After getting a full set of diamond armor and mastering the Nether, you may feel like you’re ready to tackle the worst that Minecraft has to offer. However, along with the Ender Dragon and the Elder Guardian, the game now has one extra mini-boss for you to fight against: Wardens. These terrifying creatures have no sight and react purely off of sound, triggered by nearby Sculk Shriekers, and are sent to hunt you down. In this guide we’ll tell you all about how Wardens work in Minecraft and how you can get around them.
Where Can Wardens Be Found?
Chances are, you aren’t going to stumble upon a Warden by accident. These frightening mobs only spawn in the Deep Dark, a brand new biome in Minecraft’s Wild update. The biomes themselves are somewhat uncommon, generating randomly below Y=0. To check if you’ve come across one of these, simply look out for Sculk, a dark blue block flecked with lighter blue spots. If you’ve come across these blocks underground, you’re officially in the Deep Dark.
Wardens don’t just wander around this biome like zombies or skeletons do, however. Instead, they only spawn when certain conditions are met. First, a Sculk Shrieker has to be activated three or more times, which can be accomplished by simply walking past it repeatedly. The light level around the player also has to be less than 11. If both of these conditions are met, a Warden will spawn somewhere near the activated Sculk Shrieker.
How to Beat Wardens
If you do find a Warden, the best advice I can give you is not to fight it at all. Besides being scary, these mobs are incredibly strong. The boss has so much attack power that they can even kill a player wearing a full set of unenchanted netherite armor on hard mode. In Minecraft’s normal difficulty, they can easily overpower a player with enchanted diamond armor. And because they have a whopping 500 health, Wardens won’t go down before you do in a one-on-one fight.
The best way to approach a Warden is to keep it at a distance since they can’t see and can only hear when you’re nearby. If you’re dead set on fighting one, make sure you have the Knockback enchantment. Unfortunately, you can’t simply build a tower and pepper them with arrows from a distance. These foes are meant to be tough, so Mojang has given them a ranged attack which they’ll use if you build too high, hide behind walls, or get outside of their melee range.
Keep in mind that they can hear things like eating, falling in water, and other activities that make noise but don’t involve movement. Even if you’re entirely silent, they also have a sense of smell. Given enough time a Warden should be able to find you even if you’re standing still. Anger the Warden too much and it will immediately turn to face you and charge your locaiton.
Regardless of how you approach a Warden, you’re going to have to use some high-end equipment. Check out our guide on where to find diamond here, and for all your enchanting needs, here’s our guide on where to find lapis lazuli.
Wardens and Thrown Projectiles
Unlike other mobs, Wardens have some special rules for items you throw. You can use this to manipulate them.
- If the Warden receives two projectile vibrations within five seconds of one another, it will grow angrier at the shooter
- If the Warden receives a projectile vibration more than five seconds from the last projectile, it will not grow angrier at the shooter
In short, you can throw one projectile every six seconds to distract it. Throwing two in rapid succession, however, will cause it to grow angrier at you.
When Will Wardens Despawn?
Any activity that the Warden can hear increases its anger meter. You can tell how annoyed it is by how quickly the souls in its chest are beating. If you do not anger it for a full minute it will dig back underground and despawn.
Warden Loot Drops
Wardens drop a Sculk Catalyst upon death. You already get these simply by mining them with Silk Touch. There is little reason to kill a Warden in Minecraft.
