Overview
Deep cold ocean is the deep variant of cold ocean, with a floor that sits roughly twice as far below sea level and terrain that drops away into genuine underwater ravines. The depth is the point: ocean monuments generate only in deep ocean variants, and a deep cold ocean is one of the four places you can find one. A monument is 58 blocks on a side, built from prismarine, and guarded by three elders that inflict Mining Fatigue III on every player inside — which is why a monument raid is a milk-bucket-and-pickaxe operation rather than a swim-in. The floor is gravel with patches of dirt and clay, seagrass and kelp grow throughout, and cold ocean ruins generate here as they do in the shallow variant. There are no dolphins in cold water and no coral at all, so navigation is entirely on you. Drowned spawn in numbers at depth, and because the water column is so tall they can approach from directly below. The extra depth also means the floor sits far enough below sea level that a single breath will not get you down and back, so plan every dive around either a potion or a column of doors. Deep cold ocean borders cold ocean, deep frozen ocean and deep ocean.
Ocean monuments: prismarine and dark prismarine in bulk, sponges from the sponge room, and 8 gold blocks in the treasure chamber. Also gravel, clay and cold ocean ruins.
Deep Cold Ocean is a temperate biome that generates in the Overworld. Its base temperature of 0.5 places it in the temperate band, which controls whether water freezes, whether it rains or snows, and which passive mobs are allowed to spawn there.
Weather reaches Deep Cold Ocean: it rains during storms, so crops grow and cauldrons fill on their own.
One generated structure can appear here, among them Ocean Monument.
5 mobs name Deep Cold Ocean specifically among their spawn biomes: Cod, Dolphin, Elder Guardian, Guardian and 1 more.
Ocean biomes vary by temperature: warm oceans carry coral and tropical fish, cold and frozen ones do not. Every ocean can hold a shipwreck, a ruin or buried treasure, and the deep variants are where ocean monuments generate.
How to get it
Deep cold ocean generates in the cold ocean band, usually more than 1,000 blocks from a temperate spawn. An ocean explorer map from a cartographer villager points at the nearest monument.
Tips
- Kill all 3 elder guardians before you mine — Mining Fatigue III makes breaking prismarine take about 10 seconds per block.
- Milk cancels Mining Fatigue, but the elders reapply it every 60 seconds, so carry several buckets or clear them first.
- Wet sponges must be smelted in a furnace to become dry again; each dry sponge absorbs water in a 7-block radius.
- Drain the monument with sponges rather than sand — a sponge is reusable and sand has to be dug out afterwards.
Climate and generation
Deep Cold Ocean has a base temperature of 0.5, which puts it in the temperate band. Temperature is not a thermometer reading — it is the single number that decides snow versus rain, whether water freezes over, and what colour the grass renders.
Above 0.15 water stays liquid and any precipitation falls as rain.
| Property | Value | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Temperature | 0.5 | Decides whether rain falls as snow, whether water freezes, and the grass and foliage tint. |
| Precipitation | Yes | Cauldrons fill on their own and farmland stays hydrated during a storm. |
| Dimension | Overworld | Sets which mobs, structures and ores can generate at all. |
| Grass and water tint | #7BA4FF | The colour the game applies to grass, leaves and water in this biome. |
Properties
- Grass and water tint
- #7BA4FF
- Structures generating here
- 1
Mobs in Deep Cold Ocean
Cod, Dolphin, Elder Guardian, Guardian, and Salmon name Deep Cold Ocean specifically as a spawn biome, so this is where you go to find them.
On top of those, the mobs that spawn in open terrain anywhere in the Overworld can appear here too, given the right light level. Mobs that only come from a structure or a spawner — breezes from trial chambers, blazes from fortresses, evokers from mansions — are deliberately not in this list.
Also spawns throughout Overworld
Structures found here
One structure can generate in Deep Cold Ocean: Ocean Monument.
- Ocean Monument — A prismarine fortress on the deep ocean floor, guarded by three elder guardians that inflict Mining Fatigue III across a fifty-block radius so you cannot simply mine in.
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
Where do I find Deep Cold Ocean?
Deep Cold Ocean generates in the Overworld. A locate command finds the nearest one instantly; without cheats, exploring in one direction and watching the F3 screen's biome line is the reliable method.
What spawns in Deep Cold Ocean?
Cod, Dolphin, Elder Guardian, Guardian, and Salmon spawn here specifically, and the usual Overworld mobs can appear given the right light level.
Does it rain in Deep Cold Ocean?
Yes — as rain. Cauldrons fill on their own during a storm and farmland stays hydrated.
Related pages
Biomes that generate in the same dimension and, where there are any, in the same climate family as Deep Cold Ocean.
