Overview
An ocean monument is the one Overworld structure that beats you with a status effect rather than a mob. The three elder guardians inside apply Mining Fatigue III to every player within about fifty blocks, and Mining Fatigue III leaves you mining at under 3% of normal speed — which is to say a single prismarine block becomes a minute of holding down the button. There are exactly two honest answers. The first is to kill all three elder guardians, after which the effect stops being reapplied and simply times out. The second is an Axolotl: when an axolotl you are near kills a guardian, you are granted Regeneration and, crucially, your Mining Fatigue is removed outright, so a bucket or two of axolotls released at the entrance turns the whole raid around. Bring a Potion of Water Breathing or build a conduit from a Heart of the Sea, carry milk for nothing in particular but doors for everything, and remember there is not a single chest in the building. The eight gold blocks in the central chamber and the sponge rooms in the wings are the reward, and sponges are the only practical way to drain the monument itself.
Eight blocks of gold in the central chamber, wet sponges from the sponge rooms — the only renewable way to remove water in bulk — and unlimited prismarine, dark prismarine and sea lanterns for building. Guardians also drop prismarine shards and crystals, plus raw cod.
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. The central chamber contains eight blocks of gold behind a dark prismarine shell, and one or two of the wings contain sponge rooms, the only renewable source of sponge for draining water. There are no chests anywhere in the structure: everything of value is either a block you mine or a mob drop.
It is uncommon in the Overworld, restricted to Deep Ocean, Deep Cold Ocean, Deep Lukewarm Ocean, and Deep Frozen Ocean, and it generates submerged; the base sits on the ocean floor with the roof near Y=61.
How to get it
Monuments generate on the floor of deep ocean, deep cold, deep lukewarm and deep frozen ocean biomes, with the roof sitting near Y=61 and the base on the sea bed. From a boat the dark prismarine roof is visible as a squared-off shadow; an ocean explorer map from a cartographer points straight at one.
Tips
- Release axolotls at the door: a guardian killed near one clears your Mining Fatigue completely, which no potion or milk bucket does.
- Place doors and trapdoors as air pockets while you tunnel; they are cheaper than potions and work at any depth.
- Drain a sponge room first, then dry sponges in a furnace and reuse them — one room supplies enough sponge to empty the whole building.
- The two side wings hold the sponges, the central chamber holds the gold, and everything else is corridor — see every structure and its loot before you swim in.
Version notes
Added in 1.8 with guardians and prismarine. Conduits arrived in 1.13 and made monuments far easier to clear, and 1.17's axolotls turned Mining Fatigue from a wall into an inconvenience.
Properties
It generates in the Overworld, which is the only dimension with a day-night cycle and weather, and the one every distance in the game is measured against. In a world with cheats on, /locate structure minecraft:ocean_monument gives the coordinates of the nearest one. Without cheats, an explorer map from a cartographer villager is the reliable route for the structures that have one; everything else is exploration.
- Biomes it generates in
- 4
- Notable loot items
- 6
Where it generates
Ocean Monument generates in 4 biomes: Deep Ocean, Deep Cold Ocean, Deep Lukewarm Ocean, and Deep Frozen Ocean. Outside those it will not generate at all, however far you travel.
Notable loot
Its loot includes Block of Gold, Sponge, Prismarine, Dark Prismarine, Sea Lantern, and Wet Sponge. These are the notable entries rather than the full loot table — the common filler (bread, coal, iron nuggets) is omitted, and in some structures the best of it comes from a vault or a spawner rather than a chest.
Mobs found here
Guardian and Elder Guardian generate here. Several of them spawn nowhere else, which is usually the reason to make the trip.
What to watch out for
4 things to prepare for before you go in:
- Mining Fatigue III blocks almost all mining
- Guardian lasers and their damage-reflecting spikes
- Drowning while fighting in an enclosed flooded room
- Continuous guardian respawns
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
How do you get rid of Mining Fatigue in an ocean monument?
Milk does not help for long because the elder guardians reapply it. Kill all three elder guardians, or fight alongside axolotls, which strip the effect whenever they land a killing blow near you.
Are there chests in an ocean monument?
None at all. Everything valuable is either a block you mine — gold, sponge, prismarine, sea lanterns — or a guardian drop.
How much gold is in the central chamber?
Eight blocks of gold, which is 72 ingots, sealed behind a shell of dark prismarine. It is the single largest gold deposit generated anywhere in the Overworld.
How do I find Ocean Monument?
Ocean Monument generates in the Overworld, only in Deep Ocean, Deep Cold Ocean, Deep Lukewarm Ocean, and Deep Frozen Ocean, and is uncommon. /locate structure minecraft:ocean_monument finds the nearest one instantly with cheats on.
What loot is in Ocean Monument?
The notable entries are Block of Gold, Sponge, Prismarine, Dark Prismarine, Sea Lantern, and Wet Sponge.
When was Ocean Monument added?
Ocean Monument was added in Java Edition 1.8.
Related pages
Structures that share Ocean Monument's loot, its mobs or its biomes — not simply the next few in the list.
