Dungeon

"Dungeons" redirects here. For the action/adventure RPG, see Minecraft Dungeons.

Dungeon

Anywhere in the Overworld

Consists of


Cobblestone Mossy Cobblestone Skeleton Spawner, Spider Spawner or Zombie Spawner Chest (random loot)

Can generate in
existing chunks

No

	“	The best block to unexpectedly encounter when deep in a mining expedition is undoubtedly diamond ore. But the second best? I'd put forward our block of the week as a candidate - moss stone. Hear me out! I say that because mining into a vein of moss stone almost certainly means that you've encountered a dungeon - a small, naturally-generated structure containing a chest or two full of goodies and a monster spawner.	„
		— Duncan Geere^[1]

Dungeons are structures that appear in the Overworld. Dungeons are found in villages in the desert under the big one with nothing.

Generation[edit]

In Java Edition, dungeons generate naturally in the Overworld at any altitude (provided it is next to a cave) regardless of whether Generate structures has been toggled off for said world.^[2] For each chunk, 8 attempts are made to generate a dungeon; it is possible, though unlikely, for multiple attempts to succeed. In Bedrock Edition, dungeons can generate as underground structures above sea level.

For each attempt, a location and size (an open area with a width and length of 7, 9, or 11 and a height of 6) is chosen. The attempt succeeds if the following conditions are met:

The floor area (including under the walls) of the potential dungeon must be entirely solid.
The ceiling area (including over the walls) of the potential dungeon must be entirely solid. The ceiling blocks may be gravity-affected such as gravel or sand, which fall if disturbed by the player.
The walls of the potential dungeon must have 1–5 openings (2-high air blocks) at floor level.

If the location passes, air and cobblestone are placed, then 3 attempts are made to generate each of two chests. To generate a chest, the chosen block must be empty and must have a solid block on exactly one of its four sides. The mob spawner is placed at the center of the dungeon.

Cobblestone has a ³⁄₄ chance to be mossy when it is on the floor of the Dungeon.

Structure[edit]

Main article: Dungeon/Structure

Dungeons are small rooms made of cobblestone and mossy cobblestone and contain a mob spawner and up to 2 chests. Finding a dungeon without a chest is unlikely but possible. Additionally, there is a rare chance of a dungeon being found without a spawner. Occasionally, a dungeon generates with its chests in such a way as to create a double chest. Dungeons generate with either a zombie (50% chance), skeleton (25% chance), or spider (25% chance) spawner. The spawner is always in the center of the dungeon room, with chests located around the walls of the room (large chests can connect with the short side against the wall). Each block of the floor has a 25% chance of being cobblestone and an 75% chance of being mossy cobblestone.

Loot[edit]

See also: Chest loot

In Java Edition each dungeon chest contains items drawn from 3 pools, with the following distribution:

Item	Stack Size ^[A]			Weight ^[B]			Chance ^[C]	Avg. per chest ^[D]	Avg. # chests to search ^[E]
Item	1–3×	1–4×	3×	1–3×	1–4×	3×	Chance ^[C]	Avg. per chest ^[D]	Avg. # chests to search ^[E]
Bone	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
Gunpowder	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
Rotten Flesh	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
String	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
Wheat	—	1–4	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	34.1%	1.000	2.9
Bread	—	1	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	34.1%	0.400	2.9
Name Tag	1	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₇	—	—	28.3%	0.315	3.5
Saddle	1	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₇	—	—	28.3%	0.315	3.5
Coal	—	1–4	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₅	—	26.6%	0.750	3.8
Redstone Dust	—	1–4	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₅	—	26.6%	0.750	3.8
Music Disc (13)	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₇	—	—	21.8%	0.236	4.6
Music Disc (Cat)	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₇	—	—	21.8%	0.236	4.6
Iron Horse Armor	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₇	—	—	21.8%	0.236	4.6
Golden Apple	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₇	—	—	21.8%	0.236	4.6
Beetroot Seeds	—	2–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.600	5.4
Melon Seeds	—	2–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.600	5.4
Pumpkin Seeds	—	2–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.600	5.4
Iron Ingot	—	1–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.500	5.4
Bucket	—	1	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.200	5.4
Enchanted Book^{[note 1]}	1	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₇	—	—	14.9%	0.157	6.7
Golden Horse Armor	1	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₇	—	—	14.9%	0.157	6.7
Gold Ingot	—	1–4	—	—	⁵⁄₁₂₅	—	9.6%	0.250	10.4
Diamond Horse Armor	1	—	—	⁵⁄₁₂₇	—	—	7.7%	0.079	13.0
Enchanted Golden Apple	1	—	—	²⁄₁₂₇	—	—	3.1%	0.031	32.1

In Bedrock Edition each dungeon chest contains items drawn from 3 pools, with the following distribution:

Item	Stack Size ^[A]			Weight ^[B]			Chance ^[C]	Avg. per chest ^[D]	Avg. # chests to search ^[E]
Item	1–3×	1–4×	3×	1–3×	1–4×	3×	Chance ^[C]	Avg. per chest ^[D]	Avg. # chests to search ^[E]
Bone	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
Gunpowder	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
Rotten Flesh	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
String	—	—	1–8	—	—	¹⁰⁄₄₀	57.8%	3.375	1.7
Wheat	—	1–4	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	34.1%	1.000	2.9
Bread	—	1	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	34.1%	0.400	2.9
Name Tag	1	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₇	—	—	28.3%	0.315	3.5
Saddle	1	—	—	²⁰⁄₁₂₇	—	—	28.3%	0.315	3.5
Coal	—	1–4	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₅	—	26.6%	0.750	3.8
Redstone Dust	—	1–4	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₅	—	26.6%	0.750	3.8
Music Disc (13)	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₇	—	—	21.8%	0.236	4.6
Music Disc (Cat)	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₇	—	—	21.8%	0.236	4.6
Iron Horse Armor	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₇	—	—	21.8%	0.236	4.6
Golden Apple	1	—	—	¹⁵⁄₁₂₇	—	—	21.8%	0.236	4.6
Beetroot Seeds	—	2–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.600	5.4
Melon Seeds	—	2–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.600	5.4
Pumpkin Seeds	—	2–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.600	5.4
Iron Ingot	—	1–4	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.500	5.4
Bucket	—	1	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₅	—	18.5%	0.200	5.4
Enchanted Book^{[note 1]}	1	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₇	—	—	14.9%	0.157	6.7
Golden Horse Armor	1	—	—	¹⁰⁄₁₂₇	—	—	14.9%	0.157	6.7
Gold Ingot	—	1–4	—	—	⁵⁄₁₂₅	—	9.6%	0.250	10.4
Diamond Horse Armor	1	—	—	⁵⁄₁₂₇	—	—	7.7%	0.079	13.0
Enchanted Golden Apple	1	—	—	²⁄₁₂₇	—	—	3.1%	0.031	32.1

↑ ^a ^b The size of stacks (or for unstackable items, number) of this item on any given roll.
↑ ^a ^b The weight of this item relative to other items in the pool.
↑ ^a ^b The odds of finding any of this item in a single chest.
↑ ^a ^b The number of items expected per chest, averaged over a large number of chests.
↑ ^a ^b The average number of chests the player should expect to search to find any of this item.

↑ ^a ^b All enchantments are equally probable, including treasure enchantments (except Soul Speed), and any level of the enchantment is equally probable.

History[edit]

Java Edition Infdev
20100625-2				Added dungeons. The chests may contain gunpowder, strings, wheat, bread, iron ingots, buckets, saddles, and rarely, golden apples.
Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.4				Added redstone dust to dungeon chests, sometime between its introduction in Alpha v1.0.1 and 1.0.4.
v1.0.14				Added the newly introduced 13 and cat music discs to dungeon chests.
Java Edition Beta
1.4				Added cocoa beans to dungeon chests.
Java Edition
1.3.1		12w22a		Breaking the spawner of a dungeon now gives experience.
1.4.6		12w49a		Added enchanted books to dungeon chests.
1.6.1		13w16b		Added name tags to dungeon chests.
1.6.1		13w18a		Added horse armor to dungeon chests and removed cocoa beans. Probabilities have now also been adjusted.
1.7.2		13w36a		Changes in cavern generation now make dungeons considerably rarer.^[3]
1.8		14w30a		The chances of music discs in dungeon chests have been reduced.
1.9		15w44a		Added bones, coal, rotten flesh, enchanted golden apples, and melons, pumpkins and beetroot seeds to dungeon chests.
				The average yield of music discs in dungeon chests has been increased.
				The average yield of enchanted books, gunpowder and string in dungeon chests have been doubled.
				The average yield of normal golden apples in dungeon chests has been substantially increased.
				The average yield of iron horse armor in dungeon chests has been decreased.
				The average yields of name tags, saddles, wheat and bread in dungeon chests have been nearly halved.
				The average yields of iron ingots and buckets in dungeon chests have been substantially decreased.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.9.0		build 1		Added dungeons.
0.15.0		build 1		Added name tags, enchanted books and horse armor to dungeon chests.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0		beta 1.2.0.2		Added music discs to dungeon chests.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	Added dungeons.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0				Added Dungeons.

Issues[edit]

Issues relating to "Dungeon" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[edit]

Dungeons are always connected to a cavern or other structure, although it's possible for the dungeon itself to overwrite most of a tiny cave.
It is possible, though rare, to find connected dungeons with multiple spawners and extra chests. It is also possible for a dungeon to generate over another, replacing the chests and spawner of the first.
It is possible, though almost impossibly rare, for a dungeon to be generated at bedrock level, thereby deleting the bedrock. In that case, digging through the moss stone can lead into the Void.^{[needs in-game testing]}
- Because the air below y=11 replaces itself with lava, this cannot happen in caves. However, it can happen in mineshafts.
Double-chest dungeons, as shown below, may have chests that form a perpendicular barrier between the wall and spawner (an exception to this would be in 7x7 dungeons, in which the chest cannot reach the spawner).

Dungeon is the only structure with chest loot that cannot be located using the /locate command.

Gallery[edit]

A gravel vein fallen into a dungeon.
A rare instance of a dungeon generating in midair.
A spider dungeon.
A chest in a dungeon that is open, revealing loot.
A zombie dungeon.

Surface dungeons[edit]

A caved in surface dungeon.
A surface dungeon.
Dungeons can rarely be found open to the surface.
A dungeon found under a frozen ocean.
A dungeon found in the water.
Two surface dungeons right next to each other.
A surface dungeon in the PC Gamer Demo Edition.
Dungeons generated underneath sand tend to cause cave-ins

Multiple dungeons[edit]

Five dungeons and 2 cave spider spawners close together in a mineshaft, cleared to show all 7 spawners.
A double dungeon, the wall of the first acting as the entrance of the second.
A double dungeon with three chests.
A triple dungeon.
Extremely rare double-decker dungeon.
A dungeon in a dungeon.

Odd generation[edit]

A dungeon intersecting with an abandoned mineshaft.
A dungeon found by an end portal room in a stronghold.
Dungeon generated aside the chest chamber of the temple. One chest was overwritten by the dungeon wall.
A dungeon distorted by a desert temple.
A dungeon with lava spilling into it from a spring.
A dungeon with a hole in it, caused by a lake generating in the same space.
A dungeon that has a lake generated inside, resulting in no spawners.
A dungeon distorted by a cave system.
A dungeon that has become flooded because of falling sand on the bottom of a river.
Igloo basement touching this dungeon without 1 jail beside of the torch.
A dungeon intersecting with a mineshaft at bedrock level.
A dungeon connected to a dead end of an abandoned mineshaft.
A dungeon with a waterfall flowing into it.
A dungeon generating without the spawner and the chests in a desert temple.
A dungeon with no chests.
A double chest dungeon.
A dungeon intersecting a mineshaft.