Minecraft: How to Raid the Ancient City Safely

The Ancient Cities are incredibly dangerous, but also incredibly fun to explore. This forgotten fortress of civilization is littered with Sculk Blocks, and Minecraft players brave enough to venture into its dark depths may want to know the dangers and loot they can find, to decide whether the journey is worth it.

The Ancient City is home to the dreaded Jailer boss, a nearly unkillable and extremely dangerous mob in Minecraft. Luckily, there is a way to safely navigate the Ancient City and ensure the Jailer never spawns again, so here are some helpful tips to help you overcome the terror.

How to Find Ancient City in Minecraft

The Ancient City is only found around Y-51 in the Dark Caves biome, so if you want to see it, the best way to find it is to enter a natural cave and go down to around Y-50. You'll know you're near the Ancient City if you hear a distinctive musical sound, along with the appearance of creepy Sculks around. The Ancient City isn't a very common spawn, but it's not extremely rare either, just explore enough natural caves and you'll eventually stumble upon one, as long as they're in the correct Y-coordinate.

How to Safely Infiltrate the Ancient City

It's extremely important to move quietly (hold Shift / press R3 on the controller) in the Ancient City, as running or even walking will be detected by the Sculk Sensor blocks, which can summon Jailers. To move safely around the Ancient City, you should try to get a few things, the first of which are carpets and wool. The Ancient City is full of wool and carpets that can be easily collected by cutting with Scissors, and placing these blocks will not make a sound, meaning you can move on wool or use it to build stairs without the Sensor from the Sculk blocks detecting it.

Wool is also essential for disabling Sculk Sensors and Sculk Shriekers, as wool blocks the signal of Sculk Sensors, meaning you can completely cover the Sensors or Shriekers with wool to render them useless. The second thing you'll need is the Fast Sculling Enchantment 3, an Enchanted Book found in the Ancient City that allows you to move much faster so they can move through the vast Ancient City more safely and quickly.

One of the reasons you want to try to stay as quiet as possible in the Ancient City is due to the heavy presence of Sculk Sensors. Sculk Sensors will detect any sound, and these Sculk Sensors will alert the Sculk Alarm block if it is within 8 blocks. The Sculk Alarm block has four bone prongs, and is the block you need to be most careful with, as it is the block that summons the Jailer once it is activated.

The smartest thing to do in the Ancient City is to be cautious and look for Sculk Sensors and Sculk Indicators before attempting to open chests. The best thing to bring to the Ancient City is multiple Hoes, as Hoes can almost instantly destroy Sculk blocks, including Sensors and Indicators. With a Pickaxe, you should disable any nearby Indicators with wool and then destroy the Sensors, as Indicators cannot be activated without a Sensor nearby.

The last thing you might want to bring into the Ancient City is a Potion of Night Vision. This is a 3 minute potion that you can brew at the Brewing Stand, allowing you to see in the dark without having to place torches all over the city. This is great for the Ancient City, as the Ancient City is very dark, and you can easily miss Sensors/Sculk Detectors without it, or accidentally trigger them by placing torches.

It's also a good idea to set up a small base in the Ancient City away from the Sculk Sensors so you have a bed to respawn in case you get killed by the Jailer.

How to deal with the Warden in Minecraft

It's important to note that the Warden is not a mob in Minecraft that you can defeat quickly. It's best to never try to fight the Warden, as it has 250 Hearts (500 health) and deals 8 Hearts of damage per attack, meaning it's a pretty lopsided fight. If you're unlucky enough to summon the Warden, the smartest thing to do is run away while you can. Don't even think about digging down or building walls, as the Warden has ranged attacks, can fly up, and can pass through walls up to 26 blocks away.

While the Warden is spawning, he will not be able to detect the player, so as soon as you activate the Sculk Generator, you should run in the opposite direction. The Warden can hear everything up to 20 blocks away and tracks by scent, so anything over 20 blocks away should be safe for you. The Warden will disappear after 60 seconds if he does not detect the player by scent or sound. You will know you are safe when the Darkness Effect is removed, and while this effect is annoying, it can be somewhat countered by increasing the brightness in the settings and using torches to find your way away from the Warden safely.

What can you get in Ancient City?

The Ancient City is filled with unique chests that can be opened to reveal some very valuable items, making the dangerous journey into the Ancient City well worth it. Here is a list of some of the most important and valuable items that players can find in the numerous chests:

1. All kinds of items
2. Music Disc Piece
3. Slow Falling Enchantment Book
4. Enchanted Diamond Hoe
5. Enchanted Diamond Leggings
6. Enchanted Golden Apple
7. Music CD
8. Music CD
9. Prisoner Armor Forging Template
10. Silent Armor Forging Template

Kareem Winters

Update 06 May 2025