How to find an ancient city in Minecraft
Ancient cities were added in Minecraft 1.19 and are the only source of the swift sneak enchantment. They are also the most dangerous structure in the game.
Where ancient cities generate
Ancient cities require the deep dark biome, which forms deep underground beneath high, mountainous terrain. That is the single most useful thing to know: if a candidate marker sits under flat lowlands, it is far less likely to have produced a city.
Step by step
- Use a 1.19 or newer version. Select 1.19, 1.20 or 1.21 on the seed map — ancient cities do not exist before 1.19.
- Enable the ancient city layer. Turn on ancient cities. They use a 24-chunk grid, so candidates are sparse.
- Note the coordinates. Copy the X and Z of the nearest candidate. Ancient cities generate around Y -52.
- Dig down carefully. Mine a staircase down to around Y -50 near the coordinates and listen for sculk.
- Move quietly. Crouch, avoid breaking blocks near sculk shriekers, and use wool to block vibrations.
Surviving the warden
- Sculk shriekers summon the warden after three activations. Avoid triggering them at all.
- Wool blocks vibrations — place it on the floor to walk without alerting sensors.
- Swift sneak, from the city chests, makes crouching fast enough to be practical.
- If a warden does spawn, it is faster to leave than to fight. It cannot be killed reliably in early gear.
What you can find
Ancient city chests hold enchanted books including swift sneak, echo shards used to craft recovery compasses, disc fragments, and a large amount of decorative deepslate and sculk. The city itself is also the best natural source of sculk blocks for XP farms.