How to Find and Raid an Ocean Monument in Minecraft

To find an ocean monument, look in deep ocean biomes, or enter your Java seed in our ocean monument finder to get the coordinates of the nearest monuments before you set sail. In a Java test world you can confirm a result with /locate structure minecraft:monument.

Monuments are the only place in the game where sponges generate and where guardians spawn. They also hide eight gold blocks and a huge amount of prismarine and sea lanterns. The catch: three elder guardians inside give you Mining Fatigue, so it pays to prepare before you dive.

Where do ocean monuments spawn?

Ocean monuments generate in the Overworld only, in deep ocean biomes. Shallow oceans and rivers never hold one. The Minecraft Wiki lists these biomes:

Biome	Java Edition	Bedrock Edition
Deep Ocean	Yes	Yes
Deep Cold Ocean	Yes	Yes
Deep Frozen Ocean	Yes	Yes
Deep Lukewarm Ocean	Yes	Yes
Deep Warm Ocean	(not a Java biome)	Yes

A few more rules decide where a monument can go:

• The centre must be deep ocean. The wiki says the area within 16 blocks of the centre must be deep ocean biome variants.
• Water must surround it. Ocean or river biomes must be present within 29 blocks of the centre.
• At most one per 512 × 512 block area. So you will never find two monuments right next to each other.
• No old chunks in Java. Monuments do not generate in chunks that already existed, so an old world may have empty ocean where a new world would have a monument.

On Bedrock Edition a monument always sits at the same height, with the top of its roof at Y=56; any seafloor higher than its base is cut away. In a deep frozen ocean it can even be hidden under the ice.

How to find an ocean monument with your seed

A seed tool is the fastest way in Java Edition, because the sea is huge and monuments are often hidden under dark water.

1. Get your seed. Type /seed in a single-player world. On a server, ask the admin. Our guide on how to find your seed shows every method.
2. Open the ocean monument finder. Paste the seed, pick your Java version, and enter your current X and Z coordinates.
3. Pick the nearest result. The finder lists monuments by distance and gives you a ready-made /tp command for test worlds.
4. Check the map. Open the result on the seed map to see the ocean around it, which helps you plan a boat route.
5. Confirm in a test world. Positions are predictions from world generation, so run /locate structure minecraft:monument in a creative copy of your world before a long trip. Our /locate command guide lists the other structure ids.

If you only want to know where the deep oceans are, the biome finder can search for Deep Ocean and its variants. On Bedrock Edition, monument positions differ from Java for the same seed, so our tools show biomes only there.

How to find a monument without a seed

You have two options in survival without a seed:

• Ocean explorer map. Apprentice (level 1) cartographer villagers sell ocean explorer maps for emeralds. The map marks a monument, so you can sail straight to it.
• Search by boat. Sail over deep (dark blue) water and look down. Monuments are lit by sea lanterns, and their 23 pillars reach down to the seafloor. A potion of night vision helps you see them.

What is inside an ocean monument?

The monument is the largest underwater structure in the game. Its base is 58 × 58 blocks, built entirely from prismarine variants and lit by sea lanterns.

Part	What you find there
Entrance	At the front of the central section
Central section	The treasure room near the middle, with 8 blocks of gold encased in dark prismarine
Top room	One elder guardian
Left and right wings	One elder guardian in each; one wing has a big room with a small pillar, the other a large square platform
Sponge rooms (not always)	About 30 wet sponges on the ceiling; the room only opens through the floor
Other chambers	Random rooms; every monument has at least six

There is no loot chest. Minecraft.net explains that the chests decayed long ago, so the real treasure is the gold, the sponges, the prismarine and the sea lanterns. The wiki adds that monuments are the only place sponges generate, and one of only two places you find prismarine (the other is cold ocean ruins).

How to deal with guardians and elder guardians

Guardians spawn only around monuments. They fire a charging laser and have spikes, so hitting them while the spikes are out hurts you too. Elder guardians are bigger, stronger guardians.

Threat	What it does	How to handle it
Laser	Charges for a few seconds, then hits; an elder guardian's laser can deal up to 12 damage	Swim out of range or behind a wall while it charges
Spikes	Hurt you when you hit the mob in melee	Wait for the spikes to go back in, or use a ranged weapon
Mining Fatigue III	Elder guardians apply it to players within about 50 blocks, even underground or invisible	Kill all three elder guardians; invisibility does not help

Mining Fatigue III makes breaking blocks very slow, so digging your way in is almost impossible until the elder guardians are dead. They never respawn, so each monument only ever has three. When killed, an elder guardian can drop prismarine shards, sponges, the tide armor trim template, fish and experience.

How to prepare for a monument raid

Minecraft.net's own monument article recommends this kit:

• A boat to reach the monument quickly.
• Potions of water breathing and plenty of food.
• A turtle shell helmet, which the article says gives some extra help underwater.
• A conduit. It gives Conduit Power, which combines water breathing, night vision and haste, and it damages hostile mobs in the water nearby. You craft it from a heart of the sea and 8 nautilus shells, then place it inside a frame of prismarine; the more complete the frame, the bigger the area it covers.

The heart of the sea only comes from buried treasure chests, so it is worth reading our buried treasure guide before the trip. One plan is to place a small conduit frame from the first prismarine you mine, then clear the monument from inside its range.

Java vs Bedrock

The rules are similar, but a few details change between editions:

• Biomes: Bedrock adds Deep Warm Ocean, which Java does not have.
• Height: Bedrock places every monument at the same height, with the roof top at Y=56, and cuts away any seafloor above its base.
• Mining Fatigue: On Bedrock the effect comes from a separate entity called the elder guardian ghost.
• Positions: The same seed puts monuments in different places on Java and Bedrock. Our ocean monument finder uses Java generation; on Bedrock, use an explorer map or /locate in a test world.

Looking for more sea and treasure structures? Start with the structure finder, or read how to find a woodland mansion for another structure that sits far from spawn.