Minecraft Ocean Monument Guide: How to Find, Survive, and Loot It

Minecraft Ocean Monument is a rare structure located in the deep ocean biome. It’s guarded by Guardians and Elder Guardians that are extremely dangerous, especially for new players. At the same time, this structure is worth raiding because it contains valuable resources, such as sponges, prismarine, sea lanterns, gold blocks, and tide armor trim.

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In our Ocean Monument guide, we’ll go through each important aspect related to this underwater building. You’ll discover how to find an Ocean Monument, prepare for your journey, defeat its guardians, and what to do next.

What is an Ocean Monument?

An Ocean Monument is a rare, enormous underwater structure generated in the deep ocean. It’s built from dark prismarine and prismarine bricks, and glowing sea lanterns illuminate it. The monument’s interior has a maze-like layout with a variety of rooms and corridors, while its exterior features a central section, two symmetrical wings, and pillars on the ocean floor.

Inside, it’s protected by Guardians and Elder Guardians, dangerous fish-like mobs that can kill even experienced players. Despite the danger, an Ocean Monument is still extremely useful, offering valuable resources and building blocks.

How to Find an Ocean Monument in Minecraft

The traditional way to find an Ocean Monument is to explore Deep Ocean biomes from your boat. This process can take hours, if not days, since you can easily miss the structure.

Alternatively, you can trade with a Cartographer to obtain an Ocean Explorer Map. It points you directly to the nearest monument.

Besides, if the in-game cheats are enabled, you can use a dedicated command. Simply open the chat and enter/locate structure minecraft:monument (or /locate structure monument in some versions).

Finally, our Minecraft Ocean Monument guide recommends using seed map tools if you need to find this structure ASAP. For example, you may opt for platforms like ChunkBase, where you can enter your world’s seed and use filters to find the nearby monument in seconds: 

Why Ocean Monuments Are Worth Raiding

Now that you understand how difficult it can be to find this structure, you probably wonder: “Are Ocean Monuments worth raiding?” Well, that’s a great question, and the short answer is “Yes!” Many players spend time and resources to find an Ocean Monument because of the valuable resources it contains, such as Minecraft prismarine and items hidden in its chambers, including sponges, sea lanterns, tide armor trim, and gold.

In addition to Ocean Monument loot, you can turn this structure into an automated guardian farm, which will provide you with a steady supply of prismarine, XP, and fish. You can also use it as a cool underwater base without any extra changes to its exterior.

What to Bring Before Entering Ocean Monument

Once you understand why you should enter this underwater dungeon and manage to find it, you’ll need to prepare for your adventure. At this stage, you may wonder what to bring to an Ocean Monument in Minecraft. Here is a complete checklist with the must-have items:

Also, it’ll be a good idea to create a tiny island above an Ocean Monument, place a bed there, and sleep through the night. Thus, you’ll create a spawn point right near the structure to swiftly continue your journey in case you accidentally die.

Additionally, place a chest with spare gear and materials near the bed. Remember that you should never enter dangerous structures like an Ocean Monument with all your valuable gear and resources.

Guardians and Elder Guardians Explained

In an Ocean Monument, you will meet two hostile aquatic mobs: Guardians and Elder Guardians. They are both dangerous enemies, but there are some differences to consider if you want to know how to beat an Ocean Monument in Minecraft:

Feature	Guardian	Elder Guardian
Picture
Behavior	Fast-moving mob that spawns inside and near Ocean Monuments	Large, powerful boss-like mob
Attack	A laser beam	A strong laser beam, spike-like defense, and Mining Fatigue III curse.
Drops	Prismarine crystals Prismarine shard Cooked or raw fish	Prismarine crystals Prismarine shard Cooked or raw fish Tide Armor Trim Wet sponge (guaranteed)
Health	15 hearts (30 HP)	40 hearts (80 HP)

There is no limit to the number of guardians, and they can respawn from time to time. But how many Elder Guardians are in an Ocean Monument? All in all, there are 3 Elder Guardians in each monument, and it’s strongly recommended to focus on killing them before you decide to loot the structure.

Mining Fatigue and Why It Matters

Minecraft Mining Fatigue is a negative status effect applied by Elder Guardians that significantly slows down block breaking. It makes standard tasks like breaking blocks and exploring the monument nearly impossible. This is the key reason why killing Elder Guardians should be your #1 priority when entering the underwater dungeon.

How to stop Mining Fatigue in an Ocean Monument? Of course, you should foсus on killing the Elder Guardians, but you can also drink milk to remove this effect. However, on Bedrock Edition, the effect can be reapplied almost immediately if you remain within range of an Elder Guardian.

How to Enter the Ocean Monument

Do you see a large underwater dungeon and wonder where to start its exploration? We’ve listed all popular scenarios in our Minecraft Ocean Monument solo guide, so you could choose the one that perfectly matches your play style:

• Front Entrance: It features a large arched doorway with dark prismarine pillars. This is the traditional way to enter the structure, which involves fights with all hostile mobs on your way to the Elder Guardians' rooms.
• Roof: This way is great as it allows you to enter the upper part of the structure, where one of the Elder Guardians can be found. Kill it with a bow to get the first sponge, which simplifies further exploration.
• Side Entry: Swim along the outer walls to find the side archways and break through them into an Ocean Monument. This is one of the safest ways to start exploring this structure.
• Underwater Base: If you don’t want to build an island over the monument, you can create a small underwater base right near it. Use this place to create a nearby respawn point, store the discovered loot, and keep your spare gear.

How to Defeat the Monument

Whether you explore the Minecraft Ocean Monument with friends or solo, you should stay extremely careful when entering this structure. Also, follow a few rules to help your adventure succeed. Here, we’ve gathered the most efficient recommendations on how to clear an Ocean Monument:

1. Always set a nearby respawn point with extra chests and spare loot.
2. Use Water Breathing and Night Vision potions before you enter the monument.
3. Enter the structure carefully, watching for nearby Guardians.
4. Clear each room in the monument step-by-step without rushing right into the Elder Guardians’ rooms.
5. Once you safely enter the structure, focus on killing Elder Guardians to avoid getting the Mining Fatigue effect.
6. Avoid getting surrounded by several Guardians to make dodging their laser beams easier.
7. Mark all explored paths and rooms with torches, signs, and blocks.
8. Collect loot and valuable blocks only after ensuring the main threats are gone.

How to Avoid Getting Lost inside Ocean Monument

Considering the large size of an Ocean Monument, it’s very easy to get lost there. Thus, you should mark your paths with blocks, signs, and torches where possible. Also, we strongly recommend closing dead ends to simplify navigation through this underwater maze.

Move room by room, killing the enemies, marking your path, and monitoring Water Breathing potion time. Also, avoid unreasonable risks and panic swimming, especially during encounters with hostile mobs.

Loot and Rewards

What loot is in an Ocean Monument? Although you already know what the most valuable rewards are, we’ve prepared a loot table with all possible resources, blocks, and items you can find and ways to get them.

Sponge Rooms

You can also find so-called “sponge rooms” inside an Ocean Monument. Each of them contains an average of 30 wet sponges. You can smelt these blocks or place them in the Nether to reuse them. Afterward, you can use the sponges to clear water.

A new player may also have a question: “Are sponge rooms guaranteed in Minecraft?” Unfortunately, Ocean Monuments don’t guarantee them.

Solo vs Multiplayer Ocean Monument Raid

Both solo and multiplayer Ocean Monument raids are possible. However, in the first case, you’ll need heavy preparation and a lot of Water Breathing and Night Vision potions to counter the Mining Fatigue caused by Elder Guardians.

On the other hand, when you play with friends on a custom multiplayer server, you can split roles and coordinate your actions to kill all three Elder Guardians swiftly. With proper cooperation, clearing an entire Ocean Monument will be much faster, and you can turn it into an exciting event. However, don’t forget to decide how you’ll divide sponges, gold, and other resources beforehand.

What to Do After Clearing Ocean Monument

All three Elder Guardians are defeated, and now you wonder what to do next. Maybe you’ll even ask: “Can you turn the Ocean Monument into a base?” Actually, that's a great idea, since you already have a unique structure you can convert into a base. This building may become a great part of your SMP world, serving as a rest point for players exploring the deep ocean.

Also, you can build a guardian farm. According to the official Minecraft Wiki, it can produce nearly 180,000 XP per hour, making it even more efficient than an Enderman or Piglin farm.

Finally, you can simply break the structure to collect Minecraft sea lanterns and prismarine. You can use these materials to create your own wonderful project or decorate existing buildings.

Common Mistakes

Ocean Monuments can have different interior layouts, so exploring one may not feel exactly like exploring another. Thus, when you enter them, you never know which threat is waiting for you around the corner. Additionally, you should always keep in mind some common mistakes and avoid them at all costs if you don’t want to turn your journey to an Ocean Monument into a real horror. Here we’ve listed some tips that will help you survive your underwater raid:

• Never visit this structure without Water Breathing potions and enough food
• Don’t ignore Mining Fatigue and try mining resources before killing Elder Guardians
• Always set a respawn point nearby, so you can quickly return to an Ocean Monument after death
• Mark your path to prevent getting lost inside the structure
• Don’t waste your time looking for a sponge room in every Ocean Monument (it may not have been generated)
• Remember that Guardians may appear even outside the monument and they’re still dangerous
• Don’t take all your valuable gear and resources, and make a backup plan before entering the monument