even having dozens of torches isn't enough to light the entire thing up. That's why it's best to make a Potion of Night Vision and use it to see clearly in the dark.
Crouch, Sneak and Stay Silent
Any kind of movement, from walking to falling, can send vibrations that Sculk blocks can detect and spawn the Warden. This only happens when you trigger a Sculk catalyst three times. Luckily, you can easily avoid this by holding your sneak key while exploring the Ancient City.
If you're concerned about your slowed speed, you can use the Swift Sneak enchantment to increase your movement speed while sneaking. But, this enchantment only appears as enchanted books within the Ancient City.
Use Wool Blocks for Building
Placing or breaking blocks inside the Ancient City also causes detectable vibrations. To avoid them, you need to stick with using only wool blocks or carpets, as they don't create any vibrations.
Furthermore, if you have enough wool, you can even use it to cover all the Sculk sensors in the area. However, trying to be silent and only placing blocks in case of emergency is more than enough.
Silent Chambers
Unfortunately, opening chests also send vibration signals to the Sculk blocks. This is a common mechanic that many players forget, and they end up spawning the Warden. But, you can place wool blocks around the chest area to cancel the vibrations. While this will make it take longer to access the loot from all the chests, it's the safest option.
Carry Snowballs or Arrows for Distraction
If you somehow end up spawning the Warden, there is no time to panic. You need to stay calm and escape before it starts attacking you. But, before you can do that, you must distract the Warden and make it focus on something else.
For that, you can use a variety of projectiles, including snowballs, arrows, and more. Snowballs are the easiest option since the Ancient City usually spawns beneath mountains. Just throw one in a random direction to make the Warden run toward it and away from you.
Find and Loot Ancient Cities in Minecraft
Just like that, you are ready to find any Ancient Cities in Minecraft worlds. But, do you know any other reliable tricks to locate this structure? Share your experience and ideas on our Discord server!